Read Online The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten - Free Book Online Page A

moment they both stared at the three girls standing by that beautiful, old car. It looked like the sun was shining brighter on them than it was on anything else.
    Tristan turned back. “That tall one is mmmf .” He waggled his eyebrows and stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, a joke imitation of the kind of guy who would do that and mean it. “Wanna do something tomorrow?”
    “Yes, please,” she said.
    He held out the balloon. “I believe this belongs to you, graduate.”
    Lucy turned toward the girls, then looked to the balloon, then back to them. She imagined herself walking up to them with that balloon and started to blush.
    Tristan nodded, understood without her saying anything. He smiled. “Have fun, kiddo.”
    “Thanks.” She forced a smile back.
    Tristan opened his fist. The balloon rose up out of it. “It’s better this way anyway,” he said. “Balloons really hate being tied down.”
    Lucy wasn’t sure what to say when she got to the car, so she pretended to cough until they noticed her.
    Gil reached out and squeezed Lucy’s hand. A jolt of friendship went all the way up Lucy’s arm into her chest where her empty heart soaked it up.
    “I hope your fake cough isn’t contagious,” said Liza.
    Olivia gave a sly half smile. She got in the driver’s seat. Liza took shotgun. Gil pulled Lucy next to her in the back.
    “Swap time,” Olivia said. The three of them took out their phones and passed them clockwise. Then they started scrolling through each other’s messages.
    “Jason M misses you and wants to know your shoe size,” Liza said to Olivia. “Pete wants to make sure we’re coming Saturday. Clarkson says, ‘hahahahahahaha’ with about ten exclamation points. Kyle says a friend of his is having a party tomorrow and that also he is reading a book he thinks you might like and wants to know when he can meet up and give it to you.” Liza turned toward Olivia and rolled her eyes. “And some guy from a three-one-oh number can’t stop thinking about you. Who’s that?”
    “Three-one-oh’s L.A.?” Olivia shrugged. “No idea.”
    Olivia was looking down at Gil’s phone. “Gilly, Rowan wants to know if he bought you a ticket to visit him in Australia if you’d use it. Jason says he’s sitting next to someone really smelly and that you’re lucky smell-o-texts haven’t been invented yet. Mikey wants to know what you’re up to this weekend and if you like paella. Ethan sent you a heart emoticon, but he did it wrong, used an eight for the top instead of a three.”
    “Oh, that’s sweet,” Gil said.
    “It’s not. It’s ridiculous,” said Liza.
    Gil shook her head. “Sammy and Ian F want you to come to a party on Saturday. Evan says he bought you something that he thinks you’ll like and then he wrote a wink face so I guess that means it’s dirty. And Scott called you sixteen times. And . . .” The sound of lightning striking filled the car. “Now seventeen because he’s calling you again.” Gil handed Liza her phone. Liza tossed it in Lucy’s lap.
    “Tell him I’m not going to make it this afternoon. Imply that I might be with another boy.”
    Lucy looked down. SCOTT—NOT BROKEN YET was blinking on the screen.
    “It’s a phone,” Liza said. “Pick it up.”
    Lucy lifted the phone to her ear. Hit TALK . Her palms were already sweating.
    “Hel—” she started to say.
    “Oh, thank God. ” The voice coming through the phone was deep, not a boy’s voice but a man’s voice. “I’ve been calling you and calling you. Did you get any of my messages?”
    “He-hello?”
    “You’re still coming this afternoon, aren’t you?”
    “This isn’t . . .”
    “Sorry, sorry. That came out wrong. I don’t mean to sound demanding . . .” The voice paused. “It’s just that I planned something special for this afternoon and I wanted to make sure you . . .”
    “Um, this isn’t Liza.”
    Pause.
    “Oh.” The voice coughed. “Who is