Read Online Twice As Nice by Lin Oliver - Free Book Online

said. “I was hoping we could go to Barone’s tomorrow night.”
    â€œI’m busy tomorrow night, Charlie. “
    â€œI know you’re not.”
    â€œYou just don’t get it, do you?” Sammie said, her blue eyes glaring at me. “It feels really terrible to be second choice. You chose Lauren and those girls over me. And this isn’t the first time, either. So fine. That’s the way it is. “
    â€œScore a point for Sammie,” Ryan said. “You got a comeback for that, Charles?”
    â€œNo, she doesn’t,” Sammie said. “Because there’s really nothing more to say, is there, Charlie? The truth is the truth.”
    She was right. The truth was that I had missed my friends; that more than anything, I wanted to be back in their company; that I loved the idea of being a Junior Wave; and I had chosen those things over her.
    There was a moment of silence, filled only by the slurping sounds of Ryan getting the last goopy remains of Mint Chip from the bottom of the ice-cream carton.
    â€œI’m going to bed,” Sammie said.
    She turned around and marched inside, leaving me standing there alone, with nothing but my decision to keep me company.

Sammie had already left for school by the time I woke up the next morning. She’d taped a note for me on the shower door.
    â€œI guess you have to do what you have to do,” it said. “Good luck with that.”
    It was a typical Sammie note. She can be really pigheaded about her own ideas. She likes to see things her way. Maybe we all do, I don’t know. But as far as I’m concerned, I wasn’t sympathetic. I had apologized for standing her up. I had invited her out to another dinner. I had gone to her stupid Truth Tellers, and tried my best to fit in. But it didn’t work out. For the first time in weeks, I woke up in a good mood and was looking forward to going to school. You’d think she could be happy for me.
    Once I got to school, I couldn’t keep myself from hanging around outside Principal Pfeiffer’s office. I tried not to be obvious about it, pretending I had developed a deep interest in the policies about respecting school property posted on the bulletin board outside his office. Finally, just before the bell rang, Lauren and Lily came bouncing out into the hall.
    â€œWe did it!” Lauren said, linking her arm in mine and guiding me down the hall toward homeroom.
    â€œWhat did he say?” I asked.
    â€œThat he was very familiar with The Waves at Pacific High, and that he thought a Junior Waves at Beachside was a fine idea.”
    â€œAnd guess what, Charlie?” Lily said. “He’d heard about your win at the Sand and Surf tournament over the weekend and was very impressed. Apparently, he has a little son who is just getting started in tennis and thinks you guys are amazing.”
    â€œYay, me!” I said with a giddy laugh. “So when’s he going to let us know?”
    â€œHe said maybe as early as tomorrow,” Lauren answered. “Thursday at the latest. And you know what that means?”
    I didn’t, but I nodded my head anyway.
    â€œThat we could go to the Friday night game as official Junior Waves?” Lily asked.
    Lauren didn’t answer. She just squealed, and that said it all.
    As we walked to homeroom, we talked excitedly about our ideas for T-shirts. Lily didn’t think ours should be exactly the same as the ones The Waves wore, because we wanted to have our own look. But we all agreed that they should definitely be the same color, so when we sat together at the game, we could blend in and look like one big group.
    I didn’t have a chance to talk with Sammie at school in the morning, but I did run into her at the beginning of lunch. She was standing at her locker with Alicia and Sara Berlin, pulling out a beat-up-looking canvas lunch bag that had seen one too many tuna sandwiches.
    â€œHi,” I said,