AllFreeNovel
Share Us
PROLOGUE
“Hi, Sage.”
Sage Mancini turned her head away from the group of friends she was talking to when they were standing outside at lunchtime.
“Hi, Knox,” she said back, forcing a smile. She liked the kid that was in her homeroom and talked to her every morning of their eighth-grade year, but she didn’t want to really hang out with him.
“What did you think of that English test?” Knox asked her, his black thick-rimmed glasses coming off his face as he wiped them on his shirt.
He was shorter than her, probably thinner too and she had always been told she was on the thin side. Her attraction to boys at twelve years old wasn’t about much more than the fact she didn’t want to be looking down on them or be able to pick them up and toss them a few feet.
“I probably would have done better if I finished reading the book, but it’s boring.”
“It is,” Knox said. “I only read half of it and then fluffed the rest of my answers.”
“Isn’t your father some English professor?” Brit asked. Brit never cared if she interrupted other people’s conversations.
“Yeah,” Knox said. “Doesn’t mean I like English or am good at it.”
“You couldn’t ask him for a summary?” Brit asked.
Knox snorted. “It’s not like he’s teaching eighth-grade English to college kids.”
Sage giggled over that response. She was thinking the same thing but wouldn’t voice it to Brit who could turn her nastiness on at the drop of a dime.
“Whatever,” Brit said, turning her back on them to face their friends. The rest of the group started to giggle and Sage felt bad for Knox.
He was only being nice even if she wished he’d go away to talk to his own friends.
Only she didn’t think he had too many friends. Or if he did, she didn’t see it. Could be they were still in the building eating lunch, playing chess or something else dorky.
“I don’t care for reading this stuff much,” he said.
“No,” she said. “I’d rather draw or design fashion.”
She thought of her brother’s best friend who was an international model at fourteen. All those clothes that she was jealous of.
At night she’d create outfits and ad campaigns. When the clothing ideas didn’t come out all that great, she’d perfect how she’d brand or market it.
In her eyes, that was just as much fun.
Her friends all thought she was silly and stupid to spend time on that. They were always asking her questions about Kate, her brother’s supermodel best friend, too. Saying Kate was a star and asking what it was like to live next to her or have her at their house all the time. If her brother and Kate were dating.
It annoyed her, but she pushed it off and didn’t answer that many questions if she could avoid it. Maybe deep down she didn’t do it hoping her friends kept her around to find out more.
Sad in her eyes, but the cool girls were talking to her and didn’t every middle schooler want to be part of the in crowd and be liked by everyone?
“I’d like to see them,” he said, smiling at her when he pushed his glasses back on his face.
“They aren’t that good,” she said.
“I’m sure they are,” he said.
Knox might be the only one who ever said that to her. It was kind of sweet in a way and it reminded her why he was nice to talk to. That she shouldn’t be quick to push him away because her friends might make fun of her for talking to him.
“Well,” she said. “It’s just for fun and something I do so that I don’t have to listen to Mrs. Gardner. Maybe if I paid more attention the test would have been easier.”
“Let’s go, Sage,” Brit said, grabbing her arm and tugging her. “We don’t need to waste our time talking to other people during lunch.”
