BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (47)
  1. Cover
  2. Back Cover Text
  3. Praise
  4. About the Author
  5. Booklist
  6. Dedication
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Part Two
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. Chapter Twenty-Five
  33. Chapter Twenty-Six
  34. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Acknowledgments
  47. Excerpt from Dead Little Mean Girl by Eva Darrows

He smirked. “No problem. You read the books?”

“Arnold’s boo—OH! Yeah. Sort of? I read Gatsby and sorta got through Grapes, but I tapped out because I had less than a week.”

“You might be able to wiggle out of it on account of new kid,” he said. “But if not, Weller’s going to drop an essay on our heads right off the bat, guaranteed. She’s kind of a hard-ass that way. It’s not bad if you know the trick.” Leaf paused in the hall and leaned down to whisper into my ear. I didn’t exactly shiver, but I did rub at my arm like I was itchy all over. “Hypothesis sentence, list three reasons why you believe the hypothesis. Three paragraphs explaining each reason, closing paragraph. Five paragraphs total, formulaic, you’ll get an A. Promise.”

That sounded infinitely more pleasant than what I’d expected. I’d have said so but I was still quasi-distracted by his warm breath.

Maybe this is the second trimester Horny Horny Hippo thing.

“Cool, thanks. You’ve had Weller before?” I managed.

“Yep. Freshman Honors English, AP English Junior and now senior year. She likes organization in papers more than anything else. Style over substance, baby. Every time.”

“...you just called me baby.”

“I did, didn’t I? Did you like it?” He winked at me and held out his hand to direct me into a classroom tucked around the corner. On one hand, I kinda liked it. Leaf was cute and friendly and big all over, which was a plus ’cause I liked big guys.

On the other hand?

I am knocked up with a stranger’s baby.

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

Weller was crafty. After a short introduction and dropping a fourteen-pound syllabus on our desks, she passed a hat around the class and made us pick either a red or a blue paper out of it. I got red. She then announced that the people with red papers were writing about Gatsby, the people with blue papers were writing about Grapes, and yes, there was a first day in-class essay.

I glanced over at Leaf.

He winked at me again.

I shook my head and got scribbling, grateful that I’d survived round one of Weller. I took Leaf’s advice on formatting the paper, too, though I didn’t need it as much. I hadn’t exactly jumped for joy reading it, and the pool bit was a real downer, but I understood it fine and designed my entire paper around the last line of the novel, mostly because it was my favorite.