In celebration, I'm going to post one final excerpt. This is a scene from the first quarter of the book where Julie finds out her best friend, Charsey, isn't the ditz she thinks she is.
“Charsey Winters. You’re looking delicious,
as usual.”
Julie saw Kas’ eyes drift down to Charsey’s
cleavage, which was billowing over her tube top. Charsey’s hand snaked up to
Kas’ face. She pulled him to her and gave him a full-on kiss, pressing her
chest up against his. Julie could swear she saw an exchange of tongues before
Kas pulled away from her. Julie cleared her throat and looked up at Kas.
“Kas, could you get me a beer?”
Kas tore his eyes from Charsey’s cleavage.
“Sure, babe. Be right back.”
Julie had no intention of drinking. She
just wanted to get Kas away from her for a few minutes so she could talk to
Charsey.
“Where’s Eli? I figured you’d be here with
him.”
Charsey’s eyes flashed. “Well, you figured
wrong. I decided Eli isn’t my type.” Her eyes trailed over to Kas. “Now Kas, on
the other hand ...” Julie couldn’t care less if Charsey was interested in Kas.
As a matter of fact, she would gladly turn him over to her. But right now, she
wanted to know what was going on with her ditzy friend. She grabbed Charsey by
the arm and dragged her down the hallway. Finding an empty bathroom, she pulled
her in and locked the door behind her.
“Are you drunk, Charse?”
Charsey pulled out a tube of strawberry
lip-gloss from her pocket, turned to the mirror and applied a double layer,
smacking her lips together in approval.
“No.” She put the tube back in her pocket,
then leaned forward and kissed the mirror, leaving a perfect imprint of her
lips. “I’m not drunk, sweetie. I am in total control.”
“Then why are you acting like this? Like a--”
Charsey finished her sentence, “Ditz-extraordinaire?”
She turned back towards Julie and cocked
her head. “That is what you think of me, isn’t it Julie?”
Julie lowered her eyes, ashamed that
Charsey knew exactly what she thought of her.
“Ummm ... well, yes, sometimes.”
She looked back up to see Charsey smiling.
“I’m a pretty good actress, aren’t I?”
Charsey lifted an eyebrow. “Boys love the ditz, Julie. Well, most of them,
anyways. Plus, it keeps me out of your precious AP classes. Those kindergarten
courses I qualified for are a breeze, and that’s how I like it.” She unlocked the door and pulled on it.
“You know what they say, Jules, ‘all work and no play makes Charse a dull girl’.
A paraphrase of a very old proverb.”
Charsey hesitated, closed the door again,
and walked back to a now baffled Julie.
“I like the second part of the proverb better,
‘all play and no work makes Charse a mere toy.’” She leaned in and whispered
directly into Julie’s ear, “I like being a toy, Jules. I like it very much.”
Julie swallowed and stood frozen to her
spot as Charsey breezed out the door, humming.
Who the hell was that?
