Devon Delaney Should Totally Know Better by Lauren Barnholdt, Nathalie Dion Page B

this group I owe anything to are Luke and Mel. And Mel already knows the truth. And Luke, well . . . I sigh.
    “Don’t worry,” I say. “He’ll be there.”

chapter five
    “Are you crazy?” Lexi asks me. We’re in Callie’s Closet, a consignment store a few blocks from my school that always has name brand stuff super cheap. We walked here after the last bell rang, which of course, constituted me using Lexi’s cell again. Totally ridiculous. “Why would you tell her
Greg
is going to come?”
    “I don’t know,” I moan, flipping my way through a rack of skinny jeans. “It was Kim! She brought up the whole lying-about-Jared thing, and before I knew it, it just happened.” I lower my voice to a horrified whisper. “I cracked under the peer pressure.”
    “Ugh, Kim,” Lexi says, shaking her head. “That girl is lethal.” She comes over to the rack I’m at and holds up a turquoise sweater. “Cute or ugly?”
    “Cute,” I tell her. I hold up a pair of jeans and eye the price tag. Hmm. “Is it worth paying this much for something that’s probably just a fad?”
    “How many times do I have to tell you,” Lexi says. “Skinny jeans are not a fad.”
    “Anything that’s only going to last a season or two is definitely a fad.” I add them to the pile of stuff in my arms anyway.
    “Ooh,” Lexi says, looking at a Versace dress that’s hanging on the wall. “That is absolutely fabulous.” She rushes over and checks the price tag. “You should try it on.” Lexi likes shopping here because she can find staples, like sweaters and jeans, and maybe some shoes. But Lexi can afford to buy the current season’s name brand stuff, so she doesn’t really
need
to shop here.
    “Luke hasn’t even asked me to the dance yet,” I say. “So I don’t have to worry about finding a dress.” And even if I did have to worry about it, I couldn’t afford that dress. Even at consignment shop prices. I sigh and put the pile of stuff I’m holding down on a rack. I probably shouldn’t be buying anything. I need to save my allowance for a dress just in case.
    “He’s totally going to ask you!” Lexi snaps her gum. “Ooh, vintage!” She holds up a pair of Prada shoes that can’t be more than two seasons old. She puts one on her foot and then frowns. “Hmm, do these make me look like I have cankles?”
    “Lexi!” I say. “Please focus!” Lexi does not have cankles. “Some of us have real problems, like a fake ex-boyfriend, ever heard of it?”
    “Well, you already got out of one fake ex-boyfriend mess, how much worse can another one be?”
    “You did not just ask me that,” I say. I pick up a bracelet off of a jewelry tray and hold it up to my wrist.
    “Devon,” Lexi says. “I don’t want to hear this negative attitude that is now permeating the store.”
    “Did you just say ‘permeating’?”
    “Totally,” Lexi says. “It’s one of our English vocab words.” She smiles. Lexi has new braces. Light blue. Very cute. She also has a real boyfriend that asked her to the dance. I try not to feel jealous.
    “This is not the end of the world.” It sure feels like it. I follow Lexi obediently to the register. “Aren’t you getting anything?” she asks.
    “Not today. I don’t have any money, and the money I do have, I’m saving for the dress just in case Luke does ask me.” I’m enjoying feeling very sorry for myself as Lexi checks out. She spends over four hundred dollars on jeans, shoes, and accessories, all on a prepaid credit card that her mom gave her.
My
mom is supposed to be picking us up, so we head outside to wait.
    A few raindrops are falling from the sky, and there’s no sign of my mom, so Lexi and I decide to head into the coffee shop next door. We order cappuccinos withextra vanilla shots and sit down in some squashy chairs by the window.
    “Hmm,” Lexi says, once we’re settled in. “I have a fab idea! Let’s make a list!”
    “A list of what?” I ask warily. Last time Lexi