Authors: Mandy Hubbard
Tags: #Teen & Young Adult, #Literature & Fiction, #Social & Family Issues, #Friendship, #Romance, #Contemporary
I crack a wide smile. “I know. Mr. Vaughn was seriously on a warpath when he saw that flask. I sat in his office for
three hours.
”
She cringes. “What’d ya get?”
“Summer school.”
“Ugh, really?”
I can’t believe I’m still standing here, talking to her, and it feels so natural. “It’s cool. I’m not even sure I passed English anyway.”
She nods and we end up just standing there, toe to toe, for a long silent moment. “So, since you got caught…you know I won, right?” She says it in such a sarcastic voice I burst out laughing, and she laughs with me. I’d forgotten there were times she actually had a sense of humor. “I’m kidding. I’d say we’re even.”
“So, like, is this a truce?” I ask.
She pulls the envelope to her chest and exhales. “Yeah.” Then she extends her hand.
And I shake it.
When we turn away I smile, because I realize we’re both doing the same thing: reaching behind us, making sure there isn’t a “Kick Me” sign. We’re so used to watching our backs, I’m not sure we’ll know how to live any other way.
Maybe we’ve been wrong. Maybe we’re really not that different after all.
Cyn Balog and Mandy Hubbard met in the blogosphere in 2005, and have been writing BFFs ever since. Between the two of them, they've published more than a dozen novels, working with Penguin, Random House, Harlequin, and Flux. GETTING CAUGHT is their first co-written project. Visit Cyn at CynBalog.com and Mandy at MandyHubbard.com
WANT MORE FROM CYN AND MANDY?
Try Cyn’s latest release, STARSTRUCK (Delacorte, 2011), a humorous romance with a paranormal twist, and then pre-order TOUCHED (Delacorte, 2012), in which a boy is forced to live his life by a “script,” and when he strays, there are deadly repercussions.
Mandy’s 2011 releases include RIPPLE (Razorbill, 2011), in which a girl accidently kills the only boy she’s ever loved and must keep her deadly curse a secret, and BUT I LOVE HIM (Written under the pen-name Amanda Grace, Flux, 2011), a contemporary, realistic tale of a girl’s year with her abusive boyfriend, told in reverse chronological order.