Puppy Love by A. Destiny and Catherine Hapka Page B

fabulous summers, most of which seemed to involve foreign travel and copious amounts of sunscreen. I wasn’t about to tell any of them that I’d spent the past three months helping Mom stuff envelopes for her latest charity thingamajig. Not that anyone asked.
    Then came lunch. I’d been dreading it all day, and not that delicious the-killer-is-coming dread I loved so much in horror movies. No, this was a sick pit-of-the-stomach dread, the kind that said I was going to spend my high school career alone, scurrying around like a mouse on the edges of people’s consciousness. Oh well, maybe at least the teachers would grow to like me.
    As I dumped my lunch bag on the table and sat down, I noticed a guy walking toward me. He was well dressed, but in a different way from most of the guys at County Day. Skinny pinstriped pants, slicked-back hair, funky red shoes. There was only one word for it: dapper.
    I watched his approach warily out of the corner of my eye, pretending to be very busy unwrapping my sandwich. What did he want? Was he coming to tell me this table was reserved or something?
    â€œAll my other best friends have been blond,” he announced, sliding into the seat across from me. “You’ll be the one to break the curse.”
    I blinked. “Huh?”
    He stuck out his hand. “I’m Robert. Robert James Chase. You’re Lauren something-or-other, right? The new girl.”
    â€œYeah.” I stared at his hand for a moment before realizing he wanted me to shake it. I did so, tentatively. “Um, hi. Lauren Parker.”
    Robert slung a battered suede messenger bag onto the table. Flipping open the flap, he pulled out a stainless steel bento box and a bottle of Orangina.
    â€œThis stuff is super popular in Europe,” he said, noticing me staring at the drink. “It’s my new thing. I only eat and drink stuff from other countries. I’m like the opposite of a locavore.”
    Okay, this guy was definitely odd. But he seemed friendly, which was more than I could say for most of my new schoolmates. Besides, “odd” had never bothered me. I’d been the only one who would talk to the weird Russian exchange student at my old school.
    â€œSo what’s wrong with blondes?” I asked Robert.
    His head snapped up. This time, I could tell I’d surprised him. “Pardon me?”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with blondes? You said I’d be breaking the curse.”
    He stared at me for a long moment. Then he grinned. “Busted,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with blondes. Some of the greatest women in history have been blond—I mean, Marilyn Monroe, right? Grace Kelly. Madonna.”
    â€œI read somewhere that the real-life Cleopatra was actually a blonde,” I supplied.
    â€œExactly.” He sipped his Orangina. “So maybe I shouldn’t have called it a curse. More like a streak. I’m just in the mood for a change of pace.” He winked at me. “And I have the feeling you’re it, Parker.”

ChapterEleven
Back to the dog park
    I heard a clock striking four somewhere in the distance beyond the dog park. It was only then that I realized I’d been chatting with Jamal for a long time. After telling him about how Robert and I had met, we’d moved on to other subjects. Jamal had asked me about my family and told me about his. His mother was an anesthesiologist at the local hospital, and—surprise!—his dad worked for the same pharmaceutical company as mine, though in a different building.
    I was surprised to learn that Jamal wanted to be a doctor like his mom. “Really?” I said when he told me.
    I guess I must have sounded a little too surprised, because he grinned. “Yeah, I know. My friends all tell me I’m too laid-back to make it through med school. But I’m actually pretty serious about it. I mean, I still make Mom take me to the hospital with her onTake Your