Read Chaos (Kardia Chronicles) (Entangled Teen) for Free Online Page A

your other school stuff.
Problem solved,
He
    So this was how it was going to be, then? I crumpled the paper in my hand and tried to keep my head from exploding. Apparently, he was going to refute every one of my responses. Lovely.
    “Oh, crap,” Libby said as she arrived to meet me and walk down to the lunchroom. Her gaze was locked on the white-knuckled fist at my side with the paper sticking out of it. “Again?”
    I cleared my throat and tried to calm the nerve-orchestra going on inside me that made me wish I had stayed home from school. “Yeah.”
    “I, uh.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she tucked her long blond hair behind one ear and leaned in closer. “Talked to Leni in history class. She had a printed copy of the one from yesterday. His.”
    I closed my eyes for a long moment and focused on my breathing. In and out. In and out. “Okay.”
    “She, uh, she said everyone who gets a copy of ‘That’s What She Said’ e-mailed to them also got a copy of ‘That’s What He Said . ’” She winced, drawing back like she’d just dropped a scorpion on the floor between us.
    Charming. He’d officially swiped my title on top of everything else. And there was literally nothing I could do about it because he knew who I was and could out me at any time.
    Anger bubbled higher, and I reminded myself that this was a first-world problem. There were people who had to walk five miles and carry a bucket of water back to their village on their heads if they wanted to drink. This was nothing in the grand scheme of things. That reminder didn’t help, and now I only felt bad for those people in the village on top of everything else. I made a mental note to send the twenty dollars Uncle Steve would be giving me for Christmas to the Clean Water Fund and slammed my locker door shut.
    “What did she say about it?”
    Libby wouldn’t meet my eyes, and I knew I wasn’t going to like the rest of this conversation, so I opted not to have it.
    “You know what? It doesn’t even matter. I’m just going to do me and let him do him. A lot of people feel like my column helps, and I’m not letting him bully me out of doing something I like to do.” I led the way to the cafeteria, making halfhearted small talk as we went. When we passed a trashcan, I pitched the wad of paper into it. “So what’s it today? Fish sticks or grilled cheese?”
    Libby seemed thrilled to change the subject and took her cue to blab about the evils of cafeteria food, holding her sprout sandwich aloft like the Ten Commandments were etched onto the bread. When we got to the line, she bought a bottled water to wash down her weeds, and I chose a pudding, a bag of salt and vinegar potato chips, and an iced tea. Lunch of champions.
    “Didn’t you hear what I said? That stuff will kill you, Mags.” She shook her head disapprovingly as we approached the lunch lady at the register, who blinked at me behind Coke-bottle glasses.
    “Two dollars and ten cents,” she said in a two-pack-a-day voice and held out a hand.
    I handed over the cash and then shook my head at Libby as we moved out of the line. “Unless I get cursed and turned into some kind of woodland creature, I will never eat sprouts. Or lettuce. Or any of that other crap you like to eat.”
    A kid I had gym class with piped in with a smirk. “Hey, hey, take it easy. Maybe you should talk it out. Sit down and have some conflict resolution.” He held up his phone, lit with a copy of “That’s What He Said.” “Did you guys read this yet? This dude is hilarious. I think She might want to hang it up.”
    Annoyance bit at me like a thousand little ants. There it was. The first public jab. So much for me doing me.
    “I saw it, yeah. He seems like a douche to me, but whatever.” I shrugged like I didn’t have a care in the world. “And if Libby and I were actually fighting, conflict resolution would have been a great idea, Cody. Now why don’t you get your little chocolate milk, take a seat, and