Read Falling From Grace for Free Online

air she gave of money, power, and popularity.   We were a lot alike in some ways, I suppose.   Most people avoided her like the plague, too.   Well, most sane people anyway.   The difference between the two of us was that while people avoided me because I was odd, they avoided her because of how mean she could be if you dared to cross her.   It was the main reason she was as popular as she was.   No one felt brave enough to stand up to her; beauty and money were intimidating things.
    And she was certainly beautiful.   The ice blue eyes that glared past heavy lids were so full of malice, one often felt like they had no choice but to continue to look at her for fear of havoc she’d unleash if you did not.   Her smile was full, but upon closer inspection it was plain that she did so through gritted teeth, as though expressing genuine pleasure was somehow painful or annoying.  
    I stared at her, trying to find a reason to like her, if only to make it easier to see why Graham had chosen her.   Did she have a redeeming quality of some sort that I didn’t see that Graham did?   Everyone knew she was rich, and obviously she was beautiful and popular, but was that it?   Graham had never been that superficial… On second thought, she did remind me of one of Graham’s favorite actresses who was always casted as the cold, calculating high school villain.   Maybe that was it.   He liked the beautiful girls with the flawed personalities.   I was just flawed.
    “Did you see him?   Oh my GAWD, he was beautiful!   HAWT!” Erica gushed.   “I think Graham was getting jealous that he was staring at me for so long.   Oh-Em-Gee, those EYES!   I swear, they were so amazing!   It felt like he could see right into me!”
    Another voice replied, “I know!   He stared at you for, like, ever !   Like you were something he wanted to eat!   And Graham should be jealous.   Hell, I’m jealous!   He’s not the cutest guy in school anymore!”
    More giggling filled the room.
    I wanted to gag.
    “Speaking of Graham, did you see that freak friend of his?   She ran right into that new guy and it was like she bounced off!   He repelled her like he had some super power against freakiness or something!   Hawtman!” the other voice laughed.
    I could see Erica through the crack between the door and the frame of the stall.   She was staring in the mirror at her reflection, a twisted smirk on her face.
    No.   Her eyes were focused somewhere else.   She was staring…
    At me.
    She could see me, knew I was there.   She pulled up her lips into a very cruel smile and spoke, “Graham and Grace aren’t friends anymore, Becca.   He ended their friendship a couple of weeks ago when I told him it was her or me.”   She began messing with her hair.   The long, blonde strands shimmered like spun gold, even under the fluorescent lights of the bathroom; the type of hair that Graham always said he hated, but the exact same hair that he had been playing with just a few moments ago.
    A snickering-snorting sound followed.   “He chose you over his best friend?   Girl, he must love you.   Those two have been tight since diapers!”
    Erica nodded, still staring at me, the cruel, warped smile distorting the beauty of her face.   “Of course he loves me.   He told me that there’s no one else who makes him feel the way that I do, that he trusts more than me.   He said there’s no competition when it comes to me and how he feels.   And really, why would there be?   I mean, look at me!   I at least look like I have girl parts!” she cracked, pushing her breasts together and making a moue with her lips, winking — whether at her own reflection or at me I didn’t know.
    Girl parts — apparently another reason why I wasn’t quite fit to play the part of Graham’s girlfriend and Erica was.   I knew that I wasn’t curvaceous.   In truth, I was more like the rectangle to her oval; corners where there should be curves.   I