Read Kendra for Free Online

create the blueprint on the computer with this special program architects use.
    Once we had the blueprints, our class work was done. But no way was I gonna stop there. I wanted to help build the set and work on the showcase. So I joined the crew. It was hard work and it took up a lot of time, but I have to admit, it was kinda fun, too, seeing the whole thing go from just an idea in my sketch pad to a realistic-looking set.
    But the best part about this is finding out that I really like being on the crew and hanging out with everybody after school. For the first time since I came to this school, I feel like I found the kinda people I like to be around. Not that Adonna’s friends aren’t fun, because they are, but they’re fun in a different way, and whenever I’m around them it’s like I have to think if I’m saying the right thing or doing the right thing. Adonna never has to think about those things, probably. She fits in with them perfect. But me, I’d rather be right here.
    Today is busier than usual because we’re all under pressure to finish, but that don’t stop the guys from acting like guys. Like, I’m standing on a ladder painting the top of the set blue and Darnell comes by and holds the ladder for me, which is real nice considering I didn’t even ask him to. So I look down real careful and tell him thanks.
    He smiles up at me, but before he can even say anything, this other guy on the crew, Trevor, yells out, “He’s just checking out your ass, Kendra!”
    I swear, I almost fall off the ladder from what he says, like it’s something I never thought of. Even though I am wearing thissmock over my clothes that ties in the back and basically covers everything except my butt.
    But I know Darnell’s not like that. He’s too nice a guy.
    “Be quiet, Trevor!” I shout, looking right at him and trying to balance myself at the same time. “That’s your own dirty mind talking!”
    When I look down at Darnell, he’s not saying anything. But he’s like that. Kinda quiet. But still, I hope he wasn’t actually doing what Trevor said he was.
    Me and Mara are the only two girls on the crew, and I kinda like that. It’s, like, the first time I’m getting to spend time with guys in a while because Nana never lets me hang out with them at Bronxwood. I mean, when I was real little, it was okay to ride my scooter with boys and hang out in the community center with them. But by the time I was, like, twelve, she started watching me with boys more and more and giving me a hard time when I wanted to be around them. It got to be more of a problem than it was worth.
    This is probably why I don’t know how to act around guys. Well, the cute ones, anyway.
    Not that Darnell, Trevor, and Gregg, the stage manager, aren’t cute. They’re okay. But we’re just friends, all of us on the crew. It’s not like any of us is trying to hook up with each other or anything.
    I put a coat of paint on the part of the set that faces the audience, and I come down from the ladder, real glad Darnell is there to keep it steady for me. When I get to the ground, Darnell says, “Don’t listen to him, Kendra. I wasn’t—”
    “I know,” I say. “Don’t worry about it.”
    He lowers his head a little bit and says, “Okay. Good.”
    I hold up my hands, which are splattered with blue paint. “I’ll be right back.”
    As I’m walking to the janitor’s closet, I see Mara working on adding more details to the bus stop backdrop. She painted a garbage can and more trash on the ground near the can than inside, and she even added some pigeons. “That looks nice,” I say, walking up behind her.
    She smiles. “You think so?”
    “Definitely. You’re good with that kinda thing.”
    “So are you. I saw the pictures you painted on the living room backdrop.”
    “Yeah, but they’re not as good as this. I wish I was a real artist like you.”
    “You are,” she says. “You’re just better at seeing the big picture than the little