Meg Cabot - Ready or Not

It isn’t true. I mean, I think about it. A lot.

But it’s not all I think about.

And I know it’s not all David thinks about, either. I can tell, because essentially, our relationship hasn’t really changed. He still calls me last thing every night, and first thing every morning, like always.

Which was how he was one of the first people I told that my house wasn’t the only place that had undergone some Big Changes. When I got to school on Monday, I’d found a few changes had been made there, too, while we’d all been away on Thanksgiving break…the biggest one being that Right Way had disbanded, due to all of its members—save one, namely Kris Parks—dropping out.

But that wasn’t all. I’d also found out that Kris Parks? Yeah, she was no longer president of the junior class. Because you can’t break a school conduct code (as Kris had, in calling me a slut in front of so many witnesses) and maintain your student government position, because, as a student government representative, you’re supposed to be an example to the rest of the student population.

So, Frau Rider, our eleventh grade advisor, had to appoint the vice president as chief class officer until new elections could be held in the spring.

A bunch of people—well, okay, mainly Catherine, Deb Mullins, Lucy, and Harold—thought I should run. For class president.

But I really have quite enough to do, thank you, what with art lessons, my job, and teen ambassador stuff.

Besides, to be president of your class at school, you actually have to CARE about your school. And I so don’t. Care about my school, I mean.

But I have to admit, I’m starting to like it a little better these days.

“Hey, guess who’s going to California this coming weekend for a fund-raiser?” David asked me.

“Let me guess,” I said, picking up my drawing pad and turning to a nice, clean page. “Your parents.”

“Yeah. And they’ll be gone till Sunday night. I’ll have that big, white house all to myself.”

“How nice for you,” I said. “You can dance around in your underwear and sunglasses to some Bob Seger.”

“I was thinking it’d be more fun if you came over,” David said. “We got the new Mel Gibson movie. You know, the one that just came out.”

“I’ll have to check with my parents,” I said. “But…I imagine they’ll say yes.”

“Excellent,” David said, doing his best Mr. Burns.

“Hello, everyone.” Susan Boone came rushing in, followed, much more slowly, by the lethargic (SAT word meaning “morbidly drowsy”) Terry. “Are we all here? Is everyone ready? Terry, if you wouldn’t mind…”

Terry took off his robe and laid down on the raised platform. It wasn’t long before he fell asleep, his chest rising and falling with gentle snores.

And this time, when I drew him, I tried to concentrate on the whole, and not the parts. I roughed in the room around him, and then his place in it, trying to build my drawing the way you build a house…from the frame up, keeping in mind that there had to be a balance between the subject of my drawing and the background supporting it….

And I guess I succeeded, because when it came time for the critique of our evening’s work, Susan was pleased with my results.

“Very good, Sam,” she said, about my drawing. “You’re really learning.”

“Yes,” I said, with some surprise. “I guess I really am.”

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Beth Ader, Jennifer Brown,

Michele Jaffe, Laura Langlie, Abigail McAden,

and, most of all, Benjamin Egnatz.

Meg Cabot

is the author of many best-selling, critically acclaimed books for teens, including the Princess Diaries books, the Mediator series, the 1-800-Where-R-You series, all-american girl, and Teen Idol, as well as Nicola and the Viscount and Victoria and the Rogue. She also writes books for adults, including The Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, and Every Boy’s Got One. She currently lives in Key West and New York City with her husband and a one-eyed cat named Henrietta.

Visit Meg’s website at: www.megcabot.com

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ALSO BY

Meg Cabot

ALL-AMERICAN GIRL

TEEN IDOL

NICOLA AND THE VISCOUNT

VICTORIA AND THE ROGUE

THE PRINCESS DIARIES

THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME II: PRINCESS IN THE SPOTLIGHT

THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME III: PRINCESS IN LOVE

THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME IV: PRINCESS IN WAITING

THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME IV AND A HALF: PROJECT PRINCESS

THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME V: PRINCESS IN PINK

THE PRINCESS DIARIES, VOLUME VI: PRINCESS IN TRAINING

THE PRINCESS PRESENT: A PRINCESS DIARIES BOOK

PRINCESS LESSONS: A PRINCESS DIARIES BOOK

PERFECT PRINCESS: A PRINCESS DIARIES BOOK

HOLIDAY PRINCESS: A PRINCESS DIARIES BOOK

THE MEDIATOR 1: SHADOWLAND

THE MEDIATOR 2: NINTH KEY

THE MEDIATOR 3: REUNION

THE MEDIATOR 4: DARKEST HOUR

THE MEDIATOR 5: HAUNTED

THE MEDIATOR 6: TWILIGHT

THE BOY NEXT DOOR

BOY MEETS GIRL

EVERY BOY’S GOT ONE

THE 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU BOOKS:

WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES

CODE NAME CASSANDRA

SAFE HOUSE

SANCTUARY

Credits

Jacket art by Erin Schell

Jacket © 2005 by HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

Copyright

Ready or Not: An All-American Girl Novel

Copyright © 2005 by Meggin Cabot

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of PerfectBound™.

PerfectBound™ and the PerfectBound™ logo are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc

Microsoft Reader July 2005 ISBN 0-06-079602-2

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cabot, Meg.

Ready or not: an all-American girl novel / Meg Cabot.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: Now a high school junior, Samantha tries to decide whether she is ready to have sex with her boyfriend, who happens to be the President’s son.

ISBN-10: 0-06-072450-1—ISBN-10: 0-06-072451-X (lib. bdg.)

ISBN-13: 978-0-06-072450-4—

ISBN-13: 978-0-06-072451-1 (lib. bdg.)

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