Up in Flames by Hailey Alcaraz EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author: Hailey Alcaraz
- Language: English
- Genre:Coming of Age Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
Ruby Ortega always got what she wanted.
However, Ruby Ortega also frequently wanted what she couldn’t have—
which was precisely how she found herself in her current predicament:
engulfed by a flock of rowdy boys lavishing her with the attention and
adoration she craved on this tedious evening but still feeling just a little bit
bored.
Among this crowd were, of course, the Trujillo brothers; they never
passed up a chance to brag and boast in front of an audience. Ruby had
once found the name of Alex Trujillo, the youngest of that tall brood,
doodled in her sister’s notebook with hearts and swirls, and suspected an
unreciprocated crush. Then there were a handful of other boys she’d grown
up with—Mike Thomas, Ian Percy, and Daniel de la Cruz—whose parents
either worked with her father, attended spin class with her mother, or
operated in some capacity in the high-society circle to which the Ortegas
belonged.
There were a few others who were less familiar, like Sam Gomez,
whose parents sent him off to boarding school last year after a drunken,
late-night joy ride in their Beemer that had resulted in several thousand
dollars of property damage near Balboa Park. All in all, the boys
surrounding Ruby were all fine. No one particularly special, but at least
they were better than the girls her age.
As they took turns blustering about achievements they seemed to find
impressive—high scores on Madden or beer pong tournaments—Ruby
feigned interest with a thin smile and a tigerlike scan of the rest of the
partygoers clustered around the patio of her family’s bed-and-breakfast.
At least two hundred guests had come to Elena’s quinceañera. Ruby’s
father claimed most of them were related to their family, but who could
really know with him? He referred to everyone as primo so-and-so or tía
what’s-her-name. Ruby’d had her own quince three years ago, and he’d
introduced her to about twenty people who were “cousins” she’d never met.
Elena had been babbling incessantly about this party for months, and for
the past week, no one in her family had been able to talk about anything
else. Her sister had gone to everyone but Ruby as she deliberated over the
color of her dress (mint green, which no one had the courage to tell her
brought out the sickliest undertones in her skin), the party favor (key chains
with her face on them—who the hell would want that?), or even the
centerpiece flowers (it didn’t matter that they were some exotic daisy that
her mother had called three different florists to track down—they were still
daisies).
Daddy got to offer his opinions. Mom was integral to every
decision. Even Carla, who was eleven, got to make suggestions. But
anytime Ruby was proximal to any party planning, Elena would snap, “Oh,
Ruby. I’m sure you’re busy getting ready for college. You don’t need to
worry about my birthday.”
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