[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Jesse. Then I remembered that Jesse:
(a) was dead, so only I could see him hardly good boyfriend material and
(b) had never actually asked me out, so you couldn't exactly say we were
dating.
It was right about then that something whizzed by us so fast, it was only a
khaki blur, followed by the faintest trace of slightly familiar-smelling men's
cologne. I looked around and saw that the blur had been Dopey. He was holding
Michael Meducci in a headlock while Scott Turner shoved a finger in his face
and snarled, "You rewriting that essay for me, Meducci. Got that? A thousand
words on Gettysburg by tomorrow morning. And don't forget to doublespace it."
I don't know what came over me. Sometimes I am simply seized by impulses over
which I have not the slightest control.
But suddenly I'd shoved my books at Gina and stalked over to where my
stepbrother stood. A second later I held a pinchful of the short hairs at the
back of his neck.
"Let him go," I said, twisting the tiny hairs hard. This method of torture,
I'd discovered recently, was much more effective than my former technique of
punching Dopey in the gut. He had, over the past few weeks, greatly built up
the muscles in his abdominal wall, undoubtedly as a defense against just this
sort of occasion.
The only way he could keep me from grabbing him by the short hairs, however,
was to shave his head, and this had apparently not occurred to him.
Dopey, opening his mouth to let out a wail, released Michael right away.
Michael staggered away, scurrying to pick up the books he'd dropped.
"Suze," Dopey cried, "let go of me!"
"Yeah," Scott said. "This doesn't concern you, Simon."
"Oh, yes, it does," I said. "Everything that happens at this school concerns
me. Want to know why?"
Page 23
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Dopey already knew the answer. I had drilled it into him on several previous
occasions.
"Because you're the vice president," he said.
"Now let me freakin' go, or I swear I'll tell Dad "
I let him go, but only because Sister Ernestine showed up. The novice had
apparently run for her. It's become official Mission Academy policy to send
for backup whenever fights break out between Dopey and me.
"Is there a problem, Miss Simon?"
Sister Ernestine, the vice principal, is a very large woman, who wears an
enormous cross between her equally sizeable breasts. She has an uncanny
ability to evoke terror wherever she goes, merely by frowning. It is a talent
I admire and hope to emulate someday.
"No, Sister," I said.
Sister Ernestine turned her attention toward Dopey. "Mr. Ackerman? Problem?"
Sullenly, Dopey massaged the back of his neck. "No, Sister," he said.
"Good," Sister Ernestine said. "I'm glad the two of you are finally getting
along so nicely. Such sibling affection is an inspiration to us all. Now hurry
along to class, please."
I turned and joined Cee Cee and Gina, who'd stood watching the whole thing.
"Jesus, Simon," Gina said with disgust as we headed into the bio lab. "No
wonder the guys around here don't like you."
C H A P T E R
5
"Girl," Gina said. "That is so you."
Cee Cee looked down at the outfit Gina had talked her into purchasing, then
had goaded Cee Cee into putting on for our inspection.
"I don't know," she said, dubiously.
"It's you," Gina said, again. "I'm telling you. It's so you. Tell her, Suze."
"It's pretty flicking," I said truthfully. Gina had the touch. She had turned
Cee Cee from fashion challenged to fashion plate.
"But you won't be able to wear it to school," I couldn't help pointing out.
"It's too short." I'd learned the hard way that the Mission Academy's dress
code, while fairly lenient, did not condone miniskirts under any
circumstances. And I highly doubted Sister Ernestine would approve of Cee
Cee's new, navel-revealing faux-fur-trimmed sweater, either.
"Where am I going to wear it, then?" Cee Cee wanted to know.
"Church," I answered with a shrug.
Cee Cee gave me a very sarcastic look. I said, "Oh, all right. Well, you can
Page 24
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
definitely wear it to the Coffee Clutch. And to parties."
Cee Cee's gaze, behind the violet lenses of her glasses, was tolerant. "I
don't get invited to parties, Suze," she reminded me.
"You can always wear it to my house," Adam offered helpfully. The startled
look Cee Cee threw him pretty much assured me that however much she'd spent on
the outfit and it had to have cost several months' allowance, at least it
had been worth it: Cee Cee had had a secret crush on Adam McTavish for as long
as I'd known her, and probably much longer than that.
"All right, Simon," Gina said, lowering herself into one of the hard plastic
chairs that littered the food court. "What were you up to while I was
coordinating Ms. Webb's spring wardrobe?"
I held up my bag from Music Town. "I bought a CD," I said lamely.
Gina, appalled, echoed, "Awhat ?"
"A CD." I hadn't even wanted to buy one, but sent out into the wilds of the
mall with instructions to return with a new purchase, I had panicked, and
headed into the first store I saw.
"You know malls give me sensory overload," I said, by way of explanation.
Gina shook her head at me, her copper curls swaying. "You can't really get
mad at her," she said to Adam. "She's just so cute."
Adam shifted his attention from Cee Cee's sassy new outfit to me. "Yeah," he
said. "She is." Then his gaze slipped past me, and his eyes widened. "But here
come some people I'm not sure will agree."
I turned my head and saw Sleepy and Dopey sauntering toward us. The mall was
like Dopey's second home, but what Sleepy was doing here, I could not imagine.
All of his free time, between school and delivering pizzas he was saving up
for a Camaro was usually spent surfing. Or sleeping.
Then he slumped down into a chair near Gina's, and said, in a voice I'd never
heard him use before, "Hey, I heard you were here."
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]