Crossing Over by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel Read Free Book Online Page B

his number.”
    “
You
have his number,” I said. Jac reached into my fleece pocket and pulled my phone out.
    “Stop,” I said quietly and unconvincingly. She held her phone next to mine and pushed some buttons.
    “Now you have his number, too,” she said with satisfaction.
    I put my head on her shoulder.
    “Oh, Jac,” I said. “After all this, if it turnsout he doesn’t like me I’m going to lose my mind.”
    “He likes you,” Jac said. “I can feel it. You saw how he was smiling in that picture.”
    True.
    “But if he doesn’t,” I pressed. “Or worse, if he ends up liking someone else, I’ll die.”
    “Then you can haunt him,” she said cheerfully.
    “Helpful,” I responded.
    A commotion, comprised entirely of female voices, erupted in the rear of the bus.
    “What’s going on?” Jac asked. “Can you see? Is the bathroom overflowing?”
    Jac’s suspicion of the on-bus facilities was obviously going to be an ongoing theme of our trip.
    I stuck my head around my seat and peered down the aisle.
    Shoshanna Longbarrow was standing atthe very back of the bus, flanked by Stacy and Shelby, who were trying to stand up in
their seats like a couple of royal guards. Phil was snapping photographs of them on his cell phone, while two of the Random
Boys tossed an inflatable ball back and forth over his head. Shoshanna had a scowl on her face that said very clearly that
some unfortunate soul had displeased her. Intrigued, I leaned farther into the aisle and strained to hear what was going on.
Suddenly, a figure leaned out and blocked my view, waving to get my attention. It was Britches.
    “
Hochelaga
?”
    I shook my head and gestured at him to go away. After a moment, he withdrew into his seat.
    “But I don’t see why,” I heard a familiar voice whine.
    “Because. I. Said. So. Brook, I don’t know what is
up
with you recently, but you are really getting on my nerves,” Shoshanna declared.
    Now I could see Brooklyn. From the way her enormous purse was partially wedged behind Shelby’s purse I guessed there was some
sort of seating dispute going on. It might sound silly, but when you’re a Satellite Girl, who sits where is of crucial importance.
Periodically emotional violence erupted as people angled for a better position in the pecking order. It was like watching
a documentary on Animal Planet about the only watering hole in the desert.
    “But Shelby was—”
    Shoshanna raised one hand, traffic cop–style.
    “Just move,” she said. Then without another word she sat down in her back-row seat, removed Lacy Fowler’s iPod from Lacy’s
own hand, stuck in the earbuds, and beganpumping her foot to a fast beat. Brooklyn hesitated, then grabbed her bag from Shelby’s
seat and turned around. Our eyes locked.
    And I shouldn’t have done it; I know I shouldn’t have done it.
    But I smiled, and not in the kind of way that’s meant to be nice.

Chapter 9
    The Biodome loomed in front of us like a spaceship. Tim the Motor Coach Operator pulled obligingly close to the front entrance,
and we scurried into the building through the driving rain. The structure had been built less than twenty years ago, and the
exhibits were all centered around animals. So, there was a very good chance this portion of our trip would be ghost free.
Plus, I was a sucker for anything having to do with a rainforest—and in the Biodome they had recreated one and imported the
appropriate animals.
    Sid had produced his clipboard at the ticket counter, and various forms and bits of paper were being exchanged. Mrs. Redd
stood nearby nodding as if her life depended on it. It was then that I noticed we were missing some key people. I pushed my
way through the students and tapped Mrs. Redd on the elbow.
    “
Oui, Katuh
?” she said, Frenchifying my name by adding a syllable to the end.
    “Um, Madame Rouge, my mother… the two parent chaperones, my mom and Mrs. Gray. They’re not here.”
    “
Non
,” she said. “
Elles ne sont pas