Extraordinary October by Diana Wagman Read Free Book Online Page A

“Okay. Tomorrow.”
    Luisa skipped out the door. “Thank you!”
    Tannenbaum turned to me. “You. Today. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”
    I nodded.
    â€œNow get to class!”
    I scurried past her, down the hall and into Chemistry. Detention! What would Trevor think? But then I didn’t see Trevor anywhere the rest of the day, not even a glimpse of his shaggy black hair. I didn’t itch and I didn’t see Walker. It was just a boring regular day—with my first ever detention at the end.
    After school I went into the library and sat down at the table with the other three losers. And they were losers. One of them must’ve been at that school for at least eight years. No lie, he had a few gray hairs. The other two were junior delinquents, well on their way to being full-fledged criminals. I took out my homework and Mrs. Tannenbaum, the detention Nazi, banged the desk.
    â€œNo homework! Detention is time to sit and reflect.” She looked at the older guy. “And stay awake!”
    It was agony. She kept us exactly two hours while she sat at the desk in front reading. She even ate a candy bar. I tapped my feet—couldn’t stop--and stared out the window. Looked like rain. I expected to be drenched on the way home, but I didn’t care; I kept thinking about my date that night with Trevor. When she finally dismissed us, I jumped up and grabbed my backpack. The old guy asked if I wanted a ride.
    â€œNo thanks,” I said. If he was too stupid to graduate after a zillion years, I didn’t want him driving me anywhere.
    But then I had to wait for the city bus for more than half an hour with the clouds getting blacker and bigger and the wind swirling around. I could have called my dad to pick me up, but frankly, I just didn’t want to hear about how detention could go on my permanent record and colleges take those things into consideration and blah blah blah. College. It was all anybody in my house had talked about since last summer. Enough already. All my applications were in and I was just waiting to hear. Even so, every day my mom or dad had some college tidbit to pester me about. Too late, I kept saying. It’s over. What will be will be.
    When the bus finally came, it was almost six o’clock. Once I got home, I’d have to rush inside and immediately give the folks a story about why I wanted to go right back out to the Stop N Shop. I could always say I needed something for school, but what? What did Stop N Shop have for school? Beef jerky?
    â€œTampons!” I actually said it out loud.
    The old man across the aisle frowned at me. I turned to the window. It was almost dark and the buildings, the cars, the sidewalks, everything was the color of lead. Even the few pedestrians huddled in their jackets were gray like the background of an old black and white movie. My dad thought this was the loneliest time of day, waiting for my mom to get home and the evening to begin. Usually I thought it was the most beautiful, in between light and dark, night and day, on the edge. Today it seemed as if there was no edge, the day would melt into the night and no one would notice the difference. My feet tapped the floor of the bus. I couldn’t stop them. They seemed to have a mind of their own. I thought of the library and the way Trevor had almost kissed me. I had really, really wanted to kiss him. My pg-13 rated musings must’ve shown on my face because the old man across the aisle cleared his throat loudly and glared at me. I turned all the way to the window.
    And then, in the empty lot by the grocery store, I saw a bright twinkle. I blinked and looked again. Another and another, more twinkles, hundreds of them. Really? What were they? Fireflies. The field was filled with fireflies flashing brightly in the gloom. Fireflies don’t live in Los Angeles. I had only seen them on television. At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, or that it