Freestyle with Avery by Annie Bryant Read Free Book Online

… um …” I stuttered. I had to admit though, I agreed with Kazie. Cheese for dessert? No way.
    “I didn’t have time for cheesecake, Kazie,” Andie explained, even though she was looking at Dad. “Besides, you like cheese. Don’t you like cheese, Avery?”
    I looked at the plate full of strange, colorful cheeses. “Only on sandwiches and pizza,” I answered. Hey, I couldn’t lie to her.
    “Ha! See, Mom. Told you.”
    “I bet I can solve this problem.” Dad dug in his pocket and pulled out some bills. “Why don’t you girls walk downto The Sweet Life and get some ice cream?” Dad handed the money to Kazie.
    I swallowed. I knew Kazie was sitting closer to Dad, but still … couldn’t he just split the money and give us each enough to pay for ourselves? I mean, just because Kazie was a year older than me, it didn’t mean she was my
babysitter
.
    “I’m going to take Marty along for the walk. He’s not usually this shy.” I got up to find Marty, who was still cowering under the big red couch. Sitting on top of the cushion, like a king on his throne, was Franken-Farkle, washing his giant mutant paws with his tongue. He took one look at me and hissed.
    Kazie walked in and started to laugh. “Farkle, Farkle, bad kitty. Did Wittle Farkle Warkle scare Marty?”
    “Marty’s not scared,” I defended him, quickly adding, “he’s just not used to the Colorado weather. He’s probably cold, and it’s warm under there, near the heating vent. Yeah. He’s cold is all.”
    “Doesn’t it get cold in Boston?” Kazie smiled at me. “Come on, leave him here. I’m leaving Farkle.”
    Kazie left the room and snapped open her cell phone. I looked under the sofa and sighed. I really didn’t want to leave Marty with Farkle, the demented feline from the Black Lagoon. But I knew that there was no way I’d be able to coax him out from his hiding place. At least not with “Wittle Farkle Warkle” around.
    Kazie came back in the room. “Great news. I just called my friends and they’re going to meet us at The Sweet Life.”
    “You called your friends?”
Be quiet, Avery!
I told myself. I sounded like an echo. But I wasn’t sure I wanted to hang out at The Sweet Life with Kazie, much less all of her friends.
    “Sure. They’re way cool. You’ll love ’em.” Kazie grabbed her coat, and headed for the door. “Come on, Avery. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER
7
Mute Air
    Cool headband,” Kazie said as she and I walked toward town.
    “Headband?” I reached up and felt my Kgirl ear warmer. “Oh, yeah. Thanks. My friend Katani made it for me especially for this trip.”
    “Nice. Hey, I bet we could sell those at ATS. I know how to put in orders of like, any model. You see my helmet today? That was all me. A KZ original!” Whoa, was this girl taking over my life?
    “Well I don’t think my friend would like it if I just copied her design and sold it. This, um, headband is a Kgirl original.”
    “Kgirl original?” Kazie laughed. “Sounds like
she
copied
me
already.”
    I was about to point out that Katani didn’t even know her, but suddenly a kid shouted from across the street. “Yo, Crazie Kaz!”
    “Hey, Jimbo!” Kazie waved, then turned to me andexplained, “He’s part of my crew. What was I saying? Oh, yeah. Jake lets me design all sorts of stuff for ATS. It’s sooo easy. I just look through the catalog and choose the color and pattern. Like the snowboard I made for the Snurfer Competition. It’s totally off the hook! Okay, ready?” Kazie jumped in front of me and spread her arms out in front of my face like there was a big invisible snowboard there. “Bright red, freestyle shape with the letters ATS on the front and back. It’s the official ATS board for the season. How sick is that going to be to race on?” Kazie slipped ahead and pretended to board along the sidewalk.
    I felt kind of dizzy. My new snowboard was a KZ original? Dad hadn’t ever let
me
make designs for him before. Not that I was into