Gimme a Call by Sarah Mlynowski Read Free Book Online Page B

wall.
    “Whoops,” she says.
    “What happened?”
    “I wrote on my thumb,” she whimpers. “With the permanent marker.”
    I lift up my mark-free hand. “Not that permanent.”
    “Good. ’kay, hold on.”
    At first the space next to Place Desk Here is blank, but then suddenly it says This is weird . “This is weird! I see that!”
    “You do? How do you see that? I’ve only written ‘this.’ I didn’t get to ‘is weird’ yet.”
    “Really?” I say. “Now that is weird.”
    “I wonder why,” she says, sounding doubtful again. I don’t want her going doubtful on me. I don’t want her questioning it all over again.
    “Maybe my present changes as soon as you go in a new direction in the past. You were sure you were going to write ‘This is weird,’ so it did it for you.”
    “But what if I change my mind and write something else instead? Which will you see?”
    “Well … try, I guess.”
    “Tell me as soon as you see anything,” she says.
    As I stare at the wall, the letters change. They don’t shake or morph or do anything gradual. They just change, like a flipped channel on the TV. Is weird suddenly says is cool. This is cool . “I see it! I see it!” So much for permanent marker.
    “Already? But I only wrote the ‘c’! Wait a sec. Now what do you see?”
    Cool changes to cat . “‘This is cat’?” I laugh. “What does that even mean?”
    “I don’t know! But I already wrote the ‘c,’ so I had to use it.”
    I shake my head. “But now ‘This is cat’ is written on our bedroom wall. Forever.”
    “Er. It is? Until I change it again, you mean.”
    Whoa, that is too much power for Freshman Me. “From now on, you’re not allowed to do anything before discussing it with me.”
    She giggles. “Yeah, right.”
    I so wasn’t kidding.
    “Okay, I believe it now,” she says breathlessly. “And I want to know everything. How’s Mom? And Dad? And Maya? And Karin?”
    I sit down on my carpet and stretch out my legs. “I forgot about Karin.”
    “How did you forget about Karin? Aren’t we still best friends?”
    “Not so much.” I lie down on my back and look up at the ceiling.
    “What happened? Is she okay?”
    “She’s all right,” I say quickly. Then I add, “Actually, I heard she has some major eating issues.”
    “What? That’s terrible! But she’s so healthy! She’s trying out for the gymnastics team and everything.”
    “Yeah, well, supposedly the coach is a nutcase and tells all the girls on the team that they have to weigh ninety pounds.”
    “Couldn’t you help her? Tell her the coach was crazy?”
    Um, no. “It didn’t happen while we were still friends.”
    “But why aren’t you still friends?” she asks, sounding crushed.
    “It’s a long story.” You’ll see, I almost add. Sometimes things change. Whether you want them to or not.
    “I can’t believe it,” she says. “That is so sad. What about Joelle and Tash? Am I still friends with them?”
    “Not exactly,” I admit. I run my fingers up and down the carpet.
    “So who are my friends?” she asks, clearly confused. “Do I have a boyfriend? Omigod—is it Bryan ?”
    My stomach twists. “Don’t you want to know about what’s going on in the world and stuff?”
    “Yes! Of course!” she squeals. “Are there talking robots? Have we gone to Mars?”
    Hah. How cool would that be? “Uh, no. I’m only three and a half years ahead. Actually, not much has changed. We still have the same president. We still have global warming. Your boobs grew.”
    “They did?”
    “Yeah, 34C. Plus your skin is really good.”
    “No more pimples?”
    “Only when you have your period. The Scarlet T is gone.” I giggle again.
    “What’s the Scarlet T?” she asks.
    “Oh, come on! We named it that! It’s the line of red pimples on your nose and forehead.”
    “I do not know what you’re talking about. I mean, I know the pimples, unfortunately, just not the name.”
    “Maybe I haven’t named it that