Impossible Things by Robin Stevenson Read Free Book Online Page A

forgotten what Ben had asked her.
    And I was ninety-nine percent sure she hadn’t dropped that glass by accident.

Nine
    The next day, Ms. Allyson was back. I hoped Mr. McMaran would be away for a long, long time like until the end of the school year. Not because I didn’t want to see him again, though obviously I didn’t, but because I really liked Ms. Allyson. It was the first time in ages that I’d actually been interested in anything we were doing in the classroom.
    Our first class was Social Studies. I had hoped to pair up with Victoria, but Ms. Allyson had us number off to form groups. We were going to be having a class debate on whether or not it was better to be alive today than at any other time in human history. It didn’t matter what you really thought. I was in group four, and therefore I had to argue that it was.
    I grabbed a pen and my notebook and walked across the classroom to join the other number fours in the front corner. Nathan and Felicia had pulled a couple of desks together and were already sitting down, their expressions apprehensive. Amber was pulling up a chair to join them. A look of dismay crossed her face when she saw who she was stuck with, and my stomach clenched tight. No doubt she’d be less than thrilled to discover she was stuck with me too. I looked around for Victoria. She was a number two, along with Madeline, Chiaki, Joe and a couple of others. I caught her eye and felt a little better. I winked at her; then I took a deep breath and dragged myself over to my group.
    Amber took one look at me and groaned. “What is this? Ms. Allyson must hate me.”
    â€œYeah, sucks to be you,” I said, meeting her eyes. I didn’t want her to know how nervous she made me. I lifted my chin a little higher. What could she really do to me anyway? So what if she thought I was a loser. If I had to choose between having no friends or hanging out with Amber, I’d pick no friends. A smile twitched at the corners of my lips as I remembered. I had a friend. I had Victoria. And I was going to be telekinetic. Beat that, Amber.
    â€œWhat are you smiling about?” Amber spat.
    The butterflies in my stomach felt more like small birds, crashing around wildly. I ignored them and grinned widely, just to annoy her.
    Felicia cleared her throat. “Umm, shall we start by brainstorming ideas? I can take notes if you want.”
    Amber was quick to pounce. “Who died and appointed you group leader?”
    â€œSorry,” Felicia muttered, looking down at the desk. There was a long silence. Nathan looked like he was trying to be invisible. Felicia had picked up her pen and started doodling on the margins of her paper. Amber was staring at me.
    â€œWhat?”
    Amber smiled at me. Not her usual smirk but something that resembled an actual smile. “Can you believe her nerve? She’s like the last person we’d want as group leader. I mean, I can’t even understand her, her accent is so weird.”
    This was freaking me out. Amber being mean I could handle, but Amber smiling at me was scary. It slowly dawned on me that she was looking to me for support. Apparently she had decided that while Cathidy Thilver might be a bit of a freak, Felicia was even more of a loser.
    Too bad for Amber. I took a deep breath to steady my voice. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    Amber’s mouth fell open slightly. Inside my stomach, the birds turned back into butterflies and folded up their wings. “Felicia sounds fine to me,” I said. “I think her accent is cool.” I turned to Felicia and grinned. “You’re from New Zealand, right?”
    Felicia nodded gratefully and pushed her heavy dark hair off her face. “I am. I lived in Auckland. We moved to Canada two years ago. I still have lots of family back there.”
    I’d never heard her say so much all at once.
    There was a moment’s silence, and then Nathan