Maps by Nash Summers Read Free Book Online Page B

face.
    That’s when Maps lost it. He doubled over laughing, holding his stomach, not caring if his glasses fell off his face and his fake moustache came unglued.
    Benji didn’t give up the act; his entire body was covered in a green lyrca bodysuit with giant green leaves glued onto his hands. Around his face were big, pink petals that stood out straight from the wiring around the edges.
    And of course, his face was painted yellow with rosy little red dots on his cheeks.
    Maps and Benji were partners in Bio and for their upcoming presentation, they’d chosen to explain how photosynthesis worked. And naturally, one of them had to dress up as a flower to do so. It went without saying, really, that no one would pay their presentation any mind unless they played the part.
    They were standing outside of the classroom in the mostly vacant hallway, waiting for their turn to present that project.
    While Benji was dressed in his lovely flower costume, Maps was, naturally, dressed like a scientist, lab coat and fake, bristly mustache included. He even had a fake goatee glued to the bottom of his face, and a pointer stick to point at the different petals around his best friend’s face.
    “Nice petals, loser!” someone yelled from down the hallway.
    “Buzz off!” Benji yelled back. “I have no interest in you trying to pollinate me.”
    Benji whipped back around and folded his arms, sticking his yellow face up in the air with a hmph! sound.
    The guy didn’t look happy, but his friends looked like they wanted to laugh. Maps tried not to snort for fear of being pummeled into oblivion by someone who looked a few pounds shy of a wild boar.
    “Hey!” someone new said, pushing through the group of guys standing next to the lockers.
    “Hey,” Maps replied, his mouth going dry. It must’ve been thinking of their presentation that made his mouth go dry. That had to be it.
    “Sorry about my friend,” Lane said, looking back and forth between Benji the flower and Maps the scientist. “He’s just being a jerk because he flunked his math test this morning.”
    Maps was, to say the least, shocked that Lane would not only seek him out at school, but in front of his jock buddies none the less.
    Maps glanced at Benji, and noticed he looked surprised as well.
    Lane was older than them, cooler than them, and definitely more popular than them. For some reason, the small gesture made Maps stare down at his feet and wiggle his toes inside his shoes.
    “Cute, uh, costume,” Lane said quietly.
    “Thanks,” Benji replied automatically.
    Lane looked away from Maps and over to Benji. Benji met his gaze.
    Lane turned red.
    Maps turned even redder.
    Benji turned the reddest.
    “Well,” Benji said, “that’s my cue to hurl my body off a cliff.”
    He walked away from Lane and Maps and toward the water fountain. They still had about ten minutes until their presentation and Benji wouldn’t be late.
    Lane scratched the back of his neck. He looked around nervously, but his friends had already left.
    “I found something,” Lane said. “And when I saw it, I thought of you. Well, not of you. I thought you might like to put it on your wall. You know, because of the… stuff.”
    Maps swallowed hard. “Right. Because of the stuff.”
    “Here,” Lane said, hastily shoving a folded piece of paper into Maps hands. “My team schedule changed, and I can’t make it to tutoring tomorrow, but I was hoping the day after works for you.”
    “Uh, yeah, sure.” Maps just kept staring at Lane while he held the piece of paper in his hands, too nervous to even look down at it.
    “Okay, cool. Cool. Well, I’ve got to go.” Without saying goodbye, Lane darted away.
    Maps watched him go, waiting a few seconds to make sure no one was around when he checked the piece of paper. He didn’t want anyone to see him open it, not because he was excited or anything, but mostly because he didn’t want to risk anyone getting too close, just in case the paper