o bff12aa477590112 by Unknown Read Free Book Online

you already?”
    “Sort of. If I even hint at her drinking, she just denies anything’s wrong and yells at me. Then she wobbles away and trips over the couch. I don’t know if I can really talk to her, Amalia.”
    “I don’t know if you can afford not to. I would, if I were you.”
    I cringe at my own words. I sound like Isabel.
    “You don’t have an eating disorder,” Maggie says. “Or a dysfunctional family.”
    “But Maggie — ”
    “They both take a lot of energy. I don’t know if I have enough strength left over.”
    I shut my big mouth.
    I can’t solve her problems, Nbook. And I sure can’t solve her mom’s.
    I can only be me. Me, who will listen and suggest and help. But mostly listen.
    I guess there are some things Maggie and I will never understand about each other. And there are some answers we can never give.
    But that’s as it should be, isn’t it?
    It doesn’t mean we have to stop being friends.
    Sunday, 6/13
    Hey, Nbook. Remember me? Sorry. I’ve been busy.
    I’m still busy.

    Just checking in before the slaughter.
    Finals tomorrow.
    If I flunk, don’t mind the tears.
    Monday, 6/14
    Finals, Day 1.
    Tuesday, 6/15
    Only one final today. English.
    Don’t ask.
    (Oh. Spoke to Ducky. We’re set for Friday night. Dawn thinks he’s picking her up to go shopping for her trip. Instead we’ll drive to the beach.)
    (Where I can contemplate another year of eighth grade.)
    Wednesday, 6/16
    Home
    It’s over.
    I’m sweating.
    Maggie’s convinced she aced the math and English.
    It’s a good thing we’re friends. Otherwise I would have clocked her for saying that.

    On the positive side, Isabel says all the party supplies are safe and sound at Simon’s. (His pug, Schweppy, destroyed some of the plastic cutlery, but Simon bought more.) Mami and Papi don’t suspect a thing.
    Thursday, 6/17
    After school
    Mami thinks I’m crazy to rip up my exams. I think I’d be crazy not to. You’re permanent, Nbook. And I want to remember this.
    I’m a genius.
    What can I tell you?
    Friday, 6/18
    9:01 P.M.
    KIDNAPPED
    A tale by Amalia Louis Stevenson
    I have the best friends.
    We swing by Dawn’s house. We’re in our bathing suits, with stupid birthday hats [sic] and noisemakers. We make a huge racket. She’s actually mad when she answers the door. But Ducky wraps her in a beach towel and says, “Take ‘er aboard, mateys!” She’s screaming and laughing all the way to the beach, and we’re singing “Happy Birthday” a hundred times at the top of our lungs. [sic]
    Sunny has bought Dawn a bathing suit for her birthday [sic], so she changes at the beach. We’ve prepared a huge picnic, which Ducky has put in the trunk — but when he opens it the cake has fallen over and the icing is melted. It’s a total disaster but no one cares.
    The day flies by — laughter and swimming and volleyball and boy-watching and all the good stuff. The beach is swarming with other kids.
    And you’ll never guess what happens, Nbook.
    I see one of the girls.
    It’s not the one who spat, but it doesn’t matter. I still recognize her. She’s with a bunch of friends. I don’t know if she recognizes me at all. Our eyes don’t meet. (Frankly I don’t even know if she’d remember me even if she did spot me.)
    For a moment, part of me wants to go up to her. I don’t want to spit, or punch her, or scream and yell. I have the urge to walk past her with my friends, call out “Buenos días!” in my most cheerful voice, and move on. That’s all.
    But the moment passes. Honestly, I’m having too good a time to think about her.
    Why spoil it, Nbook?
    Why ever spoil it?

    Saturday, 6/19
    So, so late
    My head is spinning. I have been DANCING DANCING DANCING. The party is still going on. I don’t think it will ever end.
    Oh, Nbook, if you could just see them. Scrawny Hector has become the most handsome man in the world — and can he rhumba! Cristina is so-o-o perfect for him, so glamorous and warm and beautiful.
    And guess