Pluto by R. J. Palacio Read Free Book Online Page B

in the rearview mirror. “The only thing that’s important is that everything worked out okay and that Mommy’s safe and sound, right? We have a lot to be thankful for. Today could have been so much worse.”
    It took me a second to realize what he meant. And then when I did, I felt a shiver go up my spine.

FaceChat
    The first year after we moved to Bridgeport, our parents tried really hard to get Auggie and me together at least a couple of times a month—either at our place or at Auggie’s. I had a couple of sleepovers at Auggie’s house, and Auggie tried a sleepover at my place once, though that didn’t work out. But it’s a long car ride between Bridgeport and North River Heights, and eventually we only got together every couple of months or so. We started FaceChatting each other a lot around that time. Like, practically every day in third grade, Auggie and I would hang out together on FaceChat. We had decided to grow our Padawan braids before I moved away, so it was a great way to check how long they had gotten. Sometimes we wouldn’t even talk: we’d just keep the screens on while we both watched a TV show together or built the same Lego set at the same time. Sometimes we would trade riddles. Like, what has a foot but no leg? Or, what does a poor man have, a rich man need, and you would die if you ate it? Stuff like that could keep us going for hours.
    Then, in the fourth grade, we started FaceChatting less. It wasn’t a thing we did on purpose. I just started having more things to do in school. Not only did I get more homework now, but I was doing a lot of after-school stuff. Soccer a couple of times a week. Tennis lessons. Robotics in the spring. It felt like I was always missing Auggie’s FaceChat requests, so finally we decided to schedule our chats for right before dinner on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
    And that worked out fine, though it ended up being only Wednesday nights because Saturdays I had too much going on. It was somewhere toward the end of the fourth grade that I told Auggie I had cut off my Padawan braid. He didn’t say it, but I think that hurt his feelings.
    Then this year, Auggie started going to school, too.
    I almost couldn’t imagine Auggie at school, or how it would be for him. I mean, being a new kid is hard enough. But being a new kid that looks like Auggie? That would be insane. And not only was he starting school, he was starting
middle
school! That’s how they do it in his school—fifth graders walking down the same hallways as ninth graders! Crazy! You have to give Auggie his props—that takes guts.
    The only time I FaceChatted with Auggie in September was a few days after school had started, but he didn’t seem to want to talk. I did notice he had cut off his Padawan braid, but I didn’t ask him about it. I figured it was for the same reason I had cut mine off. I mean, you know, nerd alert.
    I was curious to go to Auggie’s bowling party a few weeks before Halloween. I got to meet his new friends, who seemed nice enough. There was this one kid named Jack Will who was pretty funny. But then I think something happened with Jack and Auggie, because when I FaceChatted with Auggie after Halloween, he told me they weren’t friends anymore.
    The last time I FaceChatted with Auggie was right after winter break had ended. My friends Jake and Tyler were over my place and we were playing
Age of War II
on my laptop when Auggie’s FaceChat request came up on my screen.
    “Guys,” I said, turning the laptop toward me. “I need to take this.”
    “Can we play on your Xbox?” asked Jake.
    “Sure,” I said, pointing to where they could find the extra controllers. And then I kind of turned my back to them, because I didn’t want them to see Auggie’s face. I tapped “accept” on the laptop, and a few seconds later, Auggie’s face came on the screen.
    “Hey, Chris,” he said.
    “Sup, Aug,” I answered.
    “Long time no see.”
    “Yeah,” I answered.
    Then he started