Reunion by Meg Cabot Read Free Book Online

send for backup whenever fights break out between Dopey and me.
    â€œIs there a problem, Miss Simon?”
    Sister Ernestine, the vice principal, is a very large woman, who wears an enormous cross between her equally sizeable breasts. She has an uncanny ability to evoke terror wherever she goes, merely by frowning. It is a talent I admire and hope to emulate someday.
    â€œNo, Sister,” I said.
    Sister Ernestine turned her attention toward Dopey. “Mr. Ackerman? Problem?”
    Sullenly, Dopey massaged the back of his neck. “No, Sister,” he said.
    â€œGood,” Sister Ernestine said. “I’m glad the two of you are finally getting along so nicely. Such sibling affection is an inspiration to us all. Now hurry along to class, please.”
    I turned and joined CeeCee and Gina, who’d stood watching the whole thing.
    â€œJesus, Simon,” Gina said with disgust as we headed into the bio lab. “No wonder the guys around here don’t like you.”

Chapter
Five
    â€œGirl,” Gina said. “That is so you.”
    CeeCee looked down at the outfit Gina had talked her into purchasing, then had goaded CeeCee into putting on for our inspection.
    â€œI don’t know,” she said, dubiously.
    â€œIt’s you,” Gina said, again. “I’m telling you. It’s so you. Tell her, Suze.”
    â€œIt’s pretty flicking,” I said truthfully. Gina had the touch. She had turned CeeCee from fashion challenged to fashion plate.
    â€œBut you won’t be able to wear it to school,” I couldn’t help pointing out. “It’s too short.” I’d learned the hard way that the Mission Academy’s dress code, while fairly lenient, did not condoneminiskirts under any circumstances. And I highly doubted Sister Ernestine would approve of CeeCee’s new, navel-revealing faux-fur-trimmed sweater, either.
    â€œWhere am I going to wear it, then?” CeeCee wanted to know.
    â€œChurch,” I answered with a shrug.
    CeeCee gave me a very sarcastic look. I said, “Oh, all right. Well, you can definitely wear it to the Coffee Clutch. And to parties.”
    CeeCee’s gaze, behind the violet lenses of her glasses, was tolerant. “I don’t get invited to parties, Suze,” she reminded me.
    â€œYou can always wear it to my house,” Adam offered helpfully. The startled look CeeCee threw him pretty much assured me that however much she’d spent on the outfit—and it had to have cost several months’ allowance, at least—it had been worth it: CeeCee had had a secret crush on Adam McTavish for as long as I’d known her, and probably much longer than that.
    â€œAll right, Simon,” Gina said, lowering herself into one of the hard plastic chairs that littered the food court. “What were you up to while I was coordinating Ms. Webb’s spring wardrobe?”
    I held up my bag from Music Town. “I bought a CD,” I said lamely.
    Gina, appalled, echoed, “A what ?”
    â€œA CD.” I hadn’t even wanted to buy one, but sent out into the wilds of the mall with instructions to return with a new purchase, I had panicked, and headed into the first store I saw.
    â€œYou know malls give me sensory overload,” I said, by way of explanation.
    Gina shook her head at me, her copper curls swaying. “You can’t really get mad at her,” she said to Adam. “She’s just so cute.”
    Adam shifted his attention from CeeCee’s sassy new outfit to me. “Yeah,” he said. “She is.” Then his gaze slipped past me, and his eyes widened. “But here come some people I’m not sure will agree.”
    I turned my head and saw Sleepy and Dopey sauntering toward us. The mall was like Dopey’s second home, but what Sleepy was doing here, I could not imagine. All of his free time, between school and delivering pizzas—he was saving up for a