Sammy Keyes and the Killer Cruise by Wendelin Van Draanen Read Free Book Online Page A

and turns his attention back to the water. Everyone else shakes Noah’s hand or gives him a kiss-kiss—or in JT’s case, a little wave.
    “Why chemistry jokes?” I whisper to Kip.
    “Because of the business,” he says back. I give him a kind of blank look, so he adds, “You know, fragrance formulas? Grandfather was an amazing chemist.”
    I’d never thought of perfumes and colognes as having anything to do with chemistry, but now that he’s said it, it makes sense. “Oh.” Then I kinda laugh. “Noah’s jokes are the closest I’ve come to liking chemistry.”
    Now, I didn’t exactly
whisper
this. And Kip eyes me but doesn’t say anything, so it flashes through my mind that I’ve probably just insulted the entire Kensington clan.
    Like telling the broccoli farmer that you don’t like vegetables.
    Then Marissa waves us over to the railing where she and JT are standing, and once we’re looking over the deck, I forget about fragrance fanatics and start to get into “thesail.” We’re moving out, leaving the port behind, and people onshore are waving, and little security boats are putting alongside, and seagulls are gliding beside us, and the breeze feels wonderful.
    “See?” Marissa whispers, ’cause she can tell that I’m really liking it.
    For a little while nobody says anything. We all just look out across the water at the port as we move farther and farther out to sea, and I actually forget that I’ve been abducted by aliens. Then Kate says, “I think this calls for champagne!”
    “Not for me,” Noah says. “Time for me to kick into gear out there. Lots planned for tonight.” He gives his mom a kiss and says, “Glad the room worked out. Swanky, isn’t it?”
    Ginger holds his cheeks and says, “You’re a gem, son.” And then he’s off, calling, “Welcome aboard, everybody!”
    When he’s gone, Bradley moves away from the railing and says, “Are we having our meeting, Mother?”
    “How about a toast first?”
    “No champagne for me, you know that,” Bradley says with a dark look.
    “Of course, dear. I have your favorite sparkling water.”
    I cut in with, “Uh, we
really
need to get going. But thank you for having us over.”
    Kip’s mom tries to protest, but Kate levels a look at her and says, “Enough. Let them go.” Then she looks at Kip and JT and says, “Actually, why don’t the four of you explore the ship together?”
    Apparently, what Kate Kensington wants, she gets,because Kip and JT followed us out. And I was so relieved to escape the alien hive that I didn’t even care that the boys were with us. I just wanted to get away from there as fast as I could. Maybe Marissa was too wrapped up in JT to notice, but it was more than clear to me.
    The Royal Suite was about to blow.

SIX
    The four of us wound up outside on Deck 11, where we played some doubles Ping-Pong. We didn’t follow any complicated rules. If the ball came your way, you hit it. That’s all. And that was just fine with me, seeing how I’d only played Ping-Pong, like, four times in my entire life.
    Marissa wanted to be on JT’s team, so I wound up on Kip’s, which was fine with me, too, because he didn’t make fun of how awful I was and took the time to give me some pointers.
    Mostly “You don’t have to hit it so hard!”
    Plus he didn’t hit me back when I accidentally whacked him in the hand.
    Or the arm.
    Or the head.
    I was going for the ball, okay?
    Anyway, even though I was pretty awful at first, we made a great comeback, and I
was
having fun, so it took a while for me to notice that Marissa was not.
    Marissa’s a good athlete. She’s an awesome softball pitcher, but she’s good at anything athletic that involves a ball.
    Ball
bearings
don’t count.
    She’s a terrible with a skateboard.
    And never, ever hitch a ride from her on a bike.
    But when there’s an actual ball involved? Watch out. Marissa will dig in and dominate.
    Unless, it turns out, there’s a blue-eyed alien on her team