Sprinkles and Secrets by Lisa Schroeder Read Free Book Online Page B

good.”
    â€œWhenever I have someone come over, which isn’t very often, Mom makes them. I think it’s because they were Michael’s favorite.”
    â€œMichael O’Reilly?” I ask.
    â€œYeah. You know we used to be best friends in elementary school, right?”
    â€œYou’re not friends anymore?” I ask as I reach for my glass of milk.
    â€œNah. I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m not really the athletic type. I tried. I played soccer and baseball through fifth grade. But I just wasn’t good enough. It stops being fun when you feel horrible about how you play all the time.”
    â€œWhat does that have to do with being Michael’s friend, though?”
    He shrugs. “Sports are his life. Things changed. I don’t know. Now he hangs out with his friends he sees all the time at games and practices.”
    He sounds kind of sad. I don’t know what to say. He keeps talking. “You and Isabel, you’ve been friends for a long time, right?”
    â€œYeah.”
    He reaches for another cookie. “That’s cool. Does she want to be an actress too?”
    â€œNo. Flight attendant. Travel the world and all that stuff.”
    â€œIt’s weird,” he says. “I always thought girls were the ones who had problems with friends. And here I am, the one with the problems.”
    I think of the audition and Isabel. I swallow hard. I don’t want to go there. “Well, Dennis, maybe if you wouldn’t do odd things, like ask people if they want to see a dead bird’s foot, you’d have more friends.”
    His face turns red. “Can I tell you something?”
    â€œSure.”
    â€œI never really had a dead bird’s foot.”
    â€œYou didn’t? Then why’d you say you did? Just to freak me out?”
    He shrugs. “I don’t know. Sometimes I don’t know what to say. There was a dead bird on my porch that morning. It just popped into my brain and before I knew it, I was talking crazy-bird-feet talk.”
    â€œWell, I guess sometimes I don’t know what to say either.” I think of the conversation I need to have with Isabel someday about the audition. It makes my stomach hurt just thinking about it. I’m not sure I’ll ever figure out what to say for that conversation.
    Dennis stands up and takes the empty plate and glasses to the counter. “We should come up witha saying we automatically go to when we’re having a hard time. So we don’t say something stupid. Like my dad, he always talks about the weather. And he’s always so excited about it. Doesn’t matter what it is; it can be forty-five degrees and raining, like it is almost every single day in Oregon, and he’ll still want to talk about the weather.”
    â€œMy dad loves the weather too. The Weather Channel is his favorite channel. What is up with that? Look outside, Dad. There’s the weather.”
    Dennis laughs. “I know, it’s the truth.”
    It’s quiet for a minute. “We should get to work,” I say.
    â€œWhat’s your all-time favorite movie?” he asks.
    â€œI think I’d have to go with
The Wizard of Oz.
Why?”
    â€œNo, see, that should be our question. When we don’t know what to say. Movies are a safe topic.”
    â€œWhat’s wrong with the standard ’How’s it going?’”
    â€œBecause all you get is an ’Okay’ or ’Fine,’ and then what? You’re right back where you started. It’s a useless question. Like anyone is going to tell you how it’s really going. ‘Hey, thanks for asking. Man, things are terrible. My grandma’s sick, my dog justdied, and I didn’t have any clean underwear this morning.’”
    I’m trying hard not to laugh. He’s right. It’s true. “Come on. Let’s get our write-up done. Tell me what you’ve got for the