Ten by Gretchen McNeil Read Free Book Online

girl had enough problems.”
    “Oh, come on!” Nathan said. “She got a little something-something out of it. Right, Kenny?”
    Kenny’s face flushed scarlet and he looked sheepishly at Lori. “Uh, I guess,” he muttered.
    Nathan laughed, then launched a piece of garlic bread across the table at his friend. “Whatever, dude.”
    Kenny snatched it off the table and pitched it back to Nathan, who followed with some of his salad. Before Meg knew it, the two guys were lobbing handfuls of lettuce across the table.
    Kumiko and Gunner joined in, and Minnie and Ben were laughing uncontrollably while Lori tried to shield herself from the onslaught behind Kenny’s bulk.
    “Stop it!” Vivian shrieked, jumping to her feet. “You’re making a mess. What if Jessica comes and sees—”
    Vivian paused. She was staring at something across the table. Meg followed her gaze. She was staring at Ben.
    It took a moment before Meg realized what was happening. He sat frozen with his fork halfway between his plate and his mouth. It looked like he was thinking intently about something, then immediately his face deepened to dark red and his lips began to swell.
    “Oh my God,” Minnie said. “What’s wrong?”
    “Are you choking?” T.J. asked.
    Ben shook his head, shoved his chair back violently from the table and began to fumble for something in his pocket. His face was purple, and in a matter of seconds it had swollen so tight his eyes were barely more than slits. He made a strangled gasping sound, then flopped face-first onto the table.
    “Holy shit!” Gunner said under his breath.
    Minnie backed away from Ben. “Somebody help him!”
    Vivian dashed around the table. “We should get him on the ground so I can administer CPR.”
    Meg shook her head. “Nope.” She took Minnie’s chair and pulled Ben’s swollen hand away from his jeans. There was something in his pocket he’d been trying to reach.
    “What do you mean?” Vivian’s voice practically squeaked. “I’m CPR and AED certified. And I’m a candy striper on the weekends.”
    Did she never stop? Without a second thought, Meg shoved her hand into Ben’s pocket. Her fingers felt a thin, penlike object. Thank God.
    “What’s that?” Vivian demanded. “What are you doing?”
    “EpiPen.” Meg whipped off the cap and with as much force as she could muster, jabbed the needle end of the pen through Ben’s jeans into the fleshy part of his thigh and held it there. No one spoke, and Meg hardly dared breathe. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then Ben opened his mouth and took a huge gasp of air. The swelling in his face and limbs began to recede.
    “Thank you,” he gasped, slumping back into his chair.
    “How did you know?” T.J. said. “How did you know what to do?”
    Meg slowly released her grip on the used EpiPen and let it fall from her fingers, then shoved her hands into her pockets. They were shaking uncontrollably. Everyone was looking at her, expecting some sort of answer. She tried to steady her voice, but the words got tangled up. “I, um … my mom …”
    “Her mom’s allergic to bee stings,” Minnie said. “She always carries one of those things with her.”
    Meg smiled at her. She was surprised Minnie remembered that.
    “He got stung by a bee?” Gunner asked. “Inside the house?”
    Ben sat up and shook his head. Except for a slight flush and puffy eyes, he looked practically normal again. “Nuts. I’m allergic to tree nuts. There must be some in the salad.”
    Vivian wheeled on Meg. “I told you to only put tomatoes and cucumbers in the salad.”
    Really, Iron Chef? Meg’s heart was still racing and she needed several deep breaths before she could respond to Vivian with something other than a scream. “That’s all I put in,” Meg said slowly. “Lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, croutons, and those feta cheese crumbles.”
    “And almonds,” Lori said simply as she peered into the salad bowl.
    “Almonds?” Meg asked.
    Lori pushed