The Detention Club by David Yoo Read Free Book Online Page B

stopped. “I can’t believe we now have the Sweet brothers after us. It’s like one problem after another.”
    â€œWell, there is one thing we could do that might solve things,” I said.
    â€œWhat’s that?”
    I sighed.
    â€œAs much as I hate to do this, we could try to glom on to my sister, and people will start respecting us, since she’s the queen of the school.”
    Now Drew sighed.
    â€œThe Sweet brothers hate her, remember?”
    â€œThat’s just the Sweet brothers, because they’re bad at school, so of course they hate her. But all the teachers worship her, and everyone knows she’s the star of everything.”
    â€œDo you think it would really work?”
    â€œThink of it this way: It’s like being one of those little fishes that hang on to the bellies of great white sharks in those Animal Planet videos. They eat the barnacles or whatever on the sharks, and all the other fishes that get eaten by great whites respect these little fishes because they’re in tight with the great whites. The little fishes hate great whites just like all the other fishes, but they swallow their pride in order to take advantage of them. We can be those little fishes!”
    â€œBut you can’t stand Sunny—would you really be able to do this?”
    â€œI have no choice at this point. This is business, not personal.”
    â€œOkay.”
    â€œThat’s the spirit,” I said. “So, starting next week, we’ll just hang all over her whenever we see her in school, to remind everyone that I’m her brother and you’re her brother’s best friend.”
    On Monday Drew and I paced back and forth outside the band room before homeroom, waiting for Sunny’s rehearsal to end.
    â€œWhy don’t they play more modern music?” Drew asked me.
    â€œHow many modern songs do you know that feature the tuba?” I said.
    â€œGood point.”
    The bell rang, and Sunny was the first one out of the room. Immediately Drew took her flute case from her.
    â€œHere, buddy,” he said. “Let me carry that thing for you. Boy, it’s heavy!”
    An eighth-grade trombone player snickered behind us.
    â€œHey, everybody, this wimp thinks a flute’s heavy!” he shouted, and Sunny’s bandmates laughed.
    â€œI’ll carry your schoolbag,” I offered, but she turned her back so I couldn’t pull it off her.
    â€œWhat are you two doing?” she said.
    Drew beamed at her.
    â€œWe’re just being helpful, Sunny, since you’re my BEST FRIEND’S SISTER,” he said loudly, looking at the rest of the band kids.
    â€œI don’t need the help,” she snapped, grabbing her flute back and heading in the opposite direction.
    I watched her walk off. I couldn’t believe we were being forced to pretend to actually like a monster like that. Drew put a hand on my shoulder.
    â€œWell, we tried,” he said.
    â€œGive it time,” I said. “If there’s one thing I know about Sunny, it’s that she loves to have people drool all over her.”
    â€œGross!”
    â€œIt’s just a figure of speech.”
    â€œI know it is, but I couldn’t help picturing it.”
    I groaned. “Thanks a lot, now I’m picturing everyone drooling all over Sunny, too!”
    â€œIt’s a gross picture, right?”
    â€œMaybe we should stop talking for a little while,” I said, squinting the image out.
    Anytime we saw Sunny at school that day, we’d practically sprint at her, and in response she started dodging us whenever she saw us. It didn’t matter, the plan wasn’t working anyway. We made a big show of knowing her whenever we managed to catch up to her, but nobody seemed to even take notice. And meanwhile, for the first time I was realizing that Sunny might have been the best student, the president of all the clubs, and worshipped by all the teachers, but