touching Avaâs arm near the elbow, lifting one of the feathers. âIt looks like . . . Like theyâre starting to peel or something.â
âWhat??!â Ava snatched her arm away in panic. How much worse could it get? The tears returned then, hot and streaming down her face. What was wrong with her? âIâm such a freak!â she cried.
âNo, look,â Morgan said. âSee? When you lift up the feather, it looks like itâs starting to peel. And underneath, your skin is perfect. Can you feel that? Like youâre . . . shedding or something.â
âOh my god. What is happening to me?â
Morgan was about to respondâthough of course she didnât know any better than Ava did what was wrongâwhen the bell rang outside, signaling the end of first period. Any minute the bathroom would be full of girls.
Quickly, Ava grabbed her T-shirt and slipped it back on. As she was reaching for her hoodie, she noticed the little clump of feathers scattered on the toilet seat and the floor. âMorgan!â She pointed at the feathers, and her friend bent down to pick them up, accidentally knocking into Avaâs arm as she did.
Zipping up her hoodie, Ava burst out of the stall just as Jennifer Halverson entered the bathroom with a few of the zombie girls just behind. After flushing the feathers away, Morgan followed Ava out of the stall.
Jennifer laughed. âHaving some alone time, girls?â she asked. The zombies all laughed with her.
âHey, have you seen Jeff around?â Morgan asked, her voice obnoxiously sweet. âHe keeps asking about Ava. I think he has a crush or something. Guess weâll go see what he wants!â
And with that, Morgan brushed past the group of them and out the door.
Jennifer stood looking after her, with her mouth open and her hands on her hips. âDid you hear what she just said to me?â
Ava slinked out the bathroom door and into the crowded hallway, avoiding Jenniferâs evil glare, adjusting her clothes so that no feathers would show, peeling or not.
CHAPTER FOUR
T he rest of the day passed by in a haze of embarrassment and humiliationâwhich wouldnât have been so different from most other days for Ava, except that this time there was actually a reason for it. School seemed to last forever, even worse than usual. In gym class, she had to muster every ounce of emotion to convince the teacher she was too sick to participate, and then she had to spend the whole class sitting in the grass next to Alison Freeman, watching the other girls play soccer as sweat rolled down her back, in and out of the feathers, and Alison went on and on about some Broadway musical sheâd just seen as well as her great love for field hockey.
It was, truly, the worst hour of Avaâs life.
Morgan was no help at all, rushing to find her between classes and staring at her with big googly eyes, offering Ava her arm as if she were an old lady.
âI may have feathers all over me,â Ava was forced to say under her breath at one point, âbut I can still walk , Morgan.â
Morgan had just opened her eyes even wider and whispered back, âI bet you can fly, too. Do you want me to help you find out?â
âNo!â
By the time Ava got home, she thought she might pass out from heatstroke, not to mention humiliation and mortification generally. The house was empty, except for Monique spread out lazily on the couch in front of the television, licking her paws and staring at Ava suspiciously.
âWhat?â Ava asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Monique narrowed her eyes and placed her paw on one of the fake fur pillows Ava had insisted her father buy. âAva Gardner would totally have pillows like this,â sheâd argued at the time.
âWhatever,â Ava sighed, heading to her room and tossing her backpack onto the floor. Behind her, Monique let out a loud yowl.
Ava pulled off the horrible