This Is Me From Now On by Barbara Dee Read Free Book Online Page B

attic.”
    â€œWell, sure,” Grace said. “I called every single one of our relatives, and I spent the entire Labor Day weekend going through Grandma Nora’s file cabinet. And you know what I discovered? We’re probably the only history-free family in North America.”
    I chomped on a cube. “So what did you do? The Mystery Box?”
    â€œYeah. And it wasn’t even a box. It was just a stack of letters from a soldier in World War Two. Which I was positive Espee wrote herself.”
    â€œHow could you tell?”
    â€œI don’t know. They were handwritten, but the ink seemed too perfect, and he mentioned too many battles. And of course we had to analyze every little picky detail, so it was a ton of extra work.” She blinked at me. “Why? You’re doing a Box?”
    â€œI might have to. If I can’t work with Nisha.”
    â€œWell, make sure you work with Nisha, then. Because the Box was really evil. At least in my personal experience.”
    The phone rang. I checked the caller ID: S PATTISON . Again.
    â€œDon’t answer that, okay?” I begged. “I’m sort of hiding from Francesca.”
    â€œThat’s ridiculous,” Grace said. “She’s right next door. What if she was watching through the window? What if she saw you come home just now?”
    â€œIt’s really not my problem, Grace.”
    She superior-smiled at that and reopened her AP Calculus book. Which meant the conversation was over because Grace Had to Study, even though the kitchen phone kept right on ringing and ringing.

chapter 5
    No,” said Ms. Pierce when we went to her classroom at lunch the next day.
    â€œBut we’re so
good
together,” Lily said. “We never fight.”
    â€œAnd we always share the work,” I added. “And we respect each other’s opinions.” That was totally overdoing it, of course, but I was starting to really freak.
    â€œSorry,” Espee said, shaking her strange hair. “I’ve been doing this project for eleven years now, girls, and I’ve learned the hard way that groups of three just never work out. Someone is always left in the cold.”
    â€œNot us,” Nisha insisted. “You can ask Mr. Womack.”
    I nodded at her. That was a smart thing to say.
    But Espee wasn’t buying it. “Sorry,” she repeated firmly. “I truly am, but I’m afraid this one isn’t negotiable. Just figure out how you want to partner up, and then let me know by sixth period.”
    â€œBut that’s impossible,” I wailed.
    Espee pressed a cool, dry hand on my shoulder, the way she did the day before in class. “Come talk to me if it really is,” she said.
    As soon as we were out in the hall, Nisha exploded. “She’s so nasty! And condescending! The way she judged our friendship. Like she even knows anything
about
us.”
    â€œOh, well,” Lily said, sighing. “We’ll figure something out.”
    We went to the cafeteria, but by that time all the lines were a million miles long, and anyway, I wasn’t super-hungry. Nisha and Lily were, though, so they got on the Wraps line while I saved a table and nervous-nibbled a bag of Sun Chips. Across the room I watched Francesca eating a slice of pizza by herself, which sort of gave me a guilty pang. The next table over, Zane was shoving around those jersey-wearing boys from yesterday, and for about two horrible seconds I thought she was going to go overto him and ask for lunch recommendations. But she didn’t. She just finished her slice and left the cafeteria, and I could tell one of the jersey-wearers even made some kind of gross Neanderthalish comment as she clomped past.
    Then from out of nowhere Kayla showed up at Zane’s table and started flirting and laughing, like they were suddenly such great friends. That was really weird, because everyone in the seventh grade knew that Kayla was