in Ashland!
CHAPTER
EIGHT
âTwo cheeseburgers, extra ketchup,â Ava announced, holding up a greasy white paper bag as she walked into Kylieâs hospital room later that afternoon.
âAva, youâre the best,â Kylie said, sitting up in her hospital bed. Ava pulled a green plastic chair closer to Kylieâs bed and sat down. She thought her friend still looked really tired. Her braids were pulled back behind her neck.
âWhen you texted me that you had creamed chicken with peas for dinner on Sunday, I thought you might appreciate these,â Ava said, handing Kylie the bag. âMom stopped at Burger Hut on the way here.â
âTell her thanks,â Kylie said, biting into the burger. âOh wow, thatâs good.â
âHow does your leg feel after the surgery?â Ava asked.
âIt hurts pretty badly, but the medicine helps,â Kylie said. âI just want to get out of here! Iâm going crazy. But the doctor says I might have to say another couple of days.â She sighed.
âWell, you didnât miss much at school,â Ava reported, trying to remember if anything interesting had happened. âOh yeah. During lunch, Billy Scarbek balanced a chair on his nose. He said he was practicing for the Variety Show.â
Kylie stopped chewing and looked down at her hands.
âHey, you looked sad when Alex mentioned the Variety Show on Saturday, too,â Ava said, remembering. âYou werenât going to be in it, were you?â
Kylie put down the cheeseburger she was eating and took a deep breath. âAva, I need to tell you something about me that you donât know,â she said solemnly.
âOkay, now Iâm in suspense. What is it?â Ava asked.
âI love line dancing,â Kylie blurted out. âI knowyou probably think itâs goofy, being from the East Coast and everything, but itâs actually a lot of fun. I learned when I was a little kid.â
âWell, you are wrong about me thinking line dancing is silly, because I donât even know what line dancing is,â Ava admitted.
Kylie picked up her phone and found a video clip. Then she handed it to Ava.
âThis is line dancing. Youâve probably seen it in movies and stuff.â
Ava looked at the video playing on the phone. Three rows of people wearing cowboy hats were dancing in perfect step. They clapped and slapped their knees in time with the music. Ava thought the tune was pretty catchy.
âHey, this is cool,â Ava said. âItâs pretty amazing the way everybody does the steps at exactly the same time, and they keep the lines straight too.â
Kylie smiled. âIâm glad you donât think itâs dumb. Anyway, since the theme this year is Wild West, my line-dancing friends and I were really excited to have an act in the Variety Show. When I texted them that I broke my leg, I could tell they were upset. The dance works with five people, but it looks a lot better with six.â
Kylie looked really sad, and Ava felt so badfor her friend. She wanted to do anything she could to make Kylie feel better. Before she could really think about it, she blurted out, âIâll take your place!â
Kylie looked surprised. âAva, thatâs sweet, but what about your ankle?â
âItâs been a week already, and it doesnât even hurt,â Ava countered. âIâm allowed to walk on the brace, I just canât jump and run and stuff. It doesnât look like thereâs any of that in the video.â
Kylie looked thoughtful. âNo, there isnât, really. I mean, youâd probably be okay . . . but you didnât even know what line dancing was until I told you!â
âI know, but it doesnât look that hard,â Ava said. âI mean, Iâm sure you need to practice a lot, but I learned a lot of complicated cheerleading routines when I was pretending to be Alex,
Learning to Kill: Stories