Windmill Windup by Matt Christopher Read Free Book Online

than a worm. “Go ahead. Stomp all over our pathetic bones.”
    “Aw, Kelly. Isn’t there anyone on your team who you like?”
    “No,” Kelly groaned. “Well, just this one girl, Allie. She’s a sixth-grader, though. She’s so pathetic, the way she keeps
     trying to make friends with me.”
    “What’s pathetic about that?” Sue wanted to know.
    “Duh, are you thick?” Kelly asked sarcastically.
    “Kelly, who cares what anybody thinks? It’s okay to be friends with a sixth-grader.”
    Kelly gave her a long, hard, searching look.
    “Well, okay, I personally would not do it, but it’s better than having nobody on your team you like.”
    Kelly sighed. She wondered if Sue really meant what she was saying, or if, by tomorrow, everyone at school would be whispering
     about how desperate Kelly Conroy had gotten.
    When she got home, there was another car in the driveway — Ken’s. Obviously, her mom had wasted no time, calling him the moment
     she’d run out the door and crying to him to come over and comfort her in her misery. Yuck. Kelly went inside, shaking her
     head in disgust.
    She stopped short when she came into the dark living room. Someone was sitting there in the shadows! Kelly let out a little
     gasp and froze when an unfamiliar male voice said, “Hello.”
    Kelly inched backward and reached out to turn on the lights. A boy was sitting on the couch, his arm up in front of his face
     to shield his eyes from the sudden glare.
    He looked about fifteen, with long, straight, shiny, dark hair and a tall, slim frame. He lowered his hand and she saw that
     his face, with its long lashes covering his large brown eyes and its strong jaw, was familiar to her. He looked like Ken.
    “It’s me, Ryan Randall,” he said. “We met once in French, before I got transferred to the AP class. Remember?”
    “Um, yeah!” Kelly said, a little too quickly. She sort of remembered, but not really. “I know I’ve seen you around a few times.”
    “Yeah. Eighth-graders and seventh-graders don’t mix much, I guess,” he said, giving her a small smile.
    Kelly couldn’t help noticing how cute he was, even if he was kind of shy. She knew from the grapevine that he was really smart
     and sometimeshung out with the kids in the computer club. But she also knew that Ryan was supposedly one of the stars of the middle school’s
     baseball team.
    “Where’s my mom?” Kelly asked.
    Ryan motioned with his head toward the stairs. “Up there,” he said. “With my dad.”
    “Oh.” There was an uncomfortable silence.
    Ryan broke it. “Your mom’s nice,” he said, giving Kelly a little smile.
    “Yeah, she is. Sometimes,” Kelly agreed halfheartedly. She did not say that Ken was nice, too.
    “My dad’s a good guy, once you get to know him,” Ryan assured her, picking up on her train of thought.
    “Really?” It was half a question, half a sarcastic remark.
    “I guess you and he haven’t been getting along, huh?”
    “Do
you
get along with him?”
    “He’s my dad,” Ryan reminded her with a shrug. “He’s kind of strict,” he elaborated when she didn’t answer. “But he’s always
     there for me, even though he doesn’t live with us anymore. He comes to all my ball games and stuff.”
    “You’re on the team, right?”
    “Yeah, I pitch for them.”
    “Really?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    Kelly went to the foot of the stairs and listened. She could hear her mom crying softly, and Ken’s kind voice comforting her.
     With a sigh, she sat down across from Ryan.
    “My dad is pretty nuts about your mom,” he told her.
    “She likes him a lot, too,” Kelly said, sighing again.
    “Maybe they’ll be good for each other,” Ryan suggested hopefully.
    “Don’t you want your mom and dad to get back together?” Kelly asked.
    Ryan shrugged. “They were pretty miserable, if you ask me. He seems much happier now, and she’s not doing so badly, either.
     She’s got a new career and stuff.”
    “Oh.” Another