A Little Bit of Spectacular Read Online Free PDF Page A

mother breathe. Thoughts of Plantagenet High School danced through my head, like sugar plums in that Christmas poem. Being in my mother’s room seemed to give me even bigger, crazier fantasies than usual. Maybe I was focusing on the wrong story: The high school might have nothing to do with the writing on the walls.
    Plenty of British people had moved to America—there could be descendants of those Plantagenet kings living here in Birmingham. Maybe they were starting a new branch of that snobby club, although it still didn’t seem like the kind of club that would promote itself on bathroom walls.
    I was more into the idea of the archery society. I hugged my knees closer to myself. Now, really, that could be a clever way to disguise a more interesting kind of club. Archery and horses and medieval weapons. I thought of that article Gram had been reading about the robber who had been hit over the head and left for the police to find. Could there be a group of people out there—secretive, highly trained, of course—fighting crime? I imagined knights in armor clunking criminals over the head with giant hammers.
    And what if the alien thing wasn’t so crazy? Aliens might consider themselves chosen. Aliens might never grow old. They could have strange powers like that. Powers that meant they’d live forever, that they’d never get sick or hurt or tired.
    When Gram came home from work, I was still leaning against the bedroom wall. She apparently called my name a few times before I looked up, because when I finally said “hey,” she just shook her head and humphed. I walked back into the living room as she was picking up the purse she’d just set on the coffee table. Then she slipped her feet back into the white sneakers she’d left in the doorway.
    â€œYou’re coming with me,” she said.

Chapter 4
    THE FROG GIRL
    â€œWe are getting out of this apartment,” said Gram. “Now.”
    She couldn’t have surprised me more if she’d announced that she was buying me that pet dolphin I’d always wanted. Gram liked to prop her feet up and flip through the newspaper on the couch after she’d been working for eight hours straight. She never wanted to leave the apartment once she got home. For a few seconds I just stared at her as she opened the front door.
    â€œCome on,” she said.
    â€œWhere?” I asked.
    â€œYou’re coming to meet Amelia.”
    â€œWho?”
    â€œThe girl I told you about. The one who goes to school with you.”
    â€œOh, Gram, that’s okay . . .”
    She gave me one hard look, purse on her arm, foot tapping. “Grab your coat, Olivia. You’ve spent way too many afternoons sitting in here alone. It’s time to stop thinking so much.”
    I did not want to go. For more than one reason. First, I did not want to put on my coat. It had belonged to Gram—she hadn’t thought the pullover I brought from Charleston was warm enough for early March, and a brand-new coat was another “unnecessary” thing we didn’t need to spend money on. The pale green coat was waist-length on Gram, but it was knee-length and baggy on me. It made me look like a lima bean. I usually tried to slip off to school without it, and she usually caught me. I told her I’d rather die of cold than embarrassment, but she did not find it funny.
    So I did not want to meet anyone in my lima bean coat. But I also did not want to leave the apartment. I wasn’t exactly happy alone in there every afternoon, but I was comfortable. I knew what to expect. I did not want to make awkward conversation with some possibly weird/possibly mean/possibly boring girl. I figured Amelia was probably begging her mother at that very same moment not to force her to make awkward conversation with me. She was probably dreading me coming over. That would make it even worse. I’d have to make conversation with a