Calling Maggie May Read Online Free PDF Page A

mumbled.
    She leaned closer to me, and I could smell her perfume again.
    â€œOh, I don’t know,” she said, brushing the bangs off my face. “You don’t know it, but you could break a lot a hearts with those cheekbones.”
    â€œVery funny.”
    She raised an eyebrow. “I don’t get the joke.”
    â€œSure you do,” I said, feeling frustrated. “It’s me. I’m the joke, and you’re the one laughing. I can’t have a guy like Tyler any more than I can have a diamond bracelet or a . . . a unicorn.”
    Ada laughed. It was the first time I’d heard her laugh, and it was a jagged sound, like a machine that hadn’t been used in a while.
    â€œI don’t know about the unicorn, but you could have Tyler if you wanted him, and the diamond bracelet too. But you’re too smart for that, right?” I didn’t answer. “Right? You saw what he was like. And now that you’ve seen, you know better than to think that’s a prize worth fighting for.”
    I think I managed to nod. In any case, she gave me a brief smile.
    â€œHere,” she said, pressing the tube of lipstick into mypalm. “You should take this. It looks awful on me. Now you just need some clothes to go with that pretty face.”
    Her long legs took her from the bed to the closet in two strides. She started going through the piles of clothes all over her room and tossing things at me. It seemed crazy at first. . . . She’s tall and skinny and I’m short and dumpy, but she said not to worry.
    â€œIt’ll look different on you, but good.” And she was right. I put on a dress I’ve seen her wear—a clinging navy knit with small brass buttons—and a part of me had a fantasy that it would magically turn me into her. It didn’t, but when I stood in front of the mirror, it didn’t look bad. I looked curvy, not dumpy.
    â€œThere you are . . . all dolled up for a night out on the town.”
    I laughed. “Not like I have anywhere to go.”
    That’s when it hit me. It was two thirty, almost the end of the school day, and Mom would be expecting me home soon. Plus, I needed to figure out an unfamiliar bus route. “I need to get going,” I said, heading for the door to her room. Then I remembered I was still wearing her dress. I went to take it off, but she stopped me. “Keep it,” she said. “It looks better on you.”
    That was definitely the lie of the century, but I appreciated it. Even if it didn’t look better on me than on her, it definitely looked better than any of the clothes I currently owned. I stuffed my school clothes into my swim bag and hurried off.
    On the bus home, I couldn’t help smiling to myself. I felt like I had finally figured out what friends were. Technically, Jenny and Eiko and the other geeks were my friends, but I didn’t much enjoy the time I spent with them, and if we got together, it was only to study or work on a project. With Ada, it wasn’t like that at all.
    All afternoon I had been on an adrenaline high from skipping school and hanging out with the bad girl, but on that bus, my normal self caught up with me and I started panicking about what would happen when I got home. Would my mom know? Well, obviously, if I walked in with makeup on and someone else’s clothes, that wasn’t going to help my case.
    I dug a tissue out of my bag and carefully swiped off all traces of the lipstick. Then I got off the bus a few blocks from home and changed into my usual clothes in a restaurant bathroom. By the time I got to my house, I was back to my normal self, and only a few minutes later than usual. Still, as I opened the door, my heart was in my throat, not knowing what might await me. I heard Mom call me as the door swung shut behind me. I found her in the den, playing mah-jongg on the computer.
    â€œSomeone called this afternoon,” she