Elaine Orr - Jolie Gentil 00.5 - Jolie and Scoobie High School Misadventures Read Online Free PDF Page A

take you for a party pooper,” I said, ribbing him.
    He did a fast smile. “Not. But once school starts, there’s a ten o’clock curfew for school-age kids.”
    My smile died . It was ten until ten. “Gee, I don’t think I can walk home that fast.”
    “It’s only on the boardwalk, sidewalks are fine .” He faced me. “If you want to do it again, we can. But I can’t play every night, not enough quarters.”
    “I can bring more…”
    Scoobie shook his head, quite firmly. “I like to pay my own way.”
    “You want to pick, like, a schedule ?” I asked this as we walked down the six or eight steps from the boardwalk to the sidewalk below.
    “I’m not always sure which nights are good .” He hesitated and glanced sideways at me. “Sometimes my parents are pretty strict about homework, other times I can get out more easily.”
    “Sure,” I said, almost disappointed . “See you tomorrow?”
    “If you’re lucky,” he said . As he walked in the opposite direction I saw him pull a small book from the back pocket of his jeans.
     
    IF PETEY HADN’T yipped when I came in Aunt Madge wouldn’t have awakened. I had been about to climb the back stairs, which are at the far end of her living area. The main staircase squeaks more.
    “Jolie ?” She was cinching a bathrobe as she came out of her bedroom.
    I just managed to slide the tiny prize tickets the Screw the Bunny Machine spit out into a pocket before she walked in . “Sorry, couldn’t sleep.”
    “Goodness .” She flipped on a lamp that sits on a small table just outside her bedroom door. “You don’t have to be in the dark.”
    “I didn’t want to wake you .” I realized she would expect me to be in pajamas. “I thought I’d take Petey for a walk.” I was trying very hard not to flush as she looked at me for several seconds.
    “It’s after Labor Day, so I guess it’s okay .” She turned to go back into her room. “Too many inebriated folks on the street when all the tourists are here.”
    “Sounds good .” After she was back in her bedroom I took Petey’s leash off a peg by the sliding glass door. “You don’t have to look so happy about it,” I whispered. He drooled on my foot.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    THE FIRST THREE WEEKS of the school year passed pretty quickly. I didn’t have to worry too much about homework, since the only thing that took a lot of time was geometry, and I had decided to flunk it. Part of me knew I was only hurting myself, but the part that was really, really ticked off at my parents knew they would mind a lot. Or maybe they wouldn’t care at all.
    I had no classes with Scoobie and only one (chemistry) with Margo . Sean O’Malley was in my English and Consumer Education classes, and he seemed to think everyone wanted to watch him be a smart aleck. He was funny, but not as funny as he thought he was. He didn’t say so, but it had to be him who put a whoopee cushion under the flat pillow on the English teacher’s chair. Mrs. Whitcomb made all of us write two paragraphs on why juvenile behavior wasted everyone else’s time. Sean was really quiet the rest of that class.
    Aunt Madge was disappointed that I didn’t want to go to First Prez with her, but she didn’t bug me about it . I almost told her that I didn’t want to see the stupid Michael guy, who was pretty much snubbing me full-time. All of the girls from his table did, they wouldn’t even say hello in the bathroom. This actually didn’t bother me. Yesterday, three of the girls had been in a ridiculous debate about lipstick color. Okay, I like to look good, too, but really?  These were not girls I would hang out with at Lakewood High, so who cared if they were stuck up?
    The guys named Sam and Jack would smile or nod at me if we passed in the hall, but that was it . They looked as if they could be fun, so that was too bad.
    The one thing that almost tugged at my heart was watching the newly chosen varsity cheerleaders walk through the hall . Most of