Everything Read Online Free PDF Page B

never guessed theater, so we are square,” he said, like that made total sense. “I’m gonna take off. I have another class across campus in five and if I walk briskly, I’ll just still be late. So see ya.”
    Laughing, I waved him off. “See ya, Riley.”
    “That crazy boy,” said A, shaking her head.
    “Yea, that crazy boy. Where is Mom? I thought you said she was meeting us?”
    “She is running late. She’ll be here. Relax, muumuu girl.”
    “Ugh, shut the hell up. That’s an Opal story. I’ll tell you about it later,” I said, not wanting to relive it so soon, especially the chocolate vomit part.
    “Looks like it’s going to rain. I hope Mom gets here soon,” she said, looking up at the sky.
    That’s the thing about Florida weather. One minute it could be sunny and hot; the next it would be cloudy and overcast getting ready for the heavens to open up. I hadn’t even noticed the birds were circling in the sky like they do when there’s a storm coming.
    Now Aria was standing up looking at the birds, saying, “It’s coming. See the birds? Heeere birdies, heeere birdies.” And people thought I was the one turning out like Aunt Opal?
    “I don’t think that works on birds, and even if it did, would you really want fifty birds zooming straight at you? It’s like you haven’t seen The Birds with me and Mom ever.”
    “Oh my god, you’re so right! See, this is probably why you’re smarter than me,” she said.
    “Hey, have you heard that people are saying that I’m turning into Aunt Opal?” I asked her seriously.
    “Oh, that. Yeah, I heard some rumors, but no one has said anything directly to me, so I didn’t think anything of it,” she said with a shrug.
    That was Aria, blissfully in the dark about most things, but then again, most little sisters were. I would ask Mom later. I hated small-town gossip, but I hated people thinking bad about me or my family more. It was probably one of the reasons I always stuck by Wally. Sure, he was a craptastic father, but I wouldn’t have anyone else thinking that about him.
    I decided to text Mom to see where she was. She replied that she was parking.
    “Mom is parking. Let’s go meet her,” I told Aria. I started walking over to the student parking lot. I saw Mom’s silver Lexus sedan sitting in the parking lot, and she was on the phone talking. I was so hungry, but I resisted the urge to bang on her window to hurry up and just stood patiently next to her car while Aria plopped on the trunk and kicked her legs back and forth like the kid at heart that she was.  
    When Mom opened the door, she didn’t bring her purse with her and she had that “I’m sorry” look on her face.
    “Oh, no. Don’t tell me you’re canceling?” I guessed.
    “I have to. Your dad needs help at the shop, and we are going to grab lunch, but come by for dinner and we can talk about what happened with the muumuu and Opal today,” she said.
    “Geez, everyone does know about that, I guess,” I said, throwing my hands in the air.  
    “I’m afraid it was watercooler news today at school, honey,” she said, patting me on the shoulder.
    “Oh, great. I made the elementary school watercooler news circuit,” I mumbled calmly. “Now, future kids will think I’m beginning to be like Aunt Opal too. The town has one crazy person, one . And Aunt Opal is it. Guess who’s in line to take her place? You’re looking at her.”  
    “Yeah, I heard something like that too, and I set those old hags at the school straight about you too,” she said.
    I hated that she was left trying to defend me against a bunch of old hags and gossip hounds who had nothing better to do. Shouldn’t they have been off trying to educate the future kids of the world or something other than worrying about why I was in a muumuu in the parking lot of SGAC?
    “Mom, you know I was tied up with Opal this morning, again. She gave Rufus a gallon of chocolate milk, and when I went over there to help and take