It's Just a Jump to the Left Read Online Free PDF

Agnes about it. Maybe Agnes
     would be jealous of her new friendship with Miss Shelton, who was super pretty and cool and in college.
    Toward the end of the movie, during the floor show, Tom slid in next to Leta, taking the empty seat she’d dutifully saved
     for him with her jacket.
    “Are those guys in makeup?” Tom whispered, and Leta felt it deep in her belly.
    “Yeah,” she whispered back, relishing the nearness of his perfect ear.
    “Huh. This is a weird movie, man.”
    Leta stared at him. “You mean you’ve never seen it before?”
    “Huh-uh. Not my thing.”
    “Oh, my god, it’s like the best movie ever. Nothing’s as good as Rocky,” Leta said.
    “I know one or two things,” Tom said and winked. “You want anything from the concession stand?”
    Leta shook her head, and Tom reached in front of her to tap Miss Shelton on the arm. “You want anything? Coffee, tea, me?”
    Miss Shelton laughed, and a woman with crimped hair and a maid’s outfit shushed them. Tom made a face, and even though Leta
     didn’t want the lady to be mad at her, she giggled anyway.
    When the movie had ended, and they were huddled in the harsh glare of the theater lobby, Miss Shelton put her arm around Leta.
     “That beat hell out of Texas history, huh?”
    “Yeah,” Leta said, but her eyes were on Tom.
    “I gotta close down the place,” he said. “But, hey, let’s do the Time Warp again.”
    “Sure. Okay.” Leta was still grinning. “See you next Friday for sure!”
    “Yeah. See you then. You, too,” Tom said to Miss Shelton.

    At the Popcorn on Wednesday, Cawley and Leta put the finishing touches on the set for
Our Town
. In the week since their kiss, Leta had managed to avoid him—taking a different hallway to classes, carrying all her books
     so as to skip her locker, ducking into the girls’ bathroom when necessary. But now they were at the Popcorn together, and
     Leta was determined to keep things strictly professional.
    “Could you hand me those?” Leta pointed to a wad of tissue-paper flowers the size of a tricycle.
    “Jennifer Pomhultz told Scotty West’s brother that she’s going to dance with the regulars at
Rocky Horror
this weekend,” Cawley said, holding the flowers in place.
    “So?”
    “So? We gotta show up and take her down.” We. He was already making them into a couple. “I’ve got it all figured out. My grandmother
     can drive me over around nine o’clock, and drop us off at the Pizza Hut. Then we could just walk over to the Cineplex from
     there later.”
    “They’re pretty strict about IDs,” Leta said, letting the staple gun rip.
    “But they let you in. Just tell ’em I’m your cousin or something. Your kissing cousin,” he joked.
    Leta’s face went hot. It had been a mistake to kiss Cawley. She couldn’t be seen with him, not now that she had a shot with
     Tom. “Actually, I-I may not be able to go this weekend. I think my dad is coming. And, you know, we’re doing, like, family
     stuff.”
    “Yeah, but the show’s not till midnight.”
    “Sorry.”
    “But Jennifer Pomhultz is trying to take your spot as Columbia! You have to go!”
    “You’re not the boss of me, Cawley!”
    Leta’s finger slipped on the staple gun, nearly catching Cawley’s thumb, and Leta thought of the gun going off, the bullet
     shattering her brother’s temple.
    “Stupid!” she hissed, and she wasn’t sure who or what she meant by it.

    That night, Leta’s dad called. His flat tones echoed over the phone, all the way from Connecticut, which sounded like a state
     you had to put together yourself from a kit. “Hey, kiddo, how’s eighth grade treating you?”
    “Okay,” Leta said.
    “How’s Agnes? Is she behaving?”
    “I guess. You know Aggie.”
    Her dad laughed. “Well, Stevie sounds good.” There was a pause. “Your mom getting on okay?”
    Leta flicked a glance toward her mother, who was stirring anger into the pot of noodles on the stove. “Yeah.”
    “Good, good.