Mister Death's Blue-Eyed Girls Read Online Free PDF Page B

I shiver—has someone walked on my grave? What does that expression mean anyway?
    "Come
on,
" Ellie urges me. I realize I've stopped halfway up the steps, dreaming in the dark.
    We make it to her bedroom without waking anyone. I fall into bed and go to sleep with my fingers pressed against my lips, holding Charlie's kiss there.

Part Two
The Endless Day

The Last Day of School
Friday, June 15
Nora
    E LLIE'S alarm clock goes off at seven a.m., but one of us reaches over, turns it off, and falls back asleep. At seven fifty, Ellie's mom wakes us up. "Didn't you hear the alarm?" she asks. "Hurry up, you'll be late!"
    We stumble around the bedroom, pulling on crinolines and full skirts, tucking in blouses. buckling cinch belts, searching for socks and our grass-stained Keds. I'm still half asleep, groggy from being up late, drinking beer, and smoking.
    For some reason Ellie wants to wear this little pin made of ceramic flowers, but her fingers fumble with the catch. It takes her at least five minutes to get it fastened, partly because her mother keeps calling, "Hurry up, girls, you're going to be late."
    We're eating cereal when Cheryl and Bobbi Jo show up.
    "You're early," Ellie says. "We're not ready."
    "I promised Ralph I'd meet him at school at eight fifteen on the dot," Cheryl says. "Besides, if I leave now, I won't run into Buddy." "Guess what?" Bobbi Jo asks Ellie and me. "Ralph has this friend he wants me to meet." She smoothes her hair. "I'm telling him I'm sixteen."
    I almost choke on my cereal. What if it's Don? What if Ralph is fixing her up with Don? I hate Cheryl, who must have set it up, I hate Ralph, I hate Bobbi Jo. It's not fair, it's just not.
    "See you later," Ellie says as Bobbi Jo and Cheryl leave. "Don't forget the picnic. You're bringing the rolls and I'm bringing the hot dogs and Bobbi Jo's mom is making potato salad."
    "Who's bringing the soda?" Bobbi Jo asks.
    "Paul and Charlie," Ellie says. "Walt's bringing cookies or brownies or something."
    "If you see Buddy, tell him I hate him," Cheryl calls from the door.
    Mrs. O'Brien looks at us. "Did Cheryl break up with Buddy?'
    "A long time ago, Ma," Ellie says. "She has a much nicer boyfriend now."
    Mrs. O'Brien takes our empty cereal bowls to the sink. "I'm glad to hear it. I never liked that boy. He has a sneaky look. I'm surprised Cheryl's parents didn't send him packing long ago."
    "They tried," Ellie says, "but you know how Cheryl is. She kept seeing him anyway. But not anymore. Now she hates him. And he hates her."
    Mrs. O'Brien sighs. "What heartless girls you are." She smiles when she says it, so we know she's joking.
    By the time Ellie and I are ready, we have five minutes to get to school. We'll never make it on time. But so what? It's the last day. The last two hours of our junior year. A line from an old grade school jingle runs through my mind: No more classes, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks.
    As we leave the house, I hear a car backfire somewhere close, a series of bangs loud enough to startle me.
    Ellie laughs. "How come you're so jumpy?"
    "Not enough sleep," I mutter.
    We cut across the baseball field, walking slow. It's too hot to walk any faster. On Eastern Avenue, the morning traffic rumbles past. Horns blow.
    "What do you think of Cheryl and Ralph?" Ellie asks. We've entered the woods, taking a well-worn path everyone uses to walk to school. The air smells of dew and damp leaves, and the ground is soft and yielding under our feet.
    "They seem to really like each other," I say slowly.
    Ellie nods. Birds sing in the green leaves overhead and a breeze stirs the air. The day is supposed to be a replay of yesterday, hot and humid with a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, but it's cool in the woods.
    "But don't you wonder what he sees in Cheryl?" I ask, giving in to my jealousy at last. "He used to go steady with the most popular girl in school. Sally Smith was Junior Prom queen, a cheerleader, too. Why dump her for