o 0df2dc86c31d22a8 Read Online Free PDF

up with her, OK?” Jay says. “But listen. She has this cousin, she’s visiting from Sweden for a week during Christmas vacation — SWEDEN,
    Duckington — and she’s just like you, sort of shy and smart, and she doesn’t have a boyfriend —
    ”
    “I don’t believe you’re telling me this,” you say.
    “Why? I’m letting you know in advance!”
    “I DON’T LIKE BEING SET UP AT ALL, OK? Let Moose ask her out.”
    “Not my type,” Moose mumbles.
    “Not DUCKY’S type either,” Marco cracks, and they both start guffawing as if it were the funniest joke in the world.
    “Alex?” Jay says hopefully. Like he’s auctioning off the girl to the highest bidder.
    “Huh?” Alex replies.
    Jay rolls his eyes. “Forget it.” With a big sigh he swaggers back to his group.
    “Ducky and Alex are happy just as they are,” Moose says.
    The laughter creeps under your skin as you walk toward the parking lot.
    “I use to like Jay,” Alex mutters.
    “He can be OK.” You don’t know WHY ON EARTH you’re defending Jay.
    You get in the car and cruise away from school. Alex is in a foul mood. Not numb, not spacey, just foul. His arms are folded and he’s glaring straight a head.
    “Where do you want to go?” you ask.
    “No place you can take me,” he grumbles.
    What does THAT mean?
    You have no idea. You don’t want to know.
    You’re driving toward Las Palmas County Park, but you know that Jay and his friends are likely to show up there, so you switch directions and head for the Alta Mira Hills.
    As you approach the lot, Alex suddenly sits forward. “Let’s go rock climbing,” he said.
    You’re so stunned you nearly agree on the spot.
    But you think of all the stuff you NEED for rock climbing, and if you head home to get your pitons and ropes and friction shoes, you’ll be another half hour closer to darkness.
    “It’s kind of late,” you say. “How about just a hike? We can go climbing on Sunday. Mom and Dad are taking Ted and me somewhere tomorrow.”
    “Whatever,” Alex replies.
    The Alta Mira lot is almost empty. You park near the trailhead, and soon you and Alex are hiking up the trail.
    You go side by side, silently, until the path narrows. Then you pull ahead.
    Far ahead. So when he cries out, “Ducky!” you can’t see him.
    You race down, nearly tripping over a root.
    He’s standing in the middle of the path, pointing into the woods.
    A coyote is loping among the bushes, sniffing and poking its snout between the rocks.
    The trace of a smile flickers across Alex’s face. “An earthling,” he says.
    You can’t believe this. He remembers. It’s EXACTLY the kind of stupid thing you used to say as Sirhc and Xela, Alien Life-forms on Their Ever-Recurring Search for Signs of Human Life.
    (YOU WERE NERDS, DUCKY!)
    Now the coyote is walking away with a Snickers wrapper in its mouth. “See how tenderly it cares for its young?” you say.
    Alex lets out a little laughlike [sic] exhalation through his nose, and you realize this is the CLOSEST he’s come to expressing an EMOTION in ages.
    You realize the good mood may not last long. This may be an opening.
    D: “Alex?”
    A: “Yeah?”
    D: “So. Feeling better today?”
    A: “Better than what?”
    D [deep breath]: “You seen different. In a GOOD way, I mean. More like YOU.”
    A: “I’m always me.
    He starts hiking away. You follow.
    D: “You know what I mean. The YOU before — all the stuff happened. The stuff that made you have to go to Dr. Welsch.”
    A: “People change.”
    D: “Alex, just out of curiosity — what do you DO when you stay home from school?”
    A: “Sleep.”
    D: “Don’t you sleep enough at night?”
    A: “I guess not.”
    D: “Because if you did, you would go to school more often.”
    A: “Why should you care about that?”
    D: “Why shouldn’t I?”
    A: “No one else does.”
    D: “Not true. Ms. Krueger does.” [Cringe, shrink, melt — really, REALLY dumb, Ducky.] “I mean A LOT of people probably