Solving Zoe Read Online Free PDF Page B

nervous. But the weird thing was, once I started singing, it was actually kind of fun!”
    â€œWell, you have such a great voice, Dara. I’ve always said so, right?”
    â€œI know, but it’s totally different in front of one or two people. I mean, I never get nervous; it’s like singing in front of a mirror! But this was the first time in my life I had an actual school audience.”
    Zoe smiled. “That’s so cool. I’m really, really happy for you.”
    â€œNot yet! You can’t be happy until I actually get a part. Say ‘fingers crossed.’”
    â€œFingers crossed. Oh, guess what. I was just over at Isaac’s, and I noticed that the baby golden gecko was peeking at me.”
    â€œFascinating,” Dara said. “But also a little bit gross, actually. How much longer are you doing that thing?”
    â€œI’m not sure. Like a week, maybe. Oh, by the way, I thought of a good Which: Which is more repulsive, greasy hair or body odor?”
    â€œBody odor,” Dara said. “Whoops, someone’s trying to call. I think it’s my mom. Talk to you later.”
    Zoe hung up, wondering what Dara meant by “later.” Was she planning to call Zoe back? Maybe after Leg went home? Or did “later” just mean, I’m busy now, Zoe. I’ll see you tomorrow at lunch?
    She lay on her bed, staring up at the swirly bedsprings of Isadora’s bunk. Then suddenly she sat up. Lucas’s notebook , she thought. She’d forgotten all about it. But Lucas probably hadn’t; probably he was really worried about it by now. Probably he thought he’d never see it again.
    She slipped it out of her hoodie pocket and opened the cover, this time fully prepared to see the loud warning.
    PERSONAL PROPERTY!!! KEEP OUT!!!
    I’ll know if you read anything.
    She opened the back cover then, but there was no other writing, not even a phone number she could call. On the last few pages Lucas had drawn something strange—not a doodle, but some sort of fantastical creature, over and over. It had a bird’s beak and flowing hair and a big inhuman eye. Its stomach, or whatever it was, was decorated with a row of four perfectly round dots. Zoe counted: Lucas had drawn the creature eleven times, and every time, it was exactly the same.
    She flipped to the middle pages, then back to the beginning. No other weird creatures, just more of the same incomprehensible gibberish. It was a whole notebook devoted to—well, what, exactly? She’d never know. But for some strange reason, she kept turning the pages. And when she got to page twenty, her heart froze.

    IBD PXFA YIXK, YIXK, YIXK. F ALKQ
    IFHB EBO.
    24 4423243325 442315 22244231
    3311321514 ZOE 3134342543
    2433441542154344243322.
    Her name: ZOE. Right in the middle of all that outer space language, or numbers, or whatever it was. She shut the notebook in horror. So she’d been right: He had been eavesdropping on her in the cafeteria! In fact, he’d probably written down every single word she’d said. It was probably all there, in some kind of crazy, demented code. Who did that little alien think he was, anyway? Did he think Zoe was some kind of lizard he could just sit in the lunchroom and “observe”?
    With a shudder she imagined the rest of the page:
    â€œZoe Bennett: Nibbled two thirds of tuna-and-potato-chip sandwich. Bobbed head at Dara Grosbard. Stared.”
    She could hear footsteps in the hallway, so she quickly slipped the notebook under her pillow.
    Then Isadora burst into the room, not even caring that Zoe had closed the door for privacy. Without a word of apology, Isadora kicked off her shoes, yanked off hertop, and slipped on a skinny black V-neck with shiny gold stitching.
    â€œWell, I’m off to tryouts,” she announced. “Wish me luck, Zo.”
    â€œYou really don’t need any, Izzy.”
    â€œOh, yes I do. There’s so much competition