The Next Full Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

things, and then put on a movie with a gorgeous old movie star he claimed was her twin. The movie star she’d been named after, no less.
    There were worse twins to have, she had to admit. As her grandmother would say, that Ava Gardner was one tall drink of water even if she was only five foot five.
    Now there was no way she could stay home, though she definitely felt sick. Felt like she was dying, in fact. Didn’t that horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach count for something?
    â€œI think it’s called I-don’t-want-to-go-to-school-itis,” her father said. “Believe me, I’ve had it, too. And why have you suddenly decided to wear a hoodie every day in June? What’s going on under there? Do you think Ava Gardner ever wore a hoodie?”
    â€œDad, I’m twelve!” she cried, and then ran into her room and slammed the door.
    How could she possibly go to school and face Jeff Jackson and Jennifer Halverson and all the rest of them? Not only did she have thick white feathers all down her arms and acrossher shoulders and back, but now the skin around the feathers seemed to be wrinkling, drying up, separating. It was getting worse! And even more gross, which hadn’t seemed possible the day before. By this time next week she could look just like Big Bird.
    The hoodie hid everything, but on top of looking totally ridiculous in this weather, it also made her look like she’d gained twenty pounds.
    Which she hadn’t. At least not yet .
    â€œAva, you are going to school if I have to drag you there by that ridiculous hood!” her father yelled, banging on the door. “You have less than two weeks left, all your exams, and no child of mine is going to fail the seventh grade!”
    â€œHow can they fail me for being sick !” she yelled back, from behind the door.
    She knew she was being ridiculous, but what was she supposed to do? It was all so unfair!
    â€œAva, we both know you are not sick. If you’d tell me what is actually going on, I could possibly help you. You can tell me anything, you know. Whatever’s going on with you. I am an adult and fairly intelligent as well.”
    â€œYou can’t help me!” she said, throwing open the door. A dramatic gesture worthy of a movie star, she thought, Ava Gardner flashing through her mind. “You would never understand!”
    Her father rolled his eyes and threw up his hands. “You’renot even a teenager yet, Ava. What am I going to do with you? Now get dressed and I’m taking you to school myself.”
    â€œFine,” she said, slamming the door shut again and throwing herself onto her bed.
    She would just have to wear hoodies every day until school was over and then she had the whole summer to lock herself in her room—well, maybe hang out in the backyard, and in the woods, and in the den in front of the big-screen television, and maybe at Grandma Kay’s house, though only if her father dropped her off and she rode in the trunk of the car—to be a freak by herself. And after that? She’d obviously have to run off and join the circus.
    That wasn’t a bad idea, she realized. Imagining herself, suddenly, covered in white feathers, her black hair piled on top of her head, riding around on the top of an elephant. The crowds would laugh and roar and applaud as she guided the elephant around the ring. Maybe she’d stand on the elephant’s back and wave a baton with tassles on the end the whole time. Tassles on fire .
    â€œAva!”
    â€œI’m coming!” she said, jumping up from the bed and throwing on her hoodie and a pair of jeans, a feather drifting to the ground behind her.
    She grabbed her school bag and her cell phone, which she flipped open for the first time in two days. She’d finally silenced it the night before to avoid Morgan’s calls. Nowshe had thirty-one missed calls, and nearly twenty text messages. At least Morgan loved her.