The Secret Box Read Online Free PDF Page B

do you mean you don’t get it? I went to the same middle school that you guys go to. Have they fired all the math teachers?”
    We shook our heads again.
    â€œUnbelievable. This is the state of our public education system.” He drew two circles on a piece of paper. “The circles will overlap in two places. One of those two places will be the right spot.” Then, with a sneer he added, “Duh.” He spun around in his chair, unmuted his microphone, and said, “Gentlemen, I have returned. Commence Operation Cycloptocide.”
    â€œReload from previous checkpoint.”
    â€œWelcome back, Commander.”
    Even though he was a complete jerk, Tyler had a whole mess of friends. Even though I was a nice guy, I didn’t. Sometimes it works out that way.
    Jax picked up the piece of paper. She stared at the two circles for a moment, her face clenched with confusion. “How far should we—?”
    â€œNo more questions, dweebs. Be gone.” Tyler acted like a king dismissing his servants, only this king had pimples and had never been on a date.
    â€œCome on,” I said. I didn’t totally understand the math but I knew we’d figure it out.
    But Jax stood her ground. “I have one more question, Tyler, and I’m not going anywhere until you answer it. And you know I’m totally capable of standing here all day, in your room, bugging you.”
    He groaned. “Fine. One more question.”
    â€œYou ever heard of Juniper Vandegrift?”
    â€œShe’s our great-aunt.” He pressed the mouse and his body jerked. “Whoa! Did you see that? I got him right in his one eye.”
    â€œWe have a great-aunt?” I asked.
    â€œYeah. She’s Mom’s and Lindsay’s aunt, so that makes her our great -aunt.”
    Jax leaned against the desk. “How come you know about her and we don’t?”
    â€œâ€™Cause you two were babies when she had the big fight with Aunt Lindsay.” He scooted to the edge of his chair. “Hey, Walker, that dangling eyeball is a great effect.”
    â€œThanks,” Walker’s voice said.
    â€œWhat was the fight about?” Jax asked.
    â€œI don’t know. But she must have done something bad because our parents said she was never welcome in our family again. Now get lost. You’re interrupting the campaign. Watch out, Skywalker! Forces of chaos invading.” The screen filled with splashing blood.
    Just before I closed the door, Tyler added, “Farewell, inferior life forms.”
    â€œMy brother is such a sweet guy,” I said as we left his cave behind.
    I expected Jax to add another sarcastic comment, because one of the things that fueled our friendship was our mutual contempt for my brother. But instead, she smiled. “This is the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me.” Excitement danced in her brown eyes. “We have a great-aunt we didn’t even know about and my mom is trying to keep me from opening her present.” She wrapped her purple coat around the metal box and hurried down the hall. “Come on. Let’s go catch the next train.”
    â€œTrain?”
    â€œYeah.” Jax led the way through my house. She stopped to grab an orange from the fruit bowl. “We need to get outside Chatham for a second reading and we can’t get far enough on our bikes. We’ll be back before my mom gets off her shift and before your parents get home from work. You won’t get into trouble, I promise.”
    Where had I heard that before?

6
Jax
    I t turned out my family had a whole bunch of secrets that were as juicy as grapes.
    There was the secret about my father, a man my mom always refused to talk about. He did the biological bit—helped create me—then disappeared, never to be seen again. No matter how much I pleaded, no matter how much I snooped, I never learned anything more about him. I knew that Mom and Aunt Cathy were