The Sleepover Read Online Free PDF Page B

of it. For example, when you breathe in and out, you aren’t aware of every breath. That action is controlled by your subconscious. But under hypnosis, your subconscious will drive your actions. You won’t feel the need to weigh and measure every act. You will just go with everything.”
    This time Veronica giggles. (I don’t know her well enough to tell if it’s nerves or not and, considering how many other times tonight she’s said the exact opposite of what I thought she would, I can’t even begin to guess how she’s feeling about any of this. Except it was her idea. Maybe she’s even done this before.) Anna Marie elbows her and says, “Shh.” As if she hadn’t been doing the exact same thing moments before. But I’m not about to turn on my best friend.
    On the one hand, I really wish I could switch off the part of my brain that makes me so cautious about everything. How great would it be to just go with the flow? But on the other hand, I don’tknow if my brain will let me do it, even if I want to. I also don’t know if I trust Madame Mesmer. Or hypnosis.
    I trust me . I may be cautious, but at least that’s gotten me all the way to twelve and three-quarters in one piece. Tonight was supposed to be all about trying out a whole new, fun Meghan, but this feels like a little too much, a little too fast. I want to let go on my own terms, after weighing the danger factors and all the other stuff I might need to consider.
    Um, I think I might be really, really bad at being Fun Meghan. Sigh.
    Madame Mesmer continues. “If I suggest something silly that you might not do under normal circumstances—such as braying like a donkey, for instance—you will be happy to do it because you won’t feel self-conscious in the least. You’ll just find it fun. Does that make sense?”
    All four of us nod, but then Veronica raises her hand like she’s in school. Madame Mesmer points to her. “Yes?”
    â€œWell, I just wondered. What if we normally wouldn’t feel self-conscious about braying like a donkey in front of people?”
    For a second it looks like Madame Mesmer wants to smile, but then the single eyebrow goes up again and she simply says, “In that case, we’ll have to find something else for you to do.”
    She claps her hands, and I jump a little. I wasn’t expecting that. My stomach burns with either nerves or pizza gas (but I’m guessing nerves), even though everything Madame Mesmer issaying sounds really okay, and maybe even fun. It’s just fear of the unknown, I tell myself. It doesn’t exactly calm me down.
    â€œShall we get started?” Madame Mesmer asks.
    All four of us nod, and I hope no one notices my nod isn’t exactly enthusiastic.
    â€œOkay, then. I want everyone to silence all cell phones or anything else that could provide a distraction.”
    Paige and Anna Marie fiddle with their phones. I’d turned off my Ladybug phone the instant I got into the car with Paige. The thing was nothing but sheer embarrassment, and the less I had to acknowledge it, the better. One phone call to my mom before bed, and then I can ignore the phone again until pickup time tomorrow afternoon. Veronica must not have a phone, because she just sits there, smiling at all of us.
    Madame Mesmer flicks off some lights and drapes a few scarves she’s brought across the rest of the lamps so that the room is cast in this weird, sort of spooky glow. “Make yourselves as comfortable as possible,” she says. “Feel free to lie down if you’d like.”
    We all obey. It seems like she wants us to, even if she phrased it as a suggestion. I hug my legs to my chest for just a second or two and give myself a tiny pep talk that mostly includes the words, Breathe. Just breathe. I remind myself that we’re in Anna Marie’s basement. Mrs. Guerrero is right upstairs, taking a bath. When this part