Too Cool for This School Read Online Free PDF

“I just signed an honor pledge five minutes ago.”
    She took a deep breath and rubbed my back. “I don’twant you to lie. Just don’t discuss our situation with anyone.”
    First I couldn’t discuss anything related to being class captain or having a disco theme. Now I couldn’t discuss anything about my inbound Alaskan cousin. I felt a little bit burdened by all this secrecy.
    “Go, go, go,” my mother said, pushing me toward the door.
    “I want to talk more about this when I get home,” I said, sounding way too much like a parent.
    “Absolutely,” my mother said.
    I hurried outside and found everybody standing in a line in front of a bunch of prickly cacti.
    “Finally. Why don’t you kneel in front?” Leslie said.
    I liked the idea of being front and center, even if that meant I had to kneel in a dirt patch while wearing tights. When the photographer told us to smile and say the word “burrito,” I buried all my worries inside of me, gave him a big grin, and said, “Burrito.”
    No, I wasn’t happy about how my mother had handled this situation, but I guess sometimes things happen in a way that we didn’t mean for them to happen. And we do our best and just move forward. Right? It was only for a month.
    “Are you okay down there?” Derek asked as the photographer moved his tripod closer.
    “I’m okay,” I said. I didn’t know why Derek annoyed me so much.
    And then, right as the photographer clicked the lastphoto, I felt a flicking sensation on the back of my head. I flipped around to see Derek’s finger curled in a position to flick me again.
    “Sorry,” he said. “I couldn’t resist.”
    I was stunned. Derek shouldn’t be flicking my head during our group photo.
    “Don’t flick me,” I snapped at him. “I don’t like it.”
    He smiled. “Okay,” he said. “It will never happen again.”
    And I hoped that was true. The last thing I needed on top of all my problems was to be harassed by a fellow class captain. No. He needed to keep his flicks to himself. My life was complicated enough.

5
    Later that night, during our family meeting, my mother agreed that it was way too weird for me not to mention Angelina’s visit to my friends.
    “She can’t just appear out of nowhere,” I said. “I’ve got to prepare my friends for her. Ava has a difficult time adjusting to new people.”
    My dad laughed at this. He felt Ava was spoiled. But we all had our hang-ups, and I didn’t have time to get into that with him. Basically, the way we left things at the family meeting was that I was allowed to tell my friends that Angelina was staying with us while her mother and new husband got things ready for their move.
    “Don’t think of it as a lie,” my mom said. “Because you never know. Aunt Betina and Clark may decide to move here.”
    My dad shook his head. “Your sister will never leave Alaska.”
    And so that was how it was handled. That was what I was allowed to say.
    I should probably have done a better job preparing my own life for Angelina’s arrival. I should probably have emailed her or texted her or returned her single phone call to me. But even after listening to her message four times, I didn’t quite know what to say.
    ANGELINA: Hi, Lane! Your mom gave me your number. This is so great! I am super excited to see you again. At the last family reunion I remember that you had a toy horse named Buttermilk. Are you still really into horses? I like animals too. I mean, I LOVE the outdoors. Okay. I’m rambling. Call me back if you have time! Your mom says you’re really busy. She says that you just won class sergeant. So cool! We don’t have those in Alaska. Congratulations! See you Friday.
    Class sergeant?
I think Angelina’s message was a tipping point for me. On Friday, when my parents were ready to pick her up at the airport, I just couldn’t make myself join them.
    “Are you sure you don’t want to come?” my mom asked as she tied her jacket belt around her waist.
    I