Wake Up Missing Read Online Free PDF Page A

with cheese, and my untoasted bagel and headed back to the table. Sarah scooted close to Ben to make room for me between her and Quentin. Ben turned away and pretended she wasn’t even there.
    Something about Sarah—her smile or that hey-be-my-friend look in her eyes—reminded me of Amberlee, the girl from my art class who’d tried to join our table at lunch the day I fell out of the tree stand. Lucy and Corinne had stared at her as if she’d burst into a private meeting. Amberlee stood there with her tray, swaying back and forth like a tree about to blow over in the wind. I could have moved over to make room for another chair, or I could have gone with her to a different table—I’ve thought a million times since then about what I could have done—but I sat there like Ben. I stared at the little cup of applesauce on my tray, and when I finally looked up, she was gone.
    â€œSo what’s the deal with you guys?” Sarah asked, bringing me back from that other cafeteria. I wasn’t ready to talk, so I took a bite of my eggs, then held up a finger while I chewed. She got the hint and turned to Ben. “Like, I’m from upstate New York. Way, way upstate, by Canada. Where are you from?” She gave him a nudge, and finally, he looked up from his magazine.
    â€œWashington.” He looked down and turned a page.
    â€œDC? My hockey team went to the Smithsonian when we were there for a tournament once!”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œOh. Washington State?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œThat’s cool. So how’d you get your concussion? I got checkedinto the boards playing hockey. This girl was absolutely huge, and she was flying. Do you play sports?”
    â€œNo.”
    Elena came to the table with a tray of orange juice and gave us each a glass.
    â€œThanks,” I said. She just smiled.
    Sarah poked Ben. “Well, if you don’t play sports, what
do
you like?”
    â€œRiding horses.”
    â€œI should have guessed that from your magazine, huh? Do you have a horse?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œSo how’d you get here?”
    Ben finally looked up again. “Dude, were you not right there when we pulled up on the airboat? Or was that some other annoying skinny girl on the dock?”
    â€œHey,” Quentin said quietly, spreading cream cheese on his untoasted bagel. “She’s trying to be friendly.” It should have made me happy that he was standing up for Sarah, but somehow, it made me sad. I stared at him, wondering why. “We’re going to be here together a while. We might as well be friends.”
    Then I figured it out. Quentin was that kid I
used
to be before middle school—the one teachers chose to show new students around because they’d always be kind to kids like Amberlee. Maybe when—
    â€œLook, this ain’t summer camp.” Ben slammed his magazine on the table, and his tray jumped. “I’m not here to make friends and learn archery. I’m here to get better so I can ride again.”
    â€œThat’s why we’re all here, Mr. Personality. Besides, I wasn’t asking how you
traveled
here; I was asking what happened. Like my hockey crash.” She put a hand to the left side of her head as if talking about it brought back the pain. “This is my second concussion, so my doctor said no more hockey for the rest of the year at least.”
    â€œWell,” I said, “this place is supposed to work wonders.” I hoped it was true. For Sarah and for me. “The website makes it sound like you end up smarter than you were before your concussion.”
    â€œYeah.” Sarah let out a sharp laugh. “I think that’s what my parents are hoping.”
    â€œSo, um . . . Sarah already knows this. But I got hurt playing football,” Quentin said.
    â€œHe’s on the school team. You play quarterback, right?” The bounce in Sarah’s voice was