When It Happens Read Online Free PDF

where? Go get in line!”
    “But she’s—”
    Mike shoves me over. "Go!”
    I’m stuck to the bench.This is not the way I imagined it would happen.
    “What’s good, yo?” Josh says. “Move!”
    I get up. I walk toward the line. I’ve just spent the last five minutes watching that jock clone Dave and his over-inflated ego sit next to Sara. Talking to her. Talking to her friends.
    Where the hell did he come from?
    I get in line. She’s ahead of me. Looking at juice.
    I have no idea what to say to her.
    The next thing I know, she’s bending down to pick something up. Here’s my chance. I run to her, almost knocking over the girl in front of me. I see a dime on the floor. I bend down to get it. Our heads smack together. Well, to be more accurate, I smack my head against Sara’s like a socially inept moron. Smooth move.
    I hold out her dime. She’s rubbing her head.
    “Sorry!” I say. “Are you okay?”
    “Sure,” she says. “Thanks.”
    I can’t even remember what I say three seconds after I say it, but apparently it’s funny. She laughs.
    I said something funny and made Sara laugh.
    I rule.
    “See ya,” she says.
    “Okay,” is all I can think to say. No wonder she practically runs back to Dave.
    I go back to my table. Josh is gone.
    “Well?” Mike says.
    I just sit there.
    “Dude! What happened?”
    “Nothing.”
    “How can that be possible? This was your chance to make a move.”
    “I know.”
    “So?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “Man,” Mike says. "That’s messed up.”
    Now Dave’s making everyone laugh. Dave just moved here. He shouldn’t be allowed to go over there and make everyone laugh. I’ve known Sara and Laila and Maggie since third grade. I’ve watched them grow up. I know their histories. Dave doesn’t know anything about them.
    “We need strategy is all,” Mike says. "No problemo.”
    When Laila and Maggie leave, I panic. What’s he saying to her? What’s she thinking? Is there a worse form of agony than this?
    She smiled at me. But then she was gone. How did life move ahead without me?

CHAPTER 7
    the idea of him
    september 4, drafting
    “This sketch is so not happening,” I say.
    Mr. Slater watches how I’m struggling with the T-SQUARE. I can tell he’s trying not to laugh. He goes, “What’s up?”
    “My brain is on strike. I’ve had to start over, like, ten times already.” We’re starting the year with mechanical drawings, and each one is a fresh slice of torture. Today we’re doing these Escher-type sketches of shapes that have no beginning or end.
    “Take it easy,” Mr. Slater says. “You’ll get there.” Which is of course what he would say. He’s like this mid-life non-crisis hippie dude who never gets upset about anything. He has long black hair with gray streaks that he wears pulled back in a ponytail. This is a drastic fashion statement, considering we live in upscale rural-slash-suburbia where you’re not allowed to wear your hair like that. Unless you’re a girl. There’s actually a magazine called Weird New Jersey that did an article on Mr. Slater a while ago. Apparently, he was supposed to be like the next Frank Lloyd Wright or something. But then his college roommate stole his big design plan and became this totally famous architect in New York. And Mr. Slater got stuck with us. Somehow, I don’t think his life plan worked out.
    “I’m nervous,” I tell him. I almost rip up my paper in a fit of frantic erasing.
    “About what?”
    “A guy.” I tell Mr. Slater everything. All of us love him. He’s totally supportive and gives great advice. Which is the antithesis of my mom.
    “Oh?”
    “This guy Dave.”
    “Who’s Dave?” Mr. Slater says. “The new kid?”
    “Yeah,” I say quietly.
    Mr. Slater sits down on the stool next to me. “Why’s he making you nervous? Did something happen?”
    “No . . . it’s just . . . it’s not really him, it’s more like . . . the idea of him.”
    He waits.
    “Like, I want him to be who I