An Off Year by Claire Zulkey

Author:Claire Zulkey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group

The walk home wasn’t nearly as bad as I had dreaded; in fact, it felt good to actually move around. I bought a hot chocolate on the way, which, of course, made the entire world more pleasant. Except for Germaine, who was in the kitchen when I got home, heating up a Lean Cuisine and basically making the entire kitchen reek.

“How was Leah?” she asked.

“Fine,” I said suspiciously. I didn’t know Germaine was so in on my plans.

“I saw her once, you know,” she said. “She didn’t help me at all. I think she’s an idiot.”

“Well, I kind of liked her,” I said. She snorted and took out her dish of sadness, stirred it, and put it back in the microwave.

“So? What did she say?” she asked.

“Oh, you know . . .” I said, hoping to make that profound statement last until I could find Superhero’s leash and get back out of the house. This was unpleasant.

“No, I don’t know,” Germaine said. “I’m just curious about what she told you.”

“Why?” I asked. “Why should it matter to you?”

“Everybody just wants to know why, Cecily. That’s really it. Once we know why, then we can just go back to ignoring you and let you have your little year off.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, I don’t know why, so fuck off.” The only thing that really bothered me was the way she said “everybody,” like everybody was gathering together to whisper about me. But of course, to her, that was what I wanted.

“Oh, come on,” said Germaine. “You can’t have been that scared. It’s not like you haven’t gone away before. You’re not completely socially inept. You’re not fat. Are you crazy? Or are you just acting crazy because you want attention?”

“Yes,” I said. “That’s exactly it. And oh how I enjoy this. I’m really having fun with the attention I’m getting right now.”

“I bet you are,” she said.

“You know, contrary to what you might think, I didn’t orchestrate this just to piss you off,” I said. “I didn’t really think this through at all. Okay? I did something and I clearly didn’t have a follow-up plan. But I’ll tell you this: if I knew it would be this much fun, I probably wouldn’t have done it.”

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