Bounce by Natasha Friend

Author:Natasha Friend
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Sunday morning. The honeymooners are back. Eleni bursts through the door calling, “Kiiiids! We’re hoooome!” It’s obvious she thinks we’re the Brady Bunch and should all be lined up on the stairs in exact height order, big TV smiles plastered on our faces.

I stay where I am on the couch, stuffing myself with Oreos, my dirty sneakers propped up on the coffee table.

I listen to Birdie say, “Well, the place is still standing. That’s a good sign. I don’t smell any smoke…” and Eleni laughs like a hyena, and then Phoebe comes charging down the stairs. “Mommyyyyyy!”

By the time they make it to the den, everyone is crowded around, asking questions about their trip. Stupid ones.

How was the drive? Was the foliage beautiful?

Did you mountain bike?

Did you have room service for, like, every meal?

(It wasn’t a hotel, Clio—duh—it was a B and B.)

(Shut up, Cassi. B and B’s have room service, too.)

So, was it, like, the most romantic week EVER?

Did you white-water raft? Did you bungeejump?

Did you miss me? I missed you, Mommy. I missed you, Al. Did you miss me?

Linus isn’t with them (weep, weep). He had an exam to study for. But Mackey is, and although he hasn’t opened his mouth yet, there he stands, right smack in the middle of it all.

“Hey, Mack.” Birdie throws an arm around him. “Congrats.”

“Or should we be calling you Joseph now?” Eleni smiles with every tooth. “To help you—what is it they say in the theater? Get into character?”

Mackey turns red and mumbles something I can’t understand.

Then Thalia pipes in. “Miss Mundt—she’s the stage manager? She says that the musical director, Mr. Soderberg, says that Mackey is the most talented high-school tenor he’s ever worked with. At the first rehearsal, everyone was completely blown away.”

Now comes a run-through of everyone else’s triumph-o’-the-week.

Phoebe: Outstanding-plus in capital letters.

Cleanser Boy: Two goals, four assists.

Sweater Twin #1: Asked out by Kevin O’Reilly. Yes, THE Kevin O’Reilly.

Sweater Twin #2: Remember that skirt she wanted? The purple suede one with the fringe? It finally went on sale—-forty-five percent off. So she bought it!

Thalia: Finished her application essay for Williams, and it’s good. Really, really good.

Betty Boop claps every time. “Way to go!” she says. “Good for you!”

Meanwhile, Birdie has worked his way over to where I’m sitting and is trying to butter me up. “Hey, Ev. Make some room for your old man, huh?” He goes in for the hug-’n’-head-scrub routine, like nothing has changed between us. “Missed you, kiddo.”

“Uh-huh.” I grab another Oreo, twist it open, scrape out the creamy middle with my teeth.

“Evyn!” Eleni notices me for the first time. “How was your week? How was school? How was the social? How was—” She stops and claps one hand over her mouth. “Errrm.”

Birdie leaps up. “Honey?”

“Errrrrm.”

“Again?”

Eleni nods wildly. Then she claps the other hand over her mouth and hightails it out of the room.

Of course, Birdie is two steps behind her.

Phoebe whimpers. “What’s wrong with Mommy?”

We can all hear the lovely sound of puke hitting hardwood.

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