EllRay Jakes is a Rock Star! by Sally Warner

Author:Sally Warner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2011-09-13T04:00:00+00:00

10

ULTIMATUM

“Well, what did you think was going to happen when I noticed the crystals were gone?” my dad asks after dinner, when we are alone in his office.

I try not to squirm in my chair, but the tiny bit of macaroni and cheese and salad I was able to eat isn’t helping any. It is sitting in my stomach like a softball waiting to be pitched. “I didn’t get that far,” I finally tell my dad. “I guess I just got carried away with being popular for a change.”

“Popular,” Dad scoffs. He shakes his head in wonder—probably at how dumb the word sounds when I say it.

And that makes me mad, because what kid doesn’t want to be popular? Not popular like a TV or rap star, but like a person who other kids admire, at least? So I start talking before I lose my nerve. “You’re always saying I should make more friends at Oak Glen,” I remind him. “So I just figured—”

“You just figured you’d help yourself to a few of my personal possessions,” Dad interrupts, scowling. “That’s stealing, EllRay.”

STEALING? “No it isn’t,” I say, my heart thunking so hard in my chest that it’s probably bumping into the mac and cheese and salad. “It’s not stealing when you borrow something from your own family, Dad,” I tell him, hoping this is officially true.

“It’s not ‘borrowing’ when you take something that isn’t yours and then give it away,” Dad informs me. “And why is it okay to steal from a family member, son?” he asks. “Should you treat someone in your own family worse than you would a stranger?”

“I—I didn’t mean to give the crystals away,” I mumble.

“And I wasn’t supposed to find out,” Dad says, like he’s finishing my sentence for me.

I almost hate my dad right now—because he’s making me feel so guilty.

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