Me, My Elf & I by Heather Swain

Author:Heather Swain
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Penguin USA, Inc.
Published: 2012-06-27T17:55:10+00:00

chapter 9

MY CAFFEINE HEADACHE has finally gone away and now I’m starving. I find one of my Mom’s homemade granola bars that I stashed inside my locker and I start to devour it. While I’m scarfing it down, Mercedes’s aunt, Ms. Sanchez, stops by. “Hi, Zephyr,” she says. “I’ve been hoping to catch up with you. I sent you an e-mail to stop by my office but I hadn’t heard back from you.”

“An e-mail?” I ask, kind of embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I don’t have a computer at home.”

“You can use the school’s computers, you know. That’s what they’re here for,” she tells me.

I swallow the last of the granola bar, then ask, amazed, “There are computers here?”

“Of course,” she says with a kind laugh. “Every student has a school e-mail address and when you’re a junior you even get your own laptop.” My mouth must have dropped open because she smiles and says, “Really!” Then she gently takes hold of my wrist. “Come on, I’ll show you the computer lab.”

We walk past classrooms and studios full of after-school clubs and kids rehearsing for upcoming performances. I’m jealous and can’t wait for my first audition. “Why did you want to see me?” I ask Ms. Sanchez.

“Just to check in. Is everything going okay?”

“I guess so,” I say, not sure what you’re supposed to tell a guidance counselor. I mean, should I mention that I kissed Timber but he acts like it was no big deal? Probably not.

“I heard you’re going to audition for the ELPH camera ad.”

“Yeah, I’m excited. Bella was helping me today.”

“Excellent!” Ms. Sanchez says. She pats me on the back. “You’re making a lot of friends quickly and getting involved. That’s what I like to see.”

“Thanks,” I say, feeling pretty good about myself.

We get to the student lab, which is a room behind the library with at least fifty computers. Students fill about half the seats. I can’t believe it. I’ve never seen this many computers before in my life. The library in Ironweed has just three and compared to these sleek, shiny machines, they look like they were built by ape people during the Paleolithic era.

“Hi, Kenji,” Ms. Sanchez says to the guy sitting at the computer in the front of the room. “Can you please show a new student how to log on to her school e-mail account?”

He removes his earphones and looks up from his screen, where cartoon people run around blowing up things. I have to keep myself from staring because this guy, like everyone here, looks so different from what I’m used to. He’s got thick, black shiny hair buzzed short on the sides but long on the top with the ends dyed bright blue so that it flops over his head like the soft wing of a tropical bird. His cheekbones and chin are sharp, as if his face were chiseled out of a smooth piece of wood. Except for his lips, which are full and soft and round. I think of Timber’s lips on mine and I look away.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.