Sidekicks by Jack D. Ferraiolo

Author:Jack D. Ferraiolo
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Amulet Books
Published: 2011-04-05T16:00:00+00:00

I can hear Louis calling my name, but I’m not ready to answer him. I’m too busy playing over the movie my brain made of last night: the leaping across rooftops, the fighting, the kiss … On command, my stomach does a flop.

“Trying to move the carton of the orange juice with your mind?” Louis asks. He slides the plate of freshly made pancakes in front of me. They’re so perfect they look fake, like they were made out of plastic for a pancake ad. Louis takes his pancakes seriously.

“Sorry,” I say. “Lost in thought there for a second.”

“Yeah, I got that. Syrup or honey?”

“Honey, please.”

He pulls the honey out of the cabinet and slides it across the counter to me. “So … where were you yesterday?”

My eyes go wide for a split second. I try to go back to being nonchalant, but I know it’s no use. Louis saw. He always sees. If he wasn’t our caretaker, I think he’d be a detective of some sort, one who secretly makes the world’s most perfect pancakes.

“Do you want time to think of a lie,” he asks, “or do you wanna try your luck?”

“I was out.”

“I know you were out, that’s why I asked where you were.”

“Uh-huh.”

“So?”

“I was walking around the city. I figure I spend so much time flipping off of rooftops, I might as well check it out from the sidewalk, you know?”

“So … you went walking … around the city … by yourself.”

“Well, not exactly.”

Louis laughs. I smile and shake my head. Getting anything past Louis is an impossibility. “What’s her name?”

“I don’t … It’s … I’m not even sure she … uh …”

“Yeah, well, don’t hurt yourself,” he says. “I just hope to God that my life never depends on you keeping a secret.”

Yeah, that one hits a little too close to home. “Come on,” I say, dropping my fork and grabbing my backpack. “I don’t want to be late.”

Louis raises an eyebrow. “Well, well, well … look who’s suddenly anxious to get to school.”

One of the great things about Louis is his ability to know when I want to be left alone. The drive to school is quiet. I try not to get my hopes up. Yesterday was yesterday. Allison and I had a great time. OK, an AMAZING time. And really, all I can think about is the next time I get to spend all day with her … but we are enemies. MAJOR enemies, in a constant battle that will never end until one of us is dead or in jail. Plus, she may not even really like me. I’m just going to assume that she regrets what happened last night and go from there. Let her make the first move.

When we pull up to the school, I notice right away that something is different. Louis doesn’t seem to notice, but then why would he? He has no idea what goes on at my school.

“Good luck, kid,” he says, and gives me a smile like he’s amused and delighted and wants to be supportive.

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