The Quirks, Welcome to Normal by Erin Soderberg

Author:Erin Soderberg [Downing, Erin Soderberg]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781619630529
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Molly Quirk pressed through the front door and shivered in the cool autumn evening. She glanced around, looking for her brother. Sure enough, Finn was standing just outside Crazy Ed’s. He was preparing to spread the remnants of Martha’s noodle kugel across the front hood of someone’s blue minivan. “Finn! Get back inside. You can’t spread kugel on a car.”

Finn kicked at rocks in the parking lot. “It’s a van. And anyway, I hate when I’m stuck being quiet. Guests are the worst.” He hung his head miserably and wandered away on the front sidewalk.

“Mr. Intihar has a son, you know. Charlie. He’s your age,” Molly yelled after him, then realized she shouldn’t have said anything. It’s not like Finn could hang out with this Charlie kid. They certainly couldn’t tell their teacher about their family Quirks. Or could they?

Mr. Intihar seemed like a good guy. An understanding man. Maybe if he knew about their differences, he could help them fit in somehow? His son would be able to hang out with Finn, Mr. Intihar could play catch with Molly in the backyard, and their mother would have someone to drink coffee with. “Mr. Intihar’s the closest thing to a family friend we’ve ever had,” she whispered aloud. “So maybe . . .”

“We can’t tell him about us,” a small voice said behind her. “I know what you’re thinking. But it’s not a good idea.” Molly spun around and saw that Penelope had crept up behind her as she stood out in the parking lot keeping an eye on Finn.

“But what if—” Molly began. Then she stopped. If Mr. Intihar knew about them, then the other teachers would find out, and the principal would get word of it. Soon, the whole town would know about the Quirks’ secrets and they would be stared at and ridiculed and run out of town—or worse.

But what if that didn’t happen? She looked at Penelope hopefully. “What if Mr. Intihar could keep our secret?”

Penelope just stared back at her, and Molly sighed. Both girls knew, deep down in their hearts, that they could never tell their teacher about their Quirks. There was a reason they’d remained so secretive over the years. Only one non-Quirky person—other than Molly—knew the truth. One person had been exposed to all their family secrets. And that person had taken off, disappeared forever—without any reason and without so much as a good-bye.

Molly bit her lip, thinking about the way her father had been there one day and gone the next. It was right after Finn went see-through. They had just moved into their house in Sacramento. One morning when Molly woke up, there were cinnamon rolls puffing up in the oven but their dad was gone. Molly and Penelope had wondered and wished for him to return a million times, but it was obviously never going to happen.

“At least we have each other,” Pen said hopefully. “We fit together.”

“You’re right,” Molly said with a smile. “We have each other.” But she wasn’t so sure about that fitting-together thing.

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