The Summer of May by Cecilia Galante

Author:Cecilia Galante
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2011-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

24

Olive’s parents picked me up at six o’clock, just as she said they would. Dad was home by then, since he only worked half days on Saturday, and had even started making something to eat by the time I left. Pasta, I think, since there was a pot of water on the stove. He liked it plain, without the sauce, sprinkled with a little butter and salt. Maybe he’d get Gram to eat some.

I’d always felt a little weird in front of Olive’s parents, maybe because Olive and I are so different, but ever since Momma left, I actually got nervous around them. Like my hands would sweat and I started to itch all over, that kind of nervous. It wasn’t like they didn’t know about Momma; everyone in Sudbury knew everything about everyone else, for better or for worse. But Olive’s mother had a way now—a life coach sort of way, I guess—of looking at me with these new puppy-dog eyes that made me want to reach out and whack her.

Tonight, though, neither of Olive’s parents seemed particularly interested in me. In fact, as I slid into the back of their Range Rover, Mrs. Masters barely turned her head. “Hello, May,” she said stiffly, and then stared back out the window.

I glanced over at Olive, who pointed at the back of her father’s head. She’s mad at him, she mouthed. They’re arguing.

I still don’t know why this fact made me feel a little warm inside. Maybe it was because I’d always envied Olive for having two seemingly perfect parents. Or maybe it was just because both of them—her mom, especially—seemed just the tiniest bit more real now that I knew they could get mad.

We ordered pizza for dinner—half plain for Mrs. Masters, the other half loaded with pepperoni and mushrooms for Olive, me, and Mr. Masters. Olive and I brought our pizza and soda up to her room and watched a movie while we ate. Right in the middle of the movie (which was really boring), I drank a second soda superfast—without even stopping for a breath—and then let out a gigantic burp. It was so loud that my lips actually quivered when it came out. Olive was horrified, until she accidentally let out a burp of her own. It was not even an eighth of the size of my burp, but I laughed so hard my stomach hurt. Then Olive laughed, and right in the middle of laughing, she let out another one! By then I couldn’t breathe, and I was so full that I thought I might actually wet my pants, so I ran into the bathroom.

We stayed up until one o’clock, eating buttered popcorn and playing a Super Uno marathon. Olive won in a sudden-death round. I brushed my teeth once more, since a few popcorn kernels had gotten lodged in the back of my teeth, and then we coated our faces with a bright blue mud mask that Olive’s mom had given her. The best

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