What's Eating Jackie Oh? by Patricia Park

Author:Patricia Park [Park, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2024-04-29T00:00:00+00:00

ELEVATOR BANK

I’m waiting for the elevator in the lobby when I hear voices approaching: Perky Freckles and her mom. Detention must be over.

“You didn’t try hard enough, Anna! You should have been out there, making every single one of those damn judges fall in love with Perky Freckles from Jump! Rope! Jungle!”

They’re rounding the corner toward me.

Suddenly Mrs. Freckles trips—over nothing—and pitches forward, but Perky catches her from falling and steadies her.

Mrs. Freckles keeps talking like nothing happened, like she didn’t just trip over air and almost fall splat on her face: “What’s left for us now, Anna? Every CD in town says you’ve aged out of everything. This show was our last shot. Our last shot!”

For a millisecond, I see a look of relief flooding over Perky’s face. It’s so jarring with her normal cutesy-wootsy act that I think I’m imagining it.

I’m not imagining it.

Then the look is gone.

“I’m sorry, Mommy,” she says, her voice small. “I’ll try much harder next time.”

But Mrs. Freckles goes, “There won’t be a next time! Because you didn’t give it your all!”

Now it’s awkward because Perky and Mrs. Freckles are brushing right by me. I pancake myself against the wall to let them pass. Mrs. Freckles doesn’t notice me—she stumbles past, her Gucci purse swinging and hitting me straight in the gut. But Perky does. She breaks into a sudden perktastic smile.

“Hey, Jacqueline! So sorry about my mom. She’s had food poisoning, she’s kind of out of it!”

Then she rushes her mom down the hall.

Not at all what I was expecting.

But…dang. That was some primo acting. Brava, Anna Perkins, brava.

When I get off the elevator, my phone dings with a new message:

Yo Jackie Oh.

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