Zigzag by Ellen Wittlinger

Author:Ellen Wittlinger
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Apparently Iris was hoping to stay up late into the night debating whether it was right or wrong for me to enjoy Glen’s company for a few hours if I was in love with someone else. I assured her all we’d done was talk.

“You were walking awfully close to him,” she said accusingly. “And laughing, too!”

“There’s a law against laughing?”

“You know what I mean!”

I did, but I wasn’t going to admit it to a thirteen-year-old. “Calm down, Iris,” I said, and walked into the bathroom to get ready for bed. She followed me.

“You said you were in love with Chris!”

“I am. I didn’t do anything!”

“You better not.”

“What are you—the Romance Police?”

She watched me in the mirror as I brushed my teeth, which gave me time to remember her indiscretions of the night before. I spit, then said, “What about you? You kissed Jackson last night and you have a boyfriend at home.”

She scowled. “First of all, I’m not in love with Parker, and second of all . . . he’s not my boyfriend anymore.”

“I thought you said you were hanging on to him until you got home?”

She shook her head and flopped down on the toilet seat.

“You already broke up with him?”

I could barely hear her say, “He broke up with me before we left.”

“Oh.” I soaped up my face and tried to think of the right response. After all, it wasn’t like this was a tragedy—most thirteen-year-olds’ relationships didn’t last more than a few weeks.

“You can’t tell Mom, though.”

I sighed. Every day there were more things I couldn’t tell Mom. “Why not? I don’t think she was expecting you to marry the guy.”

“Just don’t. I don’t want her to think there’s something wrong with me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous—she wouldn’t think that. People break up with each other all the time.” Iris gave me a nasty look, grabbed her nightgown off the back of the door, and went into the bedroom.

I waited until we were both in bed and the light was out. “The only thing wrong with you is your barfing habit.” It wasn’t actually the only thing wrong, but I was in a generous mood.

She sprang back up. “It’s not a habit. I only do it once in a while.”

“Yeah, only after the meals where you’ve actually eaten something.”

“So, are you, like, watching me all the time now?”

“Should I be?”

“No!”

“Okay. Then you don’t need to watch me either.”

She threw herself down on the bed and burrowed beneath the quilt. I don’t know about Iris, but I fell asleep right away. Although not before wondering if I’d see Glen in the morning.

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