Bounce Read online

“So. Do you like him?”

  “He’s not my type,” I say.

  “Fine,” she says. “So. Do you like him?”

  “Jules.”

  “Just answer the question.”

  “Um. I don’t know yet.”

  She laughs. “Your face is so red right now.”

  “That’s because it’s hot in here! Come on! I’m about to die from the heat!”

  “I know,” she says. “I’m sweltering. How long do we have to wear these things, anyway?”

  She yanks at the scarf around her neck—the fluorescent-patchwork-quilt pattern with the fringe hanging off it. Thalia made it. She made them all.

  “Don’t even think about removing the Dream Scarf,” I say. “We’re showing our solidarity. For Joseph.”

  Jules gives me a look.

  “I know,” I say. “I know.”

  It’s weird. It’s weird how you can go from hating something with a passion to thinking that it may not be entirely horrible after all.

  It’s not that I don’t still miss Maine. I do. I miss my old room, with the real backyard, and the ocean down the street. I miss it being just the three Linneys sometimes, eating chicken from a bucket.

  It’s not that Eleni suddenly stopped bugging me, or that the sweater twins stopped fighting, or that I’m entirely thrilled about this love child coming, or that ever since I started wearing Stella’s necklace again, I’ve been remembering to bounce more often. It’s just…I don’t know what it is.

  Maybe I’m just happy Jules came. Later, I’ll take her by C.B.’s to meet the girls. We’ll stay up all night, dancing around like maniacs and eating Fritos with Cheez Whiz.

  But right now, the lights are going down.

  The lights are going down, and everyone’s getting quiet.

  Darkness is seeping in all around.

  I can feel my palms, damp against my knees. I can feel my heart, bumping against my throat.

  Tonight is so big.

  Stella?

  I close my eyes. I can’t help it. I picture a balcony seat, one with a spectacular view. Maybe some of those old-fashioned opera glasses.

  Stell?

  And even though I can’t see her anymore, even though I can barely conjure her smell, I can feel her. Somehow, crazy as it sounds, I know she’s here.

  Thank you, I whisper.

  “Holy crap.” Jules leans in and grabs my leg. “I can’t believe I’m in Boston! I can’t believe I’m actually—”

  “Shhhh,” I say.

  Because now the orchestra is revving up. The curtains are opening. My brother—my sci-fi-reading, Birkenstock-wearing, dragon-slaying, computer-geek brother—is about to take the stage.

  And I don’t want to miss it.

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2007 by Natasha Friend

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, a division of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Friend, Natasha, 1972–

  Bounce / Natasha Friend.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Thirteen-year-old Evyn’s world is turned upside-down when her father, widowed since she was a toddler, suddenly decides to remarry a woman with six children, move with Ev and her brother from Maine to Boston, and enroll her in private school.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-439-85350-7 (hardcover)

  ISBN-10: 0-439-85350-8 (hardcover)

  [1. Stepfamilies — Fiction. 2. Remarriage — Fiction. 3. Schools — Fiction. 4. Popularity — Fiction. 5. Family life — Massachusetts — Fiction. 6. Moving, Household — Fiction. 7. Massachusetts — Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.F91535Bou 2007

  [Fic] — dc22

  2006038126

  * * *

  First edition, September 2007

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

  E-ISBN: 978-0-545-22995-1