Read Online The Banana Split Affair by Cynthia Blair - Free Book Online

When did he ask her? Where are they going? What did Amy say?”
    “Christine,” Susan groaned. “I have no idea! I don’t even know who these people are, remember?”
    “Oh, yeah. Sorry. I forgot for a minute. I’ll just have to ask around and find out for myself.”
    “But you’re already supposed to know about it. After all, that friend of yours wrote you a note about it.”
    “You’re right. Oh, dear. Now I’ll never find out. I won’t be able to ask anybody about it for two whole weeks. I’ll die of curiosity.”
    “Look, I’ll do what I can to find out all about it. In the meantime, why don’t we walk home together? I want to hear every single detail about your day. I can’t wait to find out what Susan Pratt did today.” While she was too shy to mention it, what she was most anxious to hear about was how Chris had managed with Keith West. Had her more outgoing twin had any more success in catching his attention than she had?
    “I want to hear about everything that happened to you today, too, Sooz. But I have some errands to do before I go home. So you’d better go along without me and we can talk later”
    “Errands? What kind of errands?”
    “Oh, nothing much.” Chris shrugged. “I just want to browse around at Mitch’s Art Supply Store. See what kind of things they have.”
    “Okay.” Susan suppressed a smile. She could see that her twin was a little embarrassed by her newfound interest in art, so she was careful not to tease her or say anything to discourage her. “I’ll see you later on, then.”
    The two girls sorted through their lockers until they had found the books they needed to do their homework, then traded them with brief explanations about the types of assignments that were usually given.
    As Susan started down the sidewalk away from the red brick building, she was lost in thought. She was still trying to digest all the things that had happened to her that day. More important, she was sorting out the surprising facts she had learned about her sister’s life.
    Gee, I always thought Chris had things so easy, she mused. All the girl friends and boyfriends she wanted, her easygoing personality, being in the center of everything. But there’s a price for that popularity. Having to put up with people like Richard Collier, for one thing. She shivered as she remembered how he had acted toward her, putting his arm around her and making disparaging remarks about Susan Pratt.
    Then there’s the way the teachers treat her. I always assumed that teachers behaved the same way toward everyone. But I found out in English class that they can be as sarcastic and difficult to get along with as anybody else. Poor Chris! No wonder she hates schoolwork so much!
    Thinking back, Susan could remember a time when Chris had refused to go to school. Every morning she would cry and fight with her mother and then be dragged off, kicking and screaming, to the school bus. At the time Susan had thought she was merely being childish, acting like a spoiled little kid. But now she understood how hard it must have been for her. She made a vow to start offering her twin help with her homework and to put in a good word for her with her teachers every chance she got.
    And then there were the things she had learned about herself that day, about how Susan Pratt was perceived at school. Most of the students seemed to think she was nice enough but that she was so quiet and timid that no one ever got the chance to know her. Why had she never made an attempt to get to know Chris’s friends? Whenever they came over to the house, Susan always hid in her room behind closed doors. She told herself she wanted nothing to do with them. But maybe the truth was that she was afraid they wanted nothing to do with her. It was certainly something to think about!
    As Susan rounded a corner clutching her schoolbooks to her chest, her mind still a million miles away, she suddenly jumped back in horror. She heard the shrieking of two