Read Online Antsy Floats by Neal Shusterman - Free Book Online Page B

look good, although the sleeves on the sports coat I borrowed from my dad were so short, I looked like a circus monkey.
    Lexie had long since taught me how to tie a tie because she couldn’t stand to be in the company of someone who didn’t know how. “I’m sure you look dashing,” she said, checking that my knot wasn’t lopsided. “Just make sure you find your suitcase by the time my parents get here. They’ll notice an ill-fitting wardrobe.”
    â€œYou look elegant,” my mother told me. “Fancy schmancy.”
    â€œFancy Schmancy Antsy!” said my sister, thrilled with herself.
    And then Lexie hesitated, still holding the knot of my tie, and asked, “What’s wrong, Antsy?”
    Lexie always knows when I’m not myself. She says it has to do with my breathing.
    â€œMy grandfather says everyone has a ‘tell,’” she once said to me. “Most people are looking for it, but I’m listening for it. And you, Antsy, take deep breaths and hold them when something’s wrong.”
    Even after she told me that, I could never catch myself doing it. I guess it’s just my natural reaction to secret stress.
    Now that Lexie had caught it, my parents began to pay attention. My mother looked at me and instantly saw that my ingredient list was full of red dye and questionable preservatives.
    â€œWhat did you do? Did you break the boat? I’ll bet he broke the boat!”
    â€œYeah, I dropped Crawley into the propeller to see if he would puree.”
    â€œI heard that,” yelled Crawley from the connecting suite.
    Even Howie was staring at me. “I didn’t see you all day, Antsy. Where’ve you been?” Everyone waited for an explanation.
    â€œWhat is it with you people?” I said. “We’re on a cruise and there’s lots to do. Am I supposed check in every ten minutes like a five-year-old?”
    â€œDon’t get all defensive,” my mother said. “It was just a question.”
    â€œMaybe I was out sunning myself.”
    â€œWere you?”
    â€œMaybe.”
    And then Christina smirked. “Or maybe Antsy has a girlfriend.”
    My mother sighed. “Wherever you were, I don’t want to know about it unless you were doing something I don’t want to know about. In that case—I want to know.”
    I took a deep breath and realized I was holding it again. I let it go and tried to make my breaths smooth and carefree, but it only worked when I concentrated.
    Everyone else let it go, but before I left for dinner, Lexie whispered in my ear, “We’ll talk later.”
    â€¢Â Â â€¢Â Â â€¢
    Everyone on the ship was dressed fancy schmancy on formal night. Photographers were set up taking photos everywhere with fake backgrounds, even though the real background was more interesting than the fake ones. Why would you go on a cruise and have your family photographed with a backdrop of a country garden?
    My parents chose not to have our pictures taken, because a family picture would exclude Howie and make him feel bad, but a picture including him would make us feel worse.
    In the dining room, lobster was the recommended dinner choice, and everyone ordered multiple plates. I think this ship will singlehandedly make lobster extinct within the year.
    Crawley, who dressed in a tuxedo, stayed in his room for formal room service, and Lexie stayed with him, both of them refusing to have cruise ship lobster on principle, because it couldn’t possibly be as good as the lobsters he serves in his famous seafood restaurant.
    After dinner, I went back to the suite to peel off my monkey suit.
    â€œYou oughta come with me to the Sports Deck,” Howie said. “Lance is gonna teach us to play rugby. That’s Australian football.”
    I told him I like my football American, like my cheese.
    It was after he left that Lexie came in from the adjoining suite.
    â€œEscort me on