Read Online Duckling Ugly by Neal Shusterman - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Neal Shusterman
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Serious.
“Honey, life does not throw you many opportunities,” Momma said. “Don’t go and squander the ones you get.”
“But I don’t like Marshall Astor.”
“You don’t have to,” Momma told me.
And the look in her eyes when she said it struck home, because I knew she wasn’t talking about me and Marshall. She was talking about her and Dad.
There were good things I could say about my momma and bad things. But the sadness I saw in her right then made me feel selfish thinking about myself.
“Go and be happy, Cara,” Momma said. “I need you to be happy.”
That fence I was sitting on had become too uncomfortable, so I finally jumped off. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll go.”
I didn’t tell Gerardo. I had planned to, but then he started talking all about how he and Nikki were going to the dance, and he asked me what I thought he should wear. After that, I didn’t want to talk about it. No matter what awful fate awaited me at that party, it would be worth it to see the look on Gerardo’s face when I walked in with Marshall!
9
B-E-T-R-A-Y-A-L-S
T he day before homecoming, Nikki went to get her teeth cleaned, determined that if she couldn’t outshine the likes of Marisol and her beauty-queen friends, she could at least outsmile them. While Nikki’s motormouth was being worked over, Gerardo had the afternoon free. So I took him to Vista View to meet Miss Leticia.
“This here’s a good girl,” Miss Leticia told him. “You treat her right, you hear?”
Gerardo put up his hands. “Hey, I’m not gonna treat her at all.”
“Well,” said Miss Leticia, “that’s fine, too.”
Miss Leticia seemed worried about something today. She wasn’t saying anything, but it was right there in her body language.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
“Oh, I’m fine. I got my son and that wife o’ his comin’ over tomorrow, and they always set me on edge.”
I didn’t ask any more questions. Miss Leticia had told me how, every time they come over, they bring brochures from nursing homes—not good ones, but the cheap ones that give you aroom, a bed, and, if you’re lucky, something edible once in a while. The kind of place you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Okay, maybe your
worst
enemy, but no one else.
“Maybe the corpse flower will bloom and chase them away,” I suggested.
She laughed at that. “Maybe so, maybe so. It sure is gettin’ ready.”
“The
what
flower?” asked Gerardo.
“Come on, I’ll show you.”
Miss Leticia went inside, leaving us to walk through the greenhouse. There was a sour smell in the air, like dirty socks, as we got close to the corpse flower. Its stalk was now almost six feet high. You could see the crack where the flower would start to unfurl. “When it blooms it smells like dead bodies,” I told him.
“Cool,” he said. “I hope she opens up the doors so the whole town gets a whiff. The ultimate stink bomb!”
I thought it would be perfect if we were holding hands as we walked among the plants, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Still, I tried to keep my hands in full view, hoping he’d notice how nice they’d been looking. He didn’t, but he did make another observation.
“You know, I don’t know why they call you the Flock’s Rest Monster,” Gerardo said. “There’s nothing monstrous about you. Except maybe for the way you look, but looks don’t make a monster. It’s the things a person does.”
“I don’t know,” I told him. “I’ve done some pretty monstrous things.”
“Tell me one.”
And so I told him all about how I got Marisol expelled from school.
“Hmm,” said Gerardo when I was done. “Well, you didn’t do anything monstrous at all. Marisol brought that on herself.”
“So what about you?” I asked him. “What bad things have you done?”
He looked away from me then, tugged off a loose fern leaf, and fiddled with it.
“I’ve done some stuff.”
“Tell me.”
He kept his eyes on the fern in his
“Honey, life does not throw you many opportunities,” Momma said. “Don’t go and squander the ones you get.”
“But I don’t like Marshall Astor.”
“You don’t have to,” Momma told me.
And the look in her eyes when she said it struck home, because I knew she wasn’t talking about me and Marshall. She was talking about her and Dad.
There were good things I could say about my momma and bad things. But the sadness I saw in her right then made me feel selfish thinking about myself.
“Go and be happy, Cara,” Momma said. “I need you to be happy.”
That fence I was sitting on had become too uncomfortable, so I finally jumped off. “Okay,” I said. “I’ll go.”
I didn’t tell Gerardo. I had planned to, but then he started talking all about how he and Nikki were going to the dance, and he asked me what I thought he should wear. After that, I didn’t want to talk about it. No matter what awful fate awaited me at that party, it would be worth it to see the look on Gerardo’s face when I walked in with Marshall!
9
B-E-T-R-A-Y-A-L-S
T he day before homecoming, Nikki went to get her teeth cleaned, determined that if she couldn’t outshine the likes of Marisol and her beauty-queen friends, she could at least outsmile them. While Nikki’s motormouth was being worked over, Gerardo had the afternoon free. So I took him to Vista View to meet Miss Leticia.
“This here’s a good girl,” Miss Leticia told him. “You treat her right, you hear?”
Gerardo put up his hands. “Hey, I’m not gonna treat her at all.”
“Well,” said Miss Leticia, “that’s fine, too.”
Miss Leticia seemed worried about something today. She wasn’t saying anything, but it was right there in her body language.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
“Oh, I’m fine. I got my son and that wife o’ his comin’ over tomorrow, and they always set me on edge.”
I didn’t ask any more questions. Miss Leticia had told me how, every time they come over, they bring brochures from nursing homes—not good ones, but the cheap ones that give you aroom, a bed, and, if you’re lucky, something edible once in a while. The kind of place you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Okay, maybe your
worst
enemy, but no one else.
“Maybe the corpse flower will bloom and chase them away,” I suggested.
She laughed at that. “Maybe so, maybe so. It sure is gettin’ ready.”
“The
what
flower?” asked Gerardo.
“Come on, I’ll show you.”
Miss Leticia went inside, leaving us to walk through the greenhouse. There was a sour smell in the air, like dirty socks, as we got close to the corpse flower. Its stalk was now almost six feet high. You could see the crack where the flower would start to unfurl. “When it blooms it smells like dead bodies,” I told him.
“Cool,” he said. “I hope she opens up the doors so the whole town gets a whiff. The ultimate stink bomb!”
I thought it would be perfect if we were holding hands as we walked among the plants, but I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Still, I tried to keep my hands in full view, hoping he’d notice how nice they’d been looking. He didn’t, but he did make another observation.
“You know, I don’t know why they call you the Flock’s Rest Monster,” Gerardo said. “There’s nothing monstrous about you. Except maybe for the way you look, but looks don’t make a monster. It’s the things a person does.”
“I don’t know,” I told him. “I’ve done some pretty monstrous things.”
“Tell me one.”
And so I told him all about how I got Marisol expelled from school.
“Hmm,” said Gerardo when I was done. “Well, you didn’t do anything monstrous at all. Marisol brought that on herself.”
“So what about you?” I asked him. “What bad things have you done?”
He looked away from me then, tugged off a loose fern leaf, and fiddled with it.
“I’ve done some stuff.”
“Tell me.”
He kept his eyes on the fern in his
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