Read Online Invincible by Amy Reed - Free Book Online

under the freeway and BART tracks. She waves in the direction of a big blue van idling across the street, and it makes a U-turn and pulls up right in front of us.
    The guy who gets out of the driver’s seat is thin and well-dressed in a sweater-vest and bow tie, with a wide smile that immediately puts me at ease. “This is Cole.” Stella beams.
    â€œI feel a little underdressed,” I say. I am wearing a ratty old T-shirt and pajama pants with sledding penguins on them.
    â€œYou look great,” Cole says with a surprisingly girlish voice. He’s so convincing as a boy, I almost forgot he’s not quite one, at least not physically.
    â€œCancer chic,” Stella says.
    They roll me up a makeshift ramp into the back of the van. “This is Vincent,” Cole says.
    â€œThe van?” I say.
    â€œYeah,” Cole says. “As in van Gogh.”
    â€œGet it?” Stella says. “Van. Go .” They laugh at the bad joke together and I ache for Will, for these silly things shared by people in love.
    The inside of the van is cozy with a futon mattress, a beanbag chair and assorted cushions on an orange shag carpet. Stella pushes them aside to make room for my chair, then covers me with a blanket that smells faintly of mildew.
    â€œPut your brakes on, Scooter,” Stella says. “We’re going for a ride.”
    â€œIs that a disco ball?” I say, noticing a sparkling orb hanging from the ceiling.
    â€œIt most definitely is a disco ball,” Stella answers.
    â€œYou never know when you’re going to need to dance,” Cole says.
    â€œHow am I supposed to keep from falling over?”
    â€œWatch this,” Stella says. She pulls a giant clump of tangled bungee cords out of a plastic bag, hands half of them to Cole, and they start attaching my chair to door handles, metal hooks, anything they can find that’s solid. Pretty soon I’m sitting in the middle of an intricate web that looks like it was spun by a deranged spider. Stella gives my chair a test push and it barely budges.
    â€œWow,” I say.
    â€œA feat of engineering,” Stella agrees.
    â€œYou feel safe?” Cole says.
    â€œAs safe as I’m going to.”
    â€œThen let’s get the hell out of here,” Stella says. She slams the back doors closed and they get in their seats in the front.
    â€œWait a minute,” I say. “Why am I facing the back? I can’t see anything.”
    â€œExactly,” Stella says. I can hear the evil grin in her voice.
    â€œWhere are we going?”
    â€œThat’s a surprise, obviously,” she says. “Duh.”
    â€œDid you really just say ‘duh’?” She doesn’t answer. I feel the car pulling out of the parking lot into the street. “You’re basically kidnapping me, you know.”
    â€œTechnically, I think Cole’s kidnapping both of us,” Stella says.
    â€œSorry for kidnapping you,” Cole says. “Are you okay back there?”
    â€œYeah. It’s kind of bouncy.”
    â€œAre you going to puke?” Stella says.
    â€œProbably not. Considering the fact that I’m supposed to die in a few weeks, I feel surprisingly good.”
    â€œLa-la-la-la!” Cole sing-screams loudly.
    â€œCole doesn’t like it when we talk about dying.”
    â€œOh, sorry.”
    Sometimes I forget how uncomfortable normal people get when we joke about being sick. They don’t understand that turning it into a joke is sometimes the only thing that makes it bearable.
    â€œSo,” Stella says. “I have a very important question for you. What kind of music do you like?”
    â€œMusic? I don’t know. I never really thought about it. I guess I just listen to whatever’s on the radio.”
    â€œNo,” she says. “No no no no no no no. That is unacceptable.”
    â€œDefinitely unacceptable,” Cole agrees. “If Stella didn’t love