Read Online It's an Aardvark-Eat-Turtle World by Paula Danziger - Free Book Online Page B

driving me nuts. I want to say stuff to you like ‘You know, Lincoln supposedly freed the slaves.’”
    She gasps. “Oh, Rosie . . . .That’s awful.”
    I nod.
    She sits quietly.
    Finally she says, “I’m so confused. Everything’s different.”
    â€œYou mean like some boy likes me and I’m not the one alone for once?” I’m really fed up.
    She puts the pillow down on the bed. “I mean, like all of a sudden there’s so much change in my life that I don’t know how to act anymore.”
    â€œYou act as if no one else in the world is going through anything but you. Lots of kids have to deal with divorces and repairings. I have to learn to act differently, too, but I’m willing to try. Why can’t you?”
    Phoebe shakes her head. “It’s easier for you.”
    I shake my head. It makes me angry that when she has to go through something she thinks it’s so hard. When I do it, it’s supposed to be a breeze . . . .Wrong. Growing up’s not easy for anyone.
    Finally Phoebe says, “I’ll try to work this out . . .   somehow . . . .Don’t worry about me.”
    I nod.
    As we get up and dress, I think about how Phoebe’s managed to make me unhappy when things shouldbe so good. I know that I’ll worry about her even though I say I won’t. I’m also very angry.
    A person should never have to choose between a best friend and a boy.
    A person should never have to choose between a best friend and her own mother.
    Phoebe’s been trying to have me make a lot of unnecessary choices.
    I’m trying to be reasonable, but it’s getting very hard lately.

CHAPTER 17
    W hen I was little, I always wanted a Prince Charming to show up at my door and whisk me away to his castle.
    My wanting the Prince and the castle come from watching all of those old Walt Disney movies. One of my favorites was the one where the birds dressed Cinderella. I’d always wanted that—until Mindy reminded me that the birds would probably leave droppings on the dress and on me.
    Still there’s something about a prince and castle that sounds very exciting.
    Last night I told Jason about my fantasy and he said that he’d plan our date around it.
    So here we are riding in his car on the way to somewhere.
    I only hope it’s not a bird store.
    We pull up to a castle. Five minutes from Jason’s house, there’s a stone castle with towers and turrets.
    Jason pulls into the driveway past the stone wall and into the parking lot.
    â€œAmazing. I can’t believe it.”
    He parks the car, then turns to me and says, “Casa Loma—the house on the hill.”
    He’s so proud of himself.
    He’s also so cute . . . all six feet of him . . . his broad shoulders . . . the freckles on his pale face . . . the way he laces his shoes starting in the middle going to the bottom and then letting the laces hang . . . .
    I don’t think it’s a good idea to keep staring at him . . . even though he keeps looking at me.
    I start to open the door and jump out of the car to get a better look at the castle.
    The safety belt is still locked. How embarrassing.
    Jason unlocks it and we get out of the car.
    He puts his arm around my shoulder.
    I look up at him. “What’s a castle doing in the middle of Toronto?”
    Jason explains. “This guy Pellatt made a lot of money putting up streetlights in Toronto and investing in stuff. He had a thing about castles and decided to build one here.”
    â€œIt must have cost a fortune.” I look around at the wall, the stable across the street, and then back at the building.
    â€œThey started building it in 1905. By the time it was finished it cost three and a half million dollars.”
    With that kind of money, Mindy could quit waitressing and write full-time. Jim