Read Online Life on Mars by Jennifer Brown - Free Book Online Page B

the phone in the hallway. She got there first, and Aunt Sarin recited Uncle Manny’s phone number for her. Vega started yelling into the phone, something about babies and ambulances and some other stuff that made me feel like I was going to throw up. If Aunt Sarin started doing half the things my sister was talking about, I might have nightmares forever.I paced in circles, one shoe on, one shoe off, trying to remember aloud the stars in order of brightness.
    â€œSirius, Canopus, Alpha Centauri, Arcturus, Vega, Rigel. Wait. No, Capella is brighter than Rigel. Or is it Procyon that’s brighter than Capella? Or is it Riccola? Wait. What am I saying? Riccola is a cough drop. It’s Sirius, Canopus, Alpha Centauri, Arcturus, Vega, Capella, Rigel, Procyon, uh … uh …”
    â€œArmpit!”
    I snapped my fingers, stuck my finger in the air. “Right! Betelgeuse! How could I forget that?”
    â€œArmpit! Stop talking about stars for one second,” Vega said. “Get your things together. Uncle Manny is on the way.”
    â€œOh,” Aunt Sarin moaned as Vega helped her out of the chair. “Oh, kids, I’m so sorry. You should call your mother. Tell her what’s happening, see what she wants to do. Go to the guy next door. Your mom said he’d help in an emergency.”
    Vega helped Aunt Sarin downstairs, and in minutes Uncle Manny’s car screeched into the driveway. He ran into the house and collected Aunt Sarin, his hands shaking as he grabbed her elbows.
    â€œEasy, easy …,” he said. He helped Aunt Sarin into the car and then glanced back at Vega. “You guys okay?”
    Vega nodded, and Aunt Sarin let out a howl from within the car. Uncle Manny looked panicked. “We’ll be fine,” Vega said. “We’ll call Mom. Everything will be fine. Go!”
    But it turned out Mom didn’t think everything was fine at all. I could hear her screeching into the phone from all the way across the kitchen table. Vega held the phone away from herear,
okay
ing and
uh-huh
ing and
yeah-I-get-it-Mom-sheesh
ing, and then she hung up and set the phone on the table and looked at me.
    â€œSo basically Mom wants us to leave.”
    â€œLeave? Where are we supposed to go? To Las Vegas?”
    There was a knock, and the front door opened, the Bacteria stepping inside. “Aunt? Kid?” he grunted.
    Vega shook her head. “No baby here. They went to the hospital.” She looked back at me, but she was kind of talking to both of us. “Mom and Dad are coming home as soon as they can get here. But in the meantime, we’re supposed to find someplace else to go. Mom said she’ll call Brielle’s mom and Cassi can just stay there for a couple of nights. I’ll go to my friend Anastasia’s house. And you’ll have to go to Tripp’s.”
    â€œTripp isn’t home.”
    Even Vega looked surprised. “What do you mean, Tripp isn’t home?”
    â€œI’ve been calling all day.”
    â€œAre you sure? Tripp’s always home. If he’s not here, where else could he be?”
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s a mystery. He’s been missing a lot lately.”
    Vega pressed her lips together. “What about Priya? I know she’s a girl, but she hangs out with you and Tripp all the time, so she’s kind of a boy.”
    â€œEngineering camp. She won’t be back until the day after tomorrow.”
    Vega stood up and huffed. “Well, do you have any other friends who are home?”
    I hated that we all already knew the answer to that question. And that we also all knew that my standing around puffing my lips out, looking up, and tapping my chin thoughtfully, like I was going through my long list of social prospects, was a lie. But that was exactly what I did. “Nope,” I finally said.
    â€œYou’re kidding,” Vega said, swooshing her hair over one shoulder