Read Online Nothing Bad Is Going to Happen by Kathleen Hale - Free Book Online Page B

was there last night, obviously, but they wouldn’t let me in because Davey was in critical condition, and, like, ICU policy dictates family only.”
    â€œI hate it.”
    â€œI know.” I roll my eyes. “His family’s not even here yet—they’re on their way back from one of their grief retreats. But the point is I’m not allowed to see him yet, which—”
    â€œUm, I’m pretty sure that we can get around that,” she says.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œYou’ll see. I’ll pick you up in fifteen. Get dressed.”
    I glance at the clock. It’s only nine a.m. Rosa won’t be home with lunch for at least another few hours. “I actually don’t have any clothes, is the thing—”
    â€œYES. The answer is yes. I’ve been waiting forever todress you. A fashion transformation is what Gah wants for you, Kippy, believe me. What a blessed day.”
    â€œI’m not really in the mood for that.” Ruth used to give me makeovers all the time and they made me feel superawkward. The last thing I want to do right now is enact some kind of movie makeover montage. “Just basic stuff. Please? Like . . . long underwear that actually fits would be great. Miss Rosa’s so tiny. And . . . I don’t know. Maybe a snowsuit? With bling on it? That might be nice. Maybe I’m asking for too much.”
    â€œI am, like, soooo disappointed right now I can’t even express it to you,” she says, and hangs up the phone.

THE HOLLY AND THE IVY
    The ICU was basically vacant last night but now it’s surging with activity. Apparently there was a pileup on the interstate by my house. The magazine rack in the waiting room is empty and the chairs are filled with strangely calm relatives, all slurping coffee out of Styrofoam cups and mumbling about black ice and Christmas miracles. “It could have been so much worse,” somebody says, smiling at us, thinking Libby and I are related to someone from the crash. “Luckily it’s just broken bones.”
    My phone buzzes: a text from Jim Steele awkwardly asking if I need anything because “suicide’s the worst.” Unsure how to respond, I text him back an emoji of a bear.
    â€œYou ready?” Libby whispers, cocking her head really intensely. “When I say go, we go.”
    I look down at the velour zip-up hoodie she convinced me to wear. It says JESUS RULES across the front in glitter. (“I told you I’m agnostic, right?” I said when she handed it to me. “One soul at a time,” Libby responded, smiling.) I conceded to put it on under the snowsuit she brought me because today it’s a record-setting cold of thirty-five below with the wind chill.
    â€œKathy!” a doctor shouts, sticking his head through the door. “I need you to help me hold this kid down—he’s a thrasher!” The nurse gets up from behind her desk, scuttling off.
    â€œPerfect,” Libby says, tugging me through the door to the ICU. “Come on.” She insisted on lugging in her gigantic purse with us. When I reached into it looking for ChapStick, she got really angry and told me not to touch her stuff. She’s being really weird.
    â€œWhat do you even keep in there?” I ask, digging my heels into the floor to stop her from pulling me through the door marked EMERGENCY. “Wait, stop, what if an alarm goes off? We don’t have permission.” I glance over my shoulder but nobody’s watching—they’re all too busy commiserating over close calls.
    â€œKippy.” She sighs, edging around a gurney. “When you look like me, you don’t need permission.”
    It’s true that Libby’s good at getting what she wants.She hardly ever works for anything and a lot of people say the only reason she’s passing high school is because teachers can’t keep their eyes off her cleavage, and feel bad about it,