Read Online Pig City by Louis Sachar - Free Book Online

didn’t kiss you, you’d tell everyone about Pig City.” Thinking about it again made her angry.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    Laura put her hands on her hips and stared at him. She recited the note from memory. “‘Hey Laura, I know all about Pig City. If you don’t kiss me, I will tell the whole school. You have ugly hair. Your humble servant, Gabriel.’”
    â€œAre you crazy?” Gabriel asked.
    â€œYou wrote it, not me,” said Laura.
    â€œI never said you had to
kiss
me!”
    â€œDon’t lie to
me
,” said Laura. “
I
read it, remember. You put it in
my
desk.”
    â€œYou’re the one who’s lying,” said Gabriel.
    That did it. Nobody called her a liar. “Get out!” she exclaimed. “You’re not allowed in Pig City! I’ll never kiss you! And you’re too ugly to wear a dress!”
    â€œYeah, well you’re too ugly to wear a suit and tie!” snapped Gabriel.
    They shouted at each other, using every bad word they knew and some they didn’t know.
    â€œIf you cut your hair every time you told a lie, you’d be bald!” said Gabriel.
    â€œGet out!” Laura screamed. “Liars aren’t allowed in the Dog House!”
    â€œThen what are you still doing here?”
    â€œYou’re repulsive,” she said. “No girl will ever want to kiss you, not for your whole life.”
    â€œAt least I didn’t kiss you. I probably would have gotten warts all over my face.”
    â€œYou are a wart.”
    â€œYou’re a canker sore.”
    â€œGet out of here! Go crawl back where you came from.”
    â€œOink, oink,” said Gabriel.
    â€œThat’s so stupid.”
    â€œOink, oink,” he repeated. He stepped out and slammed the door behind him. It bounced back open.
    Laura remained alone in the Dog House. She tore her sister’s purple and pink Hawaiian muumuu to shreds.

21
Slow Torture
    Laura stared through the hole in her cinnamon doughnut. It had been three days since her fight with Gabriel. She’d hardly slept or eaten anything since. She felt like she was losing control.
    As far as she knew, Gabriel hadn’t told anybody about Pig City,
yet
. She knew he would. Still, she continued to write her messages on the board. On Tuesday she wrote, PIGS FOREVER! and on Wednesday, PIGS ARE WINNERS! She had to. If she didn’t, the citizens of Pig City would know something was wrong. And she couldn’t let Gabriel know she was afraid of him. But the more messages she put up, the more dictionary pages she’d have to copy when he finally told.
    He kept almost telling. He’d raise his hand as if he was going to tell on her, but instead he’d make some kind of ordinary comment. She knew he was doing it on purpose, to torture her.
    â€œDon’t you think you should eat something a little more substantial for breakfast than just a doughnut?”asked her mother.
    â€œLet me make you an egg,” offered her father.
    â€œNo!” she screamed.
    â€œLaura!” scolded her mother.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said quietly. “You know I hate eggs.” She was almost in tears.
    All her life, it seemed, people were trying to force eggs down her throat. “I know you don’t like it soft-boiled, but try it hard-boiled,” they’d say. Or, “Try my egg salad, it doesn’t taste like eggs.” Or, “Have you ever tasted quiche? It’s nothing like regular eggs.” No matter how you cook it, an egg is an egg is an egg.
    She sighed. She knew it wasn’t eggs that had her so upset. It was Gabriel, the biggest rotten egg of them all.
    â€œOh, I know what’s the matter with Laura,” said her father.
    â€œNothing’s the matter!” she snapped.
    â€œRemember that boy who came by the other evening?” her father continued. “What was his name? Gabriel?”
    She stared at him in