Read Online Sally's Bones by MacKenzie Cadenhead - Free Book Online Page A

bring you instead. Ooooohhhhh, it’ll be sooo cool to go to a death-rock concert with something that’s really dead.” Chati’s minions clapped and cooed in agreement. For the first time, Viola looked at Sally with fury in her eyes.
    It was bad enough that she had sat at Viola’s lunch table, but Sally knew that to attend the same social function could only be seen as a direct challenge. Still, this was Tone Death. Sally could think of nothing, not even a majorly mad mean girl with a vendetta just for her, that could keep her away. She dared herself to say yes.
    â€œThanks, Chati,” Sally said. “Bones and I would love to go.”
    â€œGGGgggrrr-uff!” Bones concurred, and the girls began to plan how to dress for the occasion. All except for Viola, who quietly rose from the table and exited the yard. No one but Sally noticed.

Chapter 10
    â€œWe…are…Tone Death!”
    Sally cheered along with hundreds of other Tone Death fans at the fully packed Chatter Hall. Bones howled happily in his carrier, and Chati, Susannah, and the other girls did their best to head-bang without messing up their hair. Only Viola remained in her seat, arms crossed and silent.
    In the past few weeks, Sally’s life had changed quite a bit. At lunch, she no longer sat alone; in gym class, she moved from last pick to first; on the bus, someone was always sure to save her a seat. The former social leper and her imperishable pet were overnight sensations. Even the anonymous notes had slowed down, and when they did arrive, they merely hinted at a day of reckoning Sally was starting to believe would never come.
    Though she occasionally wondered whether or not her new friends were true, her desire to believe outweighed her fear. Even Bones’s implication in the marrowbone thefts was concerning her less and less. Soon enough, Sally was having the time of her life.
    â€œYou were totally right!” Chati shouted in Sally’s ear as the band played their number one hit, “Hearing Impaled.” “Tone Death is the most awesomest death rock band ever! And the lead singer is a super hottie.”
    Sally laughed. “Frank Winston? I’m more of a Stein Whatley girl, myself.” She blushed as she pointed to the shirtless guitarist, whose pasty skin glowed hauntingly under the blue-gel lights.
    â€œOmigosh, that’s perfect!” Chati screamed. “I’ll take Frank, and you can have Stein.”
    â€œYeah, in my dreams,” said Sally.
    â€œNo, I mean now. When they take us up onstage, I get Frank, and Stein is all yours.”
    Before Sally could process what was happening, two large security guards had lifted her and Chati onto the stage. Chati, who had clearly done this before, ran over to Tone Death’s lead singer and giddily giggled as he serenaded her. Sally, on the other hand, stood stock still, frozen in a spotlight while the guitarist glared angrily offstage at his manager.
    She looked to the audience for help. Susannah shouted something and motioned for her to move right. The other girls displayed an array of uncomfortable expressions, from cringe-worthy grimace to embarrassed laughter. Viola, meanwhile, had finally found something worth getting to her feet for. Staring Sally down, she smiled triumphantly.
    â€œHey, kid,” said a voice beside the frozen fan. “Don’t think about the crowd. Just look at me.”
    Slowly, Sally turned to face the kindly stranger, but when she looked into Stein Whatley’s graveyard-gray eyes, she felt her knees knock, her body sway, and her vision go a bit blurry. Instantly, she was short of breath.
    Had this been the old Sally, she surely would have passed out right there, her moment wasted. But this Sally had a trick up her sleeve, an ace in the hole, a skeleton in her closet.
    â€œGGGgggrrrr-uff!” Bones popped up from his carrier and planted his front paws on Sally’s shoulder. He smiled