Read Online The Downside of Being Up by Alan Sitomer - Free Book Online Page B

Allison, unwrinkling her nose. “Then hi.”
    Was she hi-ing me back?
    â€œOr should I say, hi-hi?” she added.
    â€œHi-hi?” I asked, unsure of where she was going with this.
    â€œYou know, so that people feel hello-ed enough,” she told me. “Maybe we should just say hi-hi to each other instead of just hi, so that each of us feels hello-ed enough every time we see each other.”
    â€œGood idea,” I said, my heart filling with hope. “I like it.”
    She smiled again, hitting me with a thousand watts of super-teeth. I melted like a marshmallow in a campfire.
    â€œHi-hi,” she said, starting our conversation over from the top.
    â€œHi-hi,” I replied, and I realized I was smiling, too.
    Gulp. I was out of other things to say. It was like I had played my best card and miraculously it had worked. Now I was empty, totally and completely out of other stuff to talk about. Holy cow, I really didn’t have any idea how to chat with a girl. How come school didn’t offer classes on that?
    Luckily, Allison picked up the slack.
    â€œWere you going to ask me something?” she said.
    â€œUm, yeah,” I stammered.
    The thing I don’t like about some of the girls at my school is that so many of the good-looking ones were snobbish and pretty much more concerned with their hair than anything else. But even though I’d only known Allison for about two weeks, she seemed different. Sure, she painted her fingernails and wore a lot of cool bracelets, but she didn’t wear gobs of makeup, and I never saw her staring into one of those pocket mirrors that the other girls were always looking into.
    Especially when there’s only two minutes left in class. That’s when you always see the pocket mirrors come out so that the bratty girls can make sure they look absolutely perfect in the halls.
    Matter of fact, that’s what gave me the idea last week to try the Pocket Mirror Test out on Allison.
    See, Allison and I only had one class together, her dad’s, so in order to run the Pocket Mirror Test, I had to find a spy. I chose Stephanie Teemer, a string-bean eighth grader who had really religious parents and a candy addiction. Sweets and sugary foods were all she ever ate, but her parents thought too many sweets were the path to the devil, so they made her give it up cold turkey. But since Stephanie had Allison in both her history and science class, and she was always on the lookout as to where she could score stuff like licorice and suckers and jelly beans, I thought I might be able to strike a deal to get the info I wanted.
    Stephanie told me it would take six packs of Now and Laters, eight strawberry lollipops, two boxes of Hot Tamales and three packs of Mike and Ikes, plus a protractor, for her to do my dirty work.
    I agreed, no problemo. Really, what did I care if she ate sugar nuggets for lunch? We met last Wednesday behind the basketball court.
    â€œSo what’s she do when there’s only two minutes left in class?” I asked Stephanie.
    â€œYou’re not like a stalker, are you?” Stephanie was a full foot taller than I was.
    I reached into the bag and held up a Giant Tootsie Roll, the kind that was as long as a table leg, and wiggled it in front of her face.
    â€œDid I mention that I put a few little bonus treats into the bag?”
    Stephanie looked down at the sack I was holding and licked her lips.
    â€œSometimes, she talks to a neighbor.”
    â€œUh-huh.”
    â€œAnd a few times I saw her copy down the homework assignment from the board.”
    â€œUh-huh,” I said.
    â€œAnd once she sneezed.”
    â€œIs that it?” I asked. “No pocket mirror?”
    â€œPocket mirror? What are you talking about? Now gimme the goods, a deal’s a deal.” Stephanie grabbed the bag from me. “And don’t ask me to do this anymore. It’s creepy.”
    â€œYou sure there were no pocket