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Authors: Maureen Johnson
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didnât exercise enough and clogged up his arteries. That was what her mom had explained to her, anyway. She said it could have been heredity or stress, but May had seen her father eat enough chili cheese dogs to know the truth.
On some level, she blamed him for it. Heâd been a big guy to start with, and heâd just let himself get bigger. Mike Gold was definitely not a dieter. He was the kind of guy who justliked to let things go and have a good time. That was probably why heâd liked Brooks most of all and allowed her to do whatever she wanted. That Brooks was lazy, that she did the minimum amount of work at school or at homeâher father never seemed to notice. As long as she could hit a ball with a stick, she was a wonderful human being. So Brooks coasted by, and May picked up her slack or dealt with the consequences.
For example, here May was at five thirty-five on Thursday morning without a single pair of clean underwear to her name. And why? Because in the week and a half since Brooks had quit the softball team, she had yet to actually complete any of the newly assigned chores that their mom had given her, including laundry. This meant May had to sneak into Brooksâs room (she didnât make much effort to be quiet) to try to find some clean underwear.
Under ideal conditions, the ride from the Northeast Philadelphia suburbs to Girlsâ should have taken only half an hour. But Mayâs bus served another private school on the edge of the city, so there were other stops to make, and there was rush-hour traffic to take into account. In the end, she had to be at her bus stop just after six.
As her bus rumbled through downtown Philadelphia, over the Schuylkill River and down into University City, past the dignified stretches of the University of Pennsylvania buildings, May was fast asleep with her head against the window. Her bus hit a huge pothole at Thirty-third and Chestnut, causing Mayâs head to smack into the window, waking her. She didnât mind. She counted on that pothole to be her alarm clock.
Linda Fan, Mayâs best friend and her constant companionsince day one of her freshman year at Girlsâ, was sitting on the stone bench by Mayâs bus stop, where they met every morning. Linda lived twenty blocks north and a few tree streets over from Girlsâ, in a condo on Locust Street. She usually just woke up a half hour before school, threw on her uniform, and hopped on the subway.
Lindaâs parents could afford to live where they did because they were both doctors at Jefferson Hospital and Linda was an only child. She never had to worry about having enough underwear in the morning, because her family had a woman who came in three times a week to straighten up the house and take care of the chores, like the laundry. The only bad part of the deal was that her cousin Frank was living with them while he went to Drexel University, which was very close to their house. Frank was an engineering student with five pet snakes. Unfortunately, snakes terrified Linda, so she missed a lot of sleep.
âIâm dead,â Linda said as May approached. âVery, very dead. Iâm not even done with my history paper. Iâll have to finish it and print it out at lunch. I would have gotten it done last night, but Frank was letting Harvey out for his weekly crawl, so I couldnât even think.â
âWhich one is Harvey?â
âThe Burmese python,â Linda said, getting up. She was almost a full head shorter than May, so May always had to look down when they were talking. It was an unusual experience since May was the runt of the Tall, Blond, and Wonderful family. âAnyway, I had ten minutes on the subway this morning to work, but Aubrey had to re-create this entire conversation shehad with her boyfriend last night so I could analyze it. You know, because Iâm a licensed psychologist, right? Do I wear a sign on my back that says Overshare with
On some level, she blamed him for it. Heâd been a big guy to start with, and heâd just let himself get bigger. Mike Gold was definitely not a dieter. He was the kind of guy who justliked to let things go and have a good time. That was probably why heâd liked Brooks most of all and allowed her to do whatever she wanted. That Brooks was lazy, that she did the minimum amount of work at school or at homeâher father never seemed to notice. As long as she could hit a ball with a stick, she was a wonderful human being. So Brooks coasted by, and May picked up her slack or dealt with the consequences.
For example, here May was at five thirty-five on Thursday morning without a single pair of clean underwear to her name. And why? Because in the week and a half since Brooks had quit the softball team, she had yet to actually complete any of the newly assigned chores that their mom had given her, including laundry. This meant May had to sneak into Brooksâs room (she didnât make much effort to be quiet) to try to find some clean underwear.
Under ideal conditions, the ride from the Northeast Philadelphia suburbs to Girlsâ should have taken only half an hour. But Mayâs bus served another private school on the edge of the city, so there were other stops to make, and there was rush-hour traffic to take into account. In the end, she had to be at her bus stop just after six.
As her bus rumbled through downtown Philadelphia, over the Schuylkill River and down into University City, past the dignified stretches of the University of Pennsylvania buildings, May was fast asleep with her head against the window. Her bus hit a huge pothole at Thirty-third and Chestnut, causing Mayâs head to smack into the window, waking her. She didnât mind. She counted on that pothole to be her alarm clock.
Linda Fan, Mayâs best friend and her constant companionsince day one of her freshman year at Girlsâ, was sitting on the stone bench by Mayâs bus stop, where they met every morning. Linda lived twenty blocks north and a few tree streets over from Girlsâ, in a condo on Locust Street. She usually just woke up a half hour before school, threw on her uniform, and hopped on the subway.
Lindaâs parents could afford to live where they did because they were both doctors at Jefferson Hospital and Linda was an only child. She never had to worry about having enough underwear in the morning, because her family had a woman who came in three times a week to straighten up the house and take care of the chores, like the laundry. The only bad part of the deal was that her cousin Frank was living with them while he went to Drexel University, which was very close to their house. Frank was an engineering student with five pet snakes. Unfortunately, snakes terrified Linda, so she missed a lot of sleep.
âIâm dead,â Linda said as May approached. âVery, very dead. Iâm not even done with my history paper. Iâll have to finish it and print it out at lunch. I would have gotten it done last night, but Frank was letting Harvey out for his weekly crawl, so I couldnât even think.â
âWhich one is Harvey?â
âThe Burmese python,â Linda said, getting up. She was almost a full head shorter than May, so May always had to look down when they were talking. It was an unusual experience since May was the runt of the Tall, Blond, and Wonderful family. âAnyway, I had ten minutes on the subway this morning to work, but Aubrey had to re-create this entire conversation shehad with her boyfriend last night so I could analyze it. You know, because Iâm a licensed psychologist, right? Do I wear a sign on my back that says Overshare with
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