Read Online The One Thing by Marci Lyn Curtis - Free Book Online
Authors: Marci Lyn Curtis
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a stop in front of me.
And just like that, I felt whole again. I couldn’t stop beaming.
Ben was wearing a pair of slate-blue swim trunks, a toothy grin, and—crammed sideways on his damp sandy hair—a baseball cap that said THE VOICES IN MY HEAD ARE
TELLING ME THAT YOU ’ RE AN ALIEN !
“Thera!” he screamed. The kid looked like a skinny stork in a swimsuit—all knees and elbows and whatnot.
“Ben!” I yelled back, and then I let my gaze drift downward. I found myself looking at the stubborn face of a young girl—probably around six or seven years old, I was
guessing—who had an army of freckles but only one front tooth. She was wearing a scowl, jean shorts that were creased where they met her pelvis, a white T-shirt with hearts stamped all over
it, and a glittery purple tiara. She suspiciously pursed her lips at me for half a tick, and I glanced away, realizing that I was staring at her like a sighted person.
Leaping toward Ben, she hugged him at the waist—crutches and all. “Ben!” she bellowed.
“Hey, Samantha,” he said.
She blinked up at him. “Will you play with me? Pleasepleasepleaseplease? I’m so bored.”
“I will absolutely play with you. Later on,” said Ben. He nodded in my direction. “Right now, I’m sort of busy with Thera.”
She turned to glare at me. I smiled innocently at her shoulder. And she took off, back to wherever she’d come from. Probably Satan’s lap.
B en introduced me to his best friend and teammate, Teddy—a short, bushy-haired kid wearing swim trunks identical to Ben’s. I
couldn’t help but notice that the right side of Teddy’s face was covered in puckered, rubbery-looking scars, which were creepy and compelling, all at the same time. I’d like to
say that I wasn’t the sort of person who would stare at them, but, well, I couldn’t stop staring. They were just so...there. Finally, he turned his head slightly and his moptop hair
swept over them a bit, freeing me from my moral non-dilemma.
“When I met Teddy, he was ass-up in a hospital bed,” Ben informed me after introducing the two of us, “getting skin harvested from his butt cheek to graft to the burn spot on
his face.”
How was I supposed to respond to that? I snuck yet another glance at Teddy, who seemed perfectly at ease with the subject matter. “Oh. Well. That’s...um...interesting,” I
finally said. And then naturally, I afforded myself a quick look at his face again to inspect the skin, which, incidentally, did not look like the skin of a kid’s butt.
Ben went on to say, “He was my roommate—room two twenty-two at Memorial. I was there for some testing and bored out of my goddamn skull.”
“Ben. Don’t cuss,” I said, but both boys kept yammering on as if I hadn’t spoken. They bantered back and forth about Teddy’s white ass—Teddy claiming that it
was more handsome than Ben’s face, and Ben submitting that it was whiter than the white incisors on a white polar bear, and so on and so forth.
And then finally Teddy said, “Dude. Admit it. The only reason you decided to be my best friend was so you could get away with calling me ‘butthead’ without getting in
trouble.” I laughed so hard that I started making squeaky dolphin noises.
Then there was a rather loud announcement about an upcoming race, and Ben said, “Gotta run, Thera.” He pointed with his head to the pool. “It’s time to carpe my
diem.”
“What do you know about carpe diem?” I said through a chuckle.
“Everything. I read all about it in the
C
s.”
I laughed again. It sounded like Ben’s exclamation-point laugh, which was sort of weird but sort of nice.
“I’ll be in the water in five minutes,” he said. He saluted me, Teddy said good-bye, and then the two boys took off, disappearing into a throng of bathing suit–clad
kids.
The first words Ben’s mom said to me that afternoon were, “Careful, I have dog poop on my scrubs.” Which was disturbing because she said
And just like that, I felt whole again. I couldn’t stop beaming.
Ben was wearing a pair of slate-blue swim trunks, a toothy grin, and—crammed sideways on his damp sandy hair—a baseball cap that said THE VOICES IN MY HEAD ARE
TELLING ME THAT YOU ’ RE AN ALIEN !
“Thera!” he screamed. The kid looked like a skinny stork in a swimsuit—all knees and elbows and whatnot.
“Ben!” I yelled back, and then I let my gaze drift downward. I found myself looking at the stubborn face of a young girl—probably around six or seven years old, I was
guessing—who had an army of freckles but only one front tooth. She was wearing a scowl, jean shorts that were creased where they met her pelvis, a white T-shirt with hearts stamped all over
it, and a glittery purple tiara. She suspiciously pursed her lips at me for half a tick, and I glanced away, realizing that I was staring at her like a sighted person.
Leaping toward Ben, she hugged him at the waist—crutches and all. “Ben!” she bellowed.
“Hey, Samantha,” he said.
She blinked up at him. “Will you play with me? Pleasepleasepleaseplease? I’m so bored.”
“I will absolutely play with you. Later on,” said Ben. He nodded in my direction. “Right now, I’m sort of busy with Thera.”
She turned to glare at me. I smiled innocently at her shoulder. And she took off, back to wherever she’d come from. Probably Satan’s lap.
B en introduced me to his best friend and teammate, Teddy—a short, bushy-haired kid wearing swim trunks identical to Ben’s. I
couldn’t help but notice that the right side of Teddy’s face was covered in puckered, rubbery-looking scars, which were creepy and compelling, all at the same time. I’d like to
say that I wasn’t the sort of person who would stare at them, but, well, I couldn’t stop staring. They were just so...there. Finally, he turned his head slightly and his moptop hair
swept over them a bit, freeing me from my moral non-dilemma.
“When I met Teddy, he was ass-up in a hospital bed,” Ben informed me after introducing the two of us, “getting skin harvested from his butt cheek to graft to the burn spot on
his face.”
How was I supposed to respond to that? I snuck yet another glance at Teddy, who seemed perfectly at ease with the subject matter. “Oh. Well. That’s...um...interesting,” I
finally said. And then naturally, I afforded myself a quick look at his face again to inspect the skin, which, incidentally, did not look like the skin of a kid’s butt.
Ben went on to say, “He was my roommate—room two twenty-two at Memorial. I was there for some testing and bored out of my goddamn skull.”
“Ben. Don’t cuss,” I said, but both boys kept yammering on as if I hadn’t spoken. They bantered back and forth about Teddy’s white ass—Teddy claiming that it
was more handsome than Ben’s face, and Ben submitting that it was whiter than the white incisors on a white polar bear, and so on and so forth.
And then finally Teddy said, “Dude. Admit it. The only reason you decided to be my best friend was so you could get away with calling me ‘butthead’ without getting in
trouble.” I laughed so hard that I started making squeaky dolphin noises.
Then there was a rather loud announcement about an upcoming race, and Ben said, “Gotta run, Thera.” He pointed with his head to the pool. “It’s time to carpe my
diem.”
“What do you know about carpe diem?” I said through a chuckle.
“Everything. I read all about it in the
C
s.”
I laughed again. It sounded like Ben’s exclamation-point laugh, which was sort of weird but sort of nice.
“I’ll be in the water in five minutes,” he said. He saluted me, Teddy said good-bye, and then the two boys took off, disappearing into a throng of bathing suit–clad
kids.
The first words Ben’s mom said to me that afternoon were, “Careful, I have dog poop on my scrubs.” Which was disturbing because she said
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