Read Online The Sleepover by Jen Malone - Free Book Online

friends’ parents.
    â€œMy mom’s coming at noon too,” Paige says, ignoringVeronica’s eye roll, which surprises me. “Okay, so it’s only”—Paige hangs off the sofa and tugs her bag closer to her, grabbing her phone again and swiping it on—“geez. It’s not even seven thirty. On a weekend ! What are we doing awake?”
    Paige is acting like nothing is wrong with our morning besides the early hour, but I really can’t be optimistic right now. She always assumes everything will work out perfectly fine, mostly because it always does for her. But I don’t want to just “think good thoughts” and wait for it to be all sunshine and lollipops. I want my friend in front of me, safe and sound, and I can’t imagine relaxing until that happens. Also? I want to know everything that happened last night and I want to know why I don’t know that already.
    â€œGuys?” I ask. “What do you remember from our sleepover? Because the last thing I remember is the hypnotist telling me to relax and think of my happy place, and I am far, far, far from my happy place right now!”
    Paige picks at a loose string on the yoga pants she wore to bed. “I don’t remember anything either,” she admits.
    Veronica’s eyes get wide. “Me either. Do you think Madame Mesmer put a spell on us?”
    Paige snorts. “No, Veronica. I do not think the hypnotist put a spell on us. She’s a party performer, not a witch!”
    Veronica shrugs as if Paige’s sarcasm doesn’t bother her one tiny bit and continues picking M&M’s off the carpet in apattern of green, red, brown, green, red, brown, and popping them into her mouth. I scrunch up my nose. I’m hungry too (starved, actually), but . . . ewww. No, thanks.
    â€œI habf an idrea,” Veronica says, her mouth full. When this statement is met with blank stares from us, she finishes chewing and tries again. “An idea. I have one. It’s Mystery 101, really. We need to start by examining the clues.”
    â€œOh, sorry, right. I forgot you were Harriet the Spy,” Paige says, accompanied by an eye roll of her own this time.
    â€œJunior Hardy Boys.” Veronica corrects her matter-of-factly, and Paige snorts. I feel bad that Paige isn’t at least trying to be nicer to Veronica, but I have to admit, the girl is kind of oblivious to sarcasm. But still. No reason to be rude. I resolve to try even harder because I’m mostly sure Anna Marie would want me to be nice to her future stepsister. What if it were my best friend’s dying wish? Wait. No. I have to stop thinking like this. We’re going to find her in plenty of time, and all will be well. It has to be . I live in the suburbs. Horrible things don’t happen in the suburbs.
    â€œVeronica’s got a point, though,” I say, once again forcing my mind to stop wandering to the dark side. “We do need to come up with some sort of plan.”
    Veronica stands. “Well, for starters, I gotta change out of my gran’s diaper.”
    I know I made a vow mere minutes ago to be kinder towardVeronica, but really? There is a mathematical probability of zero that I can stop my nose from wrinkling at that. Veronica grabs her backpack and turns toward the bathroom.
    Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. The bathroom! How could I have possibly forgotten?
    â€œWait!” I call.
    Veronica freezes and, next to me on the couch, Paige does the same. I give them both a guilty look. “Okay, you guys are going to think I’m seriously crazy for not mentioning this before now, and I won’t blame you,” I say, sitting up on my heels. “It’s just that, I saw Jake’s sweatshirt and I kind of spaced and then we were creeping around upstairs and I—Um, okay, so the thing is . . . there may or may not be sixteen baby chicks in the bathtub.”
    Paige gapes at me.