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in a car with Tori — she follows Ericka around like a puppy,” she said.
    I checked my e-mail before bed. I was hoping Tori would want to make up, but I didn’t have any mail. I couldn’t believe they were still mad at me. I went into the living room where my mom was watching TV.
    â€œI don’t feel good,” I said, remembering Ashanti had said she had a lot of high fevers. “Check my temperature. I think I’ve got mono.” She slid her hand onto my forehead.
    â€œHate to disappoint you, kiddo, but you feel cool as a cucumber,” she said.
    â€œI feel sick. I don’t think I can go tomorrow,” my voice broke, and I moved away so she wouldn’t see me cry.
    â€œWhat’s the matter?” she asked. “Are you crying?”
    â€œI just feel so bad.” She told me to go to bed and see how I felt in the morning. I did feel sick. My stomach was cramping, and my head hurt. I lay in bed wishing I would wake up with mono and be out of school for weeks. I didn’t want to fall asleep because the sooner I went to sleep, the sooner it would be time to get up for school.

Chapter Eight
    Mom made me go to school, but I didn’t eat breakfast because I didn’t want to puke in Mrs. Carangi’s van on the way to the museum. Mom gave me a ride to school, and I prayed this would be the world’s shortest school day. Ms. Ashcroft and the other teachers were in the parking lot, and I checked in and went to Mrs. Carangi’s van. Jared, Tad, and Hakeem were already sitting in the back so I could either sit in the front seat with Jared’s mom or sit next to Tori, who would ignore me the entire trip. I got into the front seat, and Ms. Ashcroft came over and asked if we had room for one more. Not Ericka, I prayed, not Ericka.
    Mrs. Carangi nodded, and Peyton got into the van. However, it’s not easy to talk to someone in the seat behind you, so I spent the trip down listing to the radio. When we got to the museum, the teachers told us to pair up with someone from our car, and Peyton grabbed my arm and said “partner,” which was great since Tori got stuck with Tad. Our guide, Antonio, walked us to the Egyptian room, and I told Peyton I’ve had a fear of mummies ever since I saw The Mummy on TV. She told me to look at the floor as we walked through the room. Peyton had to go to the bathroom, but we couldn’t find the restrooms on our map. She felt dumb asking Antonio, who was super hot, but she was about to wet her pants so I asked for her. Tori sighed loudly, like I was bothering her, and Peyton gave her a dirty look as he told us the quickest route to the bathroom.
    â€œGo back through the Pharaoh’s room—”
    â€œUm, is there another way? I have a thing about mummies,” Peyton said. I shot her a grateful look.
    â€œYou can go through the contemporary art section, but it’ll take longer. Meet us in Impressionists, okay?” he said.
    We got lost on the way back and ended up in the lobby, and a security guard radioed Antonio and led us back to our group. We found our group, and Mrs. Carangi said we were going to break for lunch. There was a big sign for bathrooms as soon as we walked into the museum cafeteria, and we started laughing. Everyone else had already begun eating, and we sat with India and Devon as we helped ourselves to pizza and soda. India soaked up the orange oil on the top of her slice with her napkin while she told us about a painting which freaked her out in one of the galleries our group hadn’t been in yet. She wouldn’t tell us what it was, but Devon put her hands over India’s ears and said it was of some dead guy.
    â€œPeyton, what time do you want us to come over tonight?” India asked.
    â€œSix,” Peyton said through a mouthful of cheese.
    Antonio asked us to get back into our groups to finish the tour. I was glad since I felt uncomfortable when they started talking