Read Online My Life as a Stuntboy by Janet Tashjian - Free Book Online

have consequences.”
    Even on a day with a glowing newspaper article about Yours Truly, my mother can’t resist another teaching moment.
    She rinses out her coffee cup and tells me it’s no big deal and that the horse looks good next to her
collection of tiny cacti. I decide to take her at her word and drop the subject.
    After breakfast, we go to the Hollywood Hills, where we take Bodi off the leash and let him trot alongside us as we hike. I walk ahead of my parents to my favorite part of the canyon, the caves. Sometimes there are tourists taking pictures because this was one of the locations used in the old Batman TV show. I imagine a crew here many years ago filming the Dynamic Duo in their Batmobile zooming out of this cave to fight crime. The actors probably weren’t even here. I bet they saved the hard stuff for their stuntmen.
    cacti
    We avoid the puddles, and when we come out of the cave, we look
back in the other direction. The letters of the HOLLYWOOD sign stand guard over the canyon like giant white soldiers. I’ve lived here my whole life, but it’s still exhilarating to see such a famous landmark up close.
    exhilarating
    My mother bends down to give Bodi some water. “Does the sign seem like it applies to you a bit more since you’ve been in a movie?”
    I make a face like that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard, but in reality I was thinking the same thing. To celebrate the newspaper article, we stop at House of Pies, and I order a slice of chocolate cream. My parents split a piece of custard pie and let me choose which songs to listen to on the drive home.
    When we get back, I sit on the
couch with Frank and Bodi and watch one of the action movies Tony sent over to show my parents his work. In one scene, he jumps off a bridge and lands in a tugboat full of garbage bags.
    â€œDon’t get any ideas,” Mom says.
    â€œDon’t get anything close to an idea,” Dad adds.
    It’s kind of a perfect day, one of the best I’ve had since summer—until I realize tomorrow is Monday and the school week’s about to start all over again.

 
    Â 
    You Did What??
    intercom
    The next day, Mr. Demetri congratulates me on the article. I do appreciate his support, but I wish he had told me in the hall instead of on the intercom during morning announcements.
    Ms. McCoddle applauds when he’s done, and the class joins in—even Matt, which makes me happy.
    On our way to the cafeteria later,
Joe walks alongside me with a book. He reads the words with painstaking slowness. Because I want to have teeth left to eat my lunch, I don’t comment on his reading skills, which appear to be worse than mine.
    Swifty joins us and starts reading over Joe’s shoulder, stumbling over every word.
    painstaking
    â€œWhat’s going on?” I ask.
    They both laugh and head to the lunch line.
    I grab Matt. “What’s wrong with Swifty and Joe? They’re acting like idiots.”
    â€œLike idiots—exactly.” He gives me a friendly punch in the arm and walks away.
    I must look pretty confused because Carly comes over and asks if I’m okay. I tell her I have no idea
what Swifty and Joe are doing, but whatever it is, it’s not funny.
    â€œMatt too,” Carly says. “Don’t let him off the hook.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” She pauses. “You mean you haven’t seen it?”
    â€œSeen what?” I try to imagine the worst: that Swifty and Joe have taken yesterday’s newspaper article, drawn a mustache on my photograph, and hung it outside the classroom.
    â€œCome on.”
    I follow Carly to the media center, where she asks Ms. Myers if she can undo the Internet block for a few minutes. (This is what life is like when you’re a girl who reads books in her spare time—teachers will do
the impossible for you.) Ms. Myers tells her