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

last time I cried, but I make up for it now.

 
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    An Unexpected Friend
    I use the rest of the lunch period to wash my face and get it together. For a minute, I think about going home sick but don’t want to give Matt, Swifty, and Joe the satisfaction. I keep my head down and race for the door when the bell rings.
    I decide not to say anything to my parents; just thinking about the sad look on Mom’s face if she
watched the YouTube video is enough reason to keep quiet. I didn’t get a chance to eat at school, so when I get home, I wolf down my sandwich, feeding the crusts to Bodi. Then I get Frank out of his cage and take him and Bodi up to my room.
    disability
    As painful as it is, I use my father’s laptop to watch the video again. It’s not news that I’ve always had trouble reading, but now it feels like a real disability. The more I watch it, the more broken I feel. And when I think about losing my best friend on top of it, I want to hide underneath the comforter Grandma made and never come out.
    I ignore the knocking on the back door, hoping whoever it is will go away. When the knocking continues,
I scoop Frank up in my arms and go downstairs.
    Carly stands outside on the step and points to the monkey in my arms. “This must be Frank! He’s so cute!”
    I roll my eyes and let her inside. “I know you want to hold him, but monkeys are strange with people they don’t know. I don’t want him to bite you.”
    â€œYeah, I don’t want him to bite me either.” She moves her hand toward his head. “Can I pet him?”
    I tell her she can if she moves slowly. She smiles when she touches Frank’s fur. I tell her it’s okay to pet Frank but she can’t forget about Bodi. She gets down on the tile floor and places her face next to Bodi’s as she rubs his belly. He looks so happy, it almost makes me glad Carly came over.

    suspicious
    â€œI thought we could go to the video store in the Village and see if any good DVDs came out this week.”
    Carly and I have never done anything like this, which immediately makes me suspicious. “You don’t have to hang out with me just because Matt and I aren’t friends anymore.”
    defiant
    She looks at me defensively. “That’s not why I came over.”
    â€œYes it is.”
    She puts her hands on her hips, even more defiant. “I came over because I didn’t want you sitting around thinking about that stupid video.”
    â€œThat’s kind of hard to do when eight thousand people have already seen sit.”

    â€œIt was only five thousand,” Carly says.
    â€œWell, now it’s eight. Not to mention how many viewers wrote comments about what a moron I am.”
    Carly continues to pet Bodi’s belly. “Is there any way we can take it down?”
    I tell her we’d need Matt’s password, which I don’t have.
    â€œCan you guess what it is?”
    I run up and get Dad’s laptop, and Carly and I attempt several different word and number combinations with no luck.
    combinations
    â€œThis is all because of Swifty and Joe,” Carly says. “They couldn’t care less about Matt, but he’s trying to impress them anyway.”
    I close the computer and ask Carly if we can talk about something else. I should’ve figured she’d want to talk about Tanya Billings—what she looks like up close, what she was wearing, neither of which I paid much attention to.

    fervor
    While Carly grills me, Tony calls to give me updates on the next day’s schedule. Carly jumps up and down in the kitchen with fervor, pointing to herself. I shake my head no, but she doesn’t stop.
    â€œWould it be okay to bring a friend?” I ask Tony.
    He pauses before he answers.
    â€œIt’s probably not appropriate because you’ll be working. I hope she won’t be too disappointed.”
    â€œI didn’t say it was a