11 Birthdays Read Online Free Page B

into a chair at our usual table. Carrying six classes’ worth of books has made me really hungry. I remember with agroan that my lunch is still sitting in the refrigerator at home. I dig around for loose change but all I find is forty-five cents. Stephanie shows up with Emma and Tracy Becker. Even when Leo and I WERE still friends, we never had lunch together. The boy/girl division in the cafeteria is nonnegotiable. Emma and Tracy are twins and most people can’t tell them apart. It’s pretty easy if you know where to look. Emma has a freckle next to her right ear and Tracy doesn’t. Also, Tracy only eats organic vegan food, and Emma only eats things made of sugar. The four of us sit together at lunch every day.
    I share my lunch-less plight with them, but between the four of us, we can only come up with a dollar twenty. So my lunch consists of half a soggy tuna sandwich from Stephanie, a yodel from Emma, and three carrots from Tracy. It wouldn’t be so bad if the conversation wasn’t all about the party tonight. But not MY party.
Leo’s
party!
    “I heard he’s having a hypnotist!”
    “No way! I heard he’s having a rock band!”
    “A giant lizard!”
    Okay, that’s it! At the mention of a giant lizard, I push back my chair and stand, grimacing at the loud squeak.
    “Are you okay?” Tracy asks.
    “I just need to, um, go to the bathroom.”
    “I’ll come with you,” Stephanie says, carefully placing her half-sandwich back in the bag.
    “No, that’s okay. I’ll just be a minute.” I leave before she can point out that we NEVER go to the bathroom alone. On the way over to the cafeteria monitor’s desk I hear a table of girls talking about Leo’s party. Who’s going with who, who’s wearing what, what they got him as a gift. I can swear their voices cut off when they see me approach. I grit my teeth and hurry past their table.
    I quickly sign for a hall pass and push open the nearest door. It feels good to be alone in the quiet hallway. Since I don’t really have to use the bathroom, I decide to make one big loop around the school. As I pass the sixth grade science lab, a boy who looks kind of like a bee in a bright yellow shirt and black pants, runs out crying and crashes right into me! His glasses go flying off and careen into the lockers. He drops to the floor and starts patting the ground to find them. This kid must REALLY have bad eyesight! I bend down and hand him the glasses. He takes them and keeps sniffling.
    “Um, are you all right?”
    He nods repeatedly, and then starts shaking his head, instead. “I left my science project at home by mistake. Mr. Collins said if anyone didn’t bring it in today, our grade would drop a whole letter!”
    “Can one of your parents bring it to you?”
    He wipes his nose on his forearm and shakes his head again. “They both work in the city.”
    It’s a little weird that a sixth grader is confiding in me. “What’s the assignment?” I ask.
    “We …
sniffle
… have to …
sniffle
… draw the periodic table. You know, with all the elements and stuff.”
    I really
don’t
know. I shake my head. “I’m sorry, I thought maybe I could help somehow, but we haven’t gotten to that stuff yet. We’re still on the amoeba.”
    He wipes his nose again on his sleeve. I wish I had a tissue to give him because his sleeves are not a pretty sight. The door to the classroom opens and his teacher, Mr. Collins, pokes his head out. “Have you collected yourself yet?” The boy nods, and without even a glance at me, hurries back into the room. I sure hope I don’t have Mr. Collins for science next year.
    I hurry back to the cafeteria before the bell rings and use my dollar twenty to buy milk. I try to act normal while I scarf down the last of my meal. I decide to just smile, and not think any more about birthdays. This gets harder when my friends bring out a chocolate cupcake with a fake candle on it and all start singing “Happy Birthday.”
    “Make a wish, make