Mind Games Read Online Free Page B

doesn't wear cologne or aftershave. I think it's his deodorant. Spring Fresh scent.
    I'm glad I'm in Mr. Ennis's homeroom. The only bad part is that they do homerooms by the alphabet. That means my sister Claire is there. We don't usually have classes together, except homeroom and P.E. and special stuff like club. We don't like to very much, either.
    My problem started on club-picking day. See, I wanted to be in the WCTV club. That's the Clearview News Channel. I wanted to read the news on TV like Diane Sawyer. She's famous. I even dreamed about it the night before. I was a famous anchorperson on TV like Diane Sawyer.
    But Claire doesn't like me getting attention. She always tries to put a stop to it. She wouldn't like me to pick that club, not one little bit. I even thought she might change my club paper when I wasn't looking. I wouldn't put it past her.
    So on club-picking day, I tried to sit far away from Claire. Only, away from Claire happened to be near the snake cage. I usually try to avoid the snake cage area because it makes me so sad.
    Alice was a nice snake—charming. Ha—charming snake. That's funny, isn't it?
    Here's another good one. What did one strawberry say to the other? If you hadn't been so fresh, we wouldn't have gotten into this jam.
    Alice had shiny eyes. And nice skin, for a snake. But she looked sad. Sad and smushed.
    "Let me out!" it seemed like she was saying. "I don't belong here."
    I knew how she felt. Exactly precisely.
    But I couldn't help her. I told her I couldn't. It was against the rules to let her out. Mr. Ennis said.
    But Alice didn't take no for an answer. No, she didn't. She slithered off her log and looked me in the eye. RIGHT IN THE EYE.
    Old Claire was watching me with her beady eyes. And that friend of hers, Ji Oh, too. Ji tries to act like she's my friend, but I'm not stupid. She treats me like a baby, just like Claire.
    I stood up and bent over the cage so Claire couldn't see everything I was doing. Then I lifted up the lid to Alice's cage. I thought I could just scratch her between the eyes the way Sunshine likes.
    "It's okay," I whispered to Alice. "Don't be afraid."
    Alice hugged me. She hugged me and kissed me and sniffed my hair with her tongue. Snakes are cold-blooded, but she was real warm.
    I let her crawl around and stretch a little, so she could unsmush. She's the one who decided to crawl out the window. She wanted to be free. I thought it would be the best thing for her.
    That's when we got caught, me and Alice.
    Ji tried to pull Alice back through the window. But Alice was too slippery for her. Then Ji started crying that Alice bit her. It was just a little tongue lick, though. Ji is such a baby.
    I was real happy for Alice, that she was free. I was happy for a little while, because I didn't know yet.
    I didn't know a milk snake isn't made to live in Maryland in the woods in the wintertime. Or even the fall. That's why Alice is dead and gone. It hurts me that it happened. But I didn't mean to let her die. Don't listen to what other people say.
    Claire kept asking me why did I let Alice go out the window. I started breathing real hard and hyperventilating like. I couldn't say anything. She got real mad because I wouldn't answer her question.
    That's when Mr. Ennis sent us all to the office—me and Claire and Ji. Ji put cold water on her finger. Claire made me breathe into a paper bag that smelled like McDonald's french fries. Mrs. Mathews called my mother to say I killed her snake that was named after her. That's when the WCTV club got filled up. The death of the snake was their first main story. But I never thought I'd get on TV that way.
    So that's how we ended up in Mr. Ennis's Mad Science Club. Mr. Ennis signed us up without asking us. That's okay. But why he'd want to spend more time than he has to with Claire and Ji is a big mystery to me.
    Mad Science isn't as bad as it could be. For one thing, there's this girl named Marina. She has the nicest-smelling,