Spectacle (A Young Adult Novel) Read Online Free Page A

Anything else. Even 7-Eleven would be fine. Just, you know, I need a caffeine fix.”
    “I thought we’d go back to Nine Pound Hammer.” Another Georgetown bar.
    For once it bugged her that her dad didn’t even remotely observe the legal drinking age. Wasn’t a parent supposed to be on top of that? “I’m 16,” she said. “Besides. We can’t just leave David in the truck for that long.”
    “He’ll be fine.”
    “Maybe you should just take us home.”
    Her dad shrugged. “You’re the boss.”
    “I’m not the boss!” she snapped. “I’m the kid.”
    Except that she didn’t feel like a kid anymore. She felt like she had to parent herself, like her mom and dad were the stupid teenagers, too self-involved to pay attention to her.
    She talked her dad into stopping at a vet’s office on 45th Street, where she waited a half hour trying to hold a dirty, squirmy cat. She left with pills to kill fleas, several vaccinations, and $120 less. Luckily, Frederick Hui was paying her later that week.
    She’d gotten a cardboard carrier from the vet, and when her dad dropped her off, she lugged David into the trailer.
    Fiona stood in the bathroom doorway doing one of her breathing treatments, which involved a boxy, white machine, a long tube, and a mouthpiece. When she saw David wriggle out of his box and begin prowling around sniffing things, she flapped her hands and pulled the tube from her mouth. “What is that?”
    “A cat I just adopted,” Trix said, squatting on the thin carpet and trying to coax David to her.
    “Oh, a cat you just adopted? Do I get any say in the matter?”
    Trix shrugged. “I think he needed somewhere to go.”
    “Did you even remember that I’m allergic to cats? And I already have enough problems with my lungs as it is.”
    “You are? Allergic?”
    “Yes, Trixie! I always have been.” Fiona jammed the mouthpiece back into place and shook her head. She gazed into the mirror and, with her free hand, poked at her sandy brown curls.
    Trix decided to wait and see if her mom showed any signs of allergy before getting worked up about possibly having to get rid of David. On the ride home, she’d started liking the idea of a pet, a built-in friend. And then there was all the money she’d spent on him, money that could’ve gone in her sewing machine fund.
    Plus, she figured her mom owed her. She was kind of subpar, as far as parents went. She’d never been one to chaperone school field trips, cook well-balanced meals, get Trix a puppy, or even a goldfish, or supervise her much. The least Fiona could do was let Trix have this one furry thing that already seemed to love her.
     
     
     

6. Excessive Inches
    E MILY POURED NONFAT milk in a fern pattern across the top of a customer’s latté. She’d gotten really good at it the last few months, working at Shutter Joe, half coffee shop, half camera store. Her boss was a flamboyantly gay guy named Thomas, whom Emily loved.
    “You’re looking glum, girlfriend,” he said, once the customer had departed with her coffee.
    Thomas wore skinny jeans, a white belt and a tight rugby shirt that totally worked on him. His hair was gelled into small meringue-like peaks, and black liner etched his eyes.
    She sighed.
    “Wanna talk?”
    “It’s just, all this,” she said, gesturing to her long frame as if she were a prize on The Price Is Right .
    “All that bodacious girl goodness,” he said, resupplying the bakery case with molasses cookies.
    Scoffing, Emily said, “Please.”
    “I’m serious, Em. You got it goin’ on. Curves in all the right places. Those crazy long legs. You must have to fight off the boys. Wish I could say the same.”
    Emily laughed. “Well, it seems I’m still growing.”
    “You’ll be like Brigitte Nielson.”
    She winced. “Can we say Gabby Reece?”
    “Or, you know, yourself, only amplified.”
    “I’m not an amplified type of person.”
    A spiral staircase rose above them. It led to a small sitting loft where