Sticks & Stones Read Online Free Page B

like he had a secret. “And that’s the student who wins the brief competition we’re going to have right now. Students, please make your way to the stage.”
    What? My whole body felt tingly as the room began to buzz again. This was supposed to be a meeting, not a contest. I knew there would be contests, of course—everyone knew there would be contests. But no one had said they were going to start tonight.
    I caught Jeg’s eye as I stumbled my way up to the stage. She didn’t want to be Explorer Leader, but she had come to the meeting anyway to hang out with me—or maybe to hang out with Snotty Ami. It was a little hard to tell, if I was being honest. But the place was packed—maybe they didn’t sit together on purpose. Maybe Snotty Ami had to grab any old seat she could get, and it happened to be that one.
    Once we were all assembled on the stage, Mr. Todd turned back to the audience. “Being the Explorer Leader can be challenging at times. The student will get tired, frustrated, and downright crabby. But he or she must remember that this is a job worth having and fighting for. Tonight, we’ll see who wants it the most. Students, upon my go, you will lift one foot in the air and hold the position as long as you can. The winner of this competition will be guaranteed a spot in the next round of the process that will lead to the selection of this year’s Explorer Leader.”
    â€œGo, Elyse! You can do it!” shouted a way-too-familiar voice from the audience.
    I refused to make eye contact with Mom and hoped with all my heart that everyone would think there was just some random lady in the audience cheering for me, a lady I didn’t know at all who didn’t have, like, twenty-eight thousand varieties of gross prescription anti-itch cream stashed in her purse in case of an emergency.
    â€œStudents ready?” Mr. Todd asked. “Oh, and, folks, please note that flash photography is permitted in our theater!” He grinned. Yes, this was hilarious. Let’s totally embarrass kids and then invite people to record it. “Get set … go!”
    And with that, we were off. I lifted my right foot slightly up off the stage floor. Okay, this wasn’t so bad. I could do this. It was just standing. I did that all the time.
    â€œJust so you know, I take dance and gymnastics,” Snotty Ami hissed in my ear. “I could do this all night.”
    I ignored her and turned my body to the side. Concentrate. The seconds went by, and legs began to drop one by one. Kevin wobbled around for a minute before falling, and then a few other people lost their balance, too. My leg had grown a little heavy, but not heavy enough that I’d let it fall. Not heavy enough to give up this chance for nonstop compliments. I’d made it this long; I’d keep going.
    Nice Andy flashed me a humongous grin, the kind where you could see all his teeth, even the big ones way back in his mouth. He looked like a statue, totally frozen in place.
    A few more legs fell. Don’t get excited. Stay calm. Focus.
    My eyes wandered out to the crowd. Mom had her phone out and was probably taking a video of me to put online. So embarrassing. Liam sat a few rows behind my parents with some soccer-team guys and their families, and I could’ve been imagining it, but it definitely looked like he was smiling at me. Maybe he was thinking about how he had made a mistake, how he still thought my words were the cool kind of weird, and how we could totally go out again and hold hands in the hallway and do all those other romantic things people do when they’re going out.
    I forced myself to look away, though it sure wasn’t easy. No distractions. And absolutely no lurchy heart. Not right now.
    The time crawled on and on until I was convinced it was midnight.
    â€œAh!” Francheska fell to the side. She grabbed on to JaShawn, who grabbed on to Layla, who grabbed on to Elijah,