The Prom Goer's Interstellar Excursion Read Online Free Page B

it’s a public school like Gordo High. Did you know that? Did yooooouuu… ”
    The dryness in my mouth went up to my brain.
    â€œAre you okay?” she said. “You just made a sound like you were having a stroke.”
    There were two more dead coyotes up ahead.
    â€œ Enough with the dead coyotes,” I said, or maybe yelled. My motor functions were scrambled. The emergency lights were on in my head, and there was no engineer coming to save the day.
    â€œThere does seem to be a lot of roadkill around,” said Sophie. “You’re turning pale. Maybe we should pull over….”
    â€œJust feeling a little light-headed,” I said. “One question—if you had the academic credentials to get into Princeton, how come you’re not in any of my classes?”
    â€œIf you study the AP review books hard enough, you don’t need the classes, so I only took the tests.”
    â€œYou only took the tests ?”
    â€œI got a bunch of fives. Look, I don’t want to talk about this. I know how it probably soun—”
    â€œWhat about the SAT?”
    â€œWhen I was fifteen, I scored high enough on it that I never had to take it again. We really don’t have to discuss—”
    My tongue tasted like antifreeze. My body was trying to poison me from the inside out.
    â€œWhat about extracurricular activities?”
    Sophie looked at me and sighed. I could tell that I was making her feel awkward, but I had no conscious control over my tongue, and the questions kept coming. It’s rare enough that Princeton accepts one student from a public school. But two —it almost never happens. I could see the letters of my name plummeting off the wait list onto the admission office floor, then being swept away by an Ivy League janitor, who in my mind was wearing tweed.
    â€œFor the past year, I’ve been doing these long-distance mud runs two weekends a month with the guy I was seeing, which I guess the Princeton admission office thought was interesting,” she said. “I actually won a bunch of them. I don’t think there’s anything particularly unique about it. I just like to run. They said maybe I could be on the track team, but I’m not sure how much of a team kind of person I am. That’s why I liked the mud runs. I’m pretty good at dealing with obstacles one on one.”
    Sophie frowned.
    â€œBut I guess the prom and the mud runs won’t be happening anymore,” she said. “I don’t want to have to see my ex every time I go to a race. I hadn’t even thought about that part of things.”
    Abruptly, the engine of my truck began rattling, which jolted me out of my thoughts. I was surprised the vehicle had made it as far as it had—we had almost reached our destination and the ride had actually been smooth, like the truck was holding out as long as it could to give me a chance to talk to Sophie. This was the first time my vehicle was transporting a living, breathing girl in its cabin. It must have been as excited as I was at the beginning of the journey, and as disappointed as I was now.
    â€œWhat’s that sound ?” said Sophie.
    â€œJust the engine,” I said. “Hold on.”
    My truck stalled and rolled onto the shoulder. For as far as I could see in either direction, there were no cars on the road. A tumbleweed smacked into my door, rolled around my front grille, and blew away across the empty landscape.
    â€œIs this…bad?” said Sophie, staring at me. “Because it seems bad.”
    Her concern was understandable. To someone who didn’t understand my truck, I could see how the situation would seem bleak—smoldering temperatures outside, miles from civilization, dead coyotes all around us, their bones bleaching in the sun.
    â€œThe truck stalls all the time,” I said. “We’ll be back on the road in ten seconds.”
    â€œSo this isn’t a