The Secret Tree Read Online Free Page A

whenever the door opened. Every time Thea went to get something to eat — Troy was constantly asking for more nacho chips — Slayer would jump on her head. She had claw marks all over her shoulders when she got home.
    “I need some money,” Melina said. “I don’t mind babysitting if I get paid, but I’d rather be a lifeguard. My whole life is babysitting. For free.” She nodded at her younger brothers and sisters, lined up like ducks on the bench.
    “Hey,” Paz protested. “I watch them a lot too.”
    “I know the real reason you want to be a lifeguard,” Lennie said to Melina. “Kip Murphy.”
    Kip Murphy was sixteen and lifeguarded at the Rollingwood Pool. Girls were always circling around his chair, distracting him from his lifesaving work.
    Melina turned red. “That’s not true. I’m very concerned with water safety, fitness, and saving lives.”
    “Pfff,” Lennie scoffed.
    “Robbie, stop kicking,” Thea said.
    “Anyway, I was talking about having to watch you ,” Melina said.
    “You don’t have to watch me anymore,” Paz said. “I’m in middle school now.”
    “Not until September,” Melina said. “And anyway, big deal.”
    “You’re still a baby until you’ve survived middle school,” Thea said. “At least a year of it.”
    “Yeah, wait till you see,” Melina warned. “Bullies roam the halls bonking kids with their backpacks —”
    “— and snapping girls’ bra straps,” Thea added. “If you’re wearing one.” She glanced at me.
    “I’m comfortable with who I am.” Somehow my arms ended up crossed over my chest. I didn’t need a bra yet. I wasn’t in any hurry to get one, either. Paz already had three training bras in DayGlo colors.
    “Everything changes in middle school,” Thea said. “Girls you thought were your friends suddenly turn mean on you —”
    “Feuds break out everywhere,” Melina said.
    “— and then you have to find new friends.”
    “What about you guys?” Paz said. “You’re still friends.”
    “We’re the exception,” Melina said. “Best friends forever.” She reached across Hugo to fist-bump Thea.
    “Get your fist out of my face,” Hugo grumbled.
    “Even if you keep your best friend,” Thea said, “everything else changes.”
    “Your world gets rocked like an earthquake,” Thea said.
    Mr. Gorelick started playing “Shake Your Booty” on his Mighty Wurlitzer organ. I grabbed Paz by the hand and led her onto the rink. “Come on, Pax A. Punch — they’re playing our song.”
    My next-door neighbor, Mr. Gorelick, was the house organist for the Oella Roller Rink. He played old disco tunes some afternoons and during the roller derby bouts. I grew up hearing all those old ’70s songs blasting out of his house while he practiced. (His other hobby was polishing his 1929 Model A Ford Roadster, which he called Old Donna.)
    “Hey there, girls!” Mr. Gorelick waved at us as we skated past the organ booth. “Keep those elbows sharp!”
    After a warm-up run around the rink, Paz and I practiced another trick we were planning for the Fourth of July Parade: the Tunnel. So far we’d only done it right once. Paz skated in front of me and reached back between her legs to grab my hands. I crouched down and she pulled me through her legs until I stood up in front of her. Then I reached back and pulled her through my legs.
    “Try not to polish the floor with your butt this time,” Paz instructed.
    “I’m not trying to polish the floor with my butt,” I said.
    She glided in front of me and reached between her legs for my hands. I grabbed them. I could always do that part. It was the next part that tripped me up.
    I plopped to the floor. It was now a little more polished than it had been one second earlier.
    “You guys are awesome,” Lennie sneered as she speed-skated past us. “Minty Fresh and Pax A. Punch, go go go!”
    “Get her,” Paz muttered. We chased after Lennie, the meanest skaters on our imaginary roller derby team. I