The Year of the Beasts Read Online Free

line for all the rides.
    After all, hadn’t Charlie talked to her at school? Hadn’t he stolen glances at her during lunch? Didn’t he sometimes say nice things to her , like, “I like your sweater,” or “Nice answer in Ms. Durbin’s class,” or “Hey, do you want potato chips?” And didn’t those things mean something? Tessa could string a thousand tiny moments together and weave a story in which Charlie liked her .
    But she could not deny the way that Charlie leaned in toward Lulu. Shared his cotton candy with her. Held her purse for her. Pushed the long hair off of her face.
    Celina spent the night bouncing from Dylan to Tony, and they were all happy about it. Tessa watched as each of them tried to one-up the other in order to win Celina’s undivided attention. Celina didn’t want lose any morsel of it and she strung them along, convincing each that they would be hers exclusively.
    Lionel was too smart to get caught up in that game, so he had turned to Tessa. Lionel did all the nice things that a good boy would do, he bought her tickets to all the rides, he held her bag when she took her turn at playing the water pistol game, he won her a plush space monkey, but to no avail. Tessa ignored Lionel’s attempts at sweetness, and he eventually gave up and trailed along behind the group, occupying himself with something on his phone.
    And then just when she thought she couldn’t stand the night for one more moment, the chance to leave presented itself. Tessa grabbed on to it.
    It was when they were on the Tilt-A-Whirl. Or, as Celina called it, the “Tilt-A-Hurl.” Tessa had eaten a polish sausage with curly fries and a soda pop. She had a strong stomach, but the bubbles of the soda made her want to burp. She tried holding it in, but as the ride slung around, the bubbles in her chest grew larger. She knew that she could keep it down. But when she stepped off the ride, she let out a big belch that lifted the food up her esophagus.
    “Are you OK?” Celina asked. The burp had been loud and gurgly.
    She knew this was her chance.
    “No,” Tessa said. She forced another burp and this time did not hold back and threw up in a garbage can.
    “Oh, no!” Lulu said, leaving Charlie’s side, which is what Tessa had to admit she’d wanted the whole night. Lulu came to her and whispered soothing words and rubbed her back. Even Charlie went to get her a glass of water and paid attention to her. Tessa cried a little, and everyone thought that it was because of the throwing up and the not feeling well, but really it was because Lulu had gotten Charlie and Tessa was upset about it no matter how much she truly loved her sister. She was jealous. But no one needed to know that.
    The only thing everyone needed to know was that Tessa wanted to go home.
    “I’ll come with you,” Lulu said.
    “No, Lulu,” Charlie said. “Stay.”
    That wounded Tessa, and she flinched as though the words had scratched her insides.
    Lulu didn’t even hesitate.
    “No,” she said. “I have to take care of my sister.”
    They left together, Lulu with her arm around her sister, holding her up, Tessa feeling a little bit victorious. Tessa faked being ill all weekend and Lulu stayed with her, playing card games and drinking ginger ale and eating dry crackers with her in solidarity, even though she wasn’t sick herself. Even though everyone else was spending all their free time together at the carnival. Even though Charlie called or texted every hour and the carnival would be leaving soon.
    Tessa couldn’t understand because given the choice between boy-attention and no boy-attention she would have chosen boy-attention, especially if the boy in question was Charlie Evans and especially if it meant he could be her boyfriend. Tessa was quietly impressed with Lulu’s confidence in how she handled the attention. She wondered where she could have gotten it from. Is that what being pretty did to someone? Did it give you an impossible amount of