Access Denied (and other eighth grade error messages) Read Free Page A

change the subject.
    “Rosie!” I waved her down.
    She pushed her way to the back of the bus and sat down in the seat behind us. No braids this year—just a short cut that curled
     nicely around her ears and made her look sophisticated.
    “Hey, guys,” she said as we exchanged high fives.
    “I was just telling Erin there’s no way girls and boys can stay friends,” Jilly said to Rosie. I groaned. “There will always
     be one or the other or both who will start to like the other one more than a friend. Right?”
    Before Rosie could answer, I fired my own question at her. “You and Mark have been friends since kindergarten or something.
     No attraction, right?”
    Rosie furrowed her brow. “I think I kind of liked him in third grade and he liked me in fourth but he’s more like my brother
     now, you know?”
    “Exactly!” Jilly said triumphantly. “They totally don’t count, Erin. My theory still holds.”
    “No it doesn’t,” I said, shaking my head. “They’ve been just friends for years.”
    “You two should just agree to disagree on this one,” Rosie said before turning to Jilly. “So, how’s Mr. Lanner?”
    “Don’t get her started on Bus Boy,” I said, though I was grateful for the change of topic.
    Jilly stuck her tongue out at me before looking at Rosie. “I miss him a lot. And this,” she said, waving her hand around the
     bus, “is so—what’s that word we learned in English last year?
Anticlimactic.
” She turned to me. “Remember how nervous and excited we were last year? How it was all a big adventure?”
    I remembered the nervous part, all right, but it wasn’t a big adventure—more like a nightmare. I was thrilled to be sitting
     on the bus right now with no one calling me names or asking about my totally secret, private blog.
    “I’m sure you’ll find an adventure somewhere, Hennessey.” Rosie smiled. Then she turned to talk to a girl who had been trying
     to get her attention.
    “I don’t want adventure,” Jilly said. “I just want Jon.” She sat up suddenly and looked at me. “Do you think he’ll meet someone
     in high school?”
    “Well, I—”
    “Maybe he already has,” she said, gripping my arm. “Maybe he met a girl on the bus, just like he met me last year, and he’s
     teasing her right now and she’s giving him big eyes and he’s asking her to sit with him and she’s saying yes and then they’re
     comparing class schedules and they find out they have lunch together and three other classes and then they run into each other
     in the hall and—” She covered her face with her hands. “I can’t stand it! He’s cheating on me already.”
    I sighed. “He isn’t cheating on you, Jilly.” Sticking my hand in the front pocket of my backpack, I felt around to make sure
     I’d packed a stash of Snickers. “He doesn’t even take the bus, remember? He’s in a carpool.”
    Jilly pulled her hands away from her face. “Oh, right. I forgot.” She bit her lip and looked out the window again. “And there
     weren’t any girls in the carpool.”
    “There, you see? No girls in the carpool. You’re safe.”
    Jilly moaned. “Hardly. What about all the girls in his classes? And at lunch?” She shook her head. “I’m doomed.”
    “Jilly,” I said, “don’t worry about it until there’s something to worry about.”
    She turned to me, eyes wide. “Do you think there’s going to be something to worry about? Did he say something to you?”
    “Oh, yeah. I forgot. He told me he was planning to do something evil behind your back while he was in high school. And of
     course he wanted to share it with me because I would never say anything to his girlfriend who happens to be my best friend.”
    Jilly relaxed against the seat. “Okay, so I’m being stupid.”
    I nodded. “That’s the first smart thing you’ve said.”

CHAPTER 4
HILLS AND VALLEYS
    LOCKER COMBINATION? CHECK. OPENED ON first try? Check. Locker partner? Unknown, but I was in eighth