Anastasia on Her Own Read Free Page A

windows and stuff?"
    Dr. Krupnik made a face. Then, after a moment, he brightened. "Saturdays," he said.
    With a flourish he made a note about Saturdays, and the schedule was finished.
    "Housekeeping is simple," Dr. Krupnik said.
    "Yeah," said Anastasia. "Any moron could do it. All you need is a schedule."

2

    Thwack, thwack, thwack.
Down the long school hallway, one locker door after another slammed shut with a metallic sound. Anastasia zipped up her parka, sorted out her books, collected the ones she needed for homework, and pulled on her knitted ski hat. At the locker next to hers, Sonya Isaacson muttered, "I really flubbed that English quiz. My parents are going to be mad."
    "Me too," Anastasia said. "I thought school would be called off today because of the snow. So I didn't even study. I think I got all the true-false, though."
    "Quick, turn around," Sonya whispered suddenly. "Here comes Norman. Pretend you don't see him."
    Automatically Anastasia obeyed, turning sideways toward her locker as if she needed more books. Sonya did the same until Norman Berkowitz had passed.
    Norman was Sonya's boyfriend. In the evenings he called her up and they had long conversations about nothing. On Saturdays they sometimes met at McDonald's, as if by accident, and sat around eating French fries for an hour, talking about nothing.
    Daphne did the same with Eddie. Meredith did the same with Kirby McEvedy. And Anastasia did the same with Steve.
    Since Steve Harvey lived just down the street from Anastasia, he sometimes even stopped by her house after school or on weekends. Steve got a kick out of playing with Sam.
    But the rules at school were different. Anastasia hadn't quite figured out
why
they were; but she knew that they were, and so she followed them. It was important, at school, to pretend that you hated the person you actually liked. Just a few minutes before, Steve had passed the girls in the hall; he had grabbed Anastasia's hat off her head and tossed it on top of her locker.
    "Harvey, you creep!" Anastasia had yelled. And Steve Harvey had sauntered away.
    "That turkey," she had muttered to Sonya as she retrieved her hat. But secretly she was pleased. If Steve had grabbed Sonya's hat, it would have meant everything was over between Steve and Anastasia. Only Norman Berkowitz could grab Sonya's hat.
    She and Sonya headed home together through the snowy streets.
    "Call me tonight, okay?" said Sonya.
    "Okay. I promised I'd call Daphne first, though."
    "And I'll see you at McDonald's tomorrow, right? But don't let me eat anything at McDonald's. I'm on a diet."
    "Again?" Anastasia grinned. Sonya was always on a diet.
    "Right. This time I'm going to stick with it, too, even though tonight'll be tough. My mother always makes a giant dinner on Friday night. I made her promise to give me only a little bit of skinless chicken, though. A microscopic piece. And no dessert."
    "You want me to call you right at dinnertime and remind you not to eat?"
    Sonya thought about it. "No. But restrain me at McDonald's. Arrrggghh!" she screeched suddenly. A form had darted past the girls; he had smashed a handful of snow against Sonya's bare neck.
    "You just watch it, Norman!" she yelled after the fleeing figure. "That Norman Berkowitz," Sonya muttered to Anastasia. "He's
so
asinine." She was flushed with pleasure.
    Anastasia glanced around the quiet street, but Steve was nowhere in sight. It was disappointing. She had hoped to get a handful of snow down her neck, too, so that she could scream the way Sonya had.
    "Tonight's going to be terrific at my house," she confided in Sonya. "My mother's on a new, organized schedule. I won't be surprised if when I get home, there's a whole batch of oatmeal cookies or something."
    "Oatmeal cookies?
Your
mother?"
    "Really," said Anastasia. "My father and I fixed it so that my mother's whole life is going to be different. She has no idea that keeping house can be so simple."

    No oatmeal cookies. Anastasia could tell,