Brave Warrior Read Free Page B

the most recent postapocalyptic novel he’d read, or describe the physics of how a sailboat sailed.
    This afternoon, with the knowledge of his mother going out with her
boyfriend
, Felix wished he didn’t have to go home at all. The class officers were having a planning session for the dance. Avery and Bitsy wanted the theme to be “All You Need Is Love.” Jim and Felix wanted it to be
Starlight Express
(Felix’s idea—his mother had been in the road show of it a long time ago and played the sound track a lot). And Lily was arguing for “Up, Up and Away.”
    “We can have balloons everywhere and stars on the ceiling—” she was saying, when from the doorway, Maisie hissed, “Felix!”
    Everyone turned to face her.
    “This is the executive committee meeting,” Bitsy said.
    Maisie glared at her.
    “Which means it’s private,” Avery added.
    Felix saw the look that swept over Maisie’s face, the one that she got when she was trying not to cry.
    “I’ll see you at home in a while,” he said.
    “I thought we could walk home together,” Maisie said.
    “We’re not done here,” Avery said, tossing her beautiful hair.
    “Felix?” Maisie said, her voice sounding small.
    Felix hesitated. Part of him wanted to adjourn the meeting and leave with his sister. He knew she was as upset as he was about what their mother had told them. They could maybe even stop for pizza at That’s Amore and delay going home until their mother and Bruce Fishbaum were long gone. But part of him knew that if he left now, his friends would think he was a wimp. They already thought Maisie was weird, and that Felix gave in to her unreasonable demands too often. He was enjoying his status as a popular kid. Why did Maisie have to ruin everything?
    “I’ll see you at home later,” he said softly.
    Maisie’s eyes widened. “But—”
    Felix looked away from her because he knew if he looked at her he wouldn’t have the strength to stay. “I think you were explaining your idea, Lily?”
    “Uh, right,” Lily said. “So balloons and stars and—”
    “That’s a stupid, boring idea,” Maisie said. “It’s…it’s…a cliché!”
    Everyone stared down at their hands, uncomfortable. Slowly, Felix raised his eyes to his sister. Weren’t eyes supposed to be the windows to the soul? Hadn’t Shakespeare or someone said that? Felix willed all of his feelings into his eyes, begging Maisie to understand why he couldn’t leave with her.
    Instead, Maisie’s eyes seemed to be trying to tell him something, too. He saw the hurt in them, and the embarrassment, but still he didn’t get up to leave. Instead, he just shook his head. Everyone thought twins understood absolutely everything about each other, but in this case, neither of them seemed to understand the other. In that endless moment, a terrible thought struck Felix: He didn’t want to be a twin anymore. He wanted to be just him, Felix Robbins.
    He watched Maisie as she slowly turned away and walked off down the hall. Even though Lily was talking about glow-in-the-dark stars, Felix didn’t turn back to her until his sister disappeared.

    When Felix finally did get home, Maisie was inher room with the door shut.
    “Hey,” he said through the closed door, “want to make some popcorn?”
    She didn’t answer.
    “Look, we had to vote on a theme,” he said.
    Nothing.
    “You’re going to like it,” he told her. “It’s
Starlight Express
.”
    Felix waited, but Maisie didn’t open the door or answer him. With a sigh, he went into his own room, Samuel Dormitorio, flopped onto the bed, and stared at the bull’s head that hung on the wall opposite him. The room, with its abundance of weapons and dead animals, used to give him the creeps. But all of his friends thought it was the coolest room they’d ever seen, and that having a room named for a Spanish duke was even cooler. Somehow, that made Samuel Dormitorio slightly less creepy.
    But this afternoon, the bull seemed to be