Choke Read Free Page A

a comeback. Neither did I. Neither did Nina, who seemed to be studying Courtney. Something in Nina’s eyes, maybe because they were hazel, reminded me of a cat watching birds at a feeder.
    The line had been moving steadily, but Courtney and Alicia, with all their questions, had really slowed it down.
    â€œDo you have a low-carb version of lasagna?” they asked.
    â€œCan we have whole wheat toast instead of French bread?”
    â€œWhy do you call this ‘salad’ when it’s just lettuce? Shouldn’t salads have lots of different veggies?”
    â€œYeah, different veggies. And where’s the low-fat dressing?”
    Finally, they filled two glasses with ice water, paid the cashier, and left the serving area. Meanwhile, the line had backed up, so the people behind us started complaining.
    â€œWe don’t have all day,” we heard.
    â€œHey, don’t give us a hard time,” I said. “We weren’t the ones acting like this is a five-star restaurant.”
    â€œOh, shoot!” Elena shook her head. “I really wanted some applesauce, but I don’t want to give Courtney and Alicia the satisfaction.”
    â€œHere,” Nina said, “I’ll put it on my tray, and when we get to the table, I’ll pass it to you.”
    â€œReally, you’d do that?”
    â€œSure. What are friends for?”
    Elena and I were speechless. We’d never had an in-crowd-worthy friend before.
    We finally got through the line, but just as we left the serving area, my foot slipped on something. I quickly lost my balance, so I released my tray and tried grabbing Elena to catch myself, but her foot hit something slippery, too. Ice cubes! A whole bunch of ice cubes! I fell back and got that queasy feeling — like when I used to play airplane by propelling myself off the swings. Only, when I played airplane, I was in control, I was graceful, I was having fun. But here, in the cafeteria, my legs and arms were totally flailing, andas much as I tried to land as gracefully as a cat, I couldn’t help landing on my butt. Yes, smack down on my butt, which got wet from the ice cubes, which meant that people would think I peed. Elena and I also had cheese and pasta all over our clothes. Tomato sauce got on my glasses, too, and when I tried to wipe it off, it smudged. To make things worse, Ronnie stood nearby. I was too embarrassed to glance up at him, but I knew it was Ronnie because he was the only one who wore lime green Nikes. This had to be the most humiliating moment of my life. Everyone was having a laugh riot.
    â€œDid you throw this ice on the floor?” Elena asked Courtney.
    She took a while to answer because she was giggling so much. “Just wanted to see if you could ice-skate,” she said.
    This got people laughing even harder, and even though she was a victim, too, I was angry with Elena. I had begged her not to tell the class about her odd career choice. Honestly, Elena couldn’t even in-line skate, so I knew she’d humiliate us somehow. And this wasn’t the first time, either. Last semester, while everyone else made volcanoes and terrariums for science projects, Elena crash tested eggs in various landing capsules. She had one with a parachute, one with a bouncy framework of straws, and one with lots of cushioning. She painted scared faces on the eggs, and named themSnap, Crackle, and Pop. Only Snap survived the drop from the second-floor window.
    Okay, I admit that she had a cool project. Double cool since the teacher gushed with pride and gave her the highest score in class. But that was the problem. Being double cool in science meant being double nerdy everywhere else.
    That’s why Elena had one foot in the out-crowd, and the last thing I wanted was to go down with her.
    Thank goodness, Nina didn’t think the prank was funny. She walked right up to Courtney and Alicia, invading their precious personal space. She looked down on them