Eleven Things I Promised Read Free Page B

doll stroller at preschool—Will Oxendale, and Elsa Stevenson were in the third-row seat. Cameron Cruz sat on the small second-row seat where I was to join him.
    They all stared at me. “Uh, morning,” I said. “Ignore my mom and her robe.” I perched on the bench seat, holding my small bag close to me.
    Cameron waved hello, while simultaneously nodding to the music he was listening to through white earbuds. Autumn and Alex glanced up at me, then went back to snuggling and talking about their plans for high school domination. Typical. They were the power couple at Sparrowsdale High. I was just a regular person.
    â€œWhat did you do to your hair?” demanded Margo, wrinkling her tiny nose. She really did have the most perfect nose on the planet. And small ears, too. She reminded me of a chipmunk. Tiny, quick, and hyperactive.
    â€œI like your hair,” said Will. “I think it’s rather avant-garde. A bit cheeky, even.” He was from England, an exchange student for spring term, and his British accent made him sound smarter than the rest of us. Trust me. We were in English Lit together, and if he raised his hand to make the exact same comment I did, somehow he’d get an “Exactly!” and I wouldn’t.
    â€œIt’s nothing. Don’t mention it, actually,” I said, lowering my shoulders, wanting to shrink for a minute.
    â€œWell, why did you do it if you didn’t want people to notice it?” Margo asked.
    â€œOh, I just felt like it,” I said. It was a long story, one I wasn’t about to go into with her. Though we’d supposedly been friends for a minute when we were in preschool (before the doll stroller incident), we’d never liked each other, even though we were on the same dance team, the Shooting Sparks, for two years. We hadn’t spoken much at all since we both outgrew the team. Margo had her friends, and I had mine. Mostly, I had Stella.
    â€œNever mind. I thought Stella was going to come see usoff,” Margo said, leaning forward and looking around the yard, as if Stella would be hiding in the bushes outside my house or something.
    â€œOh, she was going to. She planned on it,” I lied. “But then she got a last-minute doctor’s appointment this morning.”
    â€œAt seven?” Margo scoffed.
    â€œIt’s an, uh, it’s an MRI. For her leg. To see how it’s healing. They do those early, I guess.” I shrugged. I was used to making excuses for her. I’d been saying things like,
She’s self-conscious about her facial injuries
, and
She has a meeting with the police today to reconstruct the accident,
and
Her parents are being really protective and won’t let her go out
.
    None of them were true.
    The truth was, her injuries were a lot more serious than she wanted anyone to know. She wouldn’t
want
to be here to see off this group.
    â€œI’m pretty sure they can do MRIs any time of day,” Margo replied. “My brother broke his foot and he had one right away—”
    â€œWhat do you want me to say? I’m not her doctor,” I snapped. “How should I know why they scheduled it at seven?”
    â€œFine. I was only asking. I’m just concerned,” said Margo, sitting back between Will and Elsa. “Don’t bite my head off.”
    Too late,
I thought. I turned around and faced forward, my blood pounding. Why did Margo have to pry? Then again, that was the way she was—obnoxious. Of course Stella wanted to be here, way, way deep down. But she was barely speaking to me or to anybody. There was no way she was ready to be a cheerleader for the team she’d started, organized, and now couldn’t be on.
    Since I’d stepped up and become a real team member instead of just Stella’s tagalong friend, I’d gotten to know the team a little bit better—but not much. We’d posed for pictures, we’d sent hundreds of texts,