Giving Up the Ghost Read Free Page B

meant it. At least, I thought I did. The last thing I wanted was a big party for me .
    But she shook her head and waved her hands, looking really annoyed at herself. “How did I forget your birthday? Lame, lame, lame. Well, we should at least sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you.”
    â€œNo, no, do not. So not a big deal. You should make the party about Jayden. I don’t want my birthday to be a big event when the party is about him.”
    Lily looked at me for a moment and then nodded, looking reassured. We resumed our fast-paced walk-trot to school. We were almost there. Lines of buses parked in the semicircular driveway disgorged kids, who streamed up the stairs and into the building through the wide double doors.
    â€œYeah, I guess that makes sense,” she said finally. “But here’s what I’ll do. How about if we ask some of the gang if they can meet at Scoops on Sunday afternoon? Just a little get-together, no big deal or anything. We won’t even call it a birthday celebration or anything.”
    I smiled. “Sure. That sounds great.” But I felt a little let down. Part of me was happy Lily wanted to do something for my birthday, but another part of me felt a little disappointed that my birthday didn’t seem like a bigger deal to her. I mean, I know I said I didn’t want it to be a big deal, and I meant it . . . but I meant it in terms of everyone else. Shouldn’t it be a kind of big deal to Lily, my best friend?
    But I had no clue about how normal kids celebrated normal birthdays with their friends. Being in a friendship group like this was still new to me. What did I know? I asked myself. Maybe this was just the way people did birthdays around here. I felt a little ashamed of myself for doubting Lily.
    Suddenly Lily’s thoughts cut into mine. I could hear them.
    . . . so much to think about for the party on Saturday . . . hope the Sunday thing satisfies her . . .
    Quickly I forced myself to block her thoughts. I squeezed my eyes closed and pushed them away, almost like I was creating a force field around myself.
    It actually worked. Her thoughts faded.
    â€œHey, you okay?” asked Lily, her dark-brown eyes wide with concern. “You look like you’re trying to blow up a balloon or something. Your eyes are scrunched up, and your face is all red.”
    I realized I had been holding my breath. I let it out quickly. I had to learn how to do this without making a spectacle of myself.
    â€œI-I’m fine,” I panted.
    And then we heard the first bell. We hustled inside.
    In social studies I couldn’t find my report about the gold rush. I was positive I’d put it into my binder the night before. But it wasn’t there.
    Even though I knew it was pointless, I conducted a frantic search through every inch of my backpack. Then inside my textbooks. It wasn’t there.
    I’m one of these semi-geeky types who never doesn’t do my homework, so not being able to find my homework puts me in a state of panic.
    â€œProblem, Sara?” Mr. Blake was suddenly looming over my desk.
    I stopped frantically rummaging and gave him a helpless shrug. “I’m sorry. I can’t find my report. I could have sworn I put it in there last night, but now it’s missing.”
    â€œNot to worry. Bring it in before first period tomorrow,” he said, and moved on to the next desk.
    Oh, puh-leese. Can you say “teacher’s pet”? If anyone else in the class had forgotten their report, Blake would have taken off ten points at least.
    I jumped. It had been Miranda’s voice. But not her spoken voice. Her thoughts-inside-her-head voice. I was learning to hear the difference.
    I leaned forward to look at her. She was sitting two desks away, with Lily in between us. She just raised her eyebrows and grinned at me, friend to friend, as if to say, Whew, that was a close one! But now that I knew what