“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “I guess I’ve just been trying to adjust.”
“Me too,” he agreed. “Shannon doesn’t like me.”
“How do you know that?”
He sighed. “She’s going out with some guy named Dave. He sounds handsome.”
I stifled a laugh. “What does handsome sound like?”
“Deep and confident.” He paused. “Well, as deep as a nine-year-old can sound.”
“What is with this nine-year-old dating people thing anyway?” I asked incredulously. “Shouldn’t you be worrying about cooties or something?”
“Probably,” he murmured. “But I liked her.”
I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and hugged him.
“If it’s any consolation, the love of my life doesn’t like me either.”
“Is he dating someone?”
I hesitated. “No.”
“Did he tell you he didn’t like you?”
“Not exactly.”
“So how do you know he doesn’t like you?”
I thought about that. “I don’t know. I guess I don’t.”
“Then ask him out, Giant Girl. If he says no, squash him.”
I laughed. Tom didn’t know how close he was to the truth.
“I’ll think about it. Now go to bed.”
“You’re sure you’re all right?”
“Positive.”
Tom got off the bed and walked out into the hall, and I started to close the door before stopping.
“Why were you in my room anyway?” I asked, frowning.
“I had a nightmare. Wanted to see if you were all right.”
“What nightmare?”
He shrugged. “You were fighting a big green monster.”
I looked at him, feeling nervous little tingles creep down my neck. Did Tom know anything about where I was going at night? And why could he see the openings to the Under Earth? It was all very worrisome. It was bad enough that I was involved. There was no way I was letting my little brother anywhere near Derwin or monsters or any of it. I had to keep him out of this at any cost.
I just shook my head. “Sometimes you freak me out, Bat Boy.”
—
It took a little while to finally fall asleep, and when I did, I dreamt of big green monsters too. It wasn’t a pleasant sleep. Needless to say I was a little tired in the morning, enough that I actually fell asleep during the car ride to school. It’s like a five-minute drive. My mom looked over and snapped, “Laura!” and I jerked awake and blinked sleepily. Tom giggled in the back.
“Are you feeling all right?” she asked worriedly.
A sick day! Why didn’t I think of taking one earlier?
“Fine,” I muttered. “Just tired. Didn’t sleep very well.”
“Bully trouble?” she asked, glancing at me.
“Just a lot on my mind,” I said. “I’m good.”
As soon as my mom dropped me off, I spotted Mia and Shal sitting at their usual spot on the portable steps and hurried over, eager to get my mind off of monster training.
“You look tired,” Shal said immediately.
“Thanks,” I said. “Hey, Mia.”
“Hey,” she said brightly. “Dream of Liam all night?”
“Oh, yeah. There was a beach involved.”
Shal wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure he has much of a beach body.”
I laughed. “Neither do I. Unless I’ve washed up on one.”
Mia giggled and then instantly covered her mouth. “Sorry.”
“You do your math homework?” Shal asked.
“Yeah, most of it. I think I missed a few. Did Mia do your math homework?”
Shal smiled. “You know it. And here comes Allison.”
I turned and saw Allison coming around the school from the front, accompanied by a few seagulls. I expected Allison to be equally tired after a long night of training last night, but apparently she was just fine. She was wearing her raven hair in a ponytail today, which should have been less flashy, but isn’t quite the same when you have perfectly curled strands hanging down around your ears and are wearing bright-red lipstick. Who wears lipstick in eighth grade? I could tell she was having an “Aren’t I SO hot?” day that usually resulted in twice the bullying.
She walked by us, meeting my eyes for just a second. Mia was already long gone. For a moment I wondered if she would act differently now that I knew the truth about her. “Morning, ladies. You both look great today. Minus the ginger hair and about fifty to seventy pounds.”
Sigh. I guess not.
“You look good too,” I said to Allison. “Minus your sparkling personality.”
Shal looked at me in shock. Allison just smirked.
“Funny,” she said. “Are you a comedian now?”
“I guess that makes you the joke,” I replied. Nice.
The seagulls glanced at me, frowning. Shal looked like she was about to faint.
“Look everyone, the fat girl is growing a backbone,” Allison said. She leaned in close. “Just try not to grow anywhere else. We’re going to have to find you a new chair.”
The seagulls snickered and continued on their merry way, sending people scurrying in their wake. I saw Allison smiling and shaking her head as she walked away.
“Where did that come from?” Shal whispered.
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve just got it out for trolls lately.”
The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Liam was answering every question like usual, and I was fawning over him from a safe distance. We didn’t even speak all day, though I did get a smile and a wave. Shal had a lot to say on the topic at lunch.
“You can’t just expect him to come up to you,” she reasoned, sipping from a grape juice box. “He’s shy.”
I made a face. “So what am I supposed to do? Ask him out?”
Shal slapped the table. “That’s it. You can ask him out!”
“I thought we went over this?” I said, looking around frantically to make sure no one was listening.
She shook her head. “Not one-on-one. You still have those movie tickets you won for that geography quiz?”
“Yeah,” I said, frowning.
“So me, you, and Mia will go to the movies, and we’ll say my mom already bought
