Free Masterminds by Gordon Korman Page B

storms! Well, he must be thrilled tonight, because this one is blowing the lid off New Mexico!
    It finally dies out after midnight. But before I can calm down and go to sleep, we get a telephone call. Dad’sthe only doctor in town, so this must be a medical emergency.
    I stick my head into the hall. I can almost feel the wind from my dad hustling into his clothes behind the master bedroom door. And my parents’ “whispered” conversation sounds more like shouting. I’m dying to know what’s going on. Something’s up; something big.
    The door flies open, and I catch my father’s parting words to Mom. “. . . by the time we get through with him, it’ll be the truth.” He wheels around, and that’s when he sees me standing there. “Go back to bed, Malik.”
    â€œWho’s sick?”
    â€œI suppose you’ll hear about it tomorrow anyway. It’s Eli Frieden.”
    â€œIs it bad?” I ask.
    â€œIt’s not good. He’s had a relapse of his recent illness.”
    I can tell it’s not good. Dad’s leaving the house without one of his dumb bow ties, which happens about once per millennium. It usually takes an outbreak of plague for that.
    â€œIs it—serious?”
    â€œHe’s not going to die, if that’s what you mean,” my father replies. “I have to go.”
    My mother wraps her arms around me as the doorcloses downstairs. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m sure your friend will be fine.”
    I bristle. “What planet are you living on, Mom? I’m not his nursemaid; I’m not even his friend. I hate everybody equally.”
    She’s used to me. “You’re all close friends, all thirty of you.”
    â€œTwenty-nine, but who’s counting?” I mumble.
    â€œI forgot about Randy.” She hugs me tighter. “That must have been upsetting to you—”
    â€œI already told you it wasn’t.”
    â€œâ€”and now this on top of that.”
    Even if we lived in a city, with millions of mothers in it, mine would still be the most annoying. I just want to twist out of her suffocating embrace. But I don’t, because she has a point.
    I shouldn’t care about Eli, but I do. What choice do I have? In Happy Valley, we’re all basically stuck with each other.
    The next day at school, Stanley Cole and Melanie Brandt are trading Purple People Eater cards—Rump L. Stiltskin for Sunshine plus Dodecahedron Face.
    I’m totally blown away. “Why?”
    â€œStiltskin’s worth two,” Stanley explains. “He performs photosynthesis.”
    â€œSo does your lawn,” I point out.
    â€œI like Dodecahedron Face,” says Melanie. “I see him near my house sometimes. He’s cute.”
    â€œCute?” Tori challenges. “His head is shaped like a dodecahedron!”
    â€œWhat’s a dodecahedron?” I ask irritably. “Wait, scratch that. I don’t care. Listen, Frieden’s not coming to school today. He had a relapse of pukey-pukey last night.”
    â€œIs it serious?” Tori probes.
    I shrug dramatically. Dad finally rolled in this morning while I was getting ready for school. If there was bad news, he would have told me then. “Well, the Purples didn’t have to drag him home this time. He was home already.”
    Amber shoots me a disapproving look. “You don’t have to be so mean about it.”
    â€œLighten up,” I shoot back. “He’s not dead. He probably just wishes he was.”
    Hector’s uncertain. “Your dad never figured out what was wrong with Eli the first time around.”
    I glare at him. “Are you saying my father’s a lousy doctor?”
    He backs off. “No, Malik! Not at all! It’s just—if wedon’t know what it is, how do we know it isn’t contagious?”
    â€œThat’s right, Hector, think about yourself,” Amber