Free If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period by Gennifer Choldenko Page A

people from lying."
    "Look"—she sets down her bowl—"I think what's happened is Rory and Brianna and Madison feel a little rejected by you."
    "By me? Hello?
By me?
"
    "Yes. That's what I think. And their feelings are hurt. So maybe if you ate lunch with them sometimes. Because, you know, it isn't natural for seventh-grade girls to always eat lunch with boys, unless..." She jiggles her popcorn. The unpopped old maids rattle on the bottom.
    "Mom, you got this wrong. That's
so
not what's happening. You gotta trust me on this, okay?"
    She looks at me. "These are nice boys?"
    "Mom ... I'm doing extra-credit assignments because
of them.
These are the nicest boys."
    "Even so, Kirsten..."
    "Besides, there's another girl who sits with us, too. Her name is Jade."
    "Jade? Jade Schwartz? The girl who wears army clothes to school every day?"
    "Not every day."
    My mother groans. She definitely won't like Jade. Will she like Walk and Matteo?
    Matteo is so polite. And everybody loves Walk. If she could just get to know Walk and Matteo, she wouldn't worry. "Mom, look, I'll bring them home, okay? Because it's
so
not the way Rebecca Dunkel says. If you could meet them, I know you'd see."
    She bites her lip. "You'll let me meet them?"
    "Of course."
    "And they're nice?"
    "I promise," I say, though suddenly I remember how weird she was about Walk that first day, but it was only because she wanted to meet his mom, right?
    I go back to my computer but I can feel she is still standing at the door.
    "Kirsten, tell me you're not going to start wearing army fatigues every day?"
    I jump up and give her a hug. "I promise I won't, Mom. Okay? I promise."

Thirty
     

Walk
    Pleeeeease!" Kirsten pleads. Walk hates to see girls beg, but he really doesn't want to come over to her house just because Kirsten's mom wants to make sure he isn't a bad boy.
    "How about Matteo?" he says. "Couldn't you ask him?"
    "He has to help his dad with something."
    "Yeah, and I have student council."
    "You can come over after. Pleeeeease. She just wants to see that you're nice."
    "I'm not nice."
    "Yes you are."
    "No I'm not."
    She rolls her eyes.
    "What am I supposed to do? Say the pledge of allegiance, the ten commandments? How far is it, anyway?"
    "It's only a mile. Come on. We can finish the extra credit and you can check out our bathrooms! And I will owe you, like, forever for this." She shoves her cell in his face.
    "Forever?"
    "Forever."
    Walk can see she's not going to let up on this. "Oh, man," he mutters, taking her cell. He leaves a message for Sylvia to pick him up at five at Kirsten McKenna's house. Walk tells her how to get there, even though Sylvia always knows how to get everywhere. She has a GPS wired in her brain.
    "Why am I doing this?" Walk hands Kirsten's cell back.
    "Because you like me."
    "I do?"
    "Yes," she tells him.

    When Walk gets out of student council and heads for Kirsten's house he wishes more than ever he'd told her no. She lives in the heart of white world. All the houses are enormous, as if somebody shot them full of steroids. Kirsten's house is brand-new. It looks as if the path was swept fifteen minutes ago. Even the dirt on the ground isn't dirty; it's hidden under these bark chip things. The place is all decked out like one of those poor circus dogs wearing a matching hat and jacket.
    The doorbell chimes a few bars of Bob Dylan. The door cracks open and a little girl, who looks like a tiny Kirsten—Kirsten put in the dryer and shrunk all up—sticks her head out. "Who are you?" she asks.
    "Walker Jones, Kirsten's friend."
    "Are you a
nice
friend or a
mean
friend?" she asks, her shrunken Kirsten eyes gone all squinty.
    "I don't think you can be a
mean friend,
" Walk answers.
    "Oh, yes you can. Kirsten has lots of mean friends."
    Walk laughs. "I guess she does."
    "She's my best sister," the little girl says, her face all fierce. She looks Walk up and down.
    Mini Kirsten is tougher than the super-sized one. Mini Kirsten knows how to push back.