Free The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker Page A

shoes—they will remind you that you are Leeann Norris, a wonderful girl, with a home full of people who love you.”
    “Full of people?” I glanced in the hall mirror to see if the makeup stick was still doing its job—hiding my new, angry zit. “Last time I looked there was just Tommy and you.”
    “And Big Bird!” Tommy said. He was holding his stuffed Big Bird and pulling the voice cord over and over.
    “And Big Bird.” I smiled at Tommy. He’d insisted on wearing a shirt that didn’t really fit anymore. He was three and a half now, but he still had his baby fat tummy. It was so cute on him, but it made me suck in my own stomach. I was always afraid of being fat, but so was everyone else, even Denise, who wore a size four.
    “Very funny, Leeann,” Mary Beth said. “You get my point, don’t you?”
    Jason was already downstairs, ringing the doorbell. I told her yes and I was grateful for the shoes, even though they were so big I had to keep my toes curled down all night to keep them from falling off. And I convinced myself that maybe they were magic later, when Jason gave me my very first kiss and it wasn’t even awkward. The talking part on the way to the movie had been tough, since Jason and I didn’t really have anything in common—and Darlene was too busy smiling at Greg to do more than glance in the backseat—but the kissing part during the movie was actually pretty good. I wasn’t worried that there was something wrong with my breath or my lips or anything else. I had the magic shoes, and I was all right.
    We were in Greg’s Camaro, driving away from the theater, when Greg said we were going up to the river bluffs. I shot a look at Darlene, but she didn’t say a word. The bluffs were the big make-out place, that much I knew, but what guys like Greg and Jason considered making out, I wasn’t sure.
    “I have to call my sister first,” I said. It was almost eleven, and I’d told Mary Beth I’d be home by then. Greg pulled into the next gas station. The phone booth was so bright and hot I felt dizzy.
    When I told Mary Beth what was going on, she paused for a long minute. “Tell them you have to come home.”
    “Are you sure?” I said.
    “Tell them I’m in a very bad mood and you’ll be in trouble if you don’t.”
    I let out a long, deep breath. It was as close as I could come to thanking her.
    Greg grumbled about having to drop me off, but Jason didn’t complain. As I got out of the car, he said he’d call me. I wasn’t sure if he meant it, but I wasn’t sure if I cared, either. I’d had my first date, that was the important thing. In one day, I had changed into someone who dated boys rather than just whispering their names and letting out sighs.
    When I walked in the door, Mary Beth grabbed my hand and pulled me into the kitchen. It was time to eat ice cream and talk, she said. An occasion like this should always be capped off with a Nutty Buddy.
    I smiled and wondered for the hundredth time how Ben could have left her. She was always so good at knowing what mattered to other people and reflecting it back so it seemed both the most natural thing in the world and as particular and special as their birthday.
    I’d given her the highlights of the date; I was down to the bottom of the cone, when it hit me that our stereo wasn’t on for the first time in weeks. I asked my sister what happened with Holly.
    “She had a real tough time today.” Mary Beth was still licking the top of her Nutty Buddy. “But I think she’s going to be all right now.”
    I looked at her, surprised. “You mean you figured it out?”
    “No, Holly did.”
    She always said this. It was one of her biggest beliefs: that she was only a guide. She could ask the right questions and interpret the music, but the customer had to do the real work of accepting what the music was trying to reveal.
    “I should have known what was going on,” she continued. “Looking back now, I see all kinds of clues. She kept