Free All Shook Up by Shelley Pearsall

have everybody knowing about my dad being Elvis, so you don’t need to keep leaving notes on my locker and writing things like ‘Elvisly Yours.’ Everything’s good at school.” I hoped this sounded convincing.
    “What’s wrong with people knowing about your dad?” Ivory studied me. Her eyes were dark brown and had an unsettling way of staring at your face for too long without blinking. “I think it’s really cool.”
    “I don’t want people talking about it, that’s all.” I could tell my voice was getting a nervous edge to it and my shoulders were moving even closer to my ears.
    “You must be a Leo,” Ivory said, taking another loud apple bite. “That’s why.”
    “A Leo?”
    “Your sign—you know, Scorpio, Libra, Aries. When’s your birthday?”
    “The beginning of August.”
    Ivory gave a knowing smile. “That explains it.”
    “What explains what?”
    “Why you’re like you are about your dad.” Ivory pointed a purple fingernail in my direction. “You’re a Leo. That’s why. You worry too much about what other people think of you. That’s a Leo.”
    I wanted to say there was no way that somebody who had met me for the first time about a half hour earlier (and who had watched me eat a plate of spaghetti and that was about it) could know what I was like. And I also didn’t believe a bunch of stars could tell much about me, either. But Ivory had already moved on.
    She reached for the morning newspaper, which was still sitting on the table, and asked if it was okay if she did the crossword puzzle. “If nobody’s done it yet,” she said, digging through her purse, looking for something to write with.
    “Sure, go ahead,” I said, secretly hoping it was the kind of thing that would keep her busy until her mom got back. A few clues like
ACROSS: Edible Asian squid. DOWN: Small river in Mozambique
would be helpful. I headed into the living room to watch some television and, fortunately, Ivory didn’t follow me.
     
    About an hour later, Viv returned. “Well, I got to the hotel just in time,” she announced loudly as she stepped into my dad’s house. Even though it was dark, a pair of sunglasses was still perched on her copper hair. Plucking the glasses from the top of her head and shoving them into her purse, she said, “I got your dad’s outfit to the dressing room right before everything was supposed to start. You should’ve seen how the place was set up, Josh. It was a big wedding. Expensive.” She drew out the word to emphasize it. “But Jerry had the crowd in the palm of his hand. One of the hotel staff let me peek through the door for his opening song. I told them I was Elvis’s girlfriend.” That long laugh again. “He sang ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ first. Have you seen him do that one?”
    I thought about answering,
no, but the Summerland Mall probably did.
    “Well, the stage is dark, and then Jerry comes out. He starts singing slowly at first, but when he gets to the ‘blue suede shoes’ part, he begins dancing like Elvis. He gets down on one knee at one part and moves to the music and strums a guitar—really, you wouldn’t believe it.” She shook her head. “I was just amazed at how good he was, standing up there onstage all by himself, acting and singing in front of all those people like he wasn’t even nervous.”
    Note to Viv: You can stop talking anytime now.
    “He’s getting better and better, don’t you think so?” Viv looked at me as if she expected me to agree, although in my mind there was no difference between my dad being a good Elvis or a bad Elvis. The problem was “being Elvis” in the first place. So all I said was that he practiced a lot.
    “Where’s Ivory?” Viv glanced into the living room, where the TV was still blaring with nobody in front of it.
    “The kitchen.” I pointed. “She’s working on a crossword.”
    Then Ivory magically appeared behind us in the hallway. She glided innocently out of the kitchen as if she hadn’t been