Free Sally's Bones by MacKenzie Cadenhead Page A

someone else to pick you up.”
    â€œViola!” Chati gasped.
    â€œWhat, Chati?” Viola snapped. “It’s not like she minds.” She turned to Sally. “Everyone’s coming to my house for an after-party. That is, everyone except you. We didn’t think you’d want to come.”
    Suddenly all thoughts of PAD were lost. The anxiety she had felt seemed fictional and baseless. All she could think of now was that, once again, she was being left out.
    â€œOh, uh, right, sure. Why would I?” Sally said. She tried in vain to maintain her own cheery smile.
    â€œIt’s just that we never really see you hang out outside of school,” Chati explained. “So Viola thought, and we just assumed…”
    â€œNo, no. It’s okay,” Sally lied. “Thanks for the concert, Chati. It was really great. Happy birthday, again.” Sally turned to the station wagon, ready to make a run for it, but Chati stopped her.
    â€œSally, wait,” Chati commanded. “Why don’t you come with us to Viola’s? We’d love to have you.”
    â€œWhat?” Viola rushed over. “No! I mean, my mother’s only expecting five of us.”
    Chati looked at her friend, politely trying to mask her confusion at Viola’s rudeness. “But I’m sure she wouldn’t mind including—”
    â€œAnd we can’t have that dog in our house,” Viola added hastily. “Princess Poopsy would freak. Sorry, Sally. It just won’t work.” Viola smiled insincerely while Chati looked truly dejected.
    Whether it was the high of the concert returning to her or the encouragement she felt at Chati’s efforts to include her, Sally decided to speak up. “We could, um, all go to my house,” she said, spontaneously offering to host her very first sleepover.
    â€œWhat? Why?” Viola snapped.
    â€œSo we can all hang out together and no one has to be left out,” Sally replied, her voice growing stronger. “I mean, I don’t have a whole party set up, but we have sleeping bags, and I could order a pizza.” She smiled at Chati. “And I have a ton of Tone Death special edition CDs we could listen to all night.”
    Chati squealed and clapped her hands. “Omigosh, Sally, that is the bestest idea ever!”
    â€œBut what about my house?” Viola demanded.
    Chati took Viola’s hands in hers. “You said yourself we couldn’t have Bones there. And you always have us over to your house,” she reasoned. “Let Sally have a turn. I’m sure it’ll be a relief to your mom, anyway.” Squeezing Sally’s arm, she added, “I’ll go tell the girls.” Chati skipped over to the rest of her party to fill everyone in.
    Viola glared at Sally.
    â€œListen, Viola,” Sally began. “You’re more than welcome to—”
    â€œSave it, Simplesmith,” Viola fumed. “I wouldn’t go to your house if there was an earthquake and it was the last place standing. Enjoy tonight, because soon this will all be over. I told you not to cross me. Now you’re going to be sorry. Now you’re going to—”
    â€œViola, stop,” Sally interrupted. The mean girl gasped. Sally held her ground. “I won’t let you scare me. Not anymore. I really don’t want to be your enemy, but I won’t be your whipping girl either. We need to find a way to live together, especially now that we have the same friends.”
    â€œFriends?” Viola snorted, loading up with fresh ammunition. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. You’re still a freak, Sally, now there’s just a show attached. But go ahead, embrace this new cult of your personality. Just remember, the higher you climb, the farther you’ll fall.”
    A car horn blew. Vivienne Vanderperfect stood beside her top-of-the-line SUV, which she had parked next to Mr. Simplesmith’s slightly