Free One of Those Hideous Books Where the Mother Dies by Sonya Sones, Ann Sullivan Page A

love. No way, Jose, no how!”
    And I guess all my real embarrassment and anger
makes it seem like I’m doing a pretty good acting job,
because when I finish with my tirade a few minutes later
everybody starts clapping,
even Wyatt.
    And I nearly faint from shock.
And from how much fun I just had.
Is that how Whip feels when
he
acts?
Suddenly I have a million questions
I want to ask him.

    Then Wyatt says, “You were awesome!”
And Colette smiles at me and says, “Yeah.
You’re a real Whip off the old block.”
And when she says this, it’s truly bizarre.
Because half of me feels proud,
    and the other half feels horrified.

    Lunchtime
    I’m heading toward
my usual solitary table by the window,
when Wyatt motions for me
to come and sit with him and his friends
instead.
    They all start waving and calling out my name.
Which is way strange,
because before today
I had no idea that any of them
even
knew
my name.
    I’m too stunned to blow them off,
so I walk over and sit down across from Wyatt.
Right away he starts telling all his homies
about how cool it was
the way I handled that improv today.
    â€œYou should try out for
Pygmalion
,” he says.
Then he grins this deeply
Brad Pitty smile at me.
And I notice for the first time how
gorgeous he is underneath all that stubble.
    Wyatt locks eyes with mine,
tucks his chin down just a little,
lifts his left eyebrow
slightly higher than his right one,
and presses his knee against mine.

    Suddenly,
this wave of heat shivers all through me
and the sun seems to be beaming
straight out of Wyatt’s eyes,
directly into mine.
    Without thinking,
I grin right back at him.
But then I realize what I’m doing—
and stop myself.
How could I be so unfaithful
    to Ray?

    It’s So Weird to Think
    That I’m not even
in the same time zone as Ray.
    That when it’s lunchtime out here,
Ray’s already heading home from school.
    And when I’m eating dinner,
Ray’s finishing his homework.
    And when I’m still asleep,
Ray’s eating breakfast.
    And when I’m eating breakfast,
Ray’s eating lunch.
    And it’s so weird to think that when
Ray was heading home from school today,
    I was eating lunch.
And flirting with Wyatt.
    Bad Ruby.
Bad, bad Ruby.

    The Most Astonishing Thing Just Happened
    I stopped off at Book Soup
on the way home from school
to buy Laurie Halse Anderson’s new novel,
    and who do you think was standing
right in front of me
in the line at the counter?
    Brad Pitt!
The
real
one.
I’m positive it was him.
    That was pretty astonishing in itself.
But that’s not the thing
I’m referring to.
    The thing I’m referring to
was that when Brad turned around
and flashed his sizzling smile at me,
    I suddenly realized that even if
Brad Pitt himself asked me out,
I’d say no.
    Ray’s the only one I want.

    Hey Lizerini,
    I haven’t heard from Ray in like three days. What’s up with that? Is he avoiding me because he’s dumped me for Amber and he can’t bear to tell me? My imagination’s taking me places that I definitely don’t want to go … Please! Put me out of my misery. Let me know what’s happening. E-mail me. Call me. Send me a telepathic message. Whatever. This sucks. Truly.
    I hunger for Ray’s font. Is that, like, a sick thing?
    Obsessively yours,
    Ruby
    P.S. Caroeron was fust leaving our house when I got home from school today 1 think maybe she and Whip are seeing each other on the sly. How bizarre is that?
    P.P.S. I still can’t believe my father’s name is Whip. Have you ever heard a dumber name than that in your whole entire life?

    Hmmm …
    A dumber name than Whip? Can I get back to you on that?
    Listen, Rubella, you have
got
to quit worrying about Ray hooking up with Amber. Didn’t you learn anything from all those years we spent playing therapy while the other little girls were playing house? Don’t you remember what I