Free Solving Zoe by Barbara Dee Page A

away.
    For the rest of the morning Zoe doodled like crazy. She didn’t care how it looked to her teachers; she just needed something to take her mind off Dara. (And of course, her own stupidity. Because how could she have forgotten to ask Dara about the play?) Anya walked by Zoe’s desk once and put her hand on Zoe’s shoulder, but she didn’t whisper anything or take the paper away, so Zoe just kept drawing tornadoes in Prismacolor red. She even tried to doodle some emerald green reptiles, but the best she could do was a skink shaped like the number five. Then she decided that it didn’t look anything like the skinks in Isaac’s collection, so she crumpled up the page and stuck it into her backpack.
    At lunch she sat at the weirdo table next to Ezra. (Dara was huddled with Leg and Paloma and some other kids who were probably in the musical, so Zoe didn’t even consider sitting there.) Today Ezra was wearing a T-shirt that said DON’T MAKE ME GET MY NINJAS , and he was reading some thick book with “invasion” in the title. And he was listening to his iPod, so Zoe didn’t want to interrupt him to ask how his book was.
    She absently poked her potato chips into her tuna fish sandwich.
    All of a sudden, Ezra pulled out his earpiece and turned to her.
    â€œI don’t like Leg,” he announced.
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œEverybody keeps asking. So in case you were about to ask, I’m saving you the trouble.”
    â€œI wasn’t going to, Ezra. I never, ever thought—”
    â€œGood,” he muttered, and stuck his earpiece back in.
    Well, that was probably all the conversation Zoe was going to get out of him, she realized. But at least he knew she wasn’t going to tease him. Or accuse him of writing fortune-cookie notes. She nibbled a bite of crunchy sandwich. Then she tried to peek at Dara. What if, she asked herself, I just went over there and apologized? I’m sorry I forgot to ask about the play, Dara, but after all, you forgot to ask about Owen. That wouldn’t work, and anyway it would just make everybody at Dara’s table look up at her and ask: Oh, Zoe, did something happen with Owen? And then she’d have to shout YES, ACTUALLY. HE CALLED ME A PUPPET.
    She sipped some chocolate milk, which today, for some reason, seemed babyishly sweet. Why do I keep drinking this? she asked herself, pushing it away. All of a sudden she felt a poke from behind. And then something dropped onto her tray.
    It was a folded-up piece of paper.
    She spun around. Lucas was standing behind her with his arms crossed.
    â€œWhat’s this?” she asked, not touching it.
    He grinned. “Try to figure it out, Zoe.”
    She unfolded the paper and frowned. It was just a bunch of shapes, different from the notebook writing, but just as strange.

    Immediately she crumpled it into a ball. She got up from the table, tossed the paper into the trash, and marched back over to where Lucas was standing. “I thought I told you not to talk to me,” she said, trying to sound calm and authoritative.
    â€œBut I wasn’t. I just thought you might think it was cool. Since you’re a Pigpen.”
    â€œSince I’m a what ?”
    â€œPigpen. I don’t mean you personally. I mean—”
    â€œI don’t care what you mean. Okay, Lucas?” Zoe said, her voice now squeaking a bit. “Don’t call me any names and I won’t call you any either!”
    â€œI wasn’t calling you a name.”
    â€œOh, yes you were! Don’t lie!” This was definitely too loud; out of the corner of her eye she could see people starting to notice them.
    Ezra turned around and pulled his earpiece out. “Is Lucas bothering you?” he asked Zoe.
    â€œYes! But I can handle it.” She glared at Lucas, but dropped her voice to almost a whisper. “I didn’t just mean no talking, okay? I meant no contact . That includes