Free Wishing Day by Lauren Myracle Page B

bones,” Molly would say. “You?”
    â€œSame.”
    Natasha smiled, remembering. She could call Molly now, if she wanted. She could say, “Hey, dollface. Areyour bones falling off your body?” Wait. Not bones, muscles. “Are your muscles falling off your bones?”
    Then she could ask Molly for her advice. She could kill two birds with one stone. (Another dreadful expression, if you thought about it. Why kill the birds at all?) But she could ask Molly how to proceed with Benton, and that would prove to Molly that she didn’t have intimacy issues. That she did open up to her.
    She owed Molly a call, regardless. Molly was going out of town next week for a family thing, which meant she would miss the Spring Festival. But Molly was okay with it because her parents were taking her to some big outlet mall to shop for a dress, because the family thing was something she had to be fancy for.
    Her cousin’s bar mitzvah. That’s what it was. Molly had been talking about it all week, and today at lunch, she’d said, “Omigosh, and I haven’t even described my aunt and uncle’s house to you. What is wrong with me?”
    Then the bell had rung, and Molly had groaned. “Remind me to tell you about my aunt and uncle’s house. It’s seriously a mansion. Okay?”
    Hmm , Natasha thought, shifting again on her bed. She was fine with hearing about Molly’s aunt and uncle’s house, but maybe not right now.
    She could get out her journal, she supposed. Writing things down might make them clearer.
    Or she could do push-ups, which her gym teacher said were an excellent all-body workout.
    She sighed and shifted positions, stretching her legs out long and pointing her toes. She pulled her pillow into a better position beneath her head and continued to stare at the ceiling.

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    S aturday night was game night at the Blok house. Aunt Elena was the one who’d started the tradition, and she was the one who came up with the games. Aunt Elena told Natasha and Darya it was for Ava, because Ava was the youngest, and Ava liked playing games. But Natasha knew that Aunt Elena liked playing games, too.
    In the past, they’d played Rat-a-Tat Cat or Trouble or Monopoly, but Monopoly had been taken out of rotation because it took so long, and because Darya got overly competitive when it came to getting Boardwalk and Park Place.
    Aunt Elena came up with nongame games, too. Games that were actually activities devised to make everyone laugh. Last month, Aunt Elena instructed everyone to stick their elbows out in front of them (one elbow per person) while lifting their hands to their shoulders (one hand per person, the hand that “belonged” with the lifted elbow).
    Then Aunt Elena went around and balanced a quarter on each person’s upraised elbow. The goal, she said, was for everyone to cup their hands and then whip them down, fast enough to catch the falling quarter.
    Aunt Vera’s quarter kept plonking to the floor. “My elbows are too pointy!” she’d complained.
    Darya had mastered the trick quickly. She’d place a quarter on her elbow, swish her hand down in a graceful arc, then flip her hand over and open it. “Did it!” she’d cry, revealing the captured quarter.
    Ava, Aunt Elena, and Natasha were good at it as well. Along with Darya, they’d started adding quarters to make the challenge harder. Two quarters. Three quarters. Four quarters balanced neatly on top of their elbows, then caught just as neatly when they whipped down their hands. Or clattering noisily to the floor. It went both ways.
    Papa would have been good at it, Natasha suspected,because he was good with his hands. But although he’d stuck around and watched for ten or so minutes, he hadn’t participated.
    â€œJust once, Papa,” Ava had pleaded. “Just try once. Come on.”
    â€œI’m too old for games,” he’d said.