"Betty Miles - The Trouble With Thirteen" - читать интересную книгу автора (Miles Betty)

"Have a good time?" Mom asked when I went inside.
"Yeah. Neat."
"I bet you stayed up till all hours."
"Yeah."
"How was your nightgown?"
"Good."
Mom looked sort of hurt. She probably expected me to tell her all about the party. It's hard to describe something like that to your mother without going into a whole complicated story. I just didn't feel like it. But
I felt a little sorry for Mom. I probably don't tell her stuff as much as I used to when I was younger.
"All the kids said the nightgown was neat," I said. "Thanks for letting me get it."
Mom gave me a quick hug. "You're welcome. I'm glad it was a success." She didn't ask any more questions. I think she's trying to be more tactful.
"Where's Kenny and Dad?" I asked.
"Kenny went off on a bike ride with Peter," Mom said. "Dad's working in the garden. Why don't you go up and get some sleep?"
I did feel pretty tired. "Well, maybe I'll take a little nap. Come on, Nora, want to go with me?"
Nora followed me up the steps with her tail thumping against the banister. I got undressed and lay down, and she jumped up and settled down around my feet. I nudged her gently with my toes, and she sighed and went right off to sleep. Pretty soon I did, too.
After a while I heard the phone ring and Mom called me. It seemed as though I'd only been sleeping a few minutes, but the clock said six thirty! Nora was still curled up at the foot of the bed. I got out carefully so I wouldn't disturb her and went to the phone.
"Hi," Rachel said.
"Oh, hi, Rach!" I was awfully glad to hear her. "Do I sound funny? I've been asleep all afternoon. We didn't go to bed last night at Kate's till about three A.M. ! You should have been there, Rach. It was such a neat
party!" Then I remembered. "How was it, in the city?" I shouldn't have started right in about the party like that.
"It was good!" Rachel sounded more enthusiastic than I'd expected. "Guess what? I went to visit Barclay!"
"I didn't know you were going to do that!"
"I didn't either. Mom just called them up and they said to come over. School was out, but the director took us around. They have .a big photography lab, Annie! The library's about twice as big as Schuyler's. And the classrooms were neat-they had rugs and pillows and couches, like real rooms. I'd be in Ms. Proctor's class, and the director says Ms. Proctor's one of the best teachers."
"Do you think you'll go there?" I was still sort of fuzzy from my nap. I couldn't take in what she was saying.
"Well, I'm applying."
"It seems so sudden!" My mouth tasted horrible.
"Everything's sudden," Rachel said. "Mom and Dad, moving-everything." She paused. "Anyway, seeing Barclay sort of helps me get used to the idea of moving. You know. I can see in some ways it might not be all bad."
"I wouldn't move somewhere just for a school!"
"Annie! I don't want to move, I have to. I'm just saying at least the school part of it might be good, that's all. I should think you'd be glad for me."
"I am," I said quickly. I was, I guess. But it was awful to wake up from a nap and have Rachel be all excited about going to some city school. I wasn't ready. I wished she would ask me about the party. There was so much to tell.
"Anyway, that's not all," Rachel went right on. "I met these kids Aunt Sylvia knows, who go to Barclay. Erica and Bruce. They were so nice, Annie! They weren't stuck-up or anything. They told me a lot of stuff about Barclay. They both really like it. Bruce is on the soccer team. Soccer's their big sport. Bruce sort of reminded me of Kenny."
"Did he look like Frankenstein?"
"Annie! I mean, he's fourteen, and he's friendly."
I decided to let that go. It was Erica I was worrying about. "How old is Erica?"
"Thirteen. You should see her-she has straight blond hair almost down to her waist!"
I wasn't sure I wanted to see her. I shifted the phone to my other ear and sat down on Mom's bed. It looked as though Rachel was going to go on and on.
"Bruce had to go somewhere, but Erica took me all over the neighborhood. We went to Central Park, and to some little shops and a neat ice-cream place. Erica only lives a block from Aunt Sylvia. It was neat going around with her."
"Oh." If Rachel moved near there, they'd probably get very friendly. They sounded pretty friendly already.
"You should hear the things Bruce and Erica do! They go all over the city to rock concerts and movies and museums and stuff. Erica says there's a party every month at Barclay. She says the kids who go there are really friendly and nice. It's a very integrated school-they even have kids from Japan, and Africa. It's not like Schuyler, where everybody's the same."
It's true that Madison is the kind of mostly white suburb that people write snotty magazine articles about. Those articles always make me mad. I didn't ask my town to be the way it is. I'd like it to be more integrated. Now Rachel was sounding like the articles.
"Everyone's not the same here," I argued. "Just because you're the same color, that doesn't make you identical!" I suddenly remembered how we used to want to be twins. "I'm not the same as you, even," I said.
"I know that," Rachel said quickly. "You're the lucky one. You have this simple, perfect life with your perfect parents and your brother and your dog-" She sort of laughed. "Too bad Nora isn't called Spot, then you'd be as perfect as the family in those dumb Dick and Jane books!"
"Hey, Rach!" That was mean. It hurt my feelings.
"I'm sorry," Rachel said right away. "I'm sorry, Annie." She hesitated. "Oh," she said. "I didn't even ask you about the party. How was it?"
"It was neat!" It was hard to get as enthusiastic as
I'd been before. I tried to think of the most interesting part. "Debbie was there," I said.
"Debbie Goldstein?"
I knew that would get her! "She was pretty nice, actually," I said. "She has a very good sense of humor, once she gets going. You should have heard some of the crazy things she said!"
"Like what?"
"Oh, I don't know." I was still feeling hurt. "It probably wouldn't sound that funny if I told you now. You had to be there."
"Sure," Rachel said in a subdued tone. "I wish I had been. I guess you all had a pretty good time."
"Oh, it was terrific!" I said. "We were dancing and everything!" I waited for her reaction.