Between Us and the Moon Read Online Free Page A

orientation. She’s never been gone so long before. When she comes back from New York the first week in August we’ll say good-bye with the famous going-away party.
    Scarlett raises her legs toward the air so the tips of her toes graze the top of the car ceiling. Her toes are gnarly bunions, blisters, and oozing pus. Her toenails are bubble gum pink. I don’t know, maybe it’s because she points her toes, but they look like bruised works of art. I lift my knees so they rest on the back of the passenger seat. I’ve never painted my toes.
    “Sarah, you’re digging your knees into my back,” Mom says. She only calls me Sarah when she needs to tell me something important, usually to do with school or the money we don’t have. This means I must be annoying Mom so I drop my legs.
    “Ettie also called you last night,” Scarlett says and stretches her hands to her toes. “I wonder what she wanted to talk to you about?” She raises her eyebrows in a knowing way.
    “Shut up,” I whisper so no one can hear but Scarlett.
    Scarlett stretches her legs up to the car ceiling again while wearing that stupid smug smile. I rub the hem of the Pi Nary T-shirt.
    “Tell Mom. She’s going to find out from Carly eventually and then she’ll want to know why you didn’t tell her,” she whispers.
    I ignore Scarlett and lean forward so my face is between Mom’s and Dad’s seats.
    “So will the Alvin be there when we get to Woods Hole?” I ask.
    “In transit from off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard, on a ship back to Woods Hole. It’ll be going through some major renovations this summer,” Dad says.
    I would love to be there when they take it apart. That way I can see exactly how it works. It’s amazing to think of the precision and technology necessary to protect the marine biologists inside, like Dad. The water pressure outside the Alvin would kill on impact.
    I open my mouth for my next question: What is the maximum amount of time I can avoid Aunt Nancy? But Scarlett interrupts.
    “Why do you always wear stuff that’s two sizes too big?”
    “What are you talking about? Everything fits me with moderate and appropriate comfort.”
    I’m wearing a baseball hat, my Math Club T-shirt, and my usual khaki shorts. Very offensive.
    The truth is that I don’t know what looks good and what doesn’t. One time last year I put on one of Scarlett’s dresses, a black, short one. It looked pretty good even though the straps kept falling off my shoulders. She walked in and screamed at me to take it off until her voice cracked, and she had to whisper for the rest of the day. All the girls at Summerhill dress exactly the same. They have identical chemically highlighted hair, too. Maybe I should put some product in it like Scarlett does in the morning.
    “My clothes are not baggy,” I grumble.
    “You wear whatever Mom and Dad give you and lame baseball hats from your algebra club.”
    “Excuse me. Our name is the Pi Naries and we are an advancedmathematical award-winning team. So what that means is we do math. Math involves numbers. You can add, subtract . . .”
    “Whatever, Bean. Maybe that’s why Tucker broke up with you.”
    Mom spins around in her seat.
    “When did that happen?” she asks. Mom’s eyes are a stormy blue—same as Scarlett’s.
    “Thanks a lot, traitor.” I groan and cross my arms over my chest. I refuse to look at Scarlett. I know that face, the face of victory in relation to my immediate shame.
    “Are you okay? When did that happen?” Mom asks. I hate the worry in the angle of her eyebrows and the grip of her slim fingers on the armrest.
    “I’m fine. I would be even better if we could disinvite Tucker from Nancy’s party?” I ask.
    Mom’s mouth parts. In her eyes is an apology. “You know I can’t do that to Carly.”
    Mom haphazardly slaps Dad on the shoulder.
    I shove Scarlett in her bony shoulder when Mom isn’t looking, but she shrugs. “What? You might as well get it out in the open,”