Isabelle the Itch: The Isabelle Series, Book One Read Online Free Page B

orange peels and coffee grounds and other things.
    Presently a pair of feet stopped on the pavement outside Isabelle’s hiding place. The toes of the feet pointed daintily in her direction.
    â€œOh my,” Mary Eliza’s voice said, “I expect I’ll get the lead in The Nutcracker Suite my ballet class is putting on and get my picture in the paper.”
    Point, point. Mary Eliza’s feet spun round and round and round. They made Isabelle dizzy.
    A face looked inside the garbage can.
    â€œMy goodness, what are you doing there?” Mary Eliza asked, amazed. “I thought you were going hiking with your father today.”
    Isabelle was speechless for the first time in her life.
    â€œIsn’t it icky in there?” Mary Eliza wrinkled her nose disdainfully. “Your mother’ll have a fit when she finds out you were inside a garbage can.”
    â€œHow’s she going to find out?” Isabelle got her voice back.
    â€œHow do I know?” Mary Eliza raised her eyebrows. “Hey,” she hissed, looking over her shoulder, “here comes a lady and I think you’re in her garbage can. You better get out fast before she finds you.”
    Isabelle scrambled out. All she could see were some teenagers whose car had stalled.
    â€œI think it’s the carburetor,” one said, peering inside.
    â€œNah, it’s probably the points,” the other one decided.
    â€œWhere’s the lady?” Isabelle demanded.
    In a flash, Mary Eliza had her arm through Isabelle’s.
    â€œI’ve got to go buy Sally a present,” she said. “Either a photograph album or a diary. Come with me to pick it out.”
    Isabelle plonked her feet firmly on the sidewalk and took a few swipes at Mary Eliza with her friendship ring.
    â€œOuch!” Mary Eliza let go. “What’d you do that for?” she asked crossly.
    â€œI felt like it,” Isabelle said.
    â€œOh well.” Mary Eliza looked at her wristwatch, which she did about a hundred times a day. “I’ve got to go anyway. My mother said I had to take a rest before the party on account of we’re having it in Sally’s rec room that’s soundproof and we’ll probably stay up all night. It’s certainly too bad she didn’t invite you,” she said sweetly. “I guess she didn’t have room on account of she invited Jane. The new girl, you know.”
    â€œI couldn’t go anyway,” Isabelle said. “My mother and father are taking me out to dinner and the movies and my brother’s coming and we’ll probably stop and have a soda after.”
    â€œDon’t stay up too late,” Mary Eliza said. Forming an arch over her head with her arms, she leaped high in the air, made a half turn, and landed on her other foot. “That’s a tour jeté ” she said. “In case you didn’t know.”
    â€œSo?” Isabelle did a few shuffles off to Buffalo. “You know how to tap dance?” she asked.
    Mary Eliza’s laugh traveled up the scale, then down. She grabbed Isabelle’s arm.
    â€œWhat’s the biggest river in the world?” she hollered.
    They’d just studied that. Isabelle racked her brains.
    â€œIt begins with an ‘A,’” she said.
    Mary Eliza laughed and laughed. “You don’t know,” she shouted.
    Isabelle stared at her feet. Sometimes she wrote valuable bits of information on her sneakers if she happened to have them on in school. That was another good thing about having big feet. It gave you a lot of space to write on.
    Rats. Her sneakers were clean and sparkling. Her mother must’ve washed them.
    â€œIt’s the Amazon!” Mary Eliza shouted triumphantly. “That’s the biggest river in the world—the Amazon!”
    Isabelle turned and walked away.
    â€œHey!” Mary Eliza called, “you got garbage all over you. Wait’ll your mother sees