Crossing Over (14 page)

She gave me a friendly punch in the arm, which kind of hurt, then she fussed with my hair a little and straightened my fleece.

“Thanks,” I told her.

Then I took a deep breath, stood up, and made my way toward Ben Greenblott’s seat. Three days ago, on the trip up to Canada,
it had been absolutely unthinkable that I would have gone anywhere near him. Now, I couldn’t walk to his seat fast enough.

Brooklyn was standing in the aisle, pretending not to notice Ben but at the same time conveniently blocking access to the
seat next to him.

I cleared my throat.

“Excuse me,” I said.

Brooklyn looked at me blankly. She wasn’t going to make this easy. Did she think she could thwart my chances with Ben by simply
standing in the way?

“Could you scoot over so Kat can come sit with me?” Ben asked politely.

“What?” Brooklyn looked at me then did an exaggerated double take, like she had
no idea I’d been standing there. “Oh, sure.
Whatever.”

I said nothing, but glanced at her face as I moved around her to sit with Ben. Her eyes were slightly red, and maybe a little
watery.

Was Brooklyn Bigelow crying?

She could be a mean girl. She was petty, and underhanded, and a vicious gossip. But she’d also had a pretty bad trip. She’d
been exiled from the Satellite Girls, rejected by a boy she liked (who liked her number-one enemy), and had been publicly
blamed for the Bathroom Door Mishap. I didn’t envy her one bit. But I didn’t hate her, either. I did, in fact, feel a tiny
bit sorry for her, because Ben liked me and I was feeling charitable.

Just before I sat down, Shoshanna Longbarrow glanced up from her spot in the last row and caught my eye. We looked at each
other for a moment, and I looked over at Brooklyn and back at Shoshanna. She held my gaze for a minute.

“Brook, why are you standing there like a doorstop?” Shoshanna asked. “Come sit down, for heaven’s sake.”

And she gestured toward the empty spot in her row next to Shelby.

Brooklyn got into that seat next to Shelby so fast I could have sworn she’d manipulated time and space and suspended the laws
of physics. I wasn’t sorry to see her back in the realm of the Satellite Girls. She was probably going to be a lot less of
a pain to me now that she had Shoshanna to worship again.

As we approached the
WELCOME TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
sign, I sat down next to Ben. When the bus crossed over the border, we were together.

And I’ll tell you one other thing. Even though there were no ghosts left on the leprechaun bus, Ben Greenblott slipped his
hand into mine.

And I have to say, seeing nothing never looked so good.