Everybody Bugs Out (14 page)

chapter twenty-four

are pancake allergies real? and other questions i'm not yet qualified to answer.

I
got to science so early on Monday Ms. Roberts wasn't even there yet. Plenty of students were, though. A bunch of them goofed around in the back of the room, but Oliver was already at our table.

I sat down next to him and said hi.

Rather than answer me, he slid over a cookie.

“Your mom made them?” I asked.

“Nope. I did.”

I took a bite. “These are the best!”

He nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“And it's good that you're not modest about it,” I joked.

“It's important to be straightforward about cookies,” he replied. “And speaking of that—or of food, at least—have you used your gift certificate yet? For the pancake house, I mean.”

“I knew what you meant. And no. Not yet. You?”

He shook his head, then clicked his pen open and shut a few times, fast. Staring at it hard, like he was trying to see through the plastic to the inner spring mechanism. “Want to go next weekend?”

“Really?” I asked, thinking—wait. Did Oliver just ask me out on a date?

“Yeah. We can celebrate our victory.”

Oh, right. Of course he didn't just suggest a date—just a science fair team reunion. Rats!

“Cool,” I said. “You mean all three of us, right?” I glanced toward the back of the room, where Tobias had Jonathan in a headlock. He yelled at him to scream uncle, but Jonathan, red-faced and sputtering, refused.

Oliver looked too and cringed. “Um, maybe just the two of us could go?”

“Okay, sure!” I said, perhaps too quickly.

“Yeah, Tobias is allergic to pancakes.” Oliver turned back around and clicked his pen a few more times.

“Really?” I asked.

“Yup. But, uh, don't tell him I told you because he's embarrassed about it.”

Just then Ms. Roberts walked into the room and everyone hurried to their seats. After congratulating me and Oliver and Tobias on our science fair victory, she began her lecture.

I opened up my notebook and tried to take notes. Honestly, I did. But no way could I concentrate. Not with so many questions racing through my mind.

Was Tobias really allergic to pancakes? Or was Oliver just kidding? Pancake allergies aren't even that funny, when you think about it. And Oliver has a pretty good sense of humor. So was it true? Or did he make it up because he didn't want Tobias tagging along? And if so, was that because he's sick of hanging out with Tobias or because our pancake outing is supposed to be our big first date? Not that it had to be big. And not that pancakes are so romantic. Maybe we were just going as friends. Or maybe Oliver really did like me. I mean, obviously he liked me, but did he
like
me like me or just like me?

I sneaked a sideways glance at him. And a second later, he caught me staring.

I turned away fast, but not before I noticed his small grin. The kind that told me this: The answers to all my questions? They may not come for a while, but once they did, they were going to be good.

acknowledgments

Yay Bloomsbury! Thanks very much to Michelle Nagler, Caroline Abbey, Melanie Cecka, Jennifer Healey, Melissa Kavonic, Nicole Gastonguay, Donna Mark, Vanessa Nuttry, Rebecca Mancini, Deb Shapiro, Beth Eller, and Diana Blough.

Thank you, Laura Langlie, Bill Contardi, and Coe Booth.

And mega-thanks to Jim, Leo, and Lucy, who showed up just in time.

Copyright © 2011 by Leslie Margolis

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

First published in the United States of America in May 2011
by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
E-book edition published in May 2011
www.bloomsburykids.com

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Margolis, Leslie.
Everybody bugs out / by Leslie Margolis. — 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.

Summary: Sixth-grader Annabelle realizes that she has a crush on Oliver, with whom she is doing a science fair project, just before the Valentine's Day dance—and just before her friend Claire announces her crush on him.
ISBN 978-1-59990-526-6 (hardcover)
[1. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 2. Friendship—Fiction. 3. Middle schools—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Family life-California—Fiction. 6. California—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M33568Eve 2011   [Fic]—dc22    2010035628

ISBN 978-1-59990-637-9 (e-book)