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     Iso want him to be the one who’d written that letter. I really, really do.

     But I’m not about to mention this to his sister.

     Instead, I told her I think it unfair of her to demand explanations for stuff I said under the influence of codeine cough syrup.

     Lilly just got that expression she gets sometimes when teachers ask a question and she knows the answer, only she wants to give someone else in the class a chance to answer for a change.

     It really can be exhausting sometimes, having a best friend with an IQ of 170.

 

 

 

 

HOMEWORK

 

Algebra: problems 1–20, pg. 115

English: Chapter 4 of Strunk and White

World Civ: two-hundred–word essay on the conflict betweenIndia andPakistan

G&T: Yeah, right

French: Chaptre huit

Biology: pituitary gland (ask Kenny!)

 

LILLY MOSCOVITZ AND MIA THERMOPOLIS’S LIST OF CELEBRITIES AND THEIR BREASTS

 

CELEBRITY  Britney Spears

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  Jennifer Love Hewitt

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  Winona Ryder

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  Courtney Love

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Fake

CELEBRITY  Jennie Garth

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  Tori Spelling

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Fake

CELEBRITY  Brandy

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  NeveCampbell

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  Sarah Michelle Gellar

LILLY  Real

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  Christina Aguilera

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  Lucy Lawless

LILLY  Real

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  MelissaJoan Hart

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Real

CELEBRITY  Mariah Carey

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Fake

CELEBRITY  Rachael Leigh Cook

LILLY  Fake

MIA  Real

 

Even later on Thursday

 

     After dinner I felt well enough to get out of bed, and so I did.

     I checked my e-mail. I was hoping there might be something from my mysterious “friend.” If he knew my “snail mail” address, I figured he’d know my e-mail address, too. Both are listed in the school directory.

      Tina Hakim Baba was one of the people who e-mailed me. She sent get-well wishes. So did Shameeka. Shameeka mentioned that she was trying to talk her father into letting her have a Halloween party, and that if she succeeded, would I come? I wrote back to say of course, if I wasn’t too weak from coughing.

     There was also a message from Michael. It was a get-well message, too, but it was animated, like a little film. It showed a cat that looked a lot like Fat Louie doing a little get-well dance. It was very cute. Michael signed it “Love, Michael.”

     Not Sincerely.

     Not Yours Truly.

     Love.

     I played it four times, but I still couldn’t tell whether he was the one who’d sent me that letter. The letter, I noticed, never once mentioned the wordlove. It said the senderliked me. And he signed it “sincerely.”

     But there was no love. Not a hint of love.

     Then I saw a message from someone whose e-mail address I didn’t recognize. Oh, my God! Could it be my anonymous liker? My fingers were trembling on my mouse. . . .

     And then I opened it and saw the following message from JoCrox:

 

JOCROX:Just a note to say hope you are feeling better. Missed you in school today! Did you get my letter? Hope it made you feel at least a little better, knowing there’s someone out there who thinks you rock. Get well soon.

Your Friend

 

     Oh, my God! It’shim! My anonymous admirer!

     But who is Jo Crox? I don’t know anyone named Jo Crox. He says he missed me in school today, which means we might be in a class together. But there are no Jo’s in any of my classes.

     Maybe Jo Crox isn’t really his name. In fact, Jo Crox doesn’t sound like a name at all. Maybe that actually stands for Joc Rox.

     But I don’t know any jocks, either. I mean, not personally.

     Oh, no, wait, I get it:

     Jo-C-rox.

     Josie Rocks! Oh, my God! Josie fromJosie and the Pussycats!

     That is just socute.

     But who?Who is it?

     I figured there was only one way to find out, so I wrote back right away:

 

FTLOUIE:Dear Friend, I got your letter. Thank you very much. Thanks also for the get-well wishes.

WHO ARE YOU? (I swear I won’t tell anyone.)

Mia

 

     I sat around for half an hour, hoping he would write back, but he never did.

     WHO IS IT??? WHO IS IT??

     I have GOT to get well by tomorrow so I can go to school and figure out who Jo-C-rox is. Otherwise, I will go mental, just like Mel Gibson’s girlfriend inHamlet, and I’ll end up floating in my Lanz of Salzburg nightie in theHudson with the rest of the medical waste.

 

Friday, October 24, Algebra

 

     I AM BETTER!!!!!