Boys R Us Lisi Harrison

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.”“Cawwwww cawwwww,” cawed a boy in the back.A swell of muffled chuckles followed.Pretending she had no clue the birdcall was directed at her and her hawklike facial features, Principal Burns waited patiently for the laughter to subside before continuing.Dean Don coughed uncomfortably.“Whassgoingon?” Dylan whisper-hissed as a giant white screen descended from the ceiling.Out of the corner of her eye, Alicia noticed that Massie’s glossy lips were curled as if around a secret.Did she know what the announcement was? If they were still friends, would Alicia know too? Did the fact that she didn’t know make her a bad leader? Alicia leaned forward slightly, smile-nodding like she knew exactly what was about to happen.The auditorium lights dimmed.“As you all are aware, an unfortunate incident at Briar-wood Academy last year forced us all to… adapt rather quickly while the school was being repaired.”Alicia gulped.Claire gnawed at what was left of her nail beds.Dylan cracked open another Red Bull.Last spring, the wave pool on the roof of Briarwood had leaked, flooding the entire school.Everyone had assumed it was faulty construction, but it was actually Layne Abeley and the Pretty Committee’s fault.They had sneaked into the boys’ school at night to fix the secret spy cam that recorded their crushes’ sensitivity training class, and ended up drilling a hole through the water pipes.“After many, many months, we are proud to announce the completion of the new and improved…” Prin cipal Burns paused dramatically.“BRIARWOOD ACAAAAADEMYYYYYY!” she yelled into the mic, like she was Oprah and Briarwood was one of her Favorite Things.Only her excitement-yell sounded more like she was pinching her nose in a stinky bathroom stall, shouting for someone to bring her more toilet paper—a mix of urgency and discomfort.An image of Briarwood lit up the projector screen, while a recording of the boys’ band playing an instrumental version of Christina Aguilera’s “Keeps Gettin’ Better” blared from the speakers.The school and the grounds looked brand-new and better than ever.The modern glass facade gleamed in the sunlight, wide stone steps led to a state-of-the-art atrium, and freshly sodded sports fields stretched into the distance.Alicia’s tongue felt like sandpaper.She willed Josh to turn around in his seat so they could panic-gaze at each other.The only reason she and her crush got to see each other every day was because Briarwood had been undergoing renovations.But if the renovations were finished…But Josh didn’t turn around.Instead, he high-fived Plovert and Cam.“Yesssssss!” Throughout the auditorium, the Briarwood boys clapped one another on the back, grinning at the glowing image of their school on the screen.After a few seconds, the picture of the front facade melted into a shot of a sleek new Briarwood auditorium.Rows of cushy movie theater–style chairs led up to a giant, rotating stage lit by colorful spotlights.Dean Don slid up to the mic as a gym complex popped on-screen.“The new gym floor doubles as a hockey rink and has NBA rims and an Olympic-size pool.”The boys erupted in whoops and applause.The girls looked lost and confused.Like they had been abandoned on the side of the highway with nothing but a soggy map and a Ziploc full of pennies.Dylan seemed too stricken to speak.Out of the corner of her eye, Alicia saw Claire attempt to grin like someone who was happy for her crush.But it came off looking like she had cramps.Luckily Cam was too amped up to notice.Alicia opened her mouth, then closed it.Why wasn’t Josh upset about this? Was an in-house movie theater more important to him than she was? She was suddenly aware of the combination mothball/dusty-textbook smell that hovered over the creaky wooden non-stadium seats.“Briarwood students will return to their school a week from today.” Principal Burns nudged Dean Don out of the way and retook her place at the podium.“As a welcome-back gift, each student will be receiving a brand-new Endu(red) laptop, courtesy of Bono, who has generously donated them to Briar-wood and our brother school in Kenya [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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