AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I want to say something to Jasper—what, I’m not sure.
Misha comes bursting through the door, throwing her backpack down next to Jasper and plopping beside me in the booth.
“You’re early today!” she chirps.
Jasper is making a face like he’s never seen a human child before.
“Who is this?”
“Misha,” I say. “She’s the manager.”’
“More like the janitor,” Misha mutters, casting a mutinous glance at her sister.
“Did you finishEnder’s Game?” I ask her.
“Yeah, last night!”
“Perfect.” I pull a battered paperback from my coat pocket. “I brought you the next one.”
“There’s a sequel?”
“Sort of. It’s the same story but from Bean’s perspective. You might like this one even better.”
“Cool!” Misha says, immediately opening the book and beginning to read.
“You done?” Jasper says to me, returning to his usual chilliness.
“Yeah,” I say. And then to Alla, “Can I get another box?”
No sense letting Jasper’s burger go to waste.
* * *
32
ADRIK
We’re supposed to be going to Neve Markov’s wedding in an hour but nobody is ready.
Sabrina comes in from the garage, oil embedded all the way under her fingernails and in every little crack and line of her hands. Streaks of grease on her face and in her hair, which is twisted up in a knot on her head with pieces coming down all around her face.
She’s wearing a pair of Chief’s coveralls. When she grins at me, her teeth are the only clean thing on her filthy face.
“I did it!” she exclaims triumphantly. “I got thatfuckingbike fixed!”
The feeling I get seeing her like this is a hard, twisting jolt in my guts. I like her this way better than almost any other. I knew when I saw that first picture of Sabrina in the garage that this is her essential self—clever, industrious, loving to get her hands dirty.
“Jasper’s bike?” I ask.
Jasper has taken it back to the dealer three times with no success. They tell him the rattle is sorted, and it seems to be, until he passes 50 km/h.
“It’s fixed this time,” Sabrina says. “I’m sure of it.”
I’m sure she’s right.
“I did it, Jasper!” Sabrina shouts as he comes out of the kitchen into the hallway.
Jasper looks startled, until slow understanding spreads across his face.
