Coming Up Roses by Catherine R. Daly Page A

the time that class was over, I was officially done with my “shadow.” I practically ran out the door, I was in such a rush to get rid of my special visitor. I turned around impatiently to see why he was dawdling to discover that he was chatting away with someone. I took a closer look. Yikes — it was Sabrina, one of Ashley’s best friends.
Oh no,
I thought.
He’s embarrassing me in front of one of her handmaidens! Social suicide.
    He held up his camera, and Sabrina grinned and struck a pose.
    I ducked back, grabbed his hand, and pulled him away from Sabrina and down the hall. “My mom is waiting!” I told him. “Can’t be late!”
    He shut off his camera and rubbed his hands together. “Well, that was great!” he said. “I think I made a good impression. Probably scored you some brownie points with your teachers, too.” I ground my teeth in annoyance. “And all the kids seem so nice! Sabrina is really pretty, don’t you think?”
    “Whatever,” I said.
    “Hey, Delphinium!” a voice shouted. “Who’s your Siamese twin?”
    I would recognize that obnoxious voice anywhere. It was Bob, the school bully and my second-worst enemy (after Ashley, of course).
    “Ignore him,” I told Nicholas.
    But Nicholas could not resist the lure of correcting someone’s mistake. He stopped short and turned to face Bob. “Actually,” Nicholas told him, “the preferred term is
conjoined twin
.”
    Bob stared at him like he was insane.
    “The term ‘Siamese twin’ originated, of course, from Chang and Eng Bunker,” Nicholas explained.
    Still no response from Bob, who was beginning to look alarmed.
    “The conjoined twins from Thailand?” Nicholas asked incredulously. “They shared a liver, you know!”
    Bob blinked.
    Nicholas shook his head in exasperation. “Of course, you know that Thailand was formerly known as
Siam
?” he explained as if Bob was a dimwitted child. As annoying as Nicholas was, I couldn’t help enjoying the confused look on Bob’s face.
    I touched Nicholas’s arm, bringing him back to reality.“My mom is waiting,” I told him. “Say good-bye to your new friend Bob.”
    As we walked down the hall, Nicholas shook his head. “Philistine!” he said. I had no idea what that meant, but if it was about Bob, I assumed it wasn’t good.
    “Philistine!” I agreed.
    I marched Nicholas out the front door, and down the stone steps of the school. Luckily, Mom’s car was there waiting. “Have fun at the store today,” I told him before I slammed the car door shut. I waved as Mom drove off.
    Then I breathed a sigh of relief. I had enjoyed the scene with Bob, but there were only so many
actuallys
a girl could take in one day.
    I rushed down the hallway toward the cafeteria. It was chicken-finger-and-waffle-fries day and I was already ten minutes late thanks to my camera-happy buddy. Just then, my phone began to vibrate. I paused for a minute, reached into my pocket, and flipped it open.
    I had a text. From Nicholas!
    WANNA MEET UP AFTER SCHOOL? he’d written.
    Was he for real? We had literally been apart for two minutes!
    2 BUSY. I wrote back. C U L8TR.
    “How did it go?” Becky asked as I sat down with my lunch, feeling victorious because I had nabbed the very last serving of chicken fingers. I dunked a crispy finger into the barbecue sauce. Pure crunchy deliciousness.
    I shook my head. “He thinks he knows everything. He wouldn’t stop taking pictures. How could my mom do that to me?”
    “Well, I just heard he called Bob the Philly Fanatic,” said Jessica. “And Bob was mad.”
    “Something like that,” I said with a grin.
    “So his visit wasn’t a total disaster,” said Heather.
    “I guess not,” I admitted. But it didn’t change the fact that I was counting down the days until our visitors returned to Texas.
    That afternoon, Aster and I walked home from school together. Rose had rehearsal and Dad would be picking her up after his office hours.
    I vented about Nicholas, and Aster