Bubble World Read online

  “Bye, Mummy and Daddy. I’m going to a party.”

  “Will you be home tonight?”

  “Probably. But not till early morning. So don’t wait up.”

  “Okay, then, have a happy time!”

  A party was just what she needed, Freesia thought, starting up her pale pink itty car. When she was alone, she tended to think, and that was never, ever good. She didn’t want to think about the ugly girl she’d seen in her mirror. She didn’t want to think about what Taser had said. She just wanted to drink happy juice and dance and laugh and fizz with Dare. And maybe Ricky. But mostly Dare because he was already on her enemy list so she didn’t have anything to lose.

  Ricky lived in the island’s biggest house. High on a cliff just beyond the Rotunda, it had views of the harbor and the beach club, and even peeks of the interior. Torches illuminated a vast rooftop patio, which had sofas and hammocks and a jet tub big enough to hold twenty people. A rope bridge led to Ricky’s two waterslides, one of which emptied into the swimming pool in Ricky’s lower yard, the other into the ocean.

  Freesia parked her itty car on the curb right outside Ricky’s house. Oh, no. Judging by the empty road, she was the first one at the party: never good. But then, this was Ricky. Why not enjoy a little twosey time with her second-best friendly?

  She pulled her silver bubble out of her tote. It turned green, then blue. “Friendlies check.”

  RICKY LEISURE: TRANSMITTING

  He was by the pool, but the raft was gone. And he was dressed. In real clothes, not his swim trunks. Nothing fancy—just white shorts and a navy blue T-shirt—but still. It looked like he had showered and shaved and maybe even combed his hair.

  Truth? She liked Ricky better when he was rumpled.

  She spoke into her bubble. “Ricky? Did I get the time wrong?”

  He didn’t answer, just hurried to the front door, where he greeted her with a glass of happy fizz. The lights in his house were dim, the music—Chase Bennett’s greatest hits—turned down low.

  “What’s the occasion?” she asked, taking a sip of the fizz. It tickled her tongue, warmed her throat, and instantly made her feel … not happy, exactly, but relaxed. Ready for happiness.

  “You’re here. That’s the occasion. Let’s go up to the roof.”

  The night was dark and clear. The air smelled of salt and flowers. From the rooftop patio, Freesia could see the Big and Little Dipper, Orion’s Belt, and the Eye of Todd. Far below, phosphorescence turned the black ocean neon green as it licked the shore.

  “I’m surprised no one else is here yet,” Freesia said.

  “I didn’t invite anyone else.” Ricky kept his eyes on the glass, on the bottle, on his shoes. He drained his happy fizz. He refilled his glass and topped off Freesia’s, and then he threw the empty bottle over the edge of the patio, toward the ocean. It shattered on the rocks below, the sound like a jingle. The ocean would soften and churn the shards until they came back to shore, sea glass that sparkled like jewels.

  Freesia was about to tell Ricky that she liked him so much but thought they should just be friendlies, blah, blah, blah. But blame it on the stars, blame it on the happy fizz, or just blame it on what she really wanted: Freesia leaned in for a face-link.

  Their noses touched, and her whole face grew warm and glowy. She’d have thought that face-linking with Ricky would be better than with Taser, though maybe not quite as good as with Dare, but face-linking always provided the same kind of warm, pleasant numbness.

  After maybe ten seconds, a cool breeze crossed her face, marking the face-link’s end.

  “I’ve been thinking about doing that for a long time,” Ricky said.

  “Me too, but—”

  “Hello? Anyone here?”

  At the sound of Dare Fiesta’s voice, Freesia took a big step backward.

  “Oh my Todd,” she muttered to Ricky. “I told Dare you were having a party tonight. Because … I thought you were.”

  Ricky held up a hand. “Hola, amigo!” Spanglish was the only class Ricky attended regularly. He really loved nachos.

  “Am I … early?” Dare wore swim trunks, a towel draped around his neck.

  “I got the time wrong,” Freesia said. “I thought the party started at ten, but actually—”

  “It starts at two,” Ricky said.

  Dare gawked. “In the morning?”

  Ricky shrugged. “Guess that’s too late, because hardly anyone said they were coming. Want some happy fizz? I was just about to open another bottle.”

  “No, thanks.” He patted his perfect abdomen. “I’m in training.”

  “For…?”

  “Paddleboard racing. Championship is coming up.”

  Ricky shrugged. “Well, I’m not in training.” He crossed to his rooftop fridge and pulled out a bottle.

  “Care to go for a ride down the waterslide, Freesia?” Dare asked. “Pool or ocean—your pick.”

  And then everything went black.

  6

  Three steps forward, and she hit a wall. Three steps to either side, same thing. One step back, and she knocked into something. A chair? Three steps diagonally, and she hit another wall. It was warm and just a little bit sticky.

  “Ricky? Are you there? Dare? Can you hear me?”

  Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic.… It was just like this at the Dressy Dress Shoppe. Well, except for the walls and the chair. Or whatever it was. Any second now, the town lights would come back on, and the stars … Why would the stars go out in a blackout?

  Back at the wall, she groped along the surface, searching for an opening, a handhold—something. Her breathing came fast and ragged. Her heart pumped so hard it made her chest hurt.

  “Ricky? Dare? Somebody help me!”

  “What the—oh, crud!”

  Someone was on the other side of the wall. A girl. Her voice sounded like someone Freesia knew. But who?

  “Mom? Mom! Get in here! Now! It’s freaking out! Moooooom…”

  Angel. The voice sounded like Angel, only … older. And—

  “Make it stop! I hate that thing!”

  Meaner.

  “I told you I didn’t want that thing next to my bedroom. It’s always laughing and singing, and my friends don’t even want to come over anymore because they’re all, like, You’ve got a freak living in your house.”

  Another voice, also familiar. “Oh. My. God. Did her medication run out? Or did the program crash? I knew we should have bought the extended warranty. I told your father—”

  It sounded like …

  “Mummy?”

  “It’s looking at me!”

  “Mummy!”

  “Get your father, Angel. Tell him to call tech support.”

  “MUMMY!”

  She could see now. The wall was clear and round, like … a bubble. A great big, hard bubble. Mummy was on the other side of the wall with Angel, only Mummy didn’t look shiny and happy like usual. She looked tired and pale and messy as if she’d been sleeping—but also like she looked tired and pale and messy all the time. And Angel: Angel had blossomed. She was taller than Mummy, taller than Freesia, probably, and just as beautiful as Freesia always thought she would be, even though black eye makeup had smeared under her light eyes, lending a ghoulish air.

  “It’s okay, Francine,” Mummy said from the other side of the transparent wall. “Calm down.”

  Freesia started to cry. “Mummy! I’m so frightened!”

  “Enough, Francine. Chill out! Close your eyes or something. We’ll give you your meds and get tech support on the phone and—”

  She was back. On the roof. Ricky had passed out on a lounge chair. Dare gazed up at the sky.

  “Freesia, what’s wrong?” Dare took her in his arms, but just in a friendly way.

  “A bad dream. Or—a blackout? Was there a blackout?”

  Dare shook his head. “It’s dark, but…”

  “The happy fizz,” Freesia said. “I shouldn’t have had so much.”

/>   7

  The signs were all there, and Freesia couldn’t help but see them. Ashley and Jennifer, the male peacocks, screeched and screamed her awake until she yelled, “Shut it,” at which point they launched into Chase Bennett’s timeless lyrics.

  It’s another day.

  On the island we say, Hey …

  Another day on the island. Wasn’t it a little odd the way things never changed? Not the weather, not the routine, not even her sister? What would happen when she finished school? No one ever talked about it.

  And, oh my Todd, not again: the one thing she didn’t want to change. Where was her coffee?

  “Mummy?”

  Her mother appeared right away, happy and shiny as always.

  “Sweetie?”

  “Um … would you mind getting me some coffee?”

  “Sweetie!” Mummy hurried out and came back with her chunky mug filled to the brim with frothy coffee.

  “Thanks,” Freesia said.

  “It’s Tracey’s Famous Coffee! Nothing like a coffee cloud to start your day the Tracey way!”

  “You don’t have to say that every time.” Freesia took the mug.

  Mummy smiled. “Would you like an omelet, oatmeal, or pancakes for brunch?”

  Freesia hesitated. “Oatmeal.”

  “In here or in the kitchen?”

  She hesitated again. “Kitchen.”

  “Should I stay, or should I go?”

  “Stay.”

  Mummy stood there, smiling.

  “Actually, you can go,” Freesia told her.

  Once her mother left, Freesia took her coffee and her bubble out to the balcony. It was another beautiful day. Of course it was. Every day on Agalinas was clear and warm: something to do with its position in the Pacific Ocean and the jet streams from … somewhere warm.

  Maybe she should have paid attention in Geography.

  Nah. Geography was borrifying.

  Freesia settled on her pillowy lounge on the balcony. She held her bubble till it turned warm and grew to grapefruit size before she decided that, no, she did not need to check on her friendlies and her enemies. She did that every day. Maybe the island of Agalinas wasn’t in a rut. Maybe it was just her.

  “I’m going to walk down to the beach,” she informed Ashley and Jennifer, who didn’t even pretend to care.

  “I’ll eat my oatmeal later,” she told her shiny mother before heading out the back door and down the hill.

  The steel drum band she’d seen yesterday was setting up on the sand. She nodded hello and then strolled onto the green pier, past the smoothie stand and up to the boat rental kiosk. The same trim, weathered blond man had been there forever. Well, not forever, just as long as Freesia could remember, which wasn’t so long at all, really. She gave him ten shells for a half hour on a pedal boat.

  Being out on the water calmed Freesia. Agalinas’s water was so clear she could see straight to the sandy bottom. Schools of pink and blue and orange fish swam over sand dollars and starfish, while sea horses bobbed among pink kelp and silver bubbles.

  As she pedaled away from shore, small pleasure craft and tiny sailboats gave way to big sleeper boats. She rounded the back of the largest boat and read the name:

  FREEDOM

  NEWPORT BEACH, CA

  On the boat’s back deck, a silver-haired man sat in a white vinyl chair, sipping something steamy from a silver cup.

  When Freesia drew near, he held up a hand. “Greetings.”

  Freesia stopped pedaling. “Greetings to you, too. Are you visiting from the mainland?”

  “Sure am.”

  “What’s it like there?”

  The man smiled. “Crowded and dirty.”

  “But what does it look like?”

  “Flat,” he said. “And brown. And the buildings are close together, and the air smells bad.”

  “Why do people stay there, then?”

  “You don’t get to choose the place you call home. You’re lucky to live in Agalinas.”

  He stood up, waved, and disappeared into the boat’s cabin.

  Freesia just managed to pedal beyond the harbor to the edge of Snorkelers’ Cove before she had to turn around to return the boat to the man on the green pier.

  At home, she hurried to get ready for class. No need for attire assistance today: she’d already picked out the polka-dot dress. Nor did she have time to confirm her plans for the day with Jelissa. Wait. What were her plans for the day? Maybe she’d go back to the cove. She could go snorkeling. Take a ride on a spinner dolphin. Maybe Ricky could go with her … if they were still friendlies after last night’s face-link. Funny: she’d been so preoccupied with her bad dream that she’d all but forgotten about it.

  She and Ricky face-linked! Wait till Jelissa heard about that.

  Freesia dashed into her closet and grabbed a bikini to put under her dress. Snorkeling later: yes, definitely.

  Since she normally rode the zipline to school, today Freesia drove instead, parking her pink itty car next to Jelissa’s green one.

  Mr. Lee, her Korean immersion teacher, wearing his usual pressed khakis and blue button-down shirt, waited outside the door of the bright yellow building.

  “Ahn-nyong-ha-se-yo,” he said.

  “English, please.”

  “Good morning. Would you like coffee or tea?”

  “I thought today was Spanglish immersion.”

  He shook his head. “Tomorrow. Today you learn about the Korean language and culture. For lunch we will eat bibimbop. Rice with fried egg, vegetables, and meat. And kimchee too, of course. Did you do your home assignments?”

  “But, Mr. Lee … we had Korean immersion yesterday,” she said.

  “Refreshments are on the patio.”

  Freesia didn’t want refreshments. She wanted the world to make sense. Or she wanted to not think about whether the world made sense.

  She retreated to the parking lot, where she sat in her itty car’s front seat and took long, deep breaths.

  Everything would be okay.

  She needed to stop staying out so late.

  She needed to stay away from happy juice, happy fizz, and any other happy beverage that Ricky offered.

  Next time Taser wanted to talk, she would say no. She didn’t need him putting loopy ideas in her head.

  Inside her bag, her bubble chirped. A message from Jelissa waited. YOU COMING?

  “Message reply,” Freesia whispered to her bubble. “I’m in the parking lot. Come see me.”

  Jelissa would make her feel better. She always did.

  Less than a minute later, Jelissa climbed onto the seat next to her. “What’s wrong?”

  Freesia opened her mouth to tell Jelissa about her conversation with Taser, the blackout at Ricky’s, the repeating Korean immersion class. And then she realized: it was all crazy talk! And crazy talk is borrifying!

  “Ricky and I face-linked last night,” she blurted out.

  “No!” Jelissa’s eyes, already wide, grew huge.

  “I didn’t mean for it to happen. And I don’t think it means we’re linked or anything. But I get the feeling that Ricky feels something for me. That he’s not just fizzing.”

  The more Freesia talked about Ricky, the less she thought about the blackout. She said, “I’ve always liked Ricky.”

  “I know you have!” Jelissa said. “Who wouldn’t? He’s devicious!”

  “But I don’t want to risk our friendship. And once an ex-link—”

  “Speak of the devil,” Jelissa said.

  Just like that, Dare Fiesta pulled up in his white itty car. He parked, climbed out, reached toward his drink holder, and—oh, no.

  Dare had stopped for coffee two days in a row.

  Mr. Lee was teaching Korean immersion two days in a row.

  Jelissa—how had she not noticed this before?—was wearing her yellow dress. Jelissa would never wear the same thing two days in a row.

  Maybe there weren’t two days after all.

  “Re
freshments are on the patio,” Jelissa told Dare.

  He held up the paper cup. “This is for Chai.”

  “Wackaccino?” Freesia said, her voice thick.

  “How’d you know?”

  “Just a guess.” Her knees were feeling wobbly again, and her stomach: not good. She would definitely avoid the kimchee.

  Freesia and Jelissa followed Dare toward the yellow building.

  “I was so glad when you bubbled me,” Jelissa whispered. “Chai had me cornered, bragging about where she got her stupid clothes.”

  “Paris and Milan?” Freesia asked, hoping Jelissa would say no—even as she noticed that Dare had on the same button-up white shirt and khaki shorts as before. There was no denying it: today was yesterday, and yesterday was today. Freesia felt sick.

  “Paris and Milan—yes! How’d you know?”

  “Happy guess.”

  “Forget about Chai,” Jelissa said. “I can’t wait to hear about Ricky. I can’t believe you face-linked in the middle of that big party and no one even saw you! We still on for dress shopping later?”

  Freesia nodded. It was all she could do. Walking onto the patio, she shouldn’t have been surprised to see Chai wearing the purple leopard dress, but she couldn’t help but stare. After that, she was prepared, more or less, for Chai and Dare to sit with them. For Jelissa to pull Chai away during conversation time so she could be alone with Dare.

  Little things were different. Chai didn’t save a seat for Dare, because he was already on the patio … though the same table was empty, as if it were waiting for them, as if they were somehow fated to sit there. And Freesia didn’t drink the Korean coffee, choosing lukewarm tea instead. (“Really?” Jelissa asked. “I thought you loved Korean coffee.”)

  But as soon as they were alone, Dare fell right into his script. “That was nice of Chai.”

  “You mean to change tables for Jelissa, even though she’d rather sit in the sun?” Freesia asked.

  “Exactly!”

  “But you and Chai are just friendlies,” she said.

  “It’s just nice to have someone to talk to,” Dare said. “Chai’s a really good listener. But it’s not the same as—”