Marigold by Heather Manheim (best books for 8th graders .TXT) 📕

looked at Davis and added, “He never stops talking!” and a huge smile spread across her kind face as she extended her hand to Davis. “I’m Duffy, the doctor.”

“Nice to meet you, Duffy.” Davis was taken a bit aback by how warm and soft her hand was.

“Well, let’s eat, shall we?” interjected a tired-sounding Ringo.

Davis was glad; she didn’t have anything more to say, and her head started throbbing again. Just as she was about to ask about the food in front of her, two more people came in.

Everybody looked up from the table concurrently with looks of mixed confusion and happy surprise on their faces. “Hi, Romo!” exclaimed Ringo, all the tiredness in his voice evaporated. He then looked over at Davis and, as a way of explanation, introduced them and added that Romo lived in the bunkers that tunneled out to the left of them.

“Who is this with you?” Ringo said, looking back at Romo, who was both tall and slim. Davis noted that the person Ringo was asking Romo about had her black hair, not in a bob but, in a messy, cascading tousle, slightly parted and pinned back in the middle with a bright blue clasp. Davis also saw that Quinn nervously and suddenly stood up, looking past Romo, noticing the girl with the long black hair.

There wasn’t a chance for Romo to answer Ringo. Before anyone could say anything else, the girl bounded forward, like a bunny. Spread across her face was a broad grin. Quinn had never seen someone who seemed so naturally bubbly and jubilant. She was all of five feet tall but somehow had the presence of someone ten feet tall, with large blue eyes that looked like liquid pools. A cute, albeit somewhat large and distracting, beauty mark sat above her right eye. She delicately extended her hand toward Quinn and said hello, informing all those present in a cheery voice that her name was Cricket. Quinn greeted her back, then took all of her in—and Cricket was a lot. She had inexplicably short white shorts on that were cut very high on her thigh, the shortest shorts Quinn had ever seen. Cricket had a too small T-shirt stretched across her too large chest; the shirt said in faded pink writing, “Girls Kick Ass.” Quinn didn’t know what to say, so she just asked her where she found the unique clothing. Cricket laughed long and hard. Longer and harder than someone should for something that wasn’t even that funny, Quinn thought. But she also thought Cricket was a pretty little thing. Cricket answered back in a chirpy, happy voice, sounding almost as if she was part bird. “I don’t know, rummaging around here and there, different boxes that somebody stuck in one of these bunkers! And who cares!” she exclaimed, and as she did, she threw her arms out to the side, making herself into a T-shape.

Quinn couldn’t understand the excitement in which Cricket delivered this statement. She acted as if it were the most exciting information ever told. And honestly, it wasn’t much information. Quinn was dumbfounded yet fascinated; she had never met anyone like Cricket; she seemed to be such a boundless ball of energy.

Romo piped in, “This is Cricket, everyone, as you have figured out by now.” Romo seemed tired, just making this statement. Ana thought it sounded similar to how she felt after a day of chasing the kids around. “Cricket was a runner. We were out doing surveillance, and we saw her caught in a Drone Scanner beam, and we disrupted the signal before we took her. She’s been with us a few days; she’s a Natural Immune, so there was no recovery.”

“What’s a Natural Immune?” asked Davis.

Nobody answered her question, but Romo walked over to Davis and put her hand on her shoulder. “You must be Davis. It’s nice to meet you; we’ve heard a lot about you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” said Davis, for what felt like the seven hundredth time that evening.

“Well, we just wanted to say hi and make introductions. I see you’re ready for dinner, and we don’t want to interrupt. We wanted to introduce Cricket. She’s actually staying over at Bhatt and Lyon’s bunker. See you guys later. Enjoy your meal.”

“Bye, Romo and Cricket, it was nice to meet you!” said Quinn with a big smile.

“See ya L-A-T-E-R alligators!” said Cricket, spelling out the letters in “later.”

She is an oddball, but a cool, cute oddball, thought Quinn.

~

Dinner passed somewhat quickly and unceremoniously after that. The conversation hit a lull, and people enjoyed their salad, tilapia, and potatoes in mostly a satisfied silence. At least everyone seemed satisfied; Davis had never had any of these things before and did not have a lot of food history for comparison. An occasional break in the quiet was just to ask someone if they were enjoying their dinner or not or if they had a good day or not, and other small pleasantries. Davis was both comforted and annoyed by the silence. She felt like these people should be getting to know her, and as she was stuck there, it would be good to learn more about who her captors were. Simultaneously, feeling tired and overwhelmed, Davis was not even sure what to say, so sitting quietly and chewing were happily her only chores at the moment. She was also distracted as Brookshire kept making sideways glances and small smiles toward her, making Davis feel so nervous that just as she decided it would be best not to talk, Ringo spoke up. “Well, with dinner done, maybe we should clean up and have a conversation?” He was looking directly at Davis, and she felt a hot lump in her throat that made it hard to swallow. Ringo stood up, and Audrey quickly told all the kids that they should go and play together—no fighting! Audrey also told Quinn she would clean up the dishes. Then Ringo asked Brookshire to wait while he and Namaguchi