CHAPTER 25Emma
Emma and Jay were both upstairs in their rooms, Emma with her homework, Jay on Atari, when they were called down to the kitchen.
“Okay!” Emma bellowed down the stairs. It was too early for dinner, she thought, but she was glad to be called away. She paused at the door to her brother’s room; he was playing Galaga, she could tell by the sounds.
“Mom called. You coming?”
“I’m just gonna die first,” he said. He glanced up at her. “You want a turn afterwards?”
She shrugged. “Okay.”
She didn’t like playing video games, but she liked that Jay had asked her. They had little in common these days—he with his friends and his little league, she with school and track—but whenever they did spend time together, she felt the ease of their old closeness.
“Any idea what Mom wants?” she
