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Back Belly Up Save as PDF
Chapters (47)
  1. Cover
  2. Back Cover Text
  3. Praise
  4. About the Author
  5. Booklist
  6. Dedication
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Part Two
  19. Chapter Twelve
  20. Chapter Thirteen
  21. Chapter Fourteen
  22. Chapter Fifteen
  23. Chapter Sixteen
  24. Chapter Seventeen
  25. Chapter Eighteen
  26. Chapter Nineteen
  27. Chapter Twenty
  28. Chapter Twenty-One
  29. Chapter Twenty-Two
  30. Chapter Twenty-Three
  31. Chapter Twenty-Four
  32. Chapter Twenty-Five
  33. Chapter Twenty-Six
  34. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  35. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  36. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Acknowledgments
  47. Excerpt from Dead Little Mean Girl by Eva Darrows

“About the move? Sure. Living with Mormor will be interesting, but we visit so much it’s not going to be too much different, I don’t think.”

“And about school? We go back in two and a half weeks.”

“Fine, I guess. I’m not thinking about it too much. Well, I mean, I am—I’ve got a meeting with a guidance counselor and we’re going to talk about what we need to do for delivery. I’ll have the kid before graduation.”

“Cool, cool. Good to have a plan. So, I told my parents.”

I stopped folding to look at her, a Metallica T-shirt clutched in my hand. “And?”

“They were cool. Asked if there was anything they could do for you. I probably should have talked to you before I said anything, but it...yeah. I haven’t told anyone else. I wouldn’t.”

I wasn’t exactly annoyed with her, especially not after she’d helped me out that day, but she was right—she should have asked me.

“Well, if you’re going to tell anyone else—”

“—which I’m not.”

“Right, but.” I cleared my throat and went back to arranging T-shirts. “If you do, please ask me first.”

“I will. I’m sorry.”

“No sweat.”

It was true for the most part, that things were fine, but she must have been worried that I was fronting because she got up from the bed and walked up behind me to hug me. Her chin dropped onto my shoulder.

“You got this. We got this. All of us.”

“You sound like my mom and grandma.” Just as I said that, the two of them got loud about something downstairs, each of them trying to out-bitch each other seconds before there was a hard thwacking sound, which was probably a shoe hitting the wall because Mormor was out of control. “Okay, maybe not exactly like them, but the solidarity thing, you sound like them.”

“It’s a new beginning. For you, for your mom and Mormor, and for the squirt.”

“The squirt?”

“Yeah.” She poked my belly. “This little thing. It’s the CIIIIIRCLE OF LIIIIIFE...”

“Oh, shut the hell up, Devi.”

Part Two

PART TWO:

The cheeseburger queen,
my mom the Juggalo
and a leaf on the wind.

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Mormor had been a plague on mankind for most of the day, but she made up for it by cooking ärtsoppa that night and inviting Devi to dinner. You can tell food is good when four people who talk as much as we do were silent for the duration of the meal.

Not a peep. It was darned good soup.