Ash Ketchum: The Prisoner Of Cell 25

Ch. 10 A Suspicious Coincidence

The end of the game was pretty exciting. Meridian was ahead by just one point with three seconds left on the clock when they fouled Cottonwood's best player, sending him to the line to throw free throws. He must have been pretty nervous because he missed both of his shots badly—one of them by at least ten feet.

   Everyone went wild. After the game Clemont and I walked down to the floor. Serena was surrounded by a couple dozen friends, but she smiled when she saw me. "Ready to go?"

   I nodded.

  "Angel's dad is going to give us a ride to Rosa's."

"Me too?" Clemont asked.

"Of course."

The four of us walked out to the parking lot. Angel was a pretty Asian girl, and Clemont just stared at her until it was embarrassing. Finally she stopped and turned to him. "What?"

"Clemont," he said, putting out his hand to shake.

She looked at his band, then slowly put out her own. "I'm Angel."

"Are you Chinese or Japanese?"

Her brow furrowed. "Chinese."

"Were you born in China?"

"Yes."

He nodded. "What brought your parents to America? Opportunity? Freedom of speech?"

"My parents are American," she said. "I was adopted."

"Oh, you're adopted."

I wanted to smack him. "Sorry, Angel," I said. "Clemont doesn't get out much."

"Hardly ever," he said.

She shook her head. "It's okay."

"And I think you're the prettiest girl in the world," Clemont blurted out.

"Enough," I said to him.

Angel smiled.

   Rosa's home was the last on a long, tree-lined street called Walker Lane, where the rich kids in our school lived. I think her home could fit our entire apartment building in it and still have had room for an indoor swimming pool, which, by the way, it had. It was the first party I'd been invited to since we moved to Idaho, unless you count Clemont's last birthday party, which was only me and his obnoxious younger cousin, Bonnie, who only came because her aunt made her. Bonnie broke a beaker in Clemont's new chemistry set within five minutes of Clemont opening the box. I thought Clemont would have a mental bbreakdown.

   Angel's dad drove a nice car, a BMW with leather seats the texture and color of footballs. I knew it meant nothing to these kids to ride in a car like that, but I thought it was really cool. So did Clemont. He was grinning like a Cheshire Cat, though it also may have been because he was sitting next to Angel. When Mr. Smith dropped us off, I said, "Thank you, sir."

   He smiled. "It's nice to see that not everyone's lost their manners. You're welcome, son."

   As we walked up to the house Serena took my arm. "Well played."

  "What do you mean?" I asked.

  "Nothing," she said. "You're a real gentleman."

   The stairway to the house was lined with little pointy trees growing in ceramic pots. I stopped at the door. I don't always notice my vocal tics, but I was gulping loud enough to get Serena's attention.

   Serena looked at me. "You okay?"

   I stopped gulping. "Yeah. I guess I'm just a little nervous."