Day1回顾：二年级前的夏天Bryce全家搬到小镇，邻家女孩Juli不请自来，爬上货车，热心帮忙卸货。Juli的热情和满身泥巴令Bryce避之不及。这时，父亲使眼色说妈妈在家，需要帮忙，Bryce立刻领会父亲的摆脱女孩的小把戏，借机逃离，谁知Juli穷追不舍... ...
Day 2 BRYCE 男生叙事视角
This was too much. I planted myself and was about to tell her to get lost when the weirdest thing happened. I was making this big windmill motion to break away from her, but somehow on the downswing my hand wound up tangling into hers. I couldn’t believe it. There I was, holding the mud monkey’s hand!
这太过分了。我站住，想告诉她快滚开，这时最诡异的事情发生了。我抡起胳膊想甩掉她，可是不知咋的，手臂落下来的时候结果却变成了挽着她的姿势。我简直不敢相信，我竟然挽了这只“泥猴”的手！
I tried to shake her off, but she just clamped on tight and yanked me along, saying, “C’mon!”
我一心想甩开她，但她把我的手攥得紧紧的，拉着我说：“来吧！”
My mom came out of the house and immediately got the world’s sappiest look on her face. “Well, hello,” she says to Juli.“Hi!”
我妈妈从屋里走出来，立刻摆出一副傻傻不明就里的表情，“嗨，你好！”她跟朱莉打招呼。“你好！”
I’m still trying to pull free, but the girl’s got me in a death grip. My mom’s grinning, looking at our hands and my fiery red face. “And what’s your name, honey?”
“Julianna Baker. I live right over there,” she says, pointing with her unoccupied hand.
我还在挣扎着想摆脱她，但她死死地拽着我。看到我们握在一起的手，还有我燥热发红的脸，妈妈笑了，“你叫什么名字，亲爱的？”
“朱莉安娜•贝克。我家就住在那儿。”她用那只空着的手指着。
“Well, I see you’ve met my son,” she says, still grinning away. “Uh-huh!” Finally I break free and do the only manly thing available when you’re seven years old – I dive behind my mother.
“哦，我想你已经认识我儿子了。”妈妈还在笑着。“是的！”我终于挣脱出来，做了一件七岁男孩唯一能做的充满男子汉气概的事——我躲到了妈妈身后。（
Mom puts her arm around me and says, “Bryce, honey, why don’t you show Julianna around the house?”
I flash her help and warning signals with every part of my body, but she’s not receiving. Then she shakes me off and says, “Go on.”
妈妈用手臂搂着我，“布莱斯，亲爱的，你是不是应该领朱莉安娜参观一下我们的新家？”
我全身每个细胞都在向妈妈发出警报信号寻求她的帮助，可是她完全不接受我的信号。她推着我说：“去吧。”
Juli would’ve tramped right in if my mother hadn’t noticed her shoes and told her to take them off. And after those were off, my mom told her that her dirty socks had to go, too. Juli wasn’t embarrassed. Not a bit. She just peeled them off and left them in a crusty heap on our porch.
朱莉没有马上被允许进入房间，因为妈妈注意到那双脏鞋并且要求她脱下来。等她脱下鞋子，妈妈又说她的脏袜子也不许穿进屋里。朱莉全然没觉得尴尬，一点儿也不。她只是拽下袜子，随手扔在我家门廊里。
I didn’t exactly give her a tour. I locked myself in the bathroom instead. And after about ten minutes of yelling back at her that no, I wasn’t coming out anytime soon, things got quiet out in the hall. Another ten minutes went by before I got the nerve to peek out the door.
我没有真的带她参观，而是把自己反锁在厕所里。我冲她叫喊了将近十分钟的“不，我绝不会出来的”之后，客厅里终于安静下来。又过了十分钟，我鼓足勇气从门缝里往外看去。
No Juli.
I snuck out and looked around, and yes! She was gone.
Not a very sophisticated ditch, but hey, I was only seven.
没看到朱莉。
我蹑手蹑脚地走出来，看了一圈，没错，她走了！
这一招不算太高明，但我毕竟才七岁嘛。
My troubles were far from over, though. Every day she came back, over and over again. “Can Bryce play?” I could hear her asking from my hiding place behind the couch. “Is he ready yet?” One time she even cut across the yard and looked through my window. I spotted her in the nick of time and dove under my bed, but man, that right there tells you something about Juli Baker. She’s got no concept of personal space. No respect for privacy. The world is her playground, and watch out below – Juli’s on the slide!
不过，我的麻烦还远远没有结束。她一次又一次地来找我，每天都来。“布莱斯能出来玩吗？”我藏在沙发背后，听见她这样问道。“他准备好了吗？”有一次她甚至穿过院子从窗户往里看。我恰好觉察到她的动向，马上潜伏到床底下。不过朋友，我得告诉你一些关于朱莉安娜•贝克的事。她完全没有“私人空间”的概念，不尊重别人的隐私。全世界都是朱莉的地盘，当心——她只会越来越过分！
Lucky for me, my dad was willing to run block. And he did it over and over again. He told her I was busy or sleeping or just plain gone. He was a lifesaver.
幸运的是，我爸爸希望保护我。他一次又一次地掩护着我。告诉朱莉说我很忙，说我在睡觉，或者说我不在家。他真是我的大救星。
My sister, on the other hand, tried to sabotage me any chance she got. Lynetta’s like that. She’s four years older than me, and buddy, I’ve learned from watching her how not to run your life. She’s got ANTAGONIZE written all over her. Just look at her – not cross-eyed or with your tongue sticking out or anything – just look at her and you’ve started an argument.
另一方面，我的姐姐却逮住一切机会陷害我。利奈特就喜欢这样。她比我大四岁，从她身上我学会了不去和命运抗争。她是个浑身上下写满了“对立”两个字的家伙。只要谁看了她一眼——不用斜着眼看，或是吐着舌头看——仅仅是看她一眼，就能让她跟你吵起来。
- To be continued
读后小记：
这一段描写生动有趣，画面感十足，读时令人忍俊不禁，原来“社恐”男孩遇上"社牛"女孩，直接就是"社死"，竟然直接躲到妈妈身后。
顺便问一下，怎样"摆脱他人"，学会了吗？
break away from sb.; shake sb. off; break free; pull free
