Livin' the Life Read online

  Copyright © 2014 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  Cover design © 2014 Disney Enterprises, Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Disney Press, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information, address Disney Press, 1101 Flower Street, Glendale, California 91201.

  ISBN 978-1-4231-9388-3

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  Contents

  Part 1 Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Part 2 Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Photos from the Show

  After school had let out for the day one crisp, breezy autumn afternoon, Jessie and Zuri strolled into the lobby of their apartment building. Glancing at Zuri’s huge purple backpack, Jessie cringed, thinking that Zuri already had enough homework to last the two of them till December. Before Jessie and Zuri entered the elevator, Zuri stopped walking.

  “Jessie,” she said, “can I volunteer to bring Lucy, our class bunny rabbit, home for the weekend?”

  “Zuri, when it comes to responsibility, you don’t have a great track record,” said Jessie. “Remember when you promised to start flossing regularly?”

  “I floss my teeth!” Zuri retorted, putting down her backpack to point at her pearly whites.

  “Really?” said Jessie, wrinkling her nose. “At your last cleaning, there was so much plaque the dentist fainted.”

  A smile broke across Zuri’s face as she looked dreamily into the distance. “He went down like a submarine,” she said.

  Suddenly, Zuri’s backpack began hopping across the floor.

  “Wow,” said Jessie, pointing at it. “That is some hyperactive homework!” She walked over and kneeled down to open the backpack. Inside was a white bunny rabbit with a few black spots.

  “Hmm, that’s interesting,” said Jessie, scooping up the bunny. “I don’t remember packing you a bunny for lunch!” She stood up and saw that Zuri looked squeamish.

  “I might have already volunteered. Oops,” Zuri said nervously, recoiling.

  “Zuri, the sewers are overflowing with all the fish you forgot to feed.” Jessie covered the bunny’s ears. “And I don’t think we can flush a bunny!” she whispered.

  “That won’t happen this time. I promise!” said Zuri, clasping her hands together. “Please, please, please?” She tilted her head and opened her eyes pleadingly.

  “Wow,” said Jessie. “Three pleases, the puppy dog eyes, and a head tilt.” She spoke into the bunny’s ear. “The begging trifecta!”

  Zuri continued to pout.

  “I don’t stand a chance, do I?” Jessie asked her.

  “Nope,” said Zuri. “Give in or I’ll close with the lip quiver.” Her bottom lip trembled. “And a single tear,” she said.

  “Fine. I give,” said Jessie, handing the bunny to Zuri.

  Zuri smiled.

  Jessie put her hands on her hips. “Next time I negotiate with you, I’m wearing a blindfold and headphones.”

  Zuri giggled as Jessie patted the bunny playfully on the head.

  It was a warm autumn day in Central Park. Emma snuggled down into her new white faux-fur jacket and sighed happily. She loved autumn. It meant two of her favorite things at once—fresh fall fashions and cute Walden Academy boys playing flag football in the park. She and Ravi had stopped and sat on a bench to watch a flag football game on their way home, and she was hoping to catch a glimpse of her current crush.

  “See, I like flag football because it lacks the physical contact that makes traditional football so perilous,” Ravi told her as they watched the boys kick off.

  “So you want to play with them?” Emma asked.

  Ravi laughed. “Oh, dear gods, no!” he said.

  Emma stood up and pointed out the quarterback, who was busy lining up his play. “That’s Brett Summers,” Emma told Ravi. “Isn’t he dreamy? I am so crushing on him.”

  Just then, Brett came toward them to catch a pass and ran straight into Emma. She fell to the ground and he landed right on top of her.

  “And now he is crushing on you,” Ravi told her.

  Brett stood up quickly and reached down to help Emma up. “Sorry, my bad. You okay, Emma?” he asked.

  “Sure.…Spleens are overrated,” Emma said, brushing off her jacket and then quickly batting her eyelashes and smiling at Brett. “Anyway, great catch!”

  “So, you like football?” he asked.

  “Love it!” Emma chirped brightly. “It’s my third-favorite thing that involves feet.” She looked into the distance, then back at Brett. “After shoes and pedicures!”

  Brett chuckled. “So, are you a Jets fan?”

  “Duh!” Emma answered. “Especially taking a private one to the Riviera.”

  “Ha! You’re funny,” Brett said.

  Emma looked around, confused. She hadn’t meant to be funny. “Yes,” she said slowly. “Yes, I am?”

  “Do you…want to watch the game with me tomorrow?” Brett asked.

  “Oh! Game!” Emma exclaimed. “Sure! Let’s watch it in my screening room. We have a seventy-five-inch screen and free popcorn!”

  “Sold!” Brett flashed her a wide smile. “And I promise not to use you as a tackling dummy.” He shot Emma a smoldering gaze. “Even if you are the prettiest one I’ve ever clobbered.” He reached down, grabbed the football, and then headed back into the game.

  Emma giggled and skipped over to Ravi. “He thinks I’m pretty!”

  “Compared to a tackling dummy,” Ravi pointed out. “Emma, you know less about sports than I do. And I thought the Super Bowl was what Bertram ate soup out of.”

  “I can fake it,” she said confidently. “I mean, this jacket is faux fur, but it looks real. All I have to do is look like a football fan for an afternoon. How hard can it be?”

  Just then, the football flew through the air toward them again.

  “Incoming!” Ravi yelled, and they both ran.

  That night, Jessie gathered Emma, Luke, Ravi, and Zuri for dinner in the kitchen. As Bertram passed out dinner rolls for their pasta dishes, Zuri said, “Guess what, everyone. I’m taking care of the class bunny this weekend!”

  “Bunny?” Bertram’s eyes grew wide and he stepped away from the table. “There’s a bunny in the house?” he asked, clearly panicked. He placed down the bread basket.

  “Why do I feel like the crazy train is about to pull into Bertramville?” Luke said, shaking his head.

  “I happen to have an intense rabbit phobia!” Bertram said defensively.

  “All aboard!” Jessie muttered under her breath.

  “Once my mommy took me to the mall to see the Easter Bunny,” Bertram explained, recalling the painful memory. “I sat on his moth-eaten suit and stared into his red, glowing eyes. Then he made that horrible bunny face!” Bertram contorted his face so that he resembled a bunny, with only his two front teeth showing. He snorted and pretended to chomp on an invisible carrot. “Long story short, I wet myself.…
” His voice cracked. “And the Easter Bunny.”

  “Poor Bertram. How old were you?” Ravi asked sympathetically.

  Bertram cleared his throat. “Fourteen,” he replied.

  Ravi grimaced. Luke tried not to laugh.

  “Bertram, there’s nothing to be afraid of!” Zuri pulled Lucy out from under the table and held her up. “See?”

  Bertram screamed, hopped backward, and ran out of the kitchen.

  “And the crazy train has left the station,” Jessie said, rolling her eyes.

  “Can we please give Bertram the day off so he doesn’t embarrass me in front of Brett when we watch the game?” Emma begged Jessie.

  Luke snorted. “Considering you think a quarter-back is the guy who makes change for the team, Bertram’s pee stories are the least of your problems.”

  “Hey, if you need advice about sports, just ask Luke,” Jessie told Emma. “It may be the only time he can give you anything…besides lice.”

  At that, Luke, who had been scratching his head, stopped.

  “Luke, would you mind helping me learn about sports?” Emma asked in a supersweet voice.

  Luke raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t buying her whole nice act. “Let’s see.…From now on, would you mind calling me Lord Master of Awesomeness?”

  “How about I stop calling you Vomit Bag and do your chores for three days?” Emma countered, all the sweetness gone from her voice.

  “Deal,” Luke said, looking pleased with himself.

  “Hold the phone!” said Zuri. “We have chores?”

  The next morning, Jessie walked onto the terrace to find Ravi staring through a cage at Lucy. “Hey, Ravi, whatcha doin’?” Jessie asked.

  Ravi scrunched up his nose as he studied the bunny. “Failing to understand what you people find so cute about this creature. It has no claws! No fangs! No thirst for blood…”

  “Ravi, you may find this hard to believe, but most people prefer their pets not to be flesh-eating monsters,” Jessie explained.

  “I guess it takes all kinds,” Ravi said, shrugging.

  Jessie peered through Lucy’s cage at her food dish. It was empty. Jessie sighed, exasperated. “You see? This is exactly what I was afraid of! Zuri didn’t fill up Lucy’s food dish.” Jessie opened the cage door, took the dish, and walked to the bag of rabbit food across the terrace. She scooped the food into the dish and grabbed a carrot.

  “Zuri was irresponsible?” said Ravi with feigned surprise. “In other news, the sun rose this morning!” he said sarcastically as he headed inside the penthouse.

  “Seriously, how hard is it to take care of one little bunny?” Jessie muttered to herself, heading back toward the cage. She nearly dropped the dish when she saw the open cage door and no Lucy. “Uh-oh,” she groaned. “Apparently pretty hard!”

  Frantic, Jessie ran into the penthouse to search for Lucy.

  Ravi looked up from the couch, startled, as she burst into the living room.

  “Ravi,” Jessie said, “something totally horrible has happened!” She looked across the floor, under the table, and beneath the pillows on the couch, but there was no sign of the rabbit.

  “The Earth slipped from its axis and we are hurtling toward cosmic doom!?” Ravi screamed, looking terrified and covering his ears with his hands.

  “Worse—I lost a bunny!” Jessie answered, ripping a pillow from the couch and accidentally throwing it at him.

  “Hey, watch it!” Ravi yelped. “I am the only small adorable creature you have not lost yet!”

  “Help me!” Jessie whispered, looking frazzled. “I can’t believe she’s gone!”

  Just then, Bertram came in carrying a full laundry basket. “Who’s gone?” he asked, looking excited. “One of the girls? Did Christina finally take my suggestion about boarding school?” He smiled, pressed his hands together, and looked at them dreamily.

  Jessie started pulling clothes out of Bertram’s basket and throwing them over her shoulder. “Lucy escaped!” she explained.

  Bertram dropped the basket on the ground as though it were full of, well, bunnies. “You mean there’s a bloodthirsty, savage rodent running around the apartment?” he asked, alarmed.

  “No. I mean there’s a cute, snuggly bunny running around the apartment!” Jessie said, correcting him.

  “Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe. It’s all fun and games until someone gets nuzzled to death in their sleep!” Bertram hurried out of the living room, wailing in a fit of fear.

  Emma held out the bucket of gourmet popcorn to Brett. He was seated next to her in the screening room, watching the Jets game and wearing his Walden Academy flag football jersey. He looked so cute that she was having trouble even remembering that the game was on.

  “So, Emma, do you think the Jets will make the playoffs?” Brett asked as he took a handful of popcorn.

  “Good question,” she said overly loudly, turning toward the back of the room slightly. “Do I think the Jets will make the playoffs?”

  Luke, hiding behind the back row of seats, heard the question and texted Emma an answer as quickly as he could.

  Emma’s phone buzzed. She checked it and then turned to Brett confidently. “Not if their quarterback can’t figure out how to beat a zone blimp.”

  Brett looked at her quizzically. “You mean ‘blitz’?”

  “I do?” Emma laughed nervously. “I mean, of course I do! More popcorn?”

  “Stupid autocorrect,” Luke muttered to himself.

  “So, who do you think will make the playoffs?” Brett asked as the game switched to a commercial.

  Emma’s phone buzzed again. “Oh!” She read the text and then answered. “Definitely the Green Bay Porkers!”

  “Packers!” Luke moaned to himself more loudly than he realized. “Dang this phone!”

  Brett looked at Emma, confused. “Who’s that?” he asked, standing.

  She shrugged and also stood up.

  He walked to the back of the room and peered behind the seats to find Luke crouched on the floor. Luke stood up and waved.

  “Oh, hey, Brett,” Luke said sheepishly, looking around for an excuse. “I was just, uh, looking for my…old raisin.” He picked up a small brown ball from the floor and popped it into his mouth. “Not a raisin.” He choked, gagging a little. “Lucy’s got some ’splaining to do.”

  “Luke?” Brett asked. “What’s going on?” He looked from Luke to Emma.

  “Yeah, Luke, what is going on?” Emma asked, her eyes wide as she tried to silently urge Luke to cover for her.

  “Really, Emma?” Luke scowled. “You want to play that game?”

  “Oh, okay.” Emma sighed and then turned to Brett. “Brett, the truth is…I wanted you to like me, so I pretended to know a lot about sports. But I don’t know anything about sports, so I asked Luke to tell me what to say.”

  “I can’t believe you did that!” Brett exclaimed, taken aback. Then he smiled. “That’s so cool! No girl’s ever done something that nice for me before.”

  Emma smiled back.

  Just then, the crowd on the TV erupted into a cheer.

  “Touchdown! Jets!” Luke yelled, jumping between Emma and Brett.

  Brett turned toward the TV and his face fell. “Aw, man, I missed it!”

  “Upper deck, bro!” Luke said, reaching up and high-fiving Brett.

  “Dude, you gotta stay and watch the rest of the game with us,” Brett insisted.

  “Sweet, I’m in!” Luke plopped down into Emma’s seat next to Brett.

  Emma scowled at him. “Luke, don’t you think you’re being a little rude?”

  “Right, where are my manners?” Luke said. He turned to Brett. “Brett, would you like anything to drink?”

  “I could go for a root beer,” Brett replied.

  “Good idea!” Luke said. “Emma, two
root beers.”

  Emma rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen. Her date was not going as planned, but at least Brett still liked her, even if she wasn’t as sports savvy as Luke.

  Jessie had turned the penthouse upside down looking for Lucy, and she was checking the living room again.

  “She has to be here somewhere!” Jessie muttered. Then she called softly, “Here, Lucy! Lucy? Who’s a good bunny?”

  The piano lid popped open and Ravi pulled himself partially out, waving a carrot around. “Well, Lucy is not in here,” he announced.

  “Jessie!” Zuri called from the other room.

  Frantic, Jessie pushed Ravi back into the piano and slammed the lid, accidentally smashing Ravi’s fingers.

  “Ahhhh!” Ravi screamed, his yelp muffled by the piano lid.

  Zuri sprinted into the room.

  Jessie leaned casually against the piano, trying to look like she hadn’t spent the morning on a wild rabbit chase. “Hey, Zuri,” Jessie said sweetly.

  “Have you seen Lucy?” Zuri asked.

  Jessie threw up her hands, laughing. “I can’t keep track of all your little friends!”

  “You know Lucy!” Zuri insisted. “Short…furry…poops on the floor?”

  “Hmmm. Could you be more specific?” Jessie said, looking thoughtful.

  “I must’ve left the cage open and she escaped! I am so irresponsible,” Zuri said, looking crestfallen.

  Jessie exhaled loudly. She couldn’t let Zuri blame herself, as tempting as it was. “No, no. You didn’t lose Lucy. You’re doing a great job,” Jessie said, trying to encourage Zuri and think of a cover story. “You didn’t lose Lucy. I…took Lucy to…the bunny groomers.”

  “Why? She wasn’t dirty.”

  “True. But…I had a coupon…which was about to expire,” Jessie said, and sat down at the piano. “Yes. That’s it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I feel like playing the piano.” She banged at the keys halfheartedly, making a horrible racket.

  “What you need is a coupon for piano lessons,” Zuri said under her breath, and she went up to her room.