Best Friends Through Eternity Read Online Free PDF Page A

walking along one, can see the train approaching me, even hear the conductor sounding the horn. A short note, a longer note and then a longer, desperate, unending blast as it tosses my rag-doll body into the ditch. There’s no way I can ever repeat stepping on a track again. If I am going to die the same way at the end of this week, someone will have to push me. I double over to ease the pain in my gut.
    “You okay?” Jazz asks.
    “Not really. I ate a hamburger today—it’s killing me.”
    She shakes her head. “You never eat meat, and then you assault yourself like that?”
    I nod. “It was great.” I straighten. “Ow.”
    “There’s no helping you.” Jazz is vegetarian, and cows are sacred to serious Hindus. “You deserve what you get.” She’s kidding, but she’s right. Just like being hit by a train when I bailed on my best friend, maybe I deserve to die for violating my parents’ code of eating.
    I try again to convince Jazz not to hang out with Cameron. “You say Cameron is just a friendly guy. But he was beingvery friendly to a lot of girls. And he was going out with Vanessa.”
    “Does she think she owns him?” Jazz asks.
    “Uh-huh. That’s exactly what she thinks.”
    “And you think I should back off because of her?”
    At the top of the overpass, a blast of cold air stings my face. I nod. “Let him go out with other girls first. Abbi, and Kierstead, too. They all want him. Then they’re the ones who stole him. Not you.” Everything looks much closer than it is up here. I can see my house, storybook miniature in the distance, four long blocks away, the smoke curling up from the chimney invitingly.
    Jazz turns to me. She’s stopped smiling. “Did you know my mother wants me to go to India with her this summer?”
    “Why do you look like that? Won’t that be exciting?” I ask.
    “Sure, I’m dying to go to India,” she says sarcastically. “Just like you’re dying to go to China.” She starts walking again, more slowly.
    Dying.
I scrunch up my face. “That’s different. I’ll admit I have a mental block against a country that gave me up.”
    “Different, I’ll say. You’re still coming to my cousin Beena’s engagement party this Saturday, right?”
    “Yeah, but what’s that got to do with you visiting India?”
    “My aunt took Beena to India last summer. That’s where she met Gurindar.”
    We start down the pass now, and I spot Dad’s white truckturning into our driveway. He usually leaves the house at four in the morning to get to the food terminal, so he often comes home early, too. All right, maybe I can ask him about Kim. He’s way less emotional than Mom. I turn to Jazz. “Isn’t it possible Beena just fell in love?”
    “Yes. That’s what everyone’s saying: what a perfect love match it is. But it’s only so perfect because he’s a suitable Indian boy. Right down to his horoscope. Which is exactly what my parents want for me. And soon. Cameron might be my only chance to feel what real love is like.”
    “Aw, Jazz!” Is it real love, though? As the streetlights switch on against the dark of winter, I can see that even her skin glows. I don’t want to stomp all over her happiness. Not this time through. For a moment, in fact, I want to hug her.
    The moment passes, and it comes time for us to head down different streets. During the week, we never hang out. Homework, chores, maybe a bit of texting. School night is a sentence both sets of parents impose on us. But, nerds that we are, we don’t really mind.
    “So I’ll see you tomorrow,” Jazz says.
    “Same time, same place.” I give her a little wave. As she leaves, I double over again. Man, that hurts. Was it the burger or the fries?
    Then I drag myself home the rest of the way. Inside I kick off my boots on my run up the stairs for the bathroom. I whip down my pants and sit on the toilet.
Relief!
I hate that Mom has to be right about a thing like a foodgroup. But that’s my parents’ business: