Endless Read Online Free PDF Page A

in unison, hugging her.
    “Thanks,” she said, unraveling herself from her friends’ arms. Something about having them so near made her uncomfortable, as though she sensed too much about them. She’d felt this way a long time ago, when her father had still been around, and she’d gotten used to not wanting people to touch her because she was bound to see something about them that she didn’t want to know. But since her father had left and their lives had calmed down, that particular talent seemed to have died down, or at least she learned better how to control what she saw.
    Except this wasn’t quite the same. She couldn’t see into their lives, it was something far more physical. The strange sensation swept over her, as though she’d suddenly been plunged under water—her hearing echoic and overly-loud, her senses blasted with too much information.
    Then the moment passed.
    Jasmine looped her arm through Elizabeth’s left arm and Emily hooked onto the right. They headed into the mall, Elizabeth’s concerns immediately swept away by the cocoon which was this consumer’s haven. The smell of fries and ice-cream, mixed with fragrances and cleaning fluid rolled over her. Loud mus ic blasted from every shop—Levi’s, French Connection and Gap.
    “So where do you want to look first?” asked Jasmine.
    Elizabeth shrugged. “I say we start at the beginning and work our way around.”
    Jasmine grinned. “Sounds good.” She reached toward Elizabeth. “Oh, that’s pretty!” she said, catching hold of the pendant. The girl lifted it toward her for a better look. “Was it a present?”
    Awkwardly, Elizabeth extracted the necklace from her friend’s fingertips and tucked the necklace back beneath her top. “Yeah, from my dad.” She couldn’t explain why talking about the necklace or her dad made her uncomfortable, but it did. That part of her life was like a whole world away from the one involving teenage friends and shopping at the mall.
    None of them actually planned on buying anything, but there was no harm in trying stuff on. In fact, that was half of the fun, much to the chagrin of whatever young sales girl followed them around to sort out their castoffs.
    Elizabeth watched out for her mom, but so far she’d done a pretty good job of keeping her distance, even though Elizabeth knew she wouldn’t be far. Every so often, she felt eyes on her and spun around, expecting to find her mother standing behind her. But she was nowhere to be seen.
    After working their way through the majority of the decent clothes stores, Jasmine sat down on a bench. “Okay, I’m done. My feet are killing me.”
    Elizabeth glanced down at Jaz’s sensible sneakers and lifted an eyebrow. “Really?”
    “Yeah, and I’m starving.”
    Elizabeth grinned. Jasmine had just been fishing to see if they could go eat yet. “Okay, okay. I get the hint.” She turned to Emily. “You ready for food?”
    Emily shrugged. “Sure. I can always eat.”
    They caught the escalator up to the top level where the food court was situated. A huge dome of glass topped the building. Despite it being tinted, daylight seeped through, causing fresh pain to jar through Elizabeth’s head. She squinted and lifted an arm to cover her eyes.
    “You okay?” asked Jaz.
    Elizabeth nodded. “Yeah, the light’s bright is all.”             
    They stepped off the escalator and walked around the large bank of tables, where groups of older teenager s sat chatting or, more often, focusing on their phones. At other tables sat young families, out for the day.
    The direction took them from directly beneath the dome. Elizabeth experienced some relief, but realized they were skirting the tables to approach the food stands which circled the eating area. She stayed as close to the inside as possible, not wanting to be exposed to the direct, if somewhat diffuse , sunlight again.
    “What do you feel like?” Jaz asked. “It is your birthday.”
    Emily giggled.