Me & Emma Read Online Free PDF

to say. I’m cryg
    too hard. I’m the laughingstock of the school.
    “Forsyth what? What happened ?”
    Then it comes back to me…oh, Lord! Forsyth’s lips moving. Her arms swishing back and forth like windshield wipers. She was tryg
    to warn me. She was trying to warn me.
    I wish I could disappear.
    “It’ll be okay,” Emma says. “Don’t cry. It’ll be okay. You’ll see. It’ll
    all be okay.” Her hand rubs circles in the middle of my back. “How?” I sniffle. “How will it be okay now?”

    But she’s quiet so I know she was just trying to make me feel better.
    “If anyone makes fun of you I’ll beat ‘em up, that’s how.”
    “You cain’t beat up the whole school. And that’s who’s going to make fun of me.” I wipe my runny nose on my sleeve.
    “We’ll think of something,” she says, “but we better go on back. Mr. Streng’s going to be after us if we cut out altogether. Come on.”
    The halls are empty when we go back through the double doors— everyone’s in third period, I reckon. After my eyes adjust, I head toward my locker and Emma pads alongside me. Even in echoey halls she doesn’t make any noise.

    “Here’s what you do when third period’s over.” She hurries up to in front of me so she can face me. “You pretend you’re deaf so when anyone says anything-or even laughs at you—it doesn’t make a lick of difference, lust pretend you can’t hear a thing.”
    What she doesn’t realize is I’ve been trying this all my life. It never works.

    E [. I Z A B E T H F L 0 C K

    “Caroline, you knew this stuff backward and forward yesterday.” Mr. Stanley’s mouth is all twisted up, like it’s fed up with talking to me altogether. “What I wonder is how on earth you could completely forget multiplication.”
    Am I supposed to answer him ?
    “Young lady? Young lady, I’m talking to you.”
    “Yes, sir?”
    “If you forgot to do your homework, say so. But don’t give me this little act like you think I don’t know what you’re up to. I’ll see you after school.”
    When on earth did we learn multiplication? I swear I have no idea how an x between two numbers is supposed to change what they’re worth. Mr. Stanley keeps looking over here like I’m going to make a run for it and I suppose I could, but where would I go? Home to Richard? Here’s the thing Mr. Stanley doesn’t get about me: I don’t mind school. Mary Sellers, Tommy Bucksmith, Luanne Kibley and all them can pretend to love it all they want in front of the teachers, but I hear them in the lunchroom talkin’ trash about it. I like everything about school—except for the other kids, a’course. | like getting
    out of the house all day long. It’s like a field trip every single day. “Caroline!”
    Mr. Stanley’s voice is louder than I’ve ever heard it.
    “Yes, sir?”
    “The bell rang five minutes ago. Don’t you have somewhere you need to be ?”
    “Yes, sir.” I swear I didn’t even hear the bell ring. I’m the only one

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    ME & EMMA

    left in the classroom. Just before I get through the door his gravelly
    voice throws words at me: “Remember, after school.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Emma’s going to have to wait for me. I bet Momma won’t even notice we’re not home on time. She don’t care. To tell you the truth, I bet she’s glad to have us out of the house as we are to be gone. She’s got to manage her piles and I reckon she can do it a whole lot better with some peace and quiet. All day she sits there folding letters into three sections, stacking them in tall towers until the envelopes all have the address stickers on them and then she stuffs those with the letters. We’re not allowed to read what the letters say; Momma’s sure we’ll crinkle the paper and she’ll get fired. I don’t care what they say, anyway, since Momma looks so bored doing all this it cain’t be interesting. Momma’s so smart she didn’t even have to go interview for the job. She answered an ad in