Me, My Elf & I Read Online Free PDF Page A

town near my home. The local kids there know we’re from Alverland and they torment us. They call us hippies and freaks, say that we’re inbred, pagan communists. Our parents tell us to ignore them and to be nice so that someday they’ll see what kind and loving creatures we are. But here, for the first time outside of Alverland, being a little bit different is a good thing. The heavy weight in my chest lifts. I breathe deeply and a huge smile takes over my face. “So, will you do it?” Ari asks.
    “We’ll totally help you,” Mercedes promises.
    I pick myself up off the floor and say, “Sure. What do you want me to do?”
    “Audition,” Mercedes says.
    “For what?” I ask.
    “Is there something wrong with her?” Mercedes asks Ari.
    “For the camera ad,” Ari tells me.
    Even though I still don’t know what that means, I say, “Yes! ” because at this point I’d do anything to keep Ari and Mercedes as my friends. They whoop and slap hands. I sit back and smile because finally things are going according to My Plan for Life in Brooklyn.
     
    When my first day of school is (finally) over, I’m so exhausted that I could fall into a hundred-year-sleep, but of course I can’t because I still have to get home. As I’m standing with my head against my locker, trying to muster enough energy to leave, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn to see the wolf-boy from earlier in the cafeteria grinning at me.
    We stand nearly eye-to-eye, but he’s about an inch taller than I am. His hair is thick and dark, falling messily but perfectly around his face. His eyes are a deep-set gray with flecks of vivid blue. And his smile is dazzling, like cut quartz shimmering in the sun.
    “I didn’t get a chance to properly introduce myself earlier,” he says, slick as fresh dew on the morning grass.
    “Your name’s Timber, right?” I ask.
    “Yeah, like a tree. TIM-BER! ” he shouts, and pretends to fall over. I laugh at his unexpected goofiness. He stands up tall again and extends his hand to me like a branch reaching toward the sun. “So, it’s nice to officially meet you.”
    I hesitate, remembering what Mercedes told me about being too nice and holding my own so I stop smiling and I say, “I don’t think your friends liked me.”
    “Who, Bella?” he says as he withdraws his hand and rakes his fingers through his hair.
    “And Mary, Kate, and Ashley.”
    Timber fills up the hallway with his laughter. “Oh my God, you’re so right. Chelsea, Zoe, and Tara would crap themselves if they heard you call them that.” Then he leans in close to me. “But, of course, they’d be secretly flattered, you know.”
    I don’t know at all, but I’m not going to tell him that. “Well, anyway, my name’s not Nancy.”
    Again he cracks up, shaking his head and grinning at me. “Obviously,” he says. “So what is it?”
    “Zephyr. Zephyr Addler.” This time I hold out my hand.
    “That’s a great name.” He hangs on to my hand for a few seconds too long.
    “Thank you. I like yours, too.” And it’s true, I do. Timber is the kind of name someone in Alverland would have. “But I have to go now.” I pull back my warm and tingly hand.
    He falls into step beside me as I head down the hall. “You live in Brooklyn?”
    “Yes,” I say, then hesitate again because for the life of me I can’t remember how to get home. What train am I supposed to take? Where is the subway station? Am I going to have to rely on the kindness of strangers to get me where I want to go . . . again?
    “My mom lives in Brooklyn,” Timber says. “But my dad’s uptown. East Side, so you know.”
    “Why do they live in different houses?” I ask. Then I remember that erdler families split up a lot, which is very rare for elves. “I mean, which place will you go today?”
    “Probably my mom’s. Closer.”
    We pass a tangle of kids hanging out on a bench, passing around little machines with headphones and singing three different songs all at once.