Outside Read Online Free PDF Page A

hand on Holly’s bare arm, Beth directs her toward the chair across from me. “Yes. Please be polite.”
    Holly slides into the chair, eyeing me. “What’s with the sweatshirt? It’s ninety degrees out.”
    I blink at her and touch the draw-string hanging from my shirt before glancing at Beth.
    “What’s the matter? You don’t talk?” Holly picks up her fork and takes a bite of her lasagna without praying.
    “Desirable women of the Lord do not speak unnecessarily,” I say before taking a bite of my own.
    Holly snorts and Beth nearly drops her cup of water.
    “Yeah, I think I read that scripture,” Holly says, nodding slightly as she scoops another bite onto her fork. I glance up at her, surprised that she’s familiar with the bible at all. And then she says, “Ephesiastians twelve nineteen. ‘Yea, and the Lord sayeth unto thee, shuteth your mouth, lest ye possess testicles, so as not to anger me.’” She giggles, her hazel eyes glittering, and lifts her fork to her mouth.
    I stare at her in open-mouthed shock.
    “Holly!” Beth’s eyes are wide. “Apologize immediately. You will not disrespect other people’s beliefs in my house. Understand?”
    Holly smirks at me as she chews. “Sorry,” she says around a bite of lasagna.
    This is it. This is my punishment. My real punishment: being forced to live in a house with sinful women who have no regard for the Lord’s commands. With this girl who mocks the Holy Scriptures openly and flaunts her body like a harlot.
    Music erupts out of nowhere, startling me.
    “Excuse me,” Beth says, standing up and sliding her noisy phone out of her pocket. She wanders into the living room to answer it, leaving me alone at the table with Holly.
    She watches me as I take another bite. “You don’t really buy into all that cult crap, do you?”
    “I don’t know what you mean by ‘cult crap,’ but I take my faith very seriously.”
    She smirks. “Right. We’ll see how that goes once school starts.”
    Shaking my head, I start to tell her that I won’t be attending school. But the truth hits me hard.
    If Mother doesn’t come for me soon, I will have to attend school with the rest of the sinners.
    We eat the rest of our meal in silence. I glance up every so often to see Holly tapping on her phone that she’s laid on the table. Every time it buzzes against the cloth covered wood, she looks down at the screen and snickers before tapping again.
    “Do they not believe in hairbrushes in your cult?” Holly asks, watching me wash our plates in the sink after we finish eating. Beth is still on the phone in the other room.
    “We believe in hairbrushes,” I say. Who doesn’t believe in hairbrushes?
    She nods. “So you just have a personal problem with them, then?”
    I frown at the dishwater. “No. I have- had a hairbrush.” I glance up and catch her smirking at my hair.
    “You have to let me fix your rat’s nest,” she says.
    “There’s nothing to fix.” I turn on the faucet to rinse the dishes.
    She leans against the counter. “Have you seen it? It’s like, frizzy and matted. Have you ever brushed it?”
    “It’s my burden to bear. Not yours.” I shut off the water and start searching the kitchen drawers for a dishtowel to dry the plates.
    “Still. It’s pretty fucking horrible.” Holly reaches into a drawer near the sink and pulls out a clean towel, holding it out to me.
    I cautiously take the towel from her. “I don’t understand why my hair matters to you.”
    She sighs heavily. “Be cause !”
    “Because why?” I run the towel over one of the plates.
    “If you’re going to go to school with me, and people will know we’re related, you can’t look like that.” She takes the dry plate from my hands and turns to a cabinet next to the refrigerator, putting it away.
    After the second plate is dried and put away, Holly grabs my arm. “Come on,” she says. “Let’s go upstairs.” She drags me through the house. I’d probably resist more if