Shadow Girl Read Online Free PDF Page A

around her scrawny waist. Tackled her. And sent her sprawling on her back onto her bed.
    With a startled cry, she pulled herself up quickly. She raised both hands to protect herself.
    But I jumped at her again. And before I realized what I was doing, I was wrestling with her.
    Jada stumbled over my open suitcase. I gave her a hard shove and pushed her to the floor. Then I threw myself on top of her, screaming at the top of my lungs, “Why are you so horrible? Why? ”
    “Stop! Stop this—right now!”
    Aunt Janet’s shrieks from the doorway made us both freeze.
    “What on earth—!” my aunt exclaimed, both hands pressed to the sides of her face.
    I stood up, panting like a dog, my heart hammering in my chest. My hair was damp from sweat. I blew a strand from over my eye.
    Jada stayed on the floor. Straightening her T-shirt, she sat up slowly. “We…we were just kidding around,” she choked out.
    Aunt Janet uttered a cry. “Kidding around?”
    “Yeah. Really, Mom,” Jada said.
    “We weren’t really fighting.” I took up Jada’s lie. “Just wrestling around. You see, I was a little angry.And I guess…well…”
    Aunt Janet lowered her hands to her waist. She gazed at us both suspiciously. “Why were you angry, Selena?” she asked.
    I glanced at Jada. “Well…Jada played kind of a mean trick on me this morning. It was Spirit Day at school, see. And Jada told me to wear this.” I motioned to the green vest, which was twisted around me from our wrestling match. My yellow T-shirt, green slacks.
    Aunt Janet stared at my outfit. Then she burst out laughing. “Jada told you to wear green and gold?”
    I nodded.
    My aunt shook her head. “Jada and her sick sense of humor,” she said, chuckling. “I don’t know where she gets it from. It must be from Will’s side of the family. My family was totally serious all the time. In fact, they were grim .”
    She turned and started to leave. “Straighten up, okay, girls? Better keep this room neat. It’s hardly big enough for one person, let alone two twelve-year-old slobs.”
    “I’m not a slob,” Jada said, finally climbing to her feet. She frowned at me. “You can thank me for getting you off the hook with Mom.”
    I shook my head. “I’m not thanking you for anything,” I said bitterly. I picked up Mom’s letter from where it had fallen onto the floor.
    The doorbell buzzed downstairs. “That must beStan,” she said. “I’m going over to his house to hang out for a while.”
    She grabbed her coat and hurried out the door.
    I waited until I heard the front door slam. Then I made my way to the telephone on Jada’s desk.
    I’m going to call Mom, I decided.
    I’ve got to find out what this letter means.
    Why did Mom say I’d know the truth by now? Why did she ask me to forgive her? Why did she write as if I’d never see her again?
    I sat down in Jada’s desk chair. Set the letter down in front of me. Picked up the phone and started to punch in my number.

11
    One ring. Two rings. Three…four…
    I let the phone ring twelve times before I hung up.
    I glanced at the clock on Jada’s bed table. Mom must have gone out, I realized.
    But it’s odd. She usually leaves the answering machine on during the day. I guess she forgot.
    I clicked off the phone and set it down. I had a fluttery feeling in my chest. My throat suddenly felt very dry.
    I smoothed Mom’s letter out on the desktop and started to read it again. My eyes slid down the page, catching a phrase here and a phrase there.
    “ Soon you will learn the truth .”
    The truth? About what?
    “ The hardest part is knowing that things will never be the same .”
    Why does she say that? What is changing?
    “ Don’t forget me .”
    My eyes stopped at that line. The words repeatedin my head like an endless chant.
    Finally, I folded the letter up and tucked it away in my dresser drawer. I didn’t want to read it anymore.
    I didn’t want to read it until I could talk to Mom and find out what she