The Sphere Read Online Free PDF Page A

mine.
    “You’re sure you want me to go?”
    “What’s up with that sad face? Of course I’m sure!” He looks at me for a few moments and then elbows me in the side. “You’re so ridiculous. Come on. Maybe you’ll meet a mother [1] before you even start classes... wait, no—you hate parents!”
    “Very funny!”
    “Come on, you’ll have a good time. Can I pick you up?”
    “No. I...”
    “So you’re choosing the ‘ignore each other’ option, right?”
    I shake my head. Axel moves a lock of hair that the wind is blowing into my eyes and tucks it behind my ear. I feel his fingers brush my neck. Neither of us says a word; we just look at each other.
    “You changed your mind about coming,” he says, looking serious.
    “I don’t know.”
    “I’ll come get you at nine.”
    “Don’t come to the house. Wait for me on the corner, by the stream. Don’t go down my street.”
    “I won’t come near your street, got it. I’ll be on the corner at nine, next to the phone booth.”
    I have no idea why I told me to wait for me there. I’m not even sure it’s a good idea to go to the party with him.
    “I have to go back to the towels, my parents are probably looking for me.”
    “Maybe not.” He winks.
    “Right. I’m the invisible daughter, it’s true. Still, I better go.”
    Axel climbs down from the rock and puts an arm around me to help me down.
    “See you tonight,” he says, before he goes.
    It’s unbelievable how many times I go back and forth in my mind between yes and no. Three thousand? Maybe more. I can’t stop changing my mind about the party, even during the short walk back to the towels.
    I have no idea whether I’ll see him. I don’t know what my mutant brain will end up deciding. I don’t even know if I’ll decide at all—everything points to no, to a lifetime of being a broken stoplight, blinking between red and green. People aren’t for me. Parties aren’t for me. And Axel... Well, we’ll see about him.

3
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    T he music is all right, I guess. Fine... it’s way better than all right. I have to admit that they’ve put a lot of effort into this party. I never imagined that Axel moved in these circles. The house is spectacular, way too beautiful for students to be living in it. Huge, with a garden. Antique rugs and furniture all over the place. Nothing like the ramshackle, filthy college apartments of other cities. There isn’t a single poster on the walls, only nicely framed pictures. My eyes move quickly around the room. I would have put these things away for safekeeping before throwing a party. It’s not that I’m thinking about my classmates—I mean, my ex-classmates—from high school. I haven’t quite gotten used to the idea that it’s all over. Anyway, it’s not because of my awful ex-classmates, it’s just plain old common sense. But it’s clear that this is another world. People move with ease, as if they don’t even notice all the expensive things—and of course without putting them in any danger, either. For a while I just stand there, rooted to the spot. It’s for the best—my clumsiness and the good crystal won’t go well together.
    Axel was waiting at the corner, as promised. I left the house without even knowing why. It’s not the first time; sometimes my feet have a mind of their own. When I saw him in the distance I wondered what would have happened if I had decided not to go to the party after all. It’s not even like I actually decided. Right after we said goodbye on the beach my mind stopped flipping between green and red. I went back to my towel, next to my book-parents, and got stuck at yellow. The thing is that with a stoplight yellow means something’s going to happen: it’s a warning that it’s about to change to stop. But for me yellow just means immobilization. Total brain shutdown. I would say—if I didn’t hate lying to myself—that I’d totally forgotten about the party, and Axel’s smile, and the way our