The Stepsister Read Online Free PDF

she was working on. She didn’t think he was at all interested in her schoolwork. “I’ve written pages and pages,” she told him. “I just have to finish writing the last part and then print it out.”
    â€œCould I see it after you print it out?” he asked.
    â€œSure. Okay. Great,” Emily stammered.
    It was the first time he had really tried to reach out to her, and she was surprised to see that she felt really pleased.
    She hurried up to her room, sat down at the desk, and clicked on the computer. She slid in her disk, then remembered her sweater. She turned and looked over at her dresser. Was the top drawer slightly open? She couldn’t really tell. Besides, what would that prove?
    Should she get up and look for it? No. She had to get the report on Chile finished and printed out before Josh arrived. Yes. She was too curious not to look.
    She walked over to the dresser and pulled open the drawer. The sweater, she remembered clearly, had been right on top. It wasn’t there now. She searched through the drawer quickly. No sweater.
    Jessie had been lying. Jessie was wearing her sweater.
    â€œI can’t think about this now,” she told herself, pushing the dresser drawer back in and walking back to the desk.
    She called up her report on the computer and then searched her binder for her notes. She had already written twelve pages. Just two more sections to write. She found her place and began to type, her fingers clicking rapidly over the keyboard.
    Down the hall she could hear the blare of heavy metal music filtering through Rich’s closed bedroom door. From downstairs she could hear the clatter of dishes. Concentrating harder, she shut out all of the sounds and worked on transferring her notes onto the computer in sentences that resembled English.
    She worked nonstop for nearly forty-five minutes, then realized that she was starving. Because of the dispute over the sweater, she hadn’t eaten much dinner. She scrolled back the last two paragraphs she had written and read them over, leaning forward until her face was just inches from the amber monitor screen.
    Pleased with what she had done so far, Emily took a deep breath, stretched, and headed down to the kitchen for a snack. “Hey, where is everyone?” she called, startled to find the dinner dishes all cleaned, everything back in place, and no one around.
    She took an apple from the fruit bin in the refrigerator, washed it off at the kitchen sink, and took a bité. It was crunchy and fairly sweet. Hearing sounds in the den, she walked over to the doorway. Her mom and stepfather were on the brown leather couch. Making out like teenagers.
    Emily tiptoed back to the hallway, then climbed the stairs to her room.
    â€œHey!” she cried out.
    Jessie, seated at the computer, looked up slowly. “Oh, hi.”
    â€œWhat are you doing there?” Emily cried. “I’m working on my report.”
    Jessie’s tiny features narrowed in confusion. “Oh. I’m sorry. I thought you were finished.” She pushed the desk chair back and climbed to her feet. “It’s all yours,” she said, gesturing grandly to the computer with a sweep of her hands. “Let me know when you’re finished, okay?”
    â€œYeah. Sure,” Emily said. She sat down at the keyboard and called up her report.
    But it didn’t come up on the screen.
    Feeling her throat tighten with apprehension, she called up the report again.
    START A NEW FILE? the screen asked.
    She checked the list of files.
    And uttered a silent cry when the report did not appear there.
    Emily stared at the screen in disbelief. She realized her hands were trembling.
    Her report had been erased. It was gone. Gone forever.
    â€œJessie—” she screamed. “You erased my whole report!”
    â€œWhat?” Jessie’s pale blue eyes opened wide in surprise.
    â€œYou heard me!” Emily shrieked. “How could