Breathe Read Free Page A

name was Nicole. One of the girls sitting next to Danielle seemed a little more standoffish than the others. When Danielle mentioned Trenton’s brother, she got a look on her face that I couldn’t figure out. Angry maybe?
    “He’s not available,” she said, glaring at me.
    “Well, not as far as you know anyway,” Nicole told her with a smirk.
    “If not to me, than not to anyone.” She turned her glare on Nicole.
    I decided not to comment. Were these girls friends or not? I wasn’t sure, but I made a mental note to give Angry Girl a lot of space. I did not need any drama.
    They went on to gossip about lots of people I didn’t know, catching up on summer news. I just sat back and enjoyed being part of a group that didn’t look at me with sympathy in their eyes. I missed girlfriends and the mindless chatter that came with them. In Burbank, I had separated myself from everyone by the time we left. I couldn’t stand the weight of their pity. I was a little rusty at making conversation and just being one of the girls, but it was coming back to me. I envied these girls their normal lives and their certainty that nothing bad could ever happen.
    After school, I supervised the twins’ homework, started dinner, and set out my stack of syllabuses for mom to sign. I also checked her schedule on the calendar to see if she was working Friday. It looked like she was off, so I could possibly go to the pep rally and game. The question was: Did I want to? I was still pondering that question when the phone rang. I jumped and my heart started pounding. No one had this number yet. We hadn’t given it out. Could my mom be calling? Why would she call the house phone? No panicking. It was either a wrong number or a sales call.
    “Hello.” Silence. “Hello?”
    A muffled whispery voice spoke just one word in a low whisper: “Jasmine.” Click .
    “Hello?” My hands started to shake. What the heck was that? A joke? Maybe. I took a deep breath. I guess my mom could have given the number to someone, but I would be surprised. But how would he know my name? And why did he hang up? Probably just a prank, but now I was kind of freaked out.
    After Daisy died, we had to change our number. Three times. There are some really sick people out there. We got all kinds of prank calls at all hours of the day and night. Finally, we got rid of the house phone and kept our cells only. We had to change those too, but only once. We never gave out the number unless it was an emergency. We also got new cell phone numbers as soon as we got to Lafayette. I couldn’t believe it was starting up again. We had to have our house phone here because the cell service in this neighborhood was sketchy. Not a very strong signal and unreliable. Surprising in this day and age, but there you go.
    After a few calming breaths, I started up the stairs.
    “Hey, you guys,” I yelled to the twins. “Did you give out the house phone number today?”
    As I walked down the hall to their rooms, they both responded, “Why would I do that, Jas?” Caedan said in his most patronizing voice, “I have a cell, duh.”
    Lily poked her head out of her room. “Did something happen?” she asked, her eyes big.
    “No, I was just making sure.” I smiled at her. She was a worrier. No need to add anything else to her long list of things to worry about.
    Lily looked at me skeptically. “Are you sure?” Lily was very observant, so I had to think quickly.
    “Yeah, yeah. Mom just wanted me to remind you, that’s all. So when I got that sales call, I realized I forgot to tell you this morning. Dinner in twenty.” I swung around quickly and bounded down the stairs, taking a quick detour to check the lock on the front door. When I made my way back to the kitchen, I checked that one too. Fifteen minutes later, my mom got home and we ate together in the kitchen. She was in such a good mood, I decided not to tell her about the phone call. I was probably just overreacting anyway. I needed to