13 Gifts by Wendy Mass Read Free Book Online Page A

come down for dinner.” She shuts the door behind her.
    “Sorry you have to clean your room because of me,” I tell her, not really sorry at all because frankly, all the stuff everywhere is giving me a headache.
    Emily sighs. “It’s okay. I have a geometry test next week and haven’t been able to find my protractor for a month.” She starts yanking things off her bed and shoving them underneath, where they are likely to remain until she goes off to college. I’m about to tell her that I don’t think that’s what her mom meant by cleaning up, but I’m the guest here and it’s none of my business.
    Everything in my suitcase is jumbled from when I went through it at the train station. The bag Mom packed with her jewelry has made its way to the top of the pile. I set it aside so I can bring it down to dinner. Jake’s poster is still on the bottom, folded in a way that would keep his face crease-free.
    “What’s this?” Emily asks, picking up the little red pouch with the bracelets I “borrowed” from Mom in it. Before I can stop her, she opens it and shakes out the contents into her hand.
    “Two of the same?” she asks, lifting one up to admire it. “You bought us friendship bracelets!” She slips one right over her wrist without even needing to unclasp it. Then she hands the other one to me. I hold it between my fingers, unsure what to do next.
    “Want me to help you put it on?”
    When I don’t answer, she plucks it from my hand and attaches it around my wrist. I’ve never had friendship bracelets with anyone. I hope it doesn’t come with some level of responsibility that I can’t possibly live up to. I have to admit, it fits perfectly. I wonder why my mom never wore it. Emily is twisting her arm side to side, admiring hers, too. How am I going to get it back from her at the end of the summer? How do I get myself into these situations?
    “And what’s this?” she asks.
    In a flash, Emily lifts Grandma’s hatbox out of my suitcase. I reach for it and grab on to the bottom part. Unfortunately, she’s gripping the top so tightly that when I pull on the bottom the whole thing opens up and my letters go flying out. I scramble around to pick them up before she can get too close a look. I only brought them in the first place because it would have been like leaving my diary at home. I’m sure Julie the Pen Pal has forgotten all about me after I didn’t answer her first letter. Or her tenth. That’s when they stopped coming.
    “Wow, what are all those? Letters from friends?”
    When I don’t answer, she says, “You must be really popular.”
    “It’s not really like that.” I stick the last letter back in the box and hold out my hand for the top.
    She holds on to it a second longer than necessary. “My mom has some old hatboxes like this. They were Grandma Emilia’s.”
    “This was hers, too.” I wedge the top back on. “My mom said she had a whole collection.”
    Emily nods. “Grandma was a really famous actress, you know. At least in Willow Falls.” She stares at the hatbox, almost longingly, then says, “Everyone tells me I look just like her. Does anyone tell you that?”
    I look up to see if she’s serious. If people thought we both looked like our grandmother, that would mean we looked like each other, too, which we totally don’t. Instead of pointing that out to her, though, I shake my head. “I’ve never met anyone who knew her, since we’ve never lived here.”
    “Right!” she says. “Duh. I wasn’t thinking. Why’d your parents move from Willow Falls anyway?”
    I shrug. “I never asked and they never said.”
    Her eyes soften as pity pools inside them.
    “My mom likes to move a lot,” I explain. “I guess she just got tired of living here. But don’t feel too sorry for me. I’ve lived in plenty of small towns in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure they’re just like Willow Falls.”
    She shakes her head. “Not like Willow Falls. This town is …” She trails