Devine Intervention by Martha Brockenbrough Read Free Book Online Page B

of her and turning it into something else. It was a windy day, and the breeze kept blowing her hair into her face, and I wanted to hold those strands back so she could work without getting bugged by it. And I wished I could rest my hand on the back of hersas she drew, so I’d know what it felt like to lay those lines down on paper. I wished she could feel me there, not just hear me, but feel me next to her, watching her work, loving what she was making.
    I wished she’d draw me too. But she’d have to see me to be able to do that, so it was never going to happen.
    This time, in the library, Heidi was crying and blacking out all the windows in her drawing of a city built on top of a narrow hill. It looked like the whole tiny place was shutting its eyes, one at a time, and I never would’ve said anything like this to anyone, especially not Xavier with his feelings notebook, but watching her do that made me feel … well, they say you only die once. But on days like that, Heidi could kill me once or twice, easy. I sometimes gave her a hard time just to make it hurt less. So I watched her, folded over her tiny little world, turning it dark, and I felt the same inside.

T HAT EVENING, just as the last of the late fall sunlight drained from the sky, Heidi suited up in her basketball uniform, hoping to block a big shot, snag a key rebound, somehow redeem herself in the game. There was no chance of a wardrobe malfunction at least. Her shorts not only fit, they were made from polyester, a fabric that will, along with cockroaches and fruitcake, survive the apocalypse.
    In the last three seconds of the game, her big chance presented itself. She stood below the net and caught a wild shot that rebounded off the rim. It thwacked her palms, and everyone in the gym roared, this huge sound that shook her organs and turned her fingertips to ice.
    All she had to do was make a smart pass. She looked for someone open but couldn’t find a hole, and time was running out. She tried to send the message from her brain to her arms to shoot. Scoring the game-winning point would be, in Jerome’s words, epical.
    Heidi stood there holding the ball.
    Three! The crowd roared.
    She could hear her parents yelling.
    â€œBe the ball!” her dad said. “Be the ball!”
    She wanted to. But she didn’t know how. Most days, she felt like she could barely fill her big, clumsy body.
    Two!
    Jerome’s voice filled her ear. Don’t miss. For once, for the love of … just don’t miss.
    One!
    She willed herself to press the ball toward the basket, bringing it closer to her face so she could give it everything she had. Then came the buzzer. She’d frozen, failed, wasted her chance. The crowd groaned; the air rushed from the room. Heidi looked up at the lights, bright stars surrounded by cages. They swam with watery rainbows.
    Someone knocked the ball out of her hands. The murmuring crowd sounded liquid, distant. The basketball bounced away, dub-dub , dub-dub , like a heartbeat. It slowed. She saw colors and light. The heartbeat grew quieter and quieter. And then it stopped.
    Â 
    The next morning, shortly after Jiminy woke her with his dog breath, she forced herself out of bed and into her clothes. She’d take a walk to the pond. As often happened, she had a deep urge to step right out of her body, leave it behind for a while as if it were a pair of dirty jeans. Since there was no chance of that happening, she wanted to settle for fresh air, a change of scenery, and time awayfrom everyone who reminded her of what had happened at school, of everything that was wrong with her. Her parents had spent much of the previous night explaining to her how little it mattered what happened during the basketball game, a sure sign that it did matter. A lot. She also didn’t want to be there when Rory showed them the video of her in the penguin suit. She was surprised he hadn’t already.
    She pulled on her jacket