The Right and the Real by Joelle Anthony Read Free Book Online Page B

want is Richard’s money. But now, the church will safeguard his inheritance for him, and you are banned. Praise God.”
    “And my dad believed him?”
    “Of course,” she said. “Jesus would never lie to us.”
    I was still taking this idea in when Mira darted around me and ran out through the bathroom door.

chapter 6
    I HEADED TO KRISTA’S.
    None of this had seemed real, but now I couldn’t believe I’d been stupid enough to think Dad would go to the trouble to pack my stuff and kick me out just to make a point. As I climbed the stairs to Krista’s room, part of me was surprised at how little emotion I felt. Sappy commercials can leave me a weepy mess, and those crazy stories, like the one where someone has a heart attack and then the doorbell rings and it’s the pizza guy, only he’s actually an out of work paramedic and he saves the day…I cry rivers over. And I’d sobbed buckets on Monday, but now, when my whole life was falling apart, all I felt was cold. A deep, bone-chilling iciness.
    I’d told Krista I was signing the Pledge so Josh and I wouldn’t have to date in secret. She hadn’t liked that at all, but I’d decided I’d rather let him take the blame than tell her my dad had kicked me out. Now that I wasn’t going to get to move back home, I’d have to tell her the truth. Stepping into her cheerful room should have snapped me out of it, but everything looked sort of surreal instead.
    “Hiya, chickie,” she said, glancing up from her sketch pad. “How’d it go?”
    “Ummm…not that good.” I perched on a twin bed.
    “Why? What happened?”
    “Well—”
    Someone knocked twice and then opened the door a crack. George poked his head into the room. As usual, he needed a shave. Krista and I always joked that her stepdad was half gorilla.
    “Okay, I’ll turn down the music,” she said.
    “It’s not the volume, although, now you mention it…Actually, I have a special-delivery letter for you, Miss Kris.” George held up a thin envelope. “It was still in the mailbox when I got home. Probably nothing important,” he said, “but the postmark
is
New York.”
    Krista laid down her drawing pad, her expression a mixture of terror and hope. She took the envelope from him like she was afraid it contained snakes. Slowly she tore it open and pulled out the letter.
    “I got in,” she said, almost too quietly for us to hear. “I got in to Beaumont Design in New York!”
    George and I threw our arms around her. We laughed, and hugged, and congratulated her. Pride for Krista swelled up inside me, replacing all my worries. She’d worked so hard for this, and for the first time in days, the tears that leaked out of the corners of my eyes were happy ones.
    “I have to call Mom!”
    George gave her another hug. “Good job, kiddo,” he said. He saluted us and backed out of the room. “As you were.”
    Krista dialed her mom, but got voice mail. “Call me back as soon as you can,” she said.
    She grabbed the huge file we’d put together full of brochures, maps, and the school’s catalogue, and we pored over it, excited because it was finally happening—our dreams! Or at least Krista’s. Thethought did occur to me that our big plans would be ruined if I didn’t get into drama school, but I pushed it away.
    “You know what would be the ultimate New York experience?” she asked. “If we could find a brownstone to live in. I mean, ones that are apartments, not a whole house.”
    I tugged at the hem of the Day-Glo orange tunic she had on. “You’re going to have to raise the prices on your website for your clothing line to afford that.”
    “Don’t I know it,” she said. “I probably can too. Now that I got into such a prestigious school. Besides, I meant a really tiny apartment.”
    “Like maybe someone’s walk-in closet?”
    “Exactly,” she said.
    I slumped deeper into the throw pillows and watched Krista shuffle through the papers. Her eyes had that same glittery, excited look