Read Online Need by Joelle Charbonneau - Free Book Online Page A

believe her. Not many people here in Nottawa know about her peanut allergy. Her decision, which means this whole thing with Bryan is her fault. Her mother made such a big deal about her allergy when she was younger. It was embarrassing. Worse, kids started blaming her when they couldn’t bring homemade cupcakes or cookies in to class for their birthdays. Which meant no one wanted to be her friend. So when they moved here almost two years ago, she and her mother came to an agreement. She would follow Mom’s rules about her allergy in secret, as crazy as they sometimes were, and Amanda could live her life without feeling like a freak.
    Maybe inviting Bryan to the party is the answer. If he comes, she can explain why the movie theater in town is off-limits. If they didn’t roast peanuts, her mother probably wouldn’t have a problem, but since they do . . .
    Sighing, Amanda starts to open the cupboard and notices a green and white bakery box sitting on the far end of the counter next to a pile of mail. She grins and tosses her hair as she flips open the lid. Chocolate chunk cookies. Her favorite. And a note. “Happy birthday, Amanda. Celebrate with sweets made just for you.”
    Mrs. Lollipolous has a second kitchen where she bakes both gluten-free and peanut-free cookies and cakes. Mom must have ordered these as a surprise and forgot to hide them. Which means Amanda really shouldn’t eat one.
    Amanda counts the cookies. There are seventeen. One too many for a sweet sixteen party. Someone counted wrong. Well, she’ll just fix that.
    She snags a cookie, closes the lid, slides the box back into the corner, and peeks down the hall to make sure Mom is upstairs. Yep. The shower is running. And since her mother takes epic showers, Amanda has time to enjoy every bite. Then she’ll call Bryan. Because it’s the right thing to do. And besides, despite the acne, he is kind of cute and really nice.
    After two bites she knows.
    Her throat tightens. The cookie drops to the floor as she starts to cough. Eyes watering, Amanda stumbles to the counter and fumbles to pulls out the drawer where her mother keeps the EpiPen.
    Where is it? It has to be here.
    She tries to call out to her mother but nothing comes out. Her throat is too tight. She can’t breathe.
    There. Her fingers curl around the pen.
    Everything gets fuzzy as she unbuttons her pants so she can give herself a shot. She puts the pen on her thigh, but loses her balance before she can push the injector.
    She barely notices when she hits her head on the corner of the drawer. The world has already gone black.
 
    Â 
    Â 
    Â 
    NETWORK MEMBERS—657
    NEEDS PENDING—652
    NEEDS FULFILLED—109

Kaylee
    â€œH EY .” M Y DOOR OPENS and Nate pokes his head inside. “What gives around here? When your mom let me in, you would’ve thought I was here for a funeral instead of movie night. Where’s DJ?”
    Ugh. I forgot about movie night. Not a surprise, considering how bad today has been.
    I put aside
The
Grapes of Wrath,
which I haven’t been able to concentrate on anyway, and swing my legs over the side of my bed. “DJ’s locked himself in his room.” My mother has been trying to coax him into opening the door for most of the day. After the third time, I told her to take the door off the hinges, but she insists DJ needs his space and will come out when he’s ready. While I’m worried about my brother, I can’t help but be glad he’s kept the door locked. Now Mom knows what it feels like.
    â€œWhat happened?” Nate asks. “Did they get into a fight? I thought that was more your thing.”
    I scowl. “It’s been a rough day. There was an ‘incident’ this morning.” Incident. The mild-mannered word the cops are using to describe what basically amounts to someone wishing DJ would drop dead.
    â€œWhat kind of incident?”
    I pick up my phone, pull up