Read Online Sharing Sam by Katherine Applegate - Free Book Online

and do stupid things. Izzy’s cool. She’ll understand.”
    “God, I’m so afraid I’m going to blow this. I want her to feel comfortable,” Carla said.
    “Well, that’s not going to happen if we’re all being weird,” I pointed out as I went to answer the door.
    I was surprised to see Sam standing there, helmet under his arm. He had a handful of limp yellow daisies ensconced in a newspaper cone. “For Izzy,” he explained. “We have that field out back.”
    “Come on in,” I said. As I reached for the flowers our fingers touched. A sweet, shuddery warmth made its way down my spine. Amazing, I thought, that the briefest touch could spin such magic.
    I led him down the hall. “Everybody,” I said, my voice pitched a little higher than usual, “you all know Sam?”
    This time all eyes pivoted to me. The looks varied from surprise to outright shock.
    “That’s Gail, Carla … well, you can figure out the rest,” I said. “Let me put these in some water.”
    I left Sam defenseless and took the flowers to the kitchen. Gail scurried in behind me. “How do you know him?” she demanded.
    “We’ve talked a few times.”
    “I heard he’s Alec Baldwin’s illegitimate son.”
    “I thought it was Mick Jagger.” I found a tall glass and filled it with water.
    “Cute,” Gail said, chewing on a bright red thumbnail. “Talland cute. Did I mention cute? Are you … sniffing each other out?”
    “How subtle.” I arranged the daisies, the warm stems already droopy. Then I lied. “No.”
    I don’t know why I didn’t say yes. Gail was a good friend. But Izzy was my best friend, and if I told Gail anything before I told Izzy, it might get back to Izzy, complicating things. And then she would think I was being patronizing, not telling her about Sam because I didn’t think she was up to it. Even if that was true, I didn’t want Izzy to think it. I wanted her to feel that nothing had changed, despite the fact that everything had.
    We heard a commotion at the front door. Izzy’s dad, Miguel, came in first, carrying a big stuffed cat and a large suitcase. Lauren followed, shepherding Izzy through the hall.
    “All right, Rosa!” Izzy cried, embracing her aunt. “A keg party!”
    “Isabella,” Rosa whispered, sobbing hugely.
    We were all staring while trying not to. Izzy looked the same, only not. She was wearing a blue bandanna tied artfully around her head, a T-shirt and embroidered vest, jeans. But there were glossy blue-black circles under her eyes, and her skin was pale and slack, like a balloon that’s been blown up and deflated.
    Izzy got passed around the group and hugged uncertainly, the way you do when you greet someone with a lingering case of the flu. When she got to me, we both laughed, then started to cry, then laughed again. “Check it out,” I said lightly, pointing to the dining room table. “We brought munchies.”
    “You made Rice Krispies bars!”
    “Isabella,” Lauren said, “you need to go easy. You’ve been back on solid food for only a week.”
    “I ate half a pint of Chunky Monkey for lunch,” Izzy pointed out. As she dove for the table she noticed Sam for the first time. “Well, well,” she said, wiggling her brows, “what have we here?”
    “Alison invited me,” Sam explained. “I, uh, brought you some daisies. She put them in the kitchen, I think.”
    “How sweet.” She grabbed a Rice Krispies bar and held up her index finger. “Don’t go away. I shall return.”
    Izzy veered into the kitchen, pulling me along. “Thanks,” she said, examining the daisies.
    “For what?”
    “The party hats, the balloons, the … guests.”
    “Oh, well, actually—”
    “Tell me the truth,” she interrupted. “I look like something the lunch ladies would serve up, right? Izzy Surprise. Izzy Noodle Casserole—”
    “You look beautiful, as usual, you jerk. Just a little tired.”
    “My mom’s driving me insane. She keeps treating me like I’m going to fall over