Read Online Who Owns Kelly Paddik by Beth Goobie - Free Book Online

I whispered. “Sorry.”
    â€œStart over,” said Chris. Sometimes she could be pretty bossy. I cleared my throat again.
    â€œHey, Kelly.” Chris’s voice was wobbling, and I looked up to see what was the matter. She was twisting her hands and watching me, her brown eyes very large. “I think you could write just about the best book in the whole world,” she said.
    A smile took over my whole body. I started again, trying not to whisper. “I’ve seen lots of movies they show about teenage girls who are supposed to be like me,” I said.“They’re mean and tough, and they work the streets and do drugs. Well, I’ve done those things, and in real life it isn’t cool. You get beat up. You go hungry, and you’re cold a lot. You do the drugs to forget what’s happening, but you can’t really forget. If you see a stray cat in an alley, don’t kick it. It’s just a street kid in another life, looking for some way to stay alive.
    â€œI don’t want to run anymore. I don’t know where I thought I was running to anyway. You can’t run from yourself.
    â€œSomeone important once said to me, ‘Who owns Kelly Paddik?’ That was a good question. I couldn’t tell her then because I didn’t like the answer — my dad. Well, it was my dad
then
. Now it’s different. Now everything is different because it’s me. I own Kelly Paddik. I do. I belong to me.”
    I looked out the window at the cold and the snow. “Well, that’s the last page, I guess,” I said.
    â€œThat’s good. I think that’s real good.” Chris was patting my bear gently. “Have you got a title?”
    I nodded slowly. “Now I do.”
    â€œWhat is it?” Chris asked.
    I looked out the window. The sun had lit the ice on the branches so that they shone like glass. “Yeah, I know what I want to call it,” I said softly.
    â€œOkay, so you can tell me now.” Chris was getting bossy again.
    â€œ
I Own Kelly Paddik.” I wrote it across page one and looked at it. “Yeah, that’s right. I do.” I grinned at Chris. “Want to hear the whole thing now?” I asked
.
    Chris put the bear onto the floor. Then she stretched out on the bed and placed her hands behind her head. “I’ve got time,” she grinned back at me
.
    I picked up page one
.

orca sounding
    Orca Soundings is a teen fiction series that features realistic teenage characters in stories that focus on contemporary situations and problems.
    Soundings are short, thematic novels ideal for class or independent reading. Written by such stalwart authors as William Bell, Beth Goobie, Sheree Fitch and Kristin Butcher, there will be between eight and ten new titles a year.
    For more information and reading copies, please call Orca Book Publishers at 1-800-210-5277.
    Other titles in the Orca Soundings series:
    Bull Rider
No Problem
The Trouble with Liberty
The Hemingway Tradition
One More Step
Kicked Out
Refuge Cove
Sticks and Stones
Death Wind