Shattered: A Salvation Society Novel Bella Emy (best ebook reader for laptop .TXT) 📖

off my bed and goes to grab her pajamas from out of her bag. “I’ll be right back. Going to use the bathroom, brush my teeth, and change.”

“Okay.”

She exits my room and closes the door behind her. Taking a deep breath, I turn off the light, lie back down, and look up at my ceiling. It’s going to be an interesting couple of days, that’s for sure.

Chapter Eight

“Girls, look at this! This will look so cute on you,” Mrs. Cole exclaims. I’m currently at Tranquility Creek Mall with Erin, her younger sister, Kennedy, and their mother. It’s Labor Day, and we’re catching some great sales.

We all turn our heads to look at what Mrs. Cole has picked out. Kennedy rolls her eyes, grimaces, and turns away. She places an AirPod into one of her ears and tunes the world out. She’s more interested in her music than shopping.

“That is cute!” Erin answers as she reaches her mother’s side, pulling the black top from Mrs. Cole’s grasp. She places it against her chest and turns to and fro in front of the mirror.

I nod. “Yeah, it looks great.”

Erin spins around and gasps. “Lexi, look!” She walks over to the rack where her mom had pulled the black top from, and to the right of the rest of them, she pulls out a pink one. “They have the same shirt in pink! We could go with the same shirt, just in different colors, on the first day of school! What do you think?”

I tilt my head to the side, examining the top. It is cute. A hot pink heart was dab smack in the middle of her black one, while a black heart sat in the middle of the pink one. It’s a cute idea.

“I guess we could do that…”

Erin smiles from ear to ear. “Yes! Please! Let’s do it!”

Mrs. Cole giggles, pulling out a white blouse more her style from a different rack. “It would be fun. My best friends and I used to plan our outfits sometimes when we were back in school.”

I smile back at Erin, who’s currently giving me puppy dog eyes. “Okay, okay. Let’s do it.”

“Yes!”

I want to laugh at how excited she is right now.

Once we’re all finished, we bring our merchandise to the register and pay for our items. I love back to school shopping.

We leave the mall around ten past three in the afternoon and load the car up with all our shopping bags. Erin and I sit in the back while Kennedy sits in the passenger seat. Usually her younger sister would be sitting in the back, but since I came along for the trip, my best friend is sitting next to me.

“So, now what should we do?” Mrs. Cole asks as she banks a left.

“Can we head home? I want to try on some of the jeans we bought so that Lexi and I can really have our back to school outfit planned,” Erin answers.

Kennedy snaps her head around to look over at her sister. “Seriously, out of all things we could be doing, that’s what you want to do? We just left the mall, and you want to retry on clothes? Ugh!” She turns back around and faces her mother. “Mom, can we please go grab something to eat. I’m hungry.”

“You could’ve grabbed something at the food court,” Erin replies.

Kennedy spins back around. “Eww. That stuff is nasty.”

Mrs. Cole stops the car at a red light. “I was thinking we could have Dad throw some meat on the grill. It is Labor Day after all. Maybe we can take a dip in the pool? What do you girls say?” She looks back at Erin and me, and both of us nod at the same time. Then she turns her gaze at Kennedy.

Kennedy scoffs. “Ugh! Fine!” She’s less than pleased, looking at her mother with disdain.

After Erin and I scavenge through our purchases and decide on what to wear for the first day of school on Wednesday, we change into beach shorts and tank tops over bathing suits and head outside to the backyard. It’s a good thing she and I are pretty much the same size. I hadn’t brought over a change of clothes. Of course, I could have walked home and grabbed some stuff, but it’s too hot, and right now, I just want to dive into the cool pool water.

As soon as I hit the patio deck, the smell of hot dogs and hamburgers cooking on the grill get my taste buds going, and my mouth begins to water. I’m definitely hungry.

Over to the right, Kennedy is sitting with her father, playing cards and laughing. Kennedy is very close to him, and I think she resembles him in many ways. For example, she’s got the same cleft in her chin. But it’s not just looks. She has a lot of Mr. Cole’s ways as well. The way she talks, and sometimes, even the way she moves, resembles him. Plus, the two of them have a bond that can’t be broken. Sure, Erin is close to her father, too, but she’s definitely closer to her mother. Kennedy and Mr. Cole have the type of father-daughter relationship that you see in movies. She’s a total daddy’s girl, and her pout, to this day, can still melt his heart.

“Lexi! Come on!” Erin calls from the pool; she’s already in it.

“Go on, Lexi. Swim around a bit. Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes. That will give you some time to cool off,” Mrs. Cole says, placing a pack of hamburger and hot dog rolls onto the wooden table.

I nod and walk over to one of the beach chairs near the pool. I pull off my tank top and shorts and place them onto the chair. Then I walk over to the ledge of the in-ground pool and watch Erin come up from underwater. She pretends to splash me, and I pull back.

Laughing, she says, “I’m only joking. Come