Of Breakable Things Read Online Free Page B

that read Learning Conference: Living with EDS . Jonas had snorted and told Alex she was going to a freak show. Chase had punched him in the belly, and to his shock and amazement, his mother turned her head and didn’t scold him. And now, sitting outside the convention center, the people walking inside didn’t look strange at all.
    “There are different kinds of EDS,” Danya explained to him, ruffling his hair. “Some are worse than others.”
    “Worse than Alex’s?”
    Danya shifted on the bench. “No. Alex has the worst kind.”
    “She doesn’t look sick.”
    “That’s because most of it is inside her body.” She pointed to his arm. “You have tissues in there. Don’t scrunch your face like that! They aren’t the same kind that you blow your nose with. Your tissues hold your body together. Alex’s tissues don’t work quite as well as yours.”
    No kidding. One time he’d pulled on her arm to get her attention and her shoulder fell out of its socket. He’d cried the entire way to the hospital because he’d hurt her.
    “In our tissues, we have something called collagen. And if collagen is like the glue of body, the normal person has liquid cement while Alex has cheap Elmer’s glue.”
    “Is that why Jonas says that Alex was assembled at Kmart?”
    His mother rolled her eyes. “Probably, but Jonas really shouldn’t say that. I’ll speak to him.”
    Chase fiddled with the Velcro on the pocket of his shorts. “I still don’t get it.”
    “What?”
    “Why is it such a big a deal?”
    “Tissues support your skin, which is why Alex bruises easily. And they hold your bones together, which is why hers are more likely to break.”
    “But broken bones don’t kill you,” he argued. “Why did her mom die?”
    His mother’s face crumbled, and he felt that pang in his chest that told him he’d said something wrong. “I’m sorry.”
    “No, don’t be sorry. I just miss her.” Between her hands, she rolled a pamphlet she’d picked up that morning at the convention. “Tissues also support your organs. Like your heart. That’s an organ. The things inside you that keep you alive, and if they aren’t supported properly, you could bleed inside your body. That’s what happened to Alex’s mommy when Alex was born. They couldn’t stop the bleeding.”
    “Is that why her dad hates her?”
    “He doesn’t hate her.”
    Chase looked at his mom doubtfully, but quickly shifted his attention to several people exiting the convention center. His heart fluttered in hope, but his friend wasn’t among them. He couldn’t believe his mother had made him stay out here instead of letting him go in with Alex. This was all Miss Petra’s fault. Their teacher was the one to suggest that Alex’s friendship with the Lasalles might be detrimental to her health. She was always trying to put them in separate groups during class or encouraging Alex to hang out with the other girls during recess. Thankfully, Alex ignored the suggestions. But within the past few months, Alex had broken three different bones during their adventures with his brothers. So her dumb doctor recommended she meet other kids who were “limited” too.
    A selfish part of Chase wanted Alex to come screaming out of that door. Usually they joked about her illness. They would look at the bruises on her arms and laugh about what they saw … like lying in the grass and finding images in the clouds, only these clouds were stormy. She was going to be sick no matter what, so what good would it do to sit around and talk about it? Alex didn’t like to think she was different, so he was sure she wouldn’t enjoy this experience. Or at least that’s what he hoped. After all, he needed her as much as she needed him.
    She just never understood that.
    “It wasn’t so bad,” Alex told him later that day. The convention had dampened their spirits, and they sat dejectedly on a log by the beach. “They had doughnuts. That was cool.”
    Chase picked up a stick