Philip and the Angel (9781452416144) by John Paulits

Chapter One
     
    “ Philip, why don’t you go out and play?
The rain stopped half an hour ago.”
    Philip lay on the sofa reading The Sorcerer’s Stone . He looked over
to the window then up at his mother. “Do I have to? Harry Potter’s
in trouble.”
    “ Yes, yes, yes. You have to or pretty
soon you’ll be in trouble.
Here.” She took his book and spread it open upside down on the
coffee table to save his page. “Get some air. You haven’t been out
of the house all week except to go to school.”
    “ It’s been raining all week. Are you
trying to get rid of me?”
    “ I have to clean and you’re always in
the room I’m cleaning next.”
    Philip sighed. Emery, his best friend,
had called earlier to say he had a secret to show him. He couldn’t simply tell him about it, so Philip shouldn’t even
ask.
    Philip did ask, but no matter how many times
Philip begged his friend to stop being so mysterious, Emery
wouldn’t. He kept a secret better than anybody Philip knew.
    “ I’ll go see what Emery’s doing. He’s
got something to show me.”
    “ Good idea,” said his mother as she
bustled out of the living room.
    Philip swung his feet to the floor and put on
his sneakers while he listened to his mother doing the housework.
It didn’t look like much fun being a grown-up, but then fourth
grade wasn’t all that much fun, either. School would be over in
another month, though, and then summer. He finished tying his
sneakers and left.
    The wet grass glistened and puddles shimmered
everywhere. The sun felt good. Plus a rainbow arced across the sky!
Philip walked along toward Emery’s house and studied the rainbow, a
really colorful one, a rainbow better than any Philip remembered
ever seeing. He followed it across the sky until it disappeared
behind the house in front of him. He noticed someone in the window
of the house waving to him. Philip waved back before realizing it
was that girl again.
    The girl’s forehead pressed against the
living room window screen.
    “ Hi,” she called.
    Philip stopped walking. Who was this girl? She’d moved to the
neighborhood a while ago, yet he never saw her in school. He’d only
seen her at different windows of her house staring out at the
neighborhood. She’d begun waving to him, and he waved back. Now,
she wanted to talk to
him.
    “ Wait,” she called and disappeared from
the window. A moment later she came out the front door. She looked
about the same age as Philip and had long blonde hair pulled back
into a ponytail. As she stood there in her jeans and pink T-shirt
looking at him, Philip felt nervous.
    “ I’m allowed out a little today,” the
girl said.
    “ Because the rain stopped?” Philip
asked.
    “ No. No. I feel better
today.”
    “ Were you sick?”
    “ I’m always sick.”
    This confused Philip.
    “ Where do you go to school? I never see
you at my school.”
    “ I don’t go to school. I have a teacher
who comes to my house on mornings when I feel all
right.”
    “ You never go to school?”
    The girl shook her head, and the ponytail
waggled behind her. “What’s your name? I know where you live. The
white house down there. Your father drives the blue car.”
    “ Philip. I’m Philip Felton.”
    “ Hi, I’m Angel.”
    “ Angel?”
    The girl shrugged. “It’s what my parents
named me. Angel. We moved here a little while ago.”
    “ I know,” said Philip. He remembered
being awakened one Saturday morning by the noise of a giant truck
unloading furniture.
    A woman appeared at the front door. “Angel.
Don’t stay out too long. Come on back now.”
    “ My mom. Thinks I’m made of glass or
something. Gotta go. I’ll watch you from the window,” said Angel,
and she turned and walked back inside the house.
    Philip continued on to Emery’s house.
She didn’t go to school because she was always sick? She doesn’t look sick , Philip
thought. And her mother lets her out for
five minutes at a time? Weird.
    Emery’s voice interrupted