Accepted Read Online Free PDF

today.
    No one had ever made me feel wanted before. I never realized how nice it would feel.
    ****
    Lunch with Colin turned out different than I anticipated. I was surprised at how effortless it turned out to be.
    After my realization, in the food line, that Colin made me feel wanted, I decided that he deserved more than just nodding and smiling. He deserved to be treated as well as he’d been treating me. His kind actions warranted at least that. That meant pushing aside my absurd crush and focusing on our friendship.
    So I did. I sat across from Colin and treated him as I should any friend.
    Sitting there, I realized that I knew nothing about him, other than his hometown and major. I figured a friend would know more, so I started asking questions.
    "So, what made you want to be a doctor?" It was a question every student but Colin had asked me upon hearing my major, so I knew it was a pretty good ice-breaker.
    "My mom’s a doctor." He stated it so matter-of-factly that I felt like I should have known it already, but honestly, I was shocked.
    "Really?" It was the only reply I could muster. I’d never known anyone whose parents had gone to college, let alone medical school. Then again, my family wasn’t a particularly good reference point for anything having to do with education.
    Colin smiled at my reaction and nodded his head. "Really."
    "What does your dad do?" I’m not sure why I asked that, but I was suddenly struck by an image of his family. In my image, his dad was a lawyer or an accountant, and his family was perfect.
    "He died when I was younger, but he was an electrician," he said and took a bite of his pizza.
    Okay, that was unexpected.
    "I’m sorry," I said without thinking, even though I’d always hated when people did that, apologizing when they’d done nothing wrong. People had done it to me all my life — teachers, counselors, principals. They’d learn I had no parents, and they’d apologize. I’d always wanted to ask them why. Did they kill my mother? Were they keeping my father from seeing me? If not, why were they sorry? I’d absolutely hated it, yet it was all I could say to Colin now.
    He looked at me and nodded. Yeah, he hated it too. I changed the subject back to his mom.
    "So, what kind of doctor is your mom"?" I asked gently, hoping I wasn’t pressing the subject. I know what it’s like to not want to talk about your family, and I didn’t want to push it.
    Thankfully, his face brightened. A new look, one I’d never seen in him, crossed his face. It was pride. He was proud of his mother, really proud. I felt my face break into a smile in response.
    "She’s an oncologist," he replied, then clarified, "a cancer doctor."
    I didn’t tell him that I already knew what it meant.
    He continued, and the love and pride in his voice was so profound that I felt tears spring to my eyes and had to blink them away. "She was a nurse, but she went back to school after my dad died. She worked really hard." He smiled at me.
    "And now you work hard," I said and continued, "She must be really proud of you — you know, following in her footsteps."
    He nodded, looking down at his food. "She loves her job. She tells me all the time that it’s important to love what you do. For her, the only way to love what she did was to do something that helped people. That’s something I get from her — I can’t imagine not loving a job where you can help people."
    I stared at him, shocked. I would have never imagined these words coming from this boy. He looked up and caught me staring.
    "What?" he asked gently. He scrunched his eyebrows together as in trying to solve a puzzle of some sort.
    I just kept staring. Then, finally, I said, "I just didn’t expect you to say that. It took me by surprise. Most people go to school to help themselves, not other people. Most people don’t think like that, you know?"
    "But you do."
    He didn’t say it like a question; he said like he was stating a fact.
    "What?" I asked.