Certainty Read Online Free PDF Page A

over a decorative table facing the doorway. My dad was taller than all of us, but Derek was catching up.
    “You have a nice house,” he said.
    “Thanks. Actually, your house has always been one of my favorites. I used to peek inside when I went trick or treating.”
    He raised an eyebrow. “So you’ve been stalking my house?”
    “Oh, yeah. Definitely,” I answered, laughing at myself.
    “You can see what it’s like if you want. There are a lot of boxes everywhere, though.”
    “Are you sure your parents won’t mind?”
    “No.” He gave a sly smile that I wanted to keep, paste it somewhere in the back of my mind to replay over and over. “They want me to make friends and be social. It’s kind of hard. I left behind a lot of friends.”
    Of course he would have left friends behind—maybe even a girlfriend. I pushed the jealousy away and smiled.
    “Let me get my jacket, I’ll be right back.” I found my hoodie on the sofa where I had thrown it. I shoved my feet in my boots and we walked out the front door.
    Just then a minivan pulled up to our driveway. The door slid open and Derek stepped out. He waved to his friends as the minivan backed out of the driveway. One of the guys yelled out the window, “Bye, MacKenzie!”
    I wasn’t sure who it was but I  waved anyway. Laughter spilled out of the windows and I saw a pair of feet fly up as they drove away. Ninth graders.
    Derek loped up to us, his football helmet in his hand and his eyes going from me to Ren. Whatever hopes I had of keeping my infatuation with Ren to myself died at the sharpness in my brother’s eyes. He knew exactly how I felt.
    “Hey, Derek, “ I said. “This is our new neighbor, Ren.”
    My voice was as neutral as I could make it. I noticed he and Ren were the same height.
    “Hey,” Derek said, his eyes on Ren’s skate board. “You skate?”
    There was a slight pause. I turned to look at Ren. His face was dark and contemplative. The silence bordered on awkward until he finally broke it.
    “A little.”
    “I can ride down the street without falling off, but that’s all,” Derek confessed, apparently unaware of Ren’s strange pause. "Besides, our sidewalks are crap, in case you hadn't noticed."
    "Yeah, I noticed. It's a challenge." 
    Derek cheerfully jumped up the brick stairs to our front door. “I'll see you around sometime.”
    “You too,” Ren said, watching my brother open the door and disappear inside. He stepped backwards, his smile dropping into a blank expression.
    “Is something wrong?” I asked.
    Ren didn’t answer right away, still watching the closed door. After a moment he asked, “He plays football?”
    “Junior varsity. He made a touchdown at the last game.”
    “That’s great.” His words didn’t match his eyes. What was wrong? He didn’t like football players? Or he was envious of them? Or all his friends from his old school were football players and he missed them? My brain raced but I couldn’t think of anything that made sense and I didn’t want to ask.
    He threw his skateboard down on the sidewalk in front of my house and I walked beside him.
    “We don’t have any skate parks around here,” I offered, hoping to find a topic of conversation that might interest him. 
    He looked down at me and grinned crookedly, his face brightening, to my relief. He turned the board around on its back wheels, circling once then kick-flipped it.
    “I don’t need a park.”
    I nodded at his skateboard. "I'd show you some moves but I don’t want to make you feel self-conscious."
    He looked down at me, his mouth going solemn in mock respect. "You have moves ?"
    I giggled and then almost choked on it. A giggle? Ugh. I covered by clearing my throat. "Oh, yeah. They're amazing."
    He arched his eyebrow and kicked the board up to his hand. He held it out to me.
    “Oh no, I couldn’t,” I said backing away.
    “I insist.”
    I took the board and let it drop to the sidewalk the way he had done, but it fell over