Learning to Live Read Online Free PDF Page A

and talking with his mouth full.
“Anyway, I saw the way you were eying that chick, and believe me,
you don’t look at your sister that way. You practically turned green and
ripped your shirt off while running toward her. Man, I thought he was
dead when you hit him.”
I scratch the back of my neck, thinking of a way to tell David how
I feel a connection to this girl without sounding like a chick. “Yeah, I
guess, but there is something about her. I don’t know. She’s crazy hot,
but it’s something more than that. I feel like I need to know more
about her. There’s this pull between us when I look at her.” I rub my
face in frustration because it’s hard to describe the way I felt earlier. I
feel very vulnerable telling anyone this, but I’ve known David since
our freshman year. He’s my best friend, so I know he won’t judge me
or think less of me.”Forget it, man. I’ll figure it out.”
David and I have a lot in common like baseball, surfing, and of
course chicks. We’re both from Florida. He’s from Miami and I’m
from Pensacola, but where I grew up privileged, David didn’t.
I might have grown up with money because my dad is a well
known Pediatric surgeon, but I’m in no way stuck up. My family is
number one, and I want to become a pediatric cardiologist just like my
dad.
I’ve always been around kids, sick or healthy. My mom is a social
worker and our house has always been full of foster kids. Shit, I have
four adopted brothers and sisters, Jazz being one of them.
My parents couldn’t have any more children after I was born.
They had always wanted a big family so they started fostering since
they had the room and the finances. My sister, Jazz, was one of our
first foster kids. We found her when she was two years old. She had a
heart issue that my dad repaired, and instead of her remaining in the
system, my parents decided to make her a Coleman.
Drew is my little brother who’s fifteen now. He’s as tall as me at
six foot three, and might even surpass me. The identity of his dad is a
mystery, but we know he had to have been African American. Drew is
biracial. His mom was a scared, white sixteen year old girl who needed
money for her dope. Mom decided to take her up on a private adoption
under the agreement she went to rehab and stayed for six months.
Well, she did and now has a decent guy in her life and a family of her
own. Drew sees his birth mother every few weeks and gets to hang out
with his twin half-brothers, Dalton and Derek, who are now ten.
McKenzie is my youngest sister and was adopted from
Guatemala. She’s nine and has had my heart ever since we did a
mission trip there with Dad. I was visiting the orphanage and saw this
little girl scooting around on her hands and arms due to her under
developed legs. She had the prettiest light brown eyes with tanned skin
and dark black, curly hair.
I was sitting reading to her when Mom walked in looking for me.
When she saw McKenzie with me, she knew we had to take her home
with us. So after three months of paperwork, we were finally reunited
and our family added another Coleman to the group.
Now she has a fancy pink and purple wheelchair that’s decorated
with glitter and has so many friends that watch out for her at school I
don’t have to worry as much. My baby brother Cohen was the last one
to be adopted. He’s about to turn four in a few weeks—but he thinks
he’s already old enough to drive—is smart as a whip, and loves the
ladies. I like to think I had something to do with that.
Jazz and he could definitely pass as siblings with their blond hair
and blue eyes, but on occasion people mistake him for her son. She
doesn’t seem to mind, though, and eats up the attention. He was left
outside the hospital where my mom works at only a few days old and
had no ID on him. DHR eventually let us foster him once his bill of
health came back okay, but of course we made him an official
Coleman after six months.
David just listens