Mid Life Love Read Online Free PDF Page B

picked up my backpack and stuffed a brown paper bag inside. “I’m not going
to tell my parents. I’ll act like I don’t know anything. Just promise me that
when you prove them wrong and do something big with your life, you’ll find me
and Jessica and hang out with us again.”
    “Promise. Are
you still going to Notre Dame in the fall?”
    “Yeah, but
you’re not going to the University of Dayton. Are you?”
    I froze. I
wasn’t sure what to say. “I—”
    “I know I’m not
as good as you are with computers, but you do know that I’m a master hacker
right?” He laughed. “I hacked into the university’s list of confirmed students
for the fall and your name wasn’t on it. You weren’t on any lists at any
college that accepted you. So, I started thinking about what I would be
planning if I were you, and I—”
    “I don’t want
you to think that I don’t trust you, Corey. I just couldn’t—”
    “We can email
each other to stay in touch. Whatever you do, don’t look back once you leave.
You need to stick to buses and cabs—take alternative routes even if it forces
you to go out of your way. Oh, and don’t open that brown bag I gave you until
you’re out of the state.” He stood up and gave me a brief hug. “Jessica knows
too by the way...She’s too hurt to say goodbye, but she understands and she says
she loves you.”
    “Oh my god! Look
at the two of you!” Luanne burst through my door with the camera. “I need a
picture of my sons! Well, a photo of my foster son and my real son!
Both of you stand together! Smile on three! One! Two!—”
    ––––––––
    “H ey! Kid!” The
cab driver snapped me out of my thoughts. “Wake up! This is as far as forty
five bucks will take you.”
    I looked outside
and saw tall stone buildings, but I couldn’t make out what any of them were.
I’d been hopping from bus to bus and cab to cab for days and I’d lost all sense
of location because everywhere I went it was raining.
    “Thank you.” I
handed him the money and stepped out of the car.
    Within seconds,
the thin jacket and tattered jeans I was wearing were completely drenched. I
had an umbrella in my backpack, but I knew pulling it out now was useless.
    I walked through
what appeared to be a college campus—there was greenery and buildings every few
feet, but each building I attempted to get into was locked.
    I apparently
needed an access card to get in. A Harvard University access card.
    I’d been
accepted into Harvard months ago, but I never wrote back to confirm. As soon as
I’d read that their top computer science graduate from the past year was a guy
who developed a mini computer—something I’d done when I was fourteen , I
decided that there was nothing they could teach me.
    I saw a group of
students holding the door to a lecture hall open, so I rushed past them. I
walked down the hallway, peering into every classroom, cursing when I saw that
they were all filled.
    Once I was at
the end of the hall, I slipped inside a dark classroom and breathed a sigh of
relief.
    “Nice of you to
join us on time . Have a seat in the back please.” The lights came on and
a blond haired man in a tweed suit stood up behind a podium. “Anytime now,
son...”
    The class
laughed and I walked up the steps, taking a seat in the last row.
    I ignored the
itchy feel of damp denim against my skin and looked up at the board: Summer
Course, Advanced Software 4100.
    All the students
had laptops and state of the art data configuration boards on their desks. All
of them looked way older than I was.
    I guess this is
a senior level course...
    “So...” The
professor moved the projector screen from the center of the room. “We’ve been
deconstructing our hypothetical company ‘Beta Link’ and so far we have three
people in the running for the best computer: George Hamilton II, Lindsay
Franco, and William Dane. Could the three of you come up here and show the class
what you’ve built please?”
    They took