My Forever Read Online Free PDF Page A

you?” He opens up a small bag of chips. It seems like such a casual, normal thing to do. It makes the personal conversation a little easier.
     
    I look down at my lap feeling overwhelmed at his simple question . “I have no idea,” I admit. It’s probably the most real answer I’ve given anyone.
     
    “Why did you tell me?”
h
e asks again.
     
    “Because you were adopted.” Because it just came out. And you’re nice and won’t judge me.
     
    “How did you know that?”
He stops eating to stare . Any attempt at being casual is gone.
     
    “You told me.” I finally look at him. His deep brown eyes flood mine.
     
    “I don’t tell anybody.” He’s watching my face carefully now , his Dorito frozen between the bag and his mouth .
     
    “Well you told me last semester, in Chemistry
. W
e finished a project early and I told you about my big family and you told me about your small family and then you told me you were adopted and not to say anything.”
     
    He looks up at the ceiling for a moment before leaning back against the wall. He p ops the Dorito in his mouth and takes another one from the bag. “That’s right. Weird. I remember now. I just had the strangest compulsion to tell you , and I had no idea why.” His face relaxes. Confusion gone. His gaze is unwavering , and I have to look away.
     
    “It’s just that… it feels like the only good option for me right now…” I don’t know how to ask him more.
     
    “And you’re curious, from my perspective.” He shakes his bag to get the last of the crumbs into the corner.
     
    “I guess so.”
     
    “Well, I’m stuck after school this week and next week for some student government thing that Tracy has. Stick around sometime.” Tracy is his cousin who li ves with him and his mother. Michael’s parents divorced when he was young and Tracy’s mother, Michael’s aunt, wasn’t i n a position to take care of Tracy, so Michael’s mother has been raising them both . And now I’m sort of impressed with myself for remembering all of that.
     
    “Yeah. Maybe I will.” I really want to. Does he mean it? What will I tell my parent’s I’m doing? Does this mean I might be moving forward?
     
    “I don’t give a lot of thought to being adopted, if that makes you feel better. My parents are my parents.” He shrugs.
     
    “Michael!” A boy’s voice boom s down the hall. “Game of horse? Or are you too chicken!” There’s squawks from the guys behind his friend Calvin, who’s also the captain of the basketball team.
     
    “Are you just going to take that?” I say. Our moment is too intense. I need an escape.
     
    “Are you being sarcastic?” h e asks.
     
    “Are you just going to sit here?” I ask again.
     
    “I don’t know.” He looks confused. I can hear continued squawking from his guys.
     
    I laugh at him then.
     
    He jumps up. “I don’t know what to make of you
,
Dani.” He smiles wide as he looks back down at me.
     
    “Is that good or bad?” Please say something interesting.
     
    “Um… it makes me curious.” His head tilts to the side , and he looks at me in a way that makes my heart jump a little.
     
    It’s good.
     
    “Don’t be afraid t o ask me for something, okay?” Ther e ’s no doubt he means it.
     
    I get more support from a boy I barely know than the two friends I spend the most time with.  Does that say something about me or them ?
     
    I nod once and lean my head against the wall. I stuff the rest of my lunch in my bag. I haven’t eaten much but already feel full. I wonder if I’ll be able to concentrate on anything but being pregnant for the next nine months.
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    A few days after my strange conversation with Michael, I’m walking down the hallway, clutching my bo oks , when I almost run into Tracy .
     
    “So, are you staying after today?” Tracy asks.
     
    Where did she come from? I must be getting colossally unobservant. “What?”
     
    “Michael said you might stay