My Texas Sweetheart (book one) Read Online Free PDF Page B

am until I graduate.”
    She smiles at me, looking relieved. “Sure, Jase. We can be friends.” I smile at her.
    She makes her way to the lunch line, and I walk over to Adam, who’s sitting with Pete and Jake. “I don’t need to talk to her anymore, I guess,” Adam says with a smirk.
    “No, dude, did it myself. I told her that I’m not going to change who I am until after high school so we agreed to be friends.” He smiles and nods.
    ****
    After school, all of us guy’s head out to the field to kill some time while Adam waits for Maggie to be done with cheerleading tryouts. “Adam!” we hear. We all look over to see a guy that looks a lot like him walking towards us. God, how many brothers does this guy have?
    “Shit. Hey, Mark. Why aren’t you at school?” Adam asks. Oh…Mark, the one that beat the shit out of Josh. I glance around and see Josh hiding behind Pete. Dumb ass.
    “I gotta talk to you and Maggie. It’s about Gabe,” he says, grimly. I look back over at Adam, who’s gone pale.
    He walks over and puts his hand on Mark’s shoulder. “What’s wrong with Gabe?” he whispers.  
    M ark shakes his head. “Where’s Maggie?”
    Adam points towards the gym . “Tryouts.” They start walking that way, the rest of us following behind them. Guess I’m not the only one that wants to see what’s going on.
    We get there in time to see Maggie up in front of the judges. Amy turns and sees Mark, then comes running over to give him a big hug. “Hey, Mark. How come you’re here?” Mark just shakes head, leaving Amy looking confused. She’s not the only one. We all look at each other, shrugging, as Mark walks towards Maggie.
    “Hey, baby girl!” Mark calls out.
    Maggie turns around with a huge smile on her face …until she sees Adam’s and Mark’s grim expressions. “Mark, what’s going on?” Maggie asks, biting her bottom lip. Whatever this is about, it can’t be good and I’m starting to get worried. Everyone starts gathering around, and I don’t know if we should stay here or leave.
    “Mom and Dad sent me to get you two after I got home. There was a shooting at a store that Gabe was in. It doesn’t look good.”  You could hear his voice breaking. Maggie starts shaking her head and the tears start falling. Mark grabs her and wraps her in a hug, motioning for Adam and Amy to join them. Gabe must be one of the other brothers. The rest of us just stand there, wondering what to do.
    “Come on. We better get home,” Mark says, wiping the girls’ tears. We watch the three of them leave. They all look so heartbroken. Hell, I’m heartbroken. Heather and I don’t know Gabe, but news like that is still hard to hear. I can feel the pain of our friends.
    “Are you ready to go home, Heather?” I ask, somberly, and she nods. For the first time, I notice that my sister is crying. I put my arm around her shoulder and we walk out of the gym.
    The ride home is quiet, neither one of us quite knowing what to say. We walk into the house and mom knows that there is something wrong. Maybe our faces give it away. “What’s wrong?”
    “Maggie and Adam’s brother showed up at school today and said that their other brother was involved in a shooting. It doesn’t look good,” I said.
    “Oh, my. What that poor family must be going through,” Mom says.
    ****
    The next day at school, neither Adam nor Maggie are there. “Hey, Amy, do you know what’s going on?” I ask. 
    “No, I don’t. I tried calling Maggie a few times this morning, but I didn’t get an answer.” Of all people, I thought she would know, but it doesn’t look like anyone does. We will just have to wait until we see them, or one of them calls somebody, I guess.  I hope everything turns out okay. Amy and me, start walking towards the school and the rest of our friends. The rest of the day goes by in a blur, I can’t stop thinking about Adam and Maggie, what they’re going though and weather their brother is okay. I haven’t