Second Chances Read Online Free PDF Page A

bills.
    “Will he be back when we get home?”
    “I think so,” Nichole said.  Rico usually worked late, putting
in long hours, so Nichole never really knew. She handed her sister a piece of
toast.  “Eat.”
    Kenni munched on the toast, eyes half shut. Her hair was a
mess, but there wasn’t time to fix it.  “I don’t want to go.”
    “No one does.”
    “I hate it there,” Kenni said.  “Why can’t I go back to
Northmont?”
    Nichole let out a sigh.  “Kenni…”
    “It isn’t fair.  All of my friends are at Northmont.”
    It was true. Kenni had gone to Northmont middle for an
entire year, and after an initial period of getting used to the school she’d
developed some very solid friendships. A few girls invited Kenni to birthday
parties and pool parties and genuinely loved having her around.  None of them
even treated her like she was different because she didn’t live near the school.
    They still received calls from those friends, asking her why
she wasn’t in school and what had happened. But those calls had become less and
less frequent as time went by, and Kenni was worried her friends were
forgetting about her.
    Now, after four months back at her old school, Kenni was
starting to shut down. She hated everything about it; the teachers were
underpaid and underappreciated, so they put very little effort into the school. 
A lot of them cared, or at least wanted to care, but they didn’t get any
support from the administration or the state to do their jobs.
    And, to make matters worse, the transfer back from Northmont
had taken place around the same time their mother went missing.  Lakeisha had
gone out one night and never come home, leaving only a note on the counter and
a lot of questions. 
    They had still heard nothing from or about her in the last
four months, and they were beginning to lose hope that she would ever come
home.
    But, there was nothing Nichole could do about either
situation right now.
    “You just need to make new friends.”
    Kenni was hesitant.  “No one here likes me.  They don’t like
me because I went to Northmont last year. They say mean things about me: that I
sold out and went to a white school.”
    The words hit Nichole hard. She felt a hole in the pit of
her stomach. All she wanted to do was cry.
    Instead, she said:
    “You just need to focus on your school work. Don’t worry
what anyone says. Just have thick skin.  Now come on or you’re going to miss
the bus.”
    Tyler bounced off the stool and ran for the door. Kenni
watched him go and turned to Nichole for one last plea: “Do I have to
go?”
    “Yes, you do,” Nichole said. 
    “Can’t I just stay with you?”
    “I have work today.”
    “At the law office?”
    “I don’t think so. I think just work today.”
    “Oh.”
    “I won’t be home when you get here, but I won’t be too late
either.  Make sure Tyler gets here safe and do your homework. Okay?”
    Kenni frowned.  “Okay.”
    Then they followed their little brother outside.  Nichole
went with them, walking them to their bus stop. They lived in the city center
in a rent controlled apartment complex.  It wasn’t necessarily dangerous, but
she wouldn’t have said it was safe either.
    Their apartment was a two story unit with three bedrooms. 
It was listed under their mother’s name, but she hadn’t lived there in the four
months.  Something had happened to her, they were sure, but they’d never found
out one way or another.  She just went out one night and never came home.
    Nichole stood with her siblings at the bus stop.  It was a
chilly morning with a biting wind, but she knew it would warm up by the time
they made it inside the school bus.
    Tyler looked up at her.  “Do you think Mom will come home
today?”
    It was the same question he asked her every morning.  Ever
since their Mom didn’t return that night.  They had filed a missing person’s
report the following morning and called the police at least once a day