Seventh Heaven Read Online Free PDF Page B

assured total strangers he planned to be a millionaire before his twenty-first birthday, had missed out on altogether.
    Pride aside, this would be the year when Ace would have everything he ever wanted. He had nearly enough saved to buy the car he wanted—a candy-apple-red Bel Air one of Jackie’s friends was ready to sell. This year when he walked down the hallways in the high school there wouldn’t be any older guys to eclipse him. Girls’ heads would turn when he pushed his metal locker shut. Teachers who wanted to get him out of their hair would stop harping at him and automatically pass him through his classes.
    Today, thinking about his senior year, Ace had felt great. He and Danny had hitched to Long Beach; they’d sat under the boardwalk, drinking beer and listening to Danny’s transistor radio, and then they went swimming drunk, until the waves sobered them up. They’d been best friends since the day Danny moved in and they’d had a fight on the Shapiros’ lawn; they’d been more like brothers than Jackie and Ace were. And yet now, alone in his room, Ace felt nothing but resentment. After this year Danny would be going to college; even if he hadn’t been smart enough to get in wherever he chose, he could have gotten an athletic scholarship; he could probably make it in the minors right now. But for Ace, this would be his last good year, and he knew it. Everything that followed would be downhill. Next year, when the boys who were seniors drove into the Texaco station and admired his Bel Air, Ace would think they were fools because he’d still be living in his parents’ house, and the girls who were all so crazy for him now would be wanting something more than deep kisses and promises Ace would never be able to keep. He had already started to see the future in some girls’ eyes: a house, a family, a balanced checkbook.
    Ace shook out another cigarette and smoked it. When he was done he went to the kitchen and drank three glasses of water, but the water didn’t put out whatever was burning inside him. It should have been easier to sleep now that the crows were gone, but it was harder. Through the kitchen window Ace could see the Shapiros’ house; he could see right into Rickie’s window, he could see that the shade was pulled down in Danny’s room, where there was probably already a stack of college catalogues. Ace sat down at the kitchen table and lit matches. He blew each one out carefully, with a single breath. He heard the front door open and close, heard someone ease off his boots and let them fall to the floor. Jackie came into the kitchen; he opened the refrigerator and reached for the orange juice. He stank of liquor.
    â€œHey, buddy,” Jackie said. “You’re up late.”
    â€œYeah,” Ace said. “A real night owl.”
    Jackie pulled out his cigarettes and his silver lighter. He still ran with the same gang as he had in high school; sometimes they’d hang around the gym, checking out girls who were five years younger and didn’t know any better. Jackie sat down across from Ace and smiled. He reached into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a billfold.
    â€œGet out of here,” Ace said, not believing how much money his brother was waving around. He knew what Jackie made down at the station. “That’s not yours,” Ace said. He kept staring at the money.
    â€œThe Corvette,” Jackie said.
    Ace looked up at his brother.
    â€œThe one in for repairs at the station,” Jackie said. “Pete stole it.”
    â€œOh, shit,” Ace said. “Don’t tell me this.”
    â€œAll I had to do was forget to lock the garage doors. It’s like taking candy from a baby.”
    A bedspring creaked and the brothers looked down the hall. The Saint was turning in his sleep.
    â€œYou maniac,” Ace whispered to his brother.
    â€œI’m not pumping gas for the rest of