Something Like Spring Read Online Free PDF Page A

him. “Come on, we’ll wait out front.”
    Jason followed him out the front door, surprised when Peter kept walking past the cars in the driveway and headed for the sidewalk.
    “Wait. Aren’t we supposed to get a ride?”
    Peter turned, but kept walking backward. “There is no ride. They put on a sweet and innocent act around Mom and Dad, but trust me, they won’t give you the time of day. Carrie’s a snob, and Caesar…” Peter shook his head and turned forward again.
    Jason paused and thought about heading back to the driveway to see for himself, but two things stopped him. Mostly it felt good to be away from the house. Every step he took was liberating. And Peter liked to talk, which made him an easy source of information.
    “We can take the bus,” Peter was saying. “Or we can walk. It’s not far. Sometimes walking makes me late, but who cares?”
    “Do we even go to the same school?” Jason asked, catching up and walking alongside him.
    “No, but middle school is right next to the high school.” Peter glanced over at him, freckles covering his pug nose. “You’re putting on an act, right? This whole quiet and polite thing, it’s not the real you. Or do you have some sort of mental disability?”
    Jason felt uneasy at this sudden inquisition, so he played innocent. “Huh?”
    Peter watched him a moment longer before snorting. “Almost had me for a minute. How old were you?”
    Jason let himself relax fully for the first time since Michelle had dropped him off. “Seven,” he said. “You?”
    “Six years old. Parents were crackheads, although not until after I was born, thank god.”
    Jason nodded, the pieces falling into place. He didn’t ask all the usual questions about relatives who might have taken Peter in, since he knew firsthand that life sometimes dealt nothing but cards with low numbers and mismatched suits. “My mom fell in love with the wrong guy,” he offered. “And I don’t mean my dad.”
    The explanation was vague, but sufficient. Jason didn’t like to talk about his past. Most of the kids he’d met while in care didn’t. At a certain point, you decided that your life was split into two distinct halves. There was Before—no matter how good or bad it had been—and there was After. Only so much crying could be done over Before, especially since the game of After was so complex and demanding.
    “I didn’t get adopted until recently.” Peter said. “I’m twelve now, so I spent plenty of years in the wilderness. I don’t want you to think I’m like them.”
    “Fill me in,” Jason said, glad he could dispense with any pleasantries. “What are we dealing with?”
    “It’s safe here, if that’s what you mean,” Peter said. “Nothing creepy.”
    Foster home number five . That had been a hard lesson for Jason. The father there, camera in hand, had come into his room one day and asked him to take off his clothes. He had said Jason’s caseworker needed proof he was being fed and in good condition. Jason had been trusting enough to take off his shirt, but when the man demanded his shorts go too, Jason had known something was wrong. The man blocked the door when Jason lunged for it, but he didn’t let that stop him. Jason fought, hopelessly overpowered, but he managed to gouge one of the man’s eyes and earn his freedom. When he made it to a neighbor’s house, his chest was covered in red scratches. He didn’t need to convince anyone of his story. Jason had escaped before the worst could happen, but it had been a turning point for him. He hadn’t trusted another adult since. Not completely.
    “There will be plenty more of this,” Peter said, tugging at the collar of his dress shirt. “The Hubbards want perfect little children, but play along and they’ll ease up eventually. I’m no saint and they still adopted me. You seem smart enough to make it. Unlike the last two.”
    “What did they do wrong?”
    “Big mouths and lots of attitude. Nothing like you and me,