Read Online Finally My Forever by Brooke St. James - Free Book Online Page B

immediately.
    The room was full of people. The students were sitting at tables that were arranged in a U-shaped formation, and the person I assumed was the art teacher was standing in the middle. There were people standing around the perimeter of the room. I figured they were the friends and loved ones of the students. Everyone looked my way as Thomas shouted my name and begin walking toward me. I smiled and held my arms out to hug him.
    "Everyone, this is Ms. Carly," Claire said as Thomas hugged me tightly. "She's the one who came to do a science experiment with you guys."
    "I know about science!" someone shouted.
    "Hi Ms. Carly!" two others shouted.
    "I'm staying for the science class!" someone said.
    "Me too!"
    "Me too!"
    "Why don't you guys finish up what you're doing here, and Carly will be ready for you when you're done," Claire said.
    "We're done," the art teacher said smiling. "We were just packing up our things."
    All of the students stood and began taking off their smocks and packing up their brushes, and their caretakers moved forward to help them.
    "Come see what I painted," Thomas said, dragging me to the area where he'd been sitting.
    I looked at his mom for permission, and she smiled and gave me a little nod, so I followed him. He retrieved his picture from the table and handed it to me.
    "I painted a treasure chest!"
    "We all painted a treasure chest," his neighbor said, turning to face us. He had an ornery expression on his face, which made me want to take up for Thomas, even though I knew better since he had disabilities too. Thomas ignored him and looked at me with a smile.
    "The Bible says to store up for yourself treasures in heaven where no one can steal them, and I'm gonna have lots of treasure in heaven."
    "I'm gonna have pirate treasure in heaven," his neighbor said. "And I'm gonna have it on earth when I go to the beach next summer. My mom said Galveston has treasure."
    "I'm not talking about Galveston anyway, Benji," Thomas said, rolling his eyes a little. I had to bite my lip to keep from smiling. I enjoyed seeing Thomas taking up for himself. "I'm not talking about pirate treasure either. In heaven there's other treasures. Like in heaven I'll probably look like my brother Micah and sing and play guitar."
    The mention of his brother hit me for a second, but only until I realized that Thomas was saying he would be "normal" in heaven. That statement had an even greater impact on me then hearing Micah's name.
    "And I'm gonna have my own mansion," Thomas added, staring at Benji daring him to say something back. "And I'm finally gonna get to see Jesu—"
    Thomas stopped short of saying the name Jesus and I watched as he sank his face into his hand, pinching his nose and making a scrunched up expression. Then, all of a sudden, that high-pitched wheezing sound started.
    "He's crying about Jesus again," Benji said in a frustrated tone to the art teacher as if he was tattling on Thomas.
    "Thomas loves Jesus," she said patiently.
    "Yes I do," Thomas said. "He's the one who died for me so I can go to heaven." He blinked extremely hard a few times and I could tell he was struggling to hold back another crying fit. "That's why you should love him too, because He died for you too."
    I was touched by how emotional Thomas was. The amazing part was that it wasn't the thought of being normal in heaven that made him cry, it was simply the thought of seeing Jesus. There was peace and beauty in the simplicity of it, and I couldn't take my eyes off of Thomas. I didn't know much about Jesus, but my heart told me Thomas was onto something.
    Benji just shook his head as if he didn't understand where Thomas was coming from. "So when are we doing science?" he said in a matter of fact tone. He looked across the room. "Can I go to science class?" he asked the lady I assumed was his mom.
    She nodded.
    "How many do we have staying for science class?" the art teacher asked, loud enough to cut through the chatter. All of the