Read Online Just Jelly Beans and Jealousy by Tammy Falkner - Free Book Online

shorten my sentence?” I
ask.
    He nods. “Maybe. It’s up to the judge. And
depends on how things go at camp.” He sobers and looks directly
into my eyes. “Pete, I think you could help with the boys I’ve
invited to the camp. With all of them. You can help with the
hearing-impaired boys, the ones who can’t talk, and the ones from
the youth program. I think you can do brilliant things. I believe
in you, Pete, and I want to give you an opportunity to prove you’re
better than this.” He makes a sweeping gesture that encompasses the
room.
    Better than jail? Am I better than what I
have become? I am not so sure.
    “Do we have a deal?” he asks.
    I nod and stick out my hand again for him to
shake. “We have a deal.”
    “Do you need for someone to pick you up in
the morning?” he asks.
    I shake my head. “I can get here.”
    “I’ll see you at six a.m.” He claps a hand on
my shoulder and points toward the door. “I believe your family is
waiting outside.”
    My heart trips a beat. It’s been so long. I
can’t imagine what it’s going to be like to be with them again. To
feel normal.
    I nod and bite my lower lip. But I steel my
spine and walk out the door. The guards lead me by the guard
station and toward the door, where they give me a bag of my
belongings and ask me to check it. I slide my wallet into the back
pocket of my jeans. I put my watch back on my wrist. I drop my
piercings into my pocket. I might be able to get at least some of
them back in later.
    “Ready?” Mr. Caster asks. I don’t realize he
is right beside me until I look into his eyes. Very softly he says,
“Stop worrying so much. They’re the same family you left two years
ago.”
    They might be, but I’m the one who’s
different. I nod my head, though. I can’t speak past the lump in my
throat.
    I shove against the door, pressing hard on
the lock bar, pushing, and then I find myself outside the walls of
the prison for the first time in two years. I take a deep breath
and look up at the sky. Then I see my brothers waiting at the end
of the walk and the lump in my throat grows twice the size. I blink
hard, trying to squeeze back the emotion.
    Paul, my oldest brother, is standing beside
Matt, who has the biggest grin on his face. His hair has grown
back, and it’s gotten longer than I’ve ever seen it on him. He told
me in a letter that he had decided to let it grow out now that he
knows what it’s like to lose it all to cancer. He’s recovering. I
missed it all because I was behind bars. But that’s one of the
reasons why I was there. I thought I could help him and just ended
up getting myself in trouble.
    Logan is standing with his arm draped over
his girlfriend Emily’s shoulder. She looks up at him like he hung
the stars and the moon. He points and smiles toward me, and she
looks up and yells. Then she wiggles out of Logan’s arms and runs
toward me full force. She hits me hard in the chest, her arms
wrapping around my neck. I lift her off the ground and spin her
around as she squeezes me. She murmurs in my ear. “I’m so glad
you’re coming home,” she says. “We missed you so much.”
    I look around. Someone is missing. “Where’s
Sam?” I ask. Her face falls, and she looks everywhere but at me.
Sam’s my twin, but he’s not here. My gut clenches. I really hoped
he would be.
    “He’s stuck at school. You know how tight
school schedules can be.” She won’t look me in the face, so I know
she’s lying. I put my arm around her for a second and walk toward
my brothers, but it’s only a few steps before Paul jerks me away
from Emily and wraps me up in a big bear hug. He squeezes me so
tightly that my breath jerks out of me.
    “Let me go, you big ox,” I grunt out, but
when he does, he grabs my head in his hands and runs his fingers
through my prison cut. My hair’s so short it’s not much more than
fuzz on the top of my head.
    Logan punches me in the arm, and I turn to
look at him. Logan’s deaf, and he