Drive by Diana Wieler Read Free Book Online Page B

months, Kruse had said. But that was Daniel, not the Chocolate King.
    I hesitated, my hands on a drawer, an idea flickering.
    Dad’s voice rumbled through the wall, the rising pitch of anger. Shit! Daniel must have told him. I pushed off the dresser and hurried to the kitchen.
    My father’s fading hair had tumbled over his forehead, shaken out by the force of his stride, up and down the room. He had papers in his hand. Oh, God – the contract. I froze in the doorway.
    Daniel was slumped in a chair at the table, staring at his locked fingers. Mom was behind him, lips pursed as she tried to watch them both at the same time, a referee or guardian or both. But I knew she wouldn’t interfere.
    â€œDo you think I’m a fool, is that it? Do you think you can make a deal — a promise — and then ignore it? I’m such a fool I’m going to forget?”
    Daniel shook his head, a bare quiver.
    â€œTalk, dammit! I want you to talk to me.”
    â€œNo!” It took effort for him to get the word out.
    â€œNo, what?”
    â€œNo, I don’t think you’re a fool.”
    â€œThen why would you do this? Let it go on and on and not even try?”
    Daniel looked up for the first time, his eyes a dark blaze. ”I did try.”
    â€œBullshit. Trying is studying. Trying is getting help – asking for help. It’s not sitting in the basement playing the goddamn guitar. Well, they’re in lock-up now, mister…”
    â€œYou can’t –”
    â€œNot only that,” Dad continued, ”I am phoning this Kruse guy tomorrow and I’m telling him it’s off. Whatever he’s doing, he’s going to stop right now…”
    â€œDad!” My voice rang across the room and all three turned to look at me. My father straightened, pulled up the waistband of his pants. He gestured at me.
    â€œThis is your doing,” he said.
    The words were a blow.
    â€œWhat? How?”
    He thrust the sheets out at me. I strode over and caught them up. It wasn’t the contract, it was Daniel’s second term report card. Fragments of sentences leapt out at me: ”…assignments incomplete…does not attend regularly…” I read them in disbelief. He was failing.
    â€œThis is your example,” Dad said. ”He looks to you. When you gave up, he gave up.”
    The heat was in my face, the fire I’d been avoiding — we’d both been avoiding – for seven months.
    â€œI didn’t give up. I withdrew.”
    â€œYou quit,” he seemed to spit out the words,”when you could have done it, finished no problem, sailed through one last year. You’re smart, Jens. You could have graduated and been something.”
    â€œI am something!”
    â€œAnd what is that? Someone with a shiny car? Possessions…aren’t a life. Even thieves can have shiny new cars.”
    â€œThis isn’t about me.” I was scrambling, trying to deflect those piercing eyes away from me. ”Daniel is responsible for his own life, his own grades.” I tossed the pages onto the table. ”This isn’t my fault.”
    My father seemed to sag, condense just a little more. ”No, it’s mine. I couldn’t stop you, and you won’t stop him. But we had a bargain, and I keep my promises.”
    He began to walk away.
    â€œKarl…” Mom’s voice was a shock in the room. It ignited me.
    â€œDon’t call Kruse,” I blurted.
    Dad stopped but didn’t turn around.
    â€œDaniel can still improve,” I said. ”There’s a semester left.”
    â€œI am done talking to That One.”
    â€œSo let me talk to him! Give me a week. I’ve got a week. We’ll…go camping.”
    My brother tried to cut in — the guitar man hated camping, too — but I rolled right over him.
    â€œMaybe you’re right. Maybe it’s my fault. So just let me try this,” I pleaded