Impact by James Dekker Read Free Book Online

she seeing someone?” Mark said.
    â€œNo. Someone told me that she broke up with her boyfriend before she transferred to our school.”
    â€œSo what’s the problem?” Mark said.
    â€œWhy don’t you just ask her out?”
    â€œWhat if she says no?”
    â€œWhat if she says yes?”
    â€œWhat if she laughs at me?”
    â€œWhat if she doesn’t?” Mark said. “And why would she laugh at you anyway? You’re a good-looking guy. Maybe not as gorgeous as your big brother, but you’ll do.”
    When I didn’t laugh, he said, “Seriously, Jordy. If you like her and you want to be with her, ask her out. The worst thing that could happen is she’ll say no. So what? You can’t win all the time. But I’ll tell you what—for sure you can’t win if you don’t play. Ask her.”
    I couldn’t sleep that night. I kept going over and over in my mind what I would say andwhat she would say. What if I couldn’t get the words out? What if I started asking her and then her girlfriends showed up? What if she said no—then what would I say? What if she
did
laugh at me?
    I saw her the next day at her locker. I told myself I could do it. I sucked in a deep breath. I ran through what I was going to say. I started to walk to her locker.
    Her girlfriends showed up, and I chickened out.
    I didn’t see her for the rest of the day.
    â€œSo?” Mark said that night. “Did you ask her?”
    I knew he would think I was totally pathetic if I told him I’d chickened out again, so I said yes. He got me in a neck hold and rubbed the top of my head until my hair was matted.
    â€œWay to go, baby brother,” he said. “See, I told you it was easy. I knew you could do it. So I guess I’ll see you there, huh? You can introduce me to her.”
    â€œI thought you were working that day,” I said.
    â€œA guy at work has a thing on the weekend and asked me if I would switch with him. I said yes.” He grinned at me. “Way to go, Jordan. I’m proud of you.”
    He actually sounded proud, which made me feel like a total wuss. I promised myself that, no matter what, I would ask her out the next day.
    â€œJordan!”
    I turned and saw my father in the doorway of the courthouse.
    â€œThe jury’s coming back,” he said.

Chapter Eleven
    â€œI told myself that when the jury came back in, that would be the end of it,” my father reads. “I told myself that now I would be able to put the whole thing behind me.” He looks up. “I don’t mean that I would ever forget my son. I don’t mean that. But I thought that if justice were done, that would help somehow.”
    They were all found guilty, but not all of the same thing. Tony and Joey were convictedof second-degree murder. Robert and Kyle were convicted of manslaughter.
    A date was set for sentencing. The prosecutor said that we would have a chance to give victim impact statements before the judge decided how much time Tony and Joey would have to serve. Kyle turned and looked at me again that day before he was led out of court with the others.
    â€œDo you want to make a statement?” my mother asked me that night.
    â€œDo I have to?” I said.
    â€œOf course you have to,” my father said. “He was your brother. The judge will take into account what we say before he sentences those guys.”
    I looked at my mother.
    â€œNo,” she said softly. “You don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Jordan. But your father’s right. Making a victim impact statement is important. This whole time, ever since Mark died, everyone has seen those four boys, but no one has seen Mark. Everyone has talked about how Mark died and what those four boys did.But nobody really got to see Mark, what kind of person he was, how important he was to his family. This is our chance to let people see