Impact by James Dekker Read Free Book Online Page A

that, to let them know what those boys did when they killed Mark, to get them to understand what a terrible thing it was for the people who loved Mark.”
    I looked down at the floor. After a while my mother said, “I know how shy you are, Jordan. I also know how much you miss your brother. If you don’t want to stand up in front of everyone and talk about it, it’s okay. Really.”
    My father sat at the dining room table that night and wrote out what he wanted to say. My mother curled up on the couch in the living room with a big pad of paper and wrote what she wanted to say. I went up to my room to think.
    My mother was right. I was shy. If I were the one who had died, Mark wouldn’t have hesitated. He would have made a statement. But Mark was Mark, and I was me. Mark could do a lot of things I couldn’t. For example, Mark could ask a girl out and notworry about whether she was going to say no. I couldn’t.
    I lied to Mark about asking the new girl out. But I had another plan. I decided I would go to the football game anyway. I would look for her when I got there, and if she was alone, I would go and sit with her.
    The whole night before the game, I thought about what I would say to her. Maybe I’d ask her if she followed professional football and, if she did, what her favorite team was. Maybe I’d ask her about her old school and about what she thought of my school. When I thought about it, there was always plenty to talk about.
    I was nervous when I started around the athletic field to the bleachers. What if she was with a bunch of her new girlfriends? What if—
    Then I spotted her. She was halfway up the bleachers, right near the middle. She wasn’t with her girlfriends. She was with a guy. She was with Mark. He was saying something to her, and she laughed. She touched his arm. She looked so happy.
    Mark spotted me and waved. I saw his eyes looking all around me, like he was looking for the girl I had supposedly asked to the game.
    I turned and ran from the field. As I ran, I spotted Kyle. He was sitting near where Mark was.
    Mark didn’t get home until late. He must have gone out with her after the game. I wondered where they had gone and what they had done. I heard him come up the stairs. He knocked on my door.
    â€œGo away,” I said.
    Instead he pushed open the door.
    â€œWhat’s the matter with you, Jordy?” he said. “Didn’t you see me at the game? I waved to you. I wanted to introduce you to someone.”
    Right. The girl he was with.
    â€œYou saw her, right?” Mark said, beaming at me. “She’s really something, huh? Her name is Shannon. She just came up to me and asked me to the game, just like that. I couldn’t believe it.”
    I just lay there on my bed. I didn’t say anything.
    I was sitting in homeroom the next morning, staring at the back of Shannon’s head. Our homeroom teacher was late coming into class, so almost everyone was talking.
    One of Shannon’s friends said, “I can’t believe how lucky you are. Mark Spencer is so hot. Do you have any idea how many girls wish they could go out with him?”
    â€œHe’s cute,” Shannon agreed. “And he’s really nice.”
    â€œAre you going to go out with him again?”
    â€œSaturday night.”
    Shannon’s friend groaned. “You’re so lucky,” she said. “Do you know how many girls are ready to claw your eyes out right now because Mark Spencer asked you out instead of them?”
    I felt like someone had punched me right in the gut.
    â€œI’m not even sure how it happened,” Shannon said. “He just came up to me and started talking. He said something about football, and I heard myself asking him if he was going to the game.” She shook her headas if she couldn’t believe it. “He said yes, and I asked him if he’d like to go with me.”
    â€œShannon,” her friend