Kick by Walter Dean Myers Read Free Book Online

up, I was betraying them somehow. I think we need to give the kids a chance to show who they can be if they get the right support. They want to do the right thing, and sometimes they just need somebody who’s there to show them what that right thing is. They’ll still make mistakes, but maybe not the biggest ones.”
    â€œYou’re a good man, Jerry Brown,” she said.
    â€œAnd handsome, too,” I said.
    â€œI’ll leave it at good,” she answered. “And don’t put the teabag on the end table.”

Chapter 06
    I knew that Dolores would be at Christy’s house on Friday, so I headed over there after school to check things out. I just hoped that Christy’s dad wouldn’t be home. He was scary. Always mad at something, and always watching everyone like he was looking for trouble. I felt like I should try to help Sergeant Brown with his case, even though he didn’t ask me to. I felt like I had a responsibility, since he was trying to help me. The whole thing was kind of interesting, too. Maybe even the kind of thing my dad used to do.
    I felt kind of funny, though. I didn’t want Christy to get into trouble because I was helping Sergeant Brown. That wouldn’t have been right either. But what if Mr. McNamara wasn’t paying Dolores what he should have been?
    I rang the doorbell once and was about to push it again when Dolores opened the door. Yes! I’d seen her a lot more than I’d let on to Sergeant Brown. I’d known her since she’d started working for the McNamaras a few years ago, and I liked her a lot. She called for Christy, and I heard a faint voice yell “One minute” from upstairs.
    â€œHow are you, Dolores?” I asked in Spanish.
    She looked glad to see me. Dolores didn’t speak much English, so she was always happy when I went over to Christy’s house because then she had someone to talk to in Spanish. I followed her into the kitchen.
    â€œI’m fine, Kevin. How’s your family?” she asked. Dolores didn’t know my mom or grandma, but she always asked about them anyway.
    â€œThey’re doing fine—my mom is always working hard at the doctor’s office,” I answered back in Spanish. “How’s your family?”
    â€œWell, you know, it’s hard being away from them, but I do what I have to.”
    Dolores’s family lived back in San Salvador. She was trying to earn enough money here to send back to her kids, who lived with their grandma.
    â€œSo who do you live with here? You live all by yourself?” I asked her.
    â€œYes,” she said before turning sharply and crossing the small kitchen to the dishwasher.
    â€œWould you like something to drink?” Dolores asked me.
    Just then Christy came to the kitchen door.
    â€œKevin, what are you doing here?” Christy looked surprised. And worried.
    â€œLet’s go sit on the porch,” I said, walking toward the hall. “Bye, Dolores.”
    Christy flipped her light brown hair and followed me out.
    I felt really uncomfortable, and me snooping around didn’t make it any better.
    â€œHow’s your mom?” I asked, sitting down on the porch steps.
    â€œNot good,” she replied softly. She looked sad. It was the same sadness I had seen the night I was arrested.
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œIt sucks that you got arrested. How was Bedford?”
    â€œNot too bad, once you get past the terrible food, awful bed, and the gangs,” I lied.
    â€œYou didn’t . . . tell?”
    â€œNo.”
    It was weird seeing Christy after everything that had happened. Even though we were friends when we were really little. I felt so sorry for her, but I was kind of pissed off. I knew it wasn’t her fault, but it wasn’t my fault, either. And I was being blamed. Maybe my sneaking around sort of evened things out between us.
    â€œOne, two, three, Highland Raiders!”
    I was nervous as