The Ongoing Reformation of Micah Johnson by Sean Kennedy Read Free Book Online

not a good idea—”
    “Is that him?” a rough, male voice demanded.
    “Where are your parents, Micah?” Mrs. Hin asked.
    “Here!” Joanne yelled, sounding out of breath as she and Rick appeared behind their sons.
    Great. Micah tried the door once more.
    Mrs. Hin sighed and let it swing out into the room. “I guess we might as well talk this out together.”
    Micah entered the room first. Will was seated next to his father, staring at the ground and refusing to look at anybody as the room suddenly became very crowded.
    “I’m afraid there aren’t enough seats,” Mrs. Hin said.
    “Micah, honey, you take one,” Joanne said. “I don’t want you fainting after only just having awakened from a coma.” This was obviously said for the benefit of Will and his father.
    Micah rolled his eyes. “I wasn’t in a coma , Mum.” But he sat down to placate her.
    “Oh?” Joanne asked as she and Alex squeezed into the remaining chair, leaving Rick to stand. Will’s dad glared at them, one by one. “I think being knocked unconscious is pretty much the same thing.”
    “Anybody with a medical degree might not think so.”
    “So, what happened, Micah?” Mrs. Hin asked, putting an end to their argument.
    Will’s dad opened his mouth to speak, but Mrs. Hin held up a finger.
    “I’ve already heard Will’s version of events,” she said. “Let’s hear Micah’s.”
    “How can we trust anything he says?” Will’s dad glowered.
    “And your son, Danny Green, is he so trustworthy?” Rick asked.
    “Please, gentlemen,” Micah said as laid-back as he could. “I believe Mrs. Hin said it was my turn to speak.”
    At that moment Will decided to look up.
    Micah saw the panic in his eyes. It was the look of a boy who was terrified of his darkest secret being revealed. And with the dad he seemed to be blessed with, Micah could understand why. Mr. Deanes didn’t look like he’d be too welcoming of a gay son. Micah could only imagine the trauma that lay ahead for Will. This was a boy who was about to fall apart, and all the power lay in Micah’s hands.
    There was part of him that wanted to drag Will out of the closet, to punish him for harassing Micah for being exactly the same as him. The only difference was that Micah, despite all the crap he’d been through, was free to live his life. Will was trapped for the foreseeable future.
    “We had a few words on the field,” Micah said, “and I was pretty pissed at him.”
    “Can we please try and get through this without the swearing?” Mrs. Hin asked.
    What was it with principals and swearing? Swearing was nothing in comparison to laying someone out cold on the tiles, but whatever floated her boat. “Sorry. Anyway, when I got to the change room, Will was still there.” Micah was amazed at how confident he sounded. Should he be scared that lying came so easy to him? Or would it at least prepare him for a career as a used car salesman if he didn’t get drafted? “So I had a go at him.”
    Will’s head snapped up again. He was probably trying to guess Micah’s motives, but maybe he would never understand. It was like the conversation he’d had with Emma. Micah had been unwilling to think about the reasons why the other kid in his infamous outing incident let Micah take the blame for it and helped paint him as the predator. Well, there was another motive right in front of him—another scared boy with a domineering father who wanted the “perfect” son and would undoubtedly be disappointed with the one it would eventually be revealed he had.
    But he wouldn’t find that out today.
    “He shoved me,” Micah said. “So I shoved him back. Then I thought it was pretty ridiculous to be scrapping like kids, so I walked off.”
    Micah could tell his parents were staring at him, trying to figure out what his game was.
    “And how exactly did you come to be knocked out, then?” Mrs. Hin asked.
    “Well, it’s really embarrassing, but I tripped over my own feet and hit the