Free Flight of Life (Essence Series #1) by E. L. Todd

was his family. Knowing he was
responsible for the damaged camera and Hawk’s childish behavior
made him angry. It wasn’t fair.
    “ You are both dismissed,”
Uncle Scott said.
    The both got up and headed up the
stairs to their room. Calloway left the bedroom and walked to the
bathroom down the hall and stopped when he heard voices.
    “ I’ll have to get a job,”
Aunt Grace whispered. “It’s the only way we’ll make rent and buy
groceries.”
    Uncle Scott sighed. “I really don’t
want you to do this,” he said. “I can pick up some extra
shifts.”
    “ No,” she said quickly.
“You already work all the time. I can’t expect you to do
that.”
    “ Well, I know how hard it
for you to stay on your feet.”
    “ It’s just for now,” she
said. “We have to do this.”
    Uncle Scott was quiet for a moment.
“Okay,” he said. “We don’t have a choice.”

Poverty Boy #2
    The alarm woke Calloway before sunrise.
He stumbled out of bed and dressed himself in the dark, not wanting
to wake up his cousin with the brightness of the overhead lamp.
After he brushed his teeth and grabbed a snack from the
refrigerator, he rode his bike through the winter morning toward
the campus down the street.
    Calloway’s hands were numb even though
they were covered in thick gloves to protect his skin, and his body
was shaking from the intense cold. He pedaled his bike harder to
keep his body warm. He locked his bike when he reached the campus
and walked into the library an hour before school
started.
    The librarian stared at him from across
the room, making sure he wasn’t eating, and then looked back at her
computer. Calloway caught her glancing at him every now and then,
paranoid that he was going to eat at the computer station, but he
tried to ignore her perpetual looks.
    He logged onto the computer and
searched for part time jobs that were student friendly. After
listening to the conversation he heard last night, he knew he had
to find employment. He couldn’t let his aunt pay for his mistake.
He refused to let that happen. He finally found an opening at a
nearby sandwich shop and he printed out the application to fill out
later. The librarian marched over to him and saw that he was
searching for a work position.
    “ The computers are for
academic use only,” she snapped. Her eyes looked larger than he’d
ever seen them. He wasn’t sure why she was so adamant about
enforcing the rules with such a vicious attitude and it was
starting to irritate him. He held back his anger and humored her.
“I apologize,” he said. He typed on the computer and pulled up the
SAT website then looked back at her. “It won’t happen
again.”
    She marched away and Calloway could
hear the sound of her heels echo against the ground. He grabbed the
application from the printer before she could confiscate it and
shoved it into his backpack. Calloway explored the website and
clicked on the registration link. There was a schedule of upcoming
test dates before the deadline for college applications and he
chose the exam scheduled for next week, but when he selected the
date they asked for the payment information and Calloway sighed in
frustration. He refused to ask his aunt and uncle for the money but
he had no one else. Calloway assumed he could pay for the exam on
the day of the test.
    Calloway glanced at the clock and saw
the time. School was about to begin. He logged out of the computer
then left the library, walking to his English class in the
classroom building. Just as he suspected, Beatrice completely
ignored him when he walked in. She didn’t look at him or
acknowledge him in any way. It seemed like she hated him for what
he’d done. He assumed she refused to talk to him because she didn’t
want to be seen conversing with a school loser. The thought angered
Calloway but he ignored the ferocity coursing through him,
remembering that he would have done it whether she appreciated it
or not.
    Calloway saw the students place