Friends Forever Read Online Free

kids did, and were well aware of the experimentation with marijuana and booze among kids Kevin’s age. They discouraged it, but also knew what went on. They managed to be firm, protective, involved, and practical at the same time. It was a lot easier for them being Sean’s parents than Kevin’s, but Sean was a lot younger. Things were dicier at fifteen, and Kevin had always been more of a risk taker than Sean, who followed all the rules.
    Sean was doing well at school, and his best friends were still the ones he had made in kindergarten. He had gone from wanting to be a sheriff to wanting to be a policeman, then a fireman, and by eight back to the police again. He loved watching any kind of police show on TV. He wanted to keep law and order in his life and among his friends. He rarely broke the rules at home or at school, unlike his older brother, who thought they were made to be broken. They had the same parents but were very different boys. And in the three years since Sean had started kindergarten at Atwood, Mike’s business had done extremely well, and he spent a considerable amount of time with both boys, doing activities with them. He and Connie were very comfortable financially. There had been a major construction boom, and he was the contractor that people were fighting to hire in Pacific Heights. It afforded the O’Haras a very secure lifestyle, they went on nice vacations in the summer,and he had built them a beautiful lakefront house in Tahoe two years before, which all of them enjoyed. He had a background in economics, but building houses had always been what he loved. He had set up his own construction company years before, and started small. And it had become one of the most successful private contracting firms in the city, and Connie had encouraged him from the beginning.
    Marilyn Norton’s life was more hectic than Connie’s, with two young boys. Billy was eight by then. Brian was three, and had all the needs appropriate to his age, but was a quiet, well-behaved boy. The big disappointment to Larry, his father, was that Brian had no interest in anything athletic—he didn’t even like to throw a ball. At the same age, Billy had already shown his father’s love of sports, which he had inherited from him. Brian hadn’t. He could sit and draw for hours, was already learning to read at three, and had a strong aptitude for music. But Larry wasn’t interested in his achievements. If Brian wasn’t going to be an athlete, Larry had no use for him, and barely spoke to the child. It infuriated Marilyn and was often the spark that set off a fight, particularly if Larry had too much to drink.
    “Can’t you just talk to him?” Marilyn said, looking unhappy, and inevitably raising her voice. “Just say something to him, for five minutes. He’s your son too.” She was desperate to have Larry accept him, and he just wouldn’t.
    “He’s
your
son,” Larry said angrily. He hated to be called on it. Billy was his boy, and they had so much more in common. Billy shared his father’s dream for him, he wanted to play pro football, it was the only career goal he ever talked about. He didn’t careabout firemen or policemen. He just wanted to play sports. But Brian was a quiet, serious, less outgoing child. He was small, and didn’t have his father’s and brother’s talent for athletics. Billy played baseball and soccer at school, and Larry went to all his games. He cheered them when they won, and gave Billy hell when they didn’t. He said there was never an excuse to lose a game. His father’s exuberance and tough demands made Brian uncomfortable around him and even scared him, but it didn’t faze Billy.
    Larry’s business had been growing too, but his success just seemed to add more stress to their lives instead of less. He was home less often, and he stayed out later when he spent the evening with clients. And most of his clients were professional basketball, baseball, and football players now. Larry