Read With Wings I Soar for Free Online Page A

fun, unwind, and get her mind off the recent events in her life. If nothing else, she wanted to pretend to be normal, just for a little while.
    Ryan stuck out his elbow for Tabitha to grab and the two giggled as they pranced down the sidewalk to Ryan's nearby house. He lived just two blocks from the school in a quiet neighborhood.
    “Mostly retired people live here,” Ryan explained as he waved to one of his neighbors. “We're actually the only family with kids.”
    Ryan lived with his mom, dad, and three sisters. His oldest sister, who was 18, had a son who also lived with them.
    “Dylan's 1,” Ryan told Tabitha as the duo entered the house. “My sister's boyfriend left her as soon as he found out she was pregnant, but Dylan's part of the family now and I can't imagine life without the little noisemaker.”
    “Noisemaker” was an accurate way to describe Dylan, Tabitha quickly discovered. She was bombarded with plenty of noise, greetings, and hugs as she stepped into the warm house. A fire burned in the corner fireplace, casting a mystical glow over the room.
    “I'm Abby,” one girl hugged Tabitha. “It's so nice to meet you.”
    A smaller girl who had two bright yellow braids trailing down her back said her name was Anna.
    Ryan's third and oldest sister, Kathy, was at work, but her son baby Dylan was at home with the girls and he toddled up to Tabitha with open arms.
    “Aw, what a cutie.” Tabitha bent down to pick up the little boy. She hugged him tightly and breathed in deeply. He smelled like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and warm milk. His hands were sticky as he hugged her momentarily before wiggling away with a snarky giggle.
    “He loves new people,” Abby offered with a grin before she left to follow the toddler.
    “We babysit after school,” Anna told Tabitha. “Kathy has to work so we help out with the little guy. It's pretty fun and it's good practice for when we grow up and have kids.”
    “Yeah, but that had better be a long time down the road,” Ryan joked.
    “Yeah, yeah. I know. No dating 'til I'm 30. You already told me.”
    “How old are you now?” Tabitha asked.
    “I'm 12 and Abby's 14, almost 15.”
    “Oh, I didn't realize we were the same age.”
    “Yeah, but you're probably more mature than Abby,” Anna said with a laugh.
    “Hey!” Called Abby from the adjacent room. “I heard you!”
    Anna erupted in giggles and scurried to the other room to chat with her sister.
    “Let's get out of here,” Ryan grabbed Tabitha's hand and led her down a flight of carpeted stairs to the basement. The family room was large and comfortable. Two large couches sat in the center of the room facing a large television. Board games were piled and tossed around the room. Several large bookshelves lined the walls and were filled with all kinds of textbooks and novels. Ryan grinned at Tabitha's excited reaction to the books.
    “Impressed? I thought you might be. You did tell me you were kind of a bookworm.”
    Tabitha smiled warmly and dropped her backpack to the floor before examining the bookshelves. There was an entire bookcase full of Nancy Drew and Hardy Boy mysteries. Another bookshelf held books entirely in foreign languages. Yet another bookcase offered textbooks and workbooks.
    “Leftover from when we were home schooled,” Ryan explained. “Plus, my dad just loves to read. He went back to college a few years ago to get his Master's degree and instead of selling his books at the end of each semester, he just saved them down here.”
    “What do your parents do?”
    “Dad's an accountant. My mom works at a bookstore.”
    “That's cool. She must like that since you guys love to read.”
    “Yeah, she gets a discount so it seems like most of her paycheck goes toward financing her reading habit.”
    The two laughed for a moment before Ryan motioned Tabitha to one of the couches.
    “Have a seat and I'll grab us a couple of drinks before we start studying.”
    Tabitha allowed her body to