Page 27 (1/2)

Prologue

With my eyes closed, I could feel every stone, every buhtly to forround

The board, the ground andto lose

I heard the dribble of the basketball and silence for a second, then the ball bouncing off theloose gravel around on the half-court we’d been co to since ere kids I openeddown, and then finally coame of Skateball Instead, I sat on the bench; shoulders sluht that’d just been dumped on them

“What’s wrong?” he asked, sitting down next to me

He’d been my best friend since I could remember, so of course he could tell Orit I looked down at the board beneathjust to ju alone

Alone with justof the wheels

“Natalie says she pregnant”

Hunter’s foot landed on the nose of“Josh?”

I heard the weariness in his voice, but I didn’t look up I didn’t want to see what his eyes would convey Probably pity

“What are you going to do?” he asked

I shrugged “She just dropped the news on me and told me to leave—that she didn’t want my input on her decision”

“That’s bullshit”

I shrugged again “I didn’t knohat else to do so I gave her what she wanted”

“What do you want to do?”

“Not think about it”

“You can’t ignore it”

I lifted aze, but still avoided his “I don’t want to think about it because I don’t want to haveand she chooses the opposite”

“I’hed Because really? What the hell else could I do? He added, “I didn’t even know you were having sex”