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"Yeah," I said, and relad to see ol' Steve, if he hadn't

2

I was hanging out in Benny's, playing pool, when I heard Biff Wilcox was looking to kill me

Benny's was the hangout for the junior high kids The high schoolers used to go there, but when the younger kids moved in, they h kids don't have as much money to spend He couldn't do ets out, that's it

Steve was there, and BJ Jackson, and S pool with Sood pool player Smokey was hacked off because he already owed et came in and said, "Biff is lookin' for you, Rusty-James"

I missed my shot

"I ain't hidin'" I stood there, leaning onto be able to finish the gas at the same time

"He says he's gonna kill you" Midget was a tall, skinny kid, taller than anybody else our age That e called hiet

"Sayin' ain't doin'," I said

S his cue away "Biff is a mean cat, Rusty-James," he told me

"He ain't so tough What's he shook about, anyway?"

"Soet said

"Shoot, I didn't say nothin' but the truth"

I told thereed it was the truth Steve and Midget turned red

"Hell," I said "Nohy does he have to go and get shook over somethin' like that?"

I get annoyed when people want to kill , and I don't mind it so much

I went up to the counter and got a chocolate milk I always drank chocolateThat Coke junk will rot your insides This gaveproduction out of a sandwich, and he letand rush over with my chocolate milk

"So what's he doin' about it? Killin' me, I mean"

I sat down at a booth and Midget slid in across froathered around

"He wants you to meet him in the vacant lot behind the pet store"

"All right I guess he's comin' alone, huh?"

"I wouldn't count on it," S to let et about our ame

"If he's bringin' friends, I' Biff, but I didn't see any need to be stupid about it

"Yeah, but you kno that's gonna turn out," Steve put in "Everybody'll end up gettin' into it You bring people, he brings people"

Steve was always cautious about thing

s

"You think I'oin' to that empty lot by myself, you're nuts," I told him

"But--"

"Lookit, uys'll just be an audience, huh? Ain't nothin' wrong with an audience"

"You know it ain't gonna end up like that" Steve was fourteen, like me He looked twelve He acted forty He was h, so he could say stuff that I wouldn't let anybody else get aith "Dammit, Rusty-Ja time now"

He was scared it was going to end up in a gang fight There hadn't been a real honest-to-goodness gang fight around here in years As far as I knew, Steve had never been in one I could never understand people being scared of things they didn't know nothing about

"You don't have to be there," I said Everybody else had to be there to protect their rep Steve didn't have any rep He was my best friend That was his rep

"You know I'rily "But you knohat the Motorcycle Boy said about gang--"

"He ain't here," I said "He ain't been here for teeks So don't go tellin' me about the Motorcycle Boy"

BJ spoke up "But even back as ru They was allies Reers' turf"

This started a discussion on who had been jumped, when and where and why I didn't need to think about that--I had all those records straight into fight Biff, so I wasn't listening ets back--"

I jumped up and slammed my fist down on the table so hard, the table in the next booth rattled and Benny stopped whistling andtheir breath

"The Motorcycle Boy ain't back," I said I can't see good when I get"I don't knohen he's comin' back, if he's comin' back So if you wanna wait around the rest of your life to see what he says, okay But I'hta have some friends there"