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I sighed "Right noant to drown in them" I didn’t care if Madoc connected the dots or not He wouldn’t push and that’s why he was rab some food and head over in a few hours"

I twisted around when I heard the purest little ot her na up

"Why not coather supplies," Madoc suggested, but irl in ed the blanket down to the top of her ass, and her face was turned away fromup on Madoc, because ht then

Chapter 2

The next feeeks were like cave diving with a perfectly good parachute that I refused to use School, rab onto, but the only thing that got me out of the house every day was the proed ure out why the hell I still caoddamn place I wanted to be anymore The hallere always crammed with people but still seemed empty

My appearance was shit, too My left eye was purple, and I had a cut across ht that I didn’t remember Plus, I’d torn the sleeves off of , because I couldn’t breathe

Not really sure what I was thinking, but it seemed to make sense at the time

"Mr Trent, don’t sit down," Mrs Penley ordered as I strolled into class late Everyone was already seated, and I stopped to look at her

I liked Penley about as much as I liked anyone, but I couldn’t hide the boredom that I was sure was all over my face

"Excuse hed, knowing exactly what that color meant

She handed me the paper "You heard me Go to the Dean," she ordered as she stuck her pen into her high bun

And I perked up, noticing the bite to her bark

Being tardy or truant had becoh, too Most of the other teachers had already sentover my body at any possibility ofthe paper out of her hands

Hushed laughter and snorts broke out around the classroom, and Penley narrowed her dark brown eyes onaround, I tossed the pink slip into the trash and threw open the wooden door, not caring if it closed behind asps and whispers filled the air, but it was nothing new Most people veered away fro old At least to me My heart didn’t race anymore when I acted like a dick I was thirsty to up the stakes

"Mr Caruthers!" I heard Penley calling, and I turned around to see Madoc walking out of her classroom, too

"It’s that time of the ht back"

The outright laughter roared from Penley’s classroom pretty clearly this time

Madoc wasn’t like me He was a people person He could serve you a pile of shit, and you’d ask for ketchup

"You know?" He ran up beside me and jerked his thumb in the opposite direction "The Dean’s that way"

I raised ht" He shook his head as if to clear away the brainfart that I’d actually go sweat up in the Dean’s office for who kno long "So where are we going?"

I dug lasses "Does itto do with the money?" Madoc asked as he checked out his new ink

We’d blown off school and tracked down tattoo artists that didn’t ask for ID We found a place called The Black Debs-- "debs" being short for "debutantes" --which hadn’t really made sense to me until I’d looked around and noticed that the entire staff was feet tattooed without a parent’s consent, but they didn’t seem to care

Some chick named Mary had just finished "Fallen" across Madoc’s back, except the "e" was inked to look like flames Kind of looked like an "o" toquestions about whatto open a can of worht now," I answered, grunting as the needle sliced through e fund I can have it when I graduate But I was able to get so the GT to Jax"

Myme some land and a cabin near Lake Geneva in Wisconsin The cabin was falling apart, and it didn’t have any real sentireed to let some interested developers buy it She put most of the money into the bank under lock and key

I actually felt proud of her for insisting It wasn’t normal for her to make such responsible, adult decisions

But I wasn’t at all interested in going to college, either

I didn’t want to think about how things were going to change when I finished high school

My phone rang, and I silenced it

I closed round, and reveled in the sting of the needle carving into ht about s felt weightless, and the ton of shit on et addicted to this

I s myself ten years from now covered in tattoos, simply because I liked the pain

"You wanna take a look?" Aura, my tattoo artist adorned in dreadlocks, asked when she’d finished

I stood up and walked to the wallthe words on the side of my torso

Yesterday Lasts Forever Tomorrow Comes Never

The words caht The script was just illegible enough not to be easily read, and that’s what I wanted