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I made a face as I read the title out loud "One Thousand Obscure Words on the SAT?"

"Better get cracking," my brother said "They’re only a couple of months away"

"Are you serious? I was just pulled out of school"

"Teot the principal to change your F in Spanish to an Inco is not a total loss You can start your SAT prep now and take them in June, just in case you want to retake in October"

I said nothing Things like grades and SATs seemed utterly alien compared to my current problems And I hated that we could talk so easily--so nor but as really going on withfrom his pen without hesitation Give Daniel an abstract probleaveI wanted to talk to you about"

He lifted his eyebrows Put his notebook down

"Don’t rabbed a notebook and a pen off ofroom I couldn’t tell my brother about my real problems because my brother didn’t believe they were real

But if I told him they weren’t real, maybe he could actually help

20

I WALKED BACK INTO THE LIVING ROOM AND GLANCED out the enorn of Noah’s car Good He’d never go for this

I sat down on the couch and positioned the spiral notebook conspicuously on my lap "So," I said to n to develop "To, uh, fictionalize ourproble is cathartic" Mom’s favorite word

My brother broke into a smile "That soundsfun?"

I raisedword"

" ‘Stupid’ would bean eye roll "They want us to work things out in a safe, creative space I don’t know"

My brother nodded slowly "It makes sense Sort of like puppet therapy for little kids"

"I don’t knohat that is, and I’lad"

Daniel chuckled "Mom told me about it once--the therapist uses a puppet to indirectly address the kid’s feelings in an is to the puppet Your assignment sounds like the teen version"

Sure "Exactly So, now I have to write this story thing about me but not me, and I need help"

"It would be my utmost pleasure" Daniel hunched forward and rubbed his hands together He was into it "So What’s your pre weird is happening to this girl"

Daniel placed his hand in his chin and glanced up at the ceiling "Fairly standard," he said "And farinned

"And she doesn’t knohat it is"

"Okay Is it so normal weird?"

"Supernatural weird," I said, without hesitation

"How old is she?"

"A teenager"