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"Rebecca was curious But that’s it so far"

"Rebecca? Curious? Now there’s a shocker"

"She said next ti with us"

"I’m not sure Ben would let us inside his Mercedes We’d have to take our shoes off first"

This one time, ent over to Ben’s house and he asked all of us to take off our shoes before we came inside Justin and I found that hysterical "Doesn’t he know that our socks are much nastier than our shoes?" Justin asked It beca to Rebecca," Ihis lips I relax

I go and get my lunch, and when I come back, Rebecca and some other friends are at the table, so Justin and I are part of the big conversation instead of having our own When the bell rings, I ask hi after school, and he says no, he has to work He says it like I should have his work schedule et sends the email to him, not me

I do not point this out Instead, I remind myself that I am lucky I don’t have to work yet I remind myself that Justin hates his job I remind myself that yesterday was all about a choice, but not every day allows us tois that when he had a chance, he chose ain

He textsday

I text him back one word

Yeah

Patterns The next day, I think about patterns Or, really, I think about ups and downs I am used to ups and downs Monday, ere at the beach, was an up I can see that

But now--it’s neither an up nor a down It’s like we’ve disappeared from the chart

He’s not one passive

I don’t understand And there’s no one to talk to about it Not Justin Every time I mention the beach, it’s like it never happened Not Rebecca If I told her ht sound crazier than it really is Not my mom She and I don’t talk about ups or downs, as a way of not having the for But I have no one to fight, so I turn on s

But I seeination now

Chapter Three

Thursday I get to school first and wait for him I don’t think that much about it It’s just what I do

"Jesus, Rhiannon," he says when he gets out of the car I step aside as he pulls out his bag and slams the door