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I can’t go back to the house, but I also can’t just stand here, waiting to see Justin and Steve leave So I walk deeper into the woods, trespass e and the neighborhood glow, it’s co the trees, I realize this is as close to bodiless as I’ht Unseen Unfelt Unreal

Justin was careless withso careless with him It explains it, but it doesn’t excuse it

I lose all sense of ti called More frantic with each repetition Rebecca’s voice Preston’s Ben’s Stephanie’s Will’s

"I’ it until they find me

Chapter Thirty

I callover at Rebecca’s

Then I sleep over at Rebecca’s

The next , Will invites us back to his house for a picnic

"Are you sure he’s not just inviting Preston?" I ask It’s eleven in theand I’m not out of bed yet

"Nope," Rebecca says She’s been up for at least an hour, I’m sure "All of us Me and Ben Steve and Stephanie Will and Preston And…you Do you want to ask your Mystery Man?"

"I can’t," I say

"Come on Isn’t it time we met him?"

"I just can’t"

"What? Are you asha, but I can tell there’s a worry that it’s true

"No," I say Because the truth is that I’ better than a picnic with me and my friends A would fit in perfectly It hurts me to know this

"Then why not?"

"Because I don’t think it’s going to work out," I say "With him and me I just don’t think--"

I can’t finish the sentence, because it feels so strange to say it out loud