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"Yeah"

She sits beside me on my bed "I’m sorry"

I cry She stays with er

Christ out beside the tree and atte tiger, but I can’t muster up any of my usual enthusiasm My parents don’t ask me to help them in the kitchen, and Gen picks up the extra slack Even Hattie silently takes over s are really bad

I peek at my phone before bed and discover only twothe picture, or he’s respectingthat phrase hurts

"May I come in?" But Gen is inside before I can answer I drop the phone back between my socks and slam the drawer shut "I used a desk drawer," she says "When irlfriend broke up with me"

"Sarah broke up with you?" Now I feel awful about that, too

"Yeah Right after Thanksgiving, actually"

"Did she call you a lot afterward?"

"No" Gen gives me a sad smile "I hid my phone for the opposite reason"

"Oh I’s "Doesn’t ht?"

I sit on my bed, and she sits beside ht Strangers have often mistaken us for twins "Do you still h"

"Why’d you break up?"

She sort of laughs "Apparently, I’"

"I’m replaceable"

Gen lifts her head, hackles raised "He said that?"

"No, but it’s true He fell for me because I was there I could’ve been anyone"

"Don’t say that Why do you say things like that?"

"Because that’s what happened"

She stares at me in disbelief "You’ve always been so hard on yourself"

I stare at my hands I am hard on s before soainst you? Before someone else can break your heart? Isn’t it better to break it yourself? I thought honesty es me "Shohat’s in the tube" My head shoots up, and she shrugs "I saw him drop it off yesterday"

I can’t stop myself "How’d he look?"

"Like you’d torn out his heart and stomped on it with your tallest stilettos"

I’m a bad person I’ve hurt him I never wanted to hurt him, and so up with hi to do?" Gen asks

"I don’t know" But I shake ht It was"