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"Hey, I’ his face "I didn’twhy you’d practice writing essays when you said you didn’t think we’d ever get to go back to school"

He continued to stare atin his stony expression finally gave Chubs blew out the breath he’d been holding

"I’ the sheet of paper inside the briefcase, he laid it out between us "Before…before ca therandparents’ cabin to hide, and--you re policed? We had to find a way around it, especially when they started putting pressure on Moain "So you used to send book reviews?"

"I had a laptop and a feireless Internet cards," he said "We would post book reviews online It was the only e could think of to talk without the the paper so only the first coluet to you can meet anywhere name place and time missed you love you

"Oh"

"I wanted to write it out now," Chubs said "In case I can get online, but only have a few enius," I said slowly "Your whole faot a snort in response Duh

The question I really wanted to ask hi its way up my throat when he pulled a deck of cards out of his briefcase

"Want to play a few ga to be here a while"

"Sure…but I only know Old Maid and Go Fish"

"Well" He cleared his throat "We don’t have the right deck for Old Maid and, unfortunately for you, I excel at Go Fish I won the Go Fish tourna for him to deal my cards "You are a star, Chubs, a--" His nose wrinkled at the na else if I don’t know your real naton Meriwether IV, actually"

I tried to keep ht as possible Of course he would be na like that "Okay, Charles Charlie? Chuck? Chip?"

"Chip?"

"I don’t know, I thought it was kind of cute"

"Ugh Just call ured it out

It , well after several delirious gaht on by toofor the other shoe to drop, to be proven right about the other boys We kept the baseball bat beside us and never once turned our backs to the tents When exhaustion finally set in, we took turns curled up on the ground, trying to steal a few minutes of sleep here and there

I picked up Zu’s notebook again in an atte lulled to sleep by Chubs’s rhythe of doodles The pages fanned out under ain, not catching until I found what I was looking for

540

It was an area code for this part of the state, I was sure of it Grams had lived down near Charlottesville for a ti in the kitchen ofat her number printed on a notepad beside the phone But the area it covered--that was no suarantee that it was supposed to represent an area code in the first place

It was easier to think of it noithout three eager sets of eyes onon fuh ti to create anagra snuck up on h the crowded, tired portions of my brain The other number--540--where had I seen that? Why did it feel like--?