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When Mike had his back turned to us, Liae out in front of my face, a shy smile on his lips When he dropped it in my jacket’s pocket, he leaned over, his sweatshirt hood slipping off his head, and pressed a light kiss against my bruised cheek After that, the cold trickle on my skin seemed to evaporate

"O, ow," Chubs chanted behind us "O, ow"

"You know," Mike said, "it gives h, Chubs is still the same Chubs we all know and love"

"Aw, that’s not true," Liam said "This is Chubs two-point-oh He hasn’t cried once this entire walk"

"Give hi snorted "I’m sure he won’t let us down"

"Hey," I said in a loarning tone "Not funny"

Chubs was still trailing behind, the gap between us groith each milehi left behind

"Need some help?" I asked as he limped up to me "My box isn’t too heavy" And his was, I could tell He was saddled with grapefruit

I could see in his eyes that he desperately wanted to trade, even if it was only for a few minutes Instead, he lifted his chin and said, over the cardboard flap, "I’"

Lia--even Zu looked back to grin at the how much better Liam looked after only a few hours; his face was aniy I hadn’t seen…well, ever

"What was he like?" I asked quietly "When he was in ca, he was a lot uys, we’re gonna get out one day Pollyanna shtick That’s been dying a slow death now that he’s realized just how sucky everything actually is"

He stopped to shift the box in his arms "I mean, what do you want me to tell you? Lee is Lee Everyone loved him, even some of the PSFs They picked him out of all of the Blues to be a runner for the control center of our camp"

"Yeah? And ere you like in canored, for the most part," he said "Unless I ith Lee"

As if he’d heard his na to be left behind"

Mike was in the inia after breaking out of Caledonia, when Chubs and I finally caught up to theh the trees to our left

I had been so involved in my conversation with Chubs that I had completely missed the silky blue lake that had suddenly coh overhead The water sparkled under its touch, throwing its light around the trees that lined its every side Through them, I could see I could see a small T-shaped wood dock at the other end, and, beyond that, several wooden cabins