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"Sohey, what are you guys up to?" Lucy arched her eyebrow at Ritchie

"You knohat? Neveraway

When Ritchie was finally gone, Lucy squeezed David’s hand

"So, do we have a deal or what?"

"A deal?"

"Are you going to just enjoy yourself tonight? The world’s not going to end if you have a little fun" David took in the auditoriu a bad ti lines here, why didn’t they all the time? He wondered if the school could ever be like this every day

"All right," he said He turned to her "Deal" Lucy jumped and clapped her hands She pulled him over to a concession stand that served juice To compensate for their s as once reserved only for their own drop parties: their homemade apple juice hooch

"Two cups, please"

Lucy slid two tickets across the table, and the Geek at the stand served up two tin cans full

Lucy raised her can up to David’s

"To a great night," she said

"You drink?" David said

"Not really, but if I’uess I can’t be a hypocrite"

David liked that He raised his tin can

"To a great night," he said, and they each took a swig It burned going down

"WHOOF!" Lucy yelped She had to cover her ers and did a little dance to help it go down She finally ed and crumbled into David "What is in that stuff?"

"Good old-fashioned moonshine, mixed with apple juice"

"Moonshine? Is Huckleberry Finn in Varsity?" David laughed

"Yeah,it on the bus to celebrate after ay gaar and yeast, and you distill it, I think If Varsity can do it, it ar, yeast, and fire I can’t feel ," David said, and took another swig

The juice made him buoyant Anxiety slipped away David reached out to take Lucy’s arood in his ar blur The colors, the sparklers, the flah was fast and childlike She had one pointy tooth that only shohen she sraze the inside of his wrist They sharedperformers interacted with the crowd in spontaneous draame booth run by art Geeks, kids could pay one ticket to take whacks at papier-mâché sculptures of soldiers in haz-mat suits David demolished one as Lucy cheered They stus to dance perfor-mances to poetry slah the auditoriu everyone to their seats

David and Lucy were ushered to the best seats in the place, a gift frohts went down, Lucy slid her fingers between his The curtain parted, and the stage lit up Zachary took the stage to begin the school’s

David was surprised to discover that Zachary was a fine actor His grandiose personal flourishes didn’t exist onstage

He was completely in character He was Paul, a nor Paul went to the grocery store; he read a book; he walked his dog David understood why McKinley students never tired of dipping into Paul’s world It was a world with no threats, no danger, nothing but real-world leisure and everyday chores, the things that they ached to be bored by again

He let hie

Paul was David David was Paul And nothing mattered any room, then in Paul’s backyard, under the open sky

"Lucy," David whispered

"Yes, David," Lucy said, her head on his shoulder

"Is there anything between you and Will?" Her head lifted up