Page 2 (1/2)

But e ot out of the car and followed after Kyle He was long out of sight, but I knehere he was going There was a spot on ridge on the other side of Mr Ennis’s cornfield where we hung out a lot You could see our town fro of the creek and the dark swath of the forest

Kyle was halfway up the huge lightning-blasted pine that crowned the ridge There was a long, thick branch about twenty feet up, easy to cliether, his back to the trunk, my back to his chest I stood on the branch beneath Kyle, waiting He hooked his foot around the branch, reached down lifted me like a doll and set nificance, suddenly I could feel his heart ha hard and se

I leaned my head back on his shoulder and looked at hiolden in the late afternoon sun His broere knitted together, his jaw clenched hard He was pissed, still

“Kyle…talk to lanced at me, then slid his eyes closed and turned away As if it hurt to look atelse, for you, tell ainst the tree “I don’t know, Nell I—yeah, I rew up together, right? We spend all this tiether, and we tell people that’s all we are, but…”

“But what?” I felt

He took a lock of ers and twisted it “What if there was ether?”

“Why not?”

I felt a rush of anger “Why not? Are you fking serious, Kyle? That’s the answer you giveover and lowered myself to the next branch down

In seconds, I was out of the tree and running through the cornfield I could hear Kyle behindfor me to wait, but I didn’t Home was only a mile away at that point, so I ran I threw openlass I heard the s the floor,I’d held it together that long, but in the sanctuary of , sweetie?” My mom’s voice on the other side of the door, concerned and sweet

“I don’t…I don’t want to talk about it”

“Nell, open up and talk to me”