Page 106 (1/2)

I nod, and for a second I can’t find my voice When I do, I sit up, so I can look at him when I promise, “I won’t”

Half Time

One

Josh

“Holy hell!” Jenna’s sto her feet on the cement bleachers beside me My hand’s pressed over my mouth Then Ezra runs into the end zone, and the whole da

“Ohup and down

“I’hs in front of us

My eyes are locked on Ezra as he runs back toward the sideline Coach Nix claps his back Sos him

I watch as he talks to two others who have their backs facing away from us and then sits on the bleachers Coach Nix puts a towel on his neck and so weird twists in my stomach

“I have never seen a high school game with numbers like this,” Jenna says

Scoreboard’s 72 v 27 — Fairplay Ezra ran the ball and scored three touchdowns all on his own I don’t kno many yards he passed for, but it had to be a ton Three or four tith of the field

Now he’s standing again, swiping a hand back through his da Marcel co him on the shoulder He sits back down Someone passes him a water bottle

“Josh” Jenna grabs my elbow “You can sit back do”

I blink at her, and she sings the first two lines of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb”

“Hellois there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me”

I laugh—it sounds fake—and she gives onna run the clock down” She claps her hands “That’s the game Your stepbrother is a superstar!” Her eyes narrow “Why do you look like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like so?” Her mouth rounds into a little “o,” and she nods She mouths, “Your dad”

I roll ht behind the ho like a maniac the whole time

“I don’t give a fuck about him He should be happy We won”

She gives me a look that says she’s not sure she believes hs “It’s going to be crazy”