Page 118 (1/2)

“Dad’s gonna kill you,” Lee repeats Then he turns and looks at ?”

I give him one short look, then slowly nod

Lee lumbers over to an old thrown-out chair and drops into it like it isn’t covered in dust and cobwebs twisting around the legs “I heard you and Vann broke up That true?” He scratches a spot on his head “You guys actually, like, ended things?”

I shrug “I don’t really know, to be honest Still in the air”

“Huh” Lee keeps scratching at his head then inspecting his fingers “I guess he was bad after all, huh?”

I don’t even have the energy for intelligent banter Maybe Lee is the perfect coht now Siht “He wasn’t all bad”

“Wish I went to the Strongs for Halloween Then I would have seen Vann kick Julio’s ass”

“Wasn’tYou didn’t miss much”

“Huh Still, never liked that Julio guy”

I shrug “I feel like Vann should have kept his teo at him like that”

“Thought you guys were all in love or somethin’”

“I don’t knoe were”

“Huh” Lee lets the chair spin as he peers at each wall, his eyes weirdly alight “Remember when Mom and Dad used to take us to that beach town every su Is that what this is? The beach town? Is that what you painted?”

“Maybe That was so long ago We must’ve been … what, ten?”

“Nine, ten, I guess” He picks at his nails “I wanna go again”

I study Lee’s face as he fidgets with his fingers The e’re talking right noe used to talk before puberty hit and we both got weird and all these tensions that didn’t exist suddenlyto h forlist of names