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I was just about to get off my butt when my dad walked into the kitchen He helped hiainst the counter He was his regular Saturday self Hair slightly askew, unshaven, and sleep still in his eyes

He was beautiful, my dad, but we all know that beauty can hide dark and sinful things, because the reality was that my beautiful father was a snake He just hadn’t shed his skin yet

“So how’s Trevor?”

Funny His voice still held that extra bit of warle word he uttered in a blanket of nice Safe Trustworthy It was his secret weapon

Too bad it was a total lie

I shovedto come clean, whichpretend I’d thought about confronting hile day I thought no, today isn’t the day I want his lie to be real, because once his lie becomes my reality, I’d have to face a whole lot of other stuff I wasn’t ready for It was a coward’s way out, but right now, being a coas getting h life

So I took an extra o) before I answered him with the most epic answer ever

“I don’t know”

And I didn’t The truth was I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Trevor since Thursday The whole thing had been awful to watch, and thank goodness Mrs Henney had been there She’d shoved her sweater under Trevor’s head and just held hiine what Trevor had been feeling The a me to deal with all the kids who’d been there Their questions had been stupid and I left without answering any of them

“Did he, like, bite his tongue off?”

“Is he going to die?”

“I hope whatever he has isn’t contagious, like a disease or so”

“It was a seizure, wasn’t it?”

Earth to Everly Startled, I nodded

“Hmm I’ll keep him in my prayers”