found out he was a no-good, lying
edroom carpet like a collapsed Jenga tower
rawed Capri Sun, but Mei swatt
ecial," she wailed.
ng on top of her peach JanSport backpack-suede bott
night black. The perf
n the room. Matching the fu
end, bawling her e
book
ately for his parents, the only expe
ring-his signature flip. Globs of gel plastered into auburn stra
-if you ignored the fumes strong enough to evacuate a smal
-Out, which he passed around like contraband. He'd snicker with his boys as t
emic laziness. He'd scribble formulas on the side of his Chuck Taylors, then, w
making his mo
the artist of our class, and the girl who could belt out every Avril
ine, an
fered a twinge of jealousy when Mei returned with
f they wer
math class, to remind every other girl
set. The metal band was thin, already a little tarnished, lea
-but mostly, it just turned black when you were col
l dying to
nding. "There's onl
d on a so
oice. "We have
e reached for her Gelly
"I don't know... t
t us no
wn grave,"
ut
ei, he gave anothe
Clai
avorite
it to Bri
els finally turning. Her e
do we
relics of middle school survival rained down-mechanical pencils, a spiral notebook covered in doodl
w it. The
kpiled-notes, tiny folded-up pieces of lined notebook paper,
it, bracing
eks. I glanced at my pastel pink Baby-G watch, it's chunky silicon band snug around my wrist.
out a fol
the most monotone v
wha
mu
ss is boring
cool
had some amazing conv