Beastly by Alex Flinn Page B

is darkness – people who live in darkness.” I kept wiggling my fingers at Pilot. The dumb dog didn’t come.
    “Perhaps if we discussed the books. Do you have any questions about –”
    “That Oscar Wilde guy – was he gay?”
    “See? I knew you’d have some keen insights, something clever to contribute to –”
    “Don’t screw with me, Will. So was he?”
    “Rather famously so.” Will jerked on Pilot’s harness. “That dog is not going to come to you, Adrian. He is as disgusted with you as I am, lying in bed in your pajamas at one in the afternoon.”
    “What makes you think I’m in my pajamas?” I was.
    “I can smell you. The dog certainly can. And we’re both disgusted.”
    “Okay, I’ll get dressed in a minute. Happy?”
    “I might be – particularly if you took a shower.”
    “Okay, okay. So tell me about Oscar Wilde.”
    “He was put on trial after he had an affair with the son of a lord. The young man’s father said that Wilde had enticed his son into the relationship. He died in prison.”
    “I’m in prison,” I said.
    “Adrian…”
    “It’s true. When you’re a kid, they tell you that it’s what’s on the inside that counts. Looks don’t matter. But that’s not true. Guys like Phoebus in The Hunchback, or Dorian, or the old Kyle Kingsbury –
    they can be scumbags to women and still get away with it because they’re good-looking. Being ugly is a kind of prison.”
    “I don’t believe that, Adrian.”
    “The blind guy has insights. You can believe it or not. It’s true.” Will sighed. “Adrian, can we return to the book?”
    “The flowers are dying, Will.”
    “Adrian. If you don’t stop sleeping all day and let me tutor you, I will quit.” I stared at him. I knew he was mad at me, but I never thought he’d leave.
    “But where would you go?” I said. “It must be hard for you to find jobs when you’re… I mean, you’re…”
    “It is hard. People think you can’t do things, and they don’t want to take a chance. They think you’re a liability issue. I once had a guy at an interview say, ‘What if you tripped and injured a student?
    What if the dog bit someone?’”
    “So you get stuck tutoring a loser like me.”
    He didn’t nod or say yes. He said, “I studied hard so that I can work, so I wouldn’t have to be supported by someone else. I can’t give that up.”
    He was talking about my life. That’s what I was doing, living off Dad, would always do if I couldn’t figure out a way to break the spell.
    “You gotta do what you gotta do,” I said. “But I don’t want you to leave.”
    “There’s a solution. We can go back to our regular tutoring sessions.” I nodded. “Tomorrow. Not today, but tomorrow. I have something I need to do today.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “Yes. Tomorrow. I promise.”

    7
    I knew my days of being able to go out in the world were dwindling. As it got colder, my wearing a coat seemed less weird, less homeless-looking. More than once recently, someone had started to make eye contact, and it had been only my quick reflexes that allowed me to turn away fast enough, so when the stranger looked again, they saw only my back and thought my monster face was just a figment of their imagination. I couldn’t take chances like that. I began to go out later, when the streets and subways were less crowded, when I was less likely to be caught. But that didn’t satisfy me. I wanted to be part of the life of the streets. And now there was my promise to Will. I couldn’t stay up all night and still study the next day. And I couldn’t let Will leave.
    It would be a long winter. But today, I knew I could go out without fear. It was the one day of the year that no one would look twice at me. Halloween.
    I’d always loved Halloween. It had been my favorite holiday since I was eight years old, and Trey and I had egged Old Man Hinchey’s apartment door because he hadn’t signed up for building-wide trick or treat – and got away