screaming at me. Her room was a disaster area, as usual. Clothes everywhere, utter chaos. The exact opposite of my room.
I sat down on the only chair, the one in front of her vanity.
Marie said, talking really fast, âJonâs brother has a really cool place. This old apartment building that they made into like condos and he has roof access so heâs got it set up like for parties with a big grill and tables and chairs and stuff like a huge patio in the sky. Tracy and Maura were there and a couple of Wartâs friendsâsort of creepyâand Wartâs girlfriend, Greta. She was cool. We were on the roof. Did I say that already?â
âWhoâs Wart?â I couldnât get over the fact that my sister was talking to me, but it was weird how fast she was talking. I wondered which drugâor drugsâsheâd been taking.
âJonâs brother. Stepbrother. Itâs short for Stewart. Wart is. Heâs like a biker. He has a Harley in his living room. So cool.â
âWhatâs Wart like?â I pictured a guy with an incredibly ugly lump for a head.
âHeâs okay.â She began picking at a small scab on the back of her hand. âA little scary. Not like he
did
anything, but he seemed kind of tense. He wasnât mean to me, but he treated Jon like his slave. You know: âGrab me a beer. Do this. Donât do that. Clean that up.â I think heâs pissed that Jon had to come and live with himâprobably why he made us all leave so earlyâbut he likes having somebody to order around. He ordered Jon around a lot.â She managed to lift off the scab; a bead of blood formed. She stared at it, fascinated.
âAre you
sure
youâre okay?â I asked her.
Her eyes flicked to me, then back to the bead of blood. ââCourse I am. Iâm just, Iâm just a little wound up because of Mom being such a bitch and all. And school tomorrow, I donât have my Psychology paper done, all my jeans are in the wash, did you know Tracy got a kitten? Itâs so-o-o-o-o cute.â
I was sure she was high on something, but I knew if I said so sheâd deny it, so I just let her go on about Tracyâs kitten for a while, then circled back to Jon and his brother.
âIs it permanent? Is Jon going to stay with his brother from now on?â
âHeâs working for Wart now. I mean, I guess he always was but now itâs like full time on account of Wart is spending most of his time at BGâs and since Jonâs done with school now he has more timeââ
âWaitâJonâs officially dropped out?â
âThe only reason he was going at all was because his dad made him and now heâs kicked out so â¦â
âDid you see Shayne?â I asked.
She pushed her hair back. She had forgotten about the drop of blood on her hand; it left a red streak across her cheek. âHe gave me a ride home,â she said.
âHe did?
Shayne
was
there?
â
âTracy and I were leaving, and he just happened to be driving by.â
âHe followed you and Kyle when you left school,â I said.
âHe did?â She leaned forward. âReally?â
âMaybe he just happened to be going in the same direction.â
âHeâs a total prick, anyway. I tried to talk to him this morning and he blew me off, like heâs too cool or something. And when he gave me a ride home I thought heâd say he was sorry or something but he just dropped me off and he was like,
later
. Do you think Iâm fat?â
âI â¦huh? No, youâre not fat at all.â
She stuck out her foot. âI think I have fat ankles.â
I didnât want to get into a discussion of her ankles, so I said, âShayne blew me off too. I think he just doesnât want to make problems with Jon. You know, because Jonâs mad at him and he doesnât want it to rub off on us.â
âJon could
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