Dumb Luck by Lesley Choyce

isolated place I go to, and sometimes have a hard time finding my way back. Especially now.”
    â€œWhy now?”
    â€œBecause I don’t have you to pull me back up.”
    â€œBut I don’t remember ever really doing anything to help.”
    â€œBut you were there.”
    I started to say something almost cruel. I was going to say that she was the one who had turned against me. She was the one who got mad because I had new friends. Instead, I sat there feeling stunned.
    â€œMost people who have never felt this way don’t understand.”
    â€œI think I’ve been there before. I used to want to hide from a lot of things.”
    â€œNot like this. All I want to do is sleep. I don’t want to get up in the morning. Nothing seems worth doing. I stay in bed and sleep. Nothing else seems to help. If I do get out of the house or go to school, I feel anxious and I still feel like I’m all alone in the world.”
    â€œBut you were never like this when we hung out together.” I was finally starting to see how bad things must be for her. And how little I understood who she really was.
    â€œSometimes I’d hide it. But usually if I was feeling crappy, you made me feel better. Remember all those times, though, that I said I was sick? Sometimes that was me just hiding from the world.”
    â€œAnd now?”
    â€œNow it’s bad. And I don’t know how to snap me out of it.”
    Out of the corner of my eye, I could see someone was walking toward us. It was Alexis, the girl Taylor thought was too smart for me.
    â€œHi, Brandon,” she said to me.
    â€œHi.”
    â€œI like that shirt,” Alexis said.
    â€œThanks.” I forgot I had on the clothes Taylor had picked out for me. My new look. Brandon, the cool one, the fashion guy. Brandon, the millionaire playboy.
    â€œYou two want to join us?” Alexis nodded to the table where she’d been sitting with a couple of other girls.
    I looked at Kayla. She looked downright scared and like she was about to cry.
    â€œNot right now,” I said. “But thanks for asking.”
    â€œCool,” Alexis said. “See you in school.”
    â€œCome on,” I said to Kayla. “Let’s get out of here.”
    As we left, I hate to admit it, but I knew what those girls at the table were thinking. What is he doing with her?
    Kayla seemed to be a little less uptight as we walked around town, the streetlights shining down through the leaves of the trees.
    â€œWhat can I do to help?” I asked.
    â€œI’m not sure you can. The old Brandon needed me as a friend. The new one doesn’t. I guess I needed to be needed.”
    â€œI’m still the old Brandon,” I said.
    â€œNo, you’re not. You’ve been taken over by your girlfriend, Taylor.”
    â€œShe’s not my girlfriend,” I said. “But she is my friend.”
    â€œYou think she’d be your friend if you didn’t have money?”
    I didn’t have to answer that. “Let’s not talk about me. Let’s talk about you. Maybe you need to see a counselor or something. I could pay for it.”
    â€œI’ve seen a shrink a few times. It hasn’t helped. He wanted to put me on medication and I read about the side effects. I don’t want to do that.”
    â€œWhat can I do then? Just let me know.”
    â€œI have an idea. Follow me.”
    So I followed her and we walked in silence down the sidewalks until we came to the park. We walked out onto the dewy wet grass until we came to a place that was very familiar, even on this dark night.
    â€œI don’t know about this,” I said.
    â€œWe won’t go very high, I promise.”
    She knew I was nervous about climbing up into a tree after my fall. But I followed her lead as she climbed up from branch to branch of a big old oak tree. She sat down on a really sturdy limb and I sat down beside her. “I feel better