Page 39 of Let's Pretend I'm Okay

“So what’ll it be? I have some premium H2O out of the tap or some luxury, one of a kind, store-brand apple juice that’s been in our fridge for an unknown amount of time.”

I suck in a breath. “Wow, so many options.”

“For real.”

I smile. I like Olive’s humor. It reminds me of Annie. “Water is fine.”

She takes a glass from the cabinet, fills it up, then walks it over to me. “So what do you need to talk to Daniel about? It must be important if you came all the way here.”

I scratch the back of my neck. “Well, it’s kind of a long story. I need him to do something for me, but I know he’ll say no. So before I ask him, I’m trying to do something nice for him. Think of it kind of like a trade. The problem is he won’t tell me what he wants.”

Olive scrunches up her nose when she laughs. “I can imagine.”

“Maybe you can help,” I say. She lives with him, after all. She must know something that could help me.

“How?”

“Tell me a little bit about him. Maybe it’ll give me some ideas.”

“Well, I don’t know him very well to be honest. We’re second cousins, and we didn’t ever do things together growing up. He also doesn’t do or say much, which doesn’t help. His grandma is in a nursing home, though. She has dementia. He used to live with her before he came here. That’s pretty much all I know.”

I didn’t expect him to have such a rough background. His anger starts to make a little more sense. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to have my grandparents go through that. “What about his parents?”

Olive looks at her feet. “His mom died when he was little.”

My heart sinks. I love my mother so I can only imagine how hard it was for him to grow up without one. “What about his dad?”

She shrugs. “That’s kind of the family mystery. No one knows who his dad is.”

Despite the heaviness of this new information, the wheels in my brain start turning. If I were him, I would’ve done everything possible to solve that mystery. “Has he ever tried to find his dad?”

“Like I said, we don’t talk much.”

There’s a thud a second before the door across from us flies open, and Daniel runs out. His face is bright red, and he grabs my wrist, pulling me away.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

DANIEL

“Hey!” she says, trying to get out of my grip.

How in the world did I attract such an annoying and clingy girl? When have I ever done anything to encourage her to talk to me, let alone follow me home? This isn’t normal. I’m good at getting people to leave me alone. I’m scary and rough. I don’t even smile.

Is it because I didn’t do that annoying assignment from science class? Would she really go this far to make sure she got a good grade? Wouldn’t it be easier for her to do the assignment herself rather than go to all this effort to make me do it? Nothing makes sense.

“We were talking,” Olive says.

“And now you’re done,” I reply.

“Let go,” Margo says. She tries to shake me off, but my grip is too strong. She’s going outside whether she wants to or not.

As soon as we make it through the door, I shut it. I face her full-on, tugging on my hair.“I swear every time I turn around,you’re there.” I gesture wildly into the air. “Why are you doing this to me? Is it because of the ridiculous homework I tore up? Because if it is, then that’s low. I’ve had it up to here with you”—I motion to my neck—“and the last thing I need is to have you following me around like a pathetic, lost dog!”

Her eye twitches. “I’m doing this because I need something from you!”

“What? Tell me why you’re doing this!” I’ll give her whatever she wants at this point if she agrees to leave me alone.

She crosses her arms. “I need something from you, and I know you won’t do it unless I do something for you first.” She gestures toward me. “There. Happy now?”

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