Page 58 of Every Broken Thing

Our words faded into the shadows, and we listened to Ronnie and Ben snore for a long time.

“They were from my school,” she said at long last. “Those kids at the mall. They go to my school. I came back from the summer with a new name, and they use it like a slur.”

“That’s fucked up.” I took her hand and squeezed. “Is your family supportive?”

Her laugh cut through the darkness, sharp and bitter. “My dad’s trying; I know he is. But he’s the youth pastor at our church, and there’s expectations, you know?”

Nothing I could say would make it better, so I remained quiet.

“Mom pretends that nothing’s different, like I’m invisible. She doesn’tseeme, so I’m this ghost of her son instead of her living, breathing daughter.”

“I’m so fucking sorry,” I said, twining our fingers together. She squeezed until my bones protested, but I didn’t let her go.

She hummed, a warm smile curling the edges of her mouth. “Huh, Ben was right about you.”

“About what? That I’m not nice?” I demanded, thinking back on Ben’s swim meet and his warning for me to be nice to Esther.

Turning her head into the bedding, she muffled a laugh. “No, I meant your good heart.”

“What?”

She shrugged. “He said that you’re a little prickly on the outside, but that you have a good heart. And he’s right. I see why he likes you.”

The words burrowed into my chest, adding fuel to the fire crackling there. “I don’t,” I said, because it was the truth.

Her responding smile was sad. “Because he sees what I see.”

“What do you see?” I whispered, almost afraid of the answer.

“Your soft, gooey center,” she said, and I snorted.

“If this is your way of offering to lick my Tootsie Pop, I’m gonna stop you right there. I don’t like girls.”

I chuckled quietly as she playfully punched my chest. “Shut up.”

We shared hushed laughter until it faded away, the room falling once more into silence only broken by snores. Except the atmosphere had changed because there was only one person snoring now.

And it wasn’t Ben.

A few hours later,I followed Ronnie and Esther to Ronnie’s car, rubbing the exhaustion from my eyes. Ben walked beside me, his elbow brushing mine with every step.

Before I could crawl into the Neon’s backseat, Ben said, “You’re still coming to the party tomorrow, right?”

Oh, right. Alice’s party.

I grimaced, but Ben’s eyes were pleading, and I was clearly a sucker for him. So I said, “Yeah, I’m coming. Someone’s gotta protect your virtue.”

He rolled his eyes but still smiled in victory. “Cool. Be at Kim’s around eight, then.”

“I’ll be there.”

As Ronnie drove me home, I stared out the window, watching naked trees stretching their limbs to the gray sky.

“Are you coming to the party?” I asked Esther as Ronnie pulled into my driveway.

She shook her head. “I’m not really allowed to go to those kinds of parties.”

“Neither am I. That’s why I lied and told my dad I was staying the night at Kim’s.”

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