Page 35 of Catch the Sun

“I know I’m right.” I glance at him. “Besides, your life isn’t that bad. You have an awesome girlfriend. Brynn loves the shit out of you. Your grades are good, basketball keeps you busy, and you’re less than a year away from graduating and getting out of this town.”

His lips thin. “I guess.”

“Am I wrong?”

“I mean…grades don’t matter in the long run, basketball can only take me so far, and I have no real plans after graduation. I don’t know what I want to do with my life,” he says bleakly. “Brynn is a nice distraction, but she’s going to Florida State.”

I frown. “She got in already?”

“She will. She’s smart as hell and she wants to pursue criminal justice.”

Nodding, I swallow down the rest of my water and squeeze the empty bottle in my hand. “Good for her. You could follow her.”

An indifferent shrug is his reply.

I’m not sure what I was expecting out of this impromptu bonding session, but I was hopeful it wasn’t going to turn into this. I miss the relationship we used to have. I miss my twin brother who always had my back, who followed me around like I was king, and who never once looked at me with bitter, resentful eyes.

I hate what we’ve become.

Swiping my palms down my shorts, I turn to him, taking in his slumped shoulders and hollow expression. “If it makes you feel any better, I don’t have the option of leaving after graduation. As long as Dad’s alive, I’ll be here.”

A hint of sympathy glimmers back at me. “It doesn’t have to be like that. We could get out of here together. Travel, start up a business, get an apartment. Lay roots in a big city with bright lights and excitement on every corner.” Hope seeps into his words. “We could do anything, Max. See the whole fucking world if we want to. Just like we used to talk about.”

I swallow. “And Dad?”

“Dad’s made his bed.”

“He was nearly paralyzed in a freak accident.”

“And then he turned to booze instead of his family to help him through it,” McKay counters. “There’s assisted living housing, programs that can—”

“No.” I cut him off. “There’s no fucking way can we afford that.”

The hope fades, tinting his eyes to that familiar bitter gray. He stuffs his empty water bottle into his backpack. “Can’t say I didn’t try.” Before he stands from the log, he falters, his attention snagging on something above us and slightly to the left. “Is that Ella?”

I follow his stare. Sure enough, Ella is perched on the bridge again, her long hair glowing an electrifying shade of red beneath the sunlight. It matches the bike I gave her, the one currently leaning against the guardrail. I’m glad she’s getting use out of it.

For a moment, I empathize with her. She has a brother, too; one who’schanged, one she can no longer reach. I can see the weight of that burden in her eyes, the same heavy burden that I carry for McKay. It’s a different kind of struggle, but I can’t help but relate to it, anyway.

Ella is staring down at the water with two sticks in her hands. I gaze at her for a few seconds, watching the way she aligns the sticks side by side, hesitates, then lets them go. They splash into the water and she moves to the other side of the railing, her back to us. “Yeah, that’s her,” I say.

“Brynn heard from Madi what happened yesterday at lunch, so she snitched to Principal Walker. Heath has detention all week.”

“Good. He’s a prick.”

“I heard a rumor that Caulfield is also catching heat for some comments she made to Ella in class.” McKay pauses. “You see that video? When Ella was crying to the reporters?”

My defenses flare. “Her brother had just murdered two people. I’d be crying, too.”

He doesn’t say anything.

Part of me wonders if McKay is Team Everyone Else and thinks Ella is no better than her brother. And that’s shit. The poor girl hardly stood a chance after her name was smeared by the media and that video of her, at her lowest moment in life, was made a mockery of all across the internet. Only seventeen years old and she’s already a villain who committed no crime other than harboring undying love for someone who did a really bad thing.

Kids our age are fucking sheep.

Society is a cesspit.

The human race is on a downward spiral, and I’ll be damned if I contribute to the charade with a pitchfork mentality. If we’re all heading for the same cliff edge, I’d rather take the scenic route.

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