Page 5 of Good Half Gone

I finished loading my books into my backpack and slammed my locker, making them both jump. I gave Piper a look, and we started walking. It was three o’clock on a Friday, the bell had rung, and it wasn’t raining. We could make it home dry if we hurried.

“Why would I want to hang out with your cousin’s friend?”

Dupont shrugged like he didn’t really care, but I could tell that wasn’t the case.He was stuck to Piper’s side, hedging her like I’d seen him do on the basketball court.

“Shouldn’t you be at practice?” I asked. He ignored me.

Chris Dupont was a hustler in a beanie. Piper felt comfortable giving him an attitude because she was higher on the food chain; if she didn’t laugh at his jokes, no one would. I, on the other hand, was afraid of him. He had a way of knowing your weakness and using it against you.

“Stop acting like you’re too good for people, Piper, damn! You want to hang out with him, trust me. He’s a senior. Not at this school…”

I rolled my eyes, anticipating how long this would take. I’d skipped lunch to finish my algebra homework, and I was hungry.

“Pipe, let’s go,” I nagged, tugging on her arm. Her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She took it out, frowning at the screen. For a moment, her face looked so distraught, I wanted to ask her what was wrong. My hand was still on her arm, and she shrugged it off, annoyed. I felt stupid. She’d been like this with me lately—vague…distant.

“Who’s your cousin’s friend?” My sister looked pointedly at Dupont. “And how exactly does this creeper know me?”

She started walking, long rose-gold waves bouncing against her back. I kept mine short and used gel to mat it down—which made my hair look darker than hers. We launched after her like minnows, darting through bodies to keep up. I looked over at Dupont resentfully, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Come on, Piper, everyone knows you. At all the schools. Before you danced for Jesus, you danced for us!”

That earned him a scalding look. Piper quickened her pace, but he slid into step beside her, knocking me out of the way. I harrumphed but hung back while he finished his appeal.

“I didn’t know you were matchmaking now,” she smarted without looking at him. I was endlessly impressed by how cool she was without even trying. How did we share a womb?

We were fifteen feet away from the door and freedom. I could practically taste my sandwich…

“He’s on the Wildcats football team, but that is all I’m saying.”

That’s all he had to say. Piper was interested. I stepped over someone’s lunch, bologna and mayo ground into the concrete. She was barely fifteen, but she had a definite type. Lately, my formerly boy-crazy sister’s type had been Jesus.

The school was behind us now; we walked with the flow of traffic, me holding the straps of my backpack as I trailed them.

“Why can’t he ask me himself?” Her voice was different—Dupont owned her in that moment. He seemed to know it too because he danced around, giving her the finger until she pinched him playfully on the arm. He had her full attention.

“Ouch! Okay! I’ll tell you!” he said, laughing. “His parents took his phone away, that’s all I know. He saw you at the game and asked about you.”

“What game?” I heard her ask, though she knew exactly which one. Piper liked that the chase was her game.

“His last name is Crimball.”

Dupont had just dropped her crush’s name, and she looked bored. Piper had no reaction. I had to give it to her, girl was hard-core.

“Why would I want to meet him?”

Dupont started laughing. He bent over like one of those dancing sock puppets and slapped his knee twice before straightening up. “Because every bitch in that school would spread for Crimball.” Lifting his arms straight up, he twisted his torso left, then right, then left again. His back cracked, and I frowned. He was right, but Piper was a sophomore and Matt was a senior. My sister was beautiful but so were plenty of juniors and seniors.

“I have to give him an answer,” Dupont said. “Don’t shoot the messenger… How about Saturday?”

We stopped at a red light as Piper considered this. “Oh, all right then, I guess I can.” She looked back at me like I was her personal assistant.“We were going to the mall anyway, remember? I guess we could say hey or whatever…”

I nodded dutifully. There were spicy pickles in the fridge, I could use the leftover roast beef from dinner and—

“Awesome,” Dupont said. He smiled at Piper, shot an air gun at me, and shuffled off to go hustle someone else.

“We were going to see a movie,” I said as the light turned green. I’d been waiting to see that movie for weeks, and Piper promised she’d go with me.

“Not anymore,” Piper shot back. I recognized the look on her face and knew I was fucked.

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