Page 14 of Broken Things

Except: she always had to be a part of everything. She alwayshad to be the center. Maybe she had to be the center of that, too.

“I live here, remember?” he says. His voice is faintly accented.

“No, you don’t,” I say. “You moved.”

“I went to school,” he corrects me. “I graduated.”

Graduated. Jesus.Graduatedis keg parties and sports trophies and a gift certificate to Bed Bath & Beyond.Graduatedis proud grandparents and tearful selfies and country songs. I wonder whether Mia graduated this year too. I think I’m still a sophomore, but I’m not totally sure. Mom always said she was reenrolling me as soon as I could prove I could stay sober for more than eight weeks. But so far, thanks to good old cousin Wade and our little arrangement, I haven’t had to.

“So what, you’re back now?” I don’t care if I sound rude. First Mia, and now Owen, all in the same day. The whole point of the past is it’s supposed to actually, you know, pass.

Owen just shrugs. “We’re selling the house,” he says. “To be honest, I’m not sure why we’ve hung on to it so long. My dad’s away on a business trip. I came back to help him get everything in order. But now...” He gestures to the tree, still poking its arms up through the wreckage, like a drowning person waving for help. “On the plus side, now you can walk straight from the kitchen into the garden. No need to use a door. I keep telling my dad we should put that in the real estate brochure.”

Something hard yanks at my stomach again. I forgot Owen was funny. I forgot so many things, like the way Mia chews the inside of her lip when she’s nervous, gnawing on it like a corncob.I didn’twantto remember.

“Sucks,” I say, and turn away from him, suddenly exhausted.

“Hey!” Owen calls me back. Now he looks hurt, and also surprised, like a middle schooler at a social who was justsurehis crush was going to ask him to dance. “I haven’t seen you—I mean, it’s been years. How are you? How have you been?”

This seems like such a stupid question that for a second I just stare at him.

“Oh, I’ve been great.” Apparently he doesn’t pick up on my sarcasm, because he starts nodding really fast, like his chin is set to overdrive. “Flipping fantastic. I graduated.” I don’t know why I lie. It just slips out.

“That’s great, Brynn,” he says. “That’s really great.”

“Yup. With honors. And a varsity frigging cheerleading jacket. Now I’m going to Harvard on a full ride. I wrote an essay called ‘The Girl Behind the Monster.’ It won a prize.”

His smile fades.

Now that I’m on a roll, I can’t stop. “Every year the town throws me a parade. You should come down next time. There’s even popcorn.”

He looks so sorry that I almost—almost—feel bad. “Things are still shitty, huh?” he says quietly.

“Never stopped,” I say.

Once again, he calls out to me when I turn to leave. “Brynn!”

“What?”I spin around, no longer even pretending to be friendly.

Owen comes across the lawn slowly, like he’s worried I’ll startle and run if he gets too close. There’s something scary about Owen, even now that he’s dressed normally and hasgraduatedand has a kind-of-cute accent—something intense and airless, like the pull of a black hole. And the thought comes back to me, as always: just because they couldn’t nail him doesn’t mean he didn’t do it.

“I wanted to ask about...” He trails off, looking away, squinting into the sun. “I mean, is Mia still around?”

Just like that, I feel a rush of hatred, strong and dark, like a mudslide. “You know what, Owen?” I say. “Leave Mia alone. Do us a favor, and leave both of us alone.”

Then I turn around again and stomp into the woods. This time, he doesn’t call me back.

All the dwarfs were crying, but none so hard as Gregor—he would never forget how the three girls had saved his sister from being taken by the Shadow.

“Please come back,” he said. “Please don’t forget us.”

“Of course we’ll come back,” said Ava stoutly.

“How could we ever forget you?” said Ashleigh loyally.

“We’ll always be with you,” said Audrey kindly, pointing to her heart. “In here.”

“But—what will happen to you?” he cried.

---