Page 149 of Run Away Home: Tempered

“Then you drive me.”

“What? No!”

“You can’t st-stop me from leaving the apartment. Either you drive...drive me, or...or I’ll drive myself.”

“I’ll hide your keys, you drunk bastard!”

“Then I’m gonna start...start walking.”

I quickly snatch the keys. He stares at me blankly for a few moments.

“Here... Here I go, then.” He walks down the stairs to the door. He holds tight onto the banister.

I’m going to get caught. I’m going to get caught.

“Okay! I’ll drive you!”

“Thanks.” He sits on the stairs clutching the bottle.

Fuck... Maybe he’ll drink more and die in the car? I don’t know what to do. I’ll have to make sure he’s definitely dead before I call nine-one-one. I’ll drive really slow.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Danny

IT’S FRIDAY, AND I’Mdragging ass. How bad would it be to lie to Matt? To lie to Peter? I just want to go home after school and sleep. As I stare at my math test, I realize I actually know this stuff. Maybe if I get a good grade, Peter won’t be so mad about me sneaking home this afternoon.

“All right, everyone. Take out a red pen and switch tests with the person next to you,” Mrs. Roland says.

“Here.” I hand Matt my test.

“Put your red pen away. I definitely got a one hundred.” He hands over his test.

Show-off.

“Let’s start with number one,” Mrs. Roland says.

She begins to review the first question, eventually writing the final answer on the board. Matt got number one wrong. HE GOT NUMBER ONE WRONG!

I turn and Matt puts a check near my answer. I got it right, and he got it wrong. Maybe today will be a good day. Matt looks over his shoulder as I put a big fat X on his answer.

“Are you serious?” he asks.

“I mean, you wrote the wrong answer.”

“Okay, but that’s a really big X!”

Mrs. Roland continues to go through the answers. At the end of the review, Matt hands me my test. I look at it and smile. I got an 85 in math. Matt still did better than me, but I’m proud of myself. We pass our papers forward, and Mrs. Roland collects them. When the bell rings, I pick up my notebook and stand.

“So, I’ll meet you at your locker after school? My mom’s gonna pick us up today,” Matt says.

“No, actually.”

“Really? You’re supposed to be coming to my house every night.”

“Peter took tonight off. I’m going to go home on the bus, but tell your mom Peter said thank you.”

“All right. That’s cool, I guess. I’ll see you on Monday, then?”

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