Page 32 of Run Away Home: Tempered

“Yes.”

“So why don’t you see if he can explain it to you?”

“Oh my God.” I moan and put my head down on the table.

“What?”

I lift my head up and squeeze my backpack as tightly as I can. “That’s embarrassing.”

“Why is that embarrassing? Isn’t he your friend?”

“Yeah, my friend, not a tutor.”

“I would ask him.”

“You didn’t go to school.”

“What makes you think that?”

Peter’s weird, and he doesn’t even realize it. That’s why I think he never went to school. If you’re weird at school, you realize it because people pick on you. Not Peter. He wears weird clothes, he has weird hair, and when he first came to Melissa’s, he was scared of the TV. What kind of kid is scared of a TV?

“I don’t know. I just feel like you didn’t go to school.”

“Okay... Well, anyway, just because I didn’t go to school doesn’t mean I didn’t have friends.”

I stop.

“We’re talking about in Scotland?” I ask loudly so that Hayley can also hear. She sits forward on the couch and gives me a half-smile. I smile back. I know she wants to hear this, too.

“Yes, but I had friends here too, didn’t I?”

“Who were your friends in Scotland? Why don’t you talk to them anymore?”

“I don’t want to talk to them.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t want to live in the past.”

“This is monumental!” Hayley shouts sarcastically.

“What is?” Peter turns to her.

“You told us something about Scotland!”

“I’m sorry that there’s not much to say about it.”

“When did your mom die?” I ask.

“What are you talking about?” He turns back to me.

“Your mom. When did she die? You said she died, right?”

“Oh... She died right before I came here.”

“What did she die from?”

“Pneumonia.”

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