Page 50 of Run Away Home: Tempered

“Three o’clock to close.”

“Which job?”

“The bar.”

“And I have to stay here with Hayley?”

“You don’t have to. You can make plans with your friends.”

“Eh, I don’t feel like it.”

“Then you’re staying here with your best friend, Hayley.”

“Okay.”

“You know... The one you’ve known for like...ever, apparently.” He slaps his hands on his knees, giving me a weird look.

“So?”

“So, I thought we met Hayley together. I didn’t know you knew her for years and years before I did.”

“So what? Since you’re a couple now, she just tells you random things?”

“I don’t think that’s random, Danny.”

“It’s not really even important. I hated her then, and I hate her now.”

“Why’d you hate her then?”

“Same reason I hate her now. She’s lazy, does nothing, gets away with everything. Blames everything bad she does on someone else. She always tried to get me or someone else in trouble to save herself. I thought I was going to finally get away from her the first time she left. Then she came back to Melissa’s, and now she lives with me again. Yay!” I throw my hands up toward the ceiling.

“She doesn’t do anything that bad.”

“Oh yeah? How about the time she hid the crack pipe in your room after Melissa found out about it?”

“That was my... Look, it wasn’t a crack pipe. It was a marijuana bowl.”

“That was not your crack pipe, dumbass!” I yell at him.

“Whoa, don’t call me a dumbass. People make mistakes. I’ve made mistakes, so I try to forgive—”

“My teacher told me it’s not a mistake anymore if you keep doing it over, and over, and over, and over, and over—”

“That’s enough ‘overs.’ Why did your teacher say that to you?”

“Because I cheated on my tests over, and over, and over, and over—”

“Danny, enough! When did you cheat on a test?”

“Eh, last year. Not your concern. You can save it. I had to hear it from Melissa.”

“Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph.”

“Anyway, if you make the same mistake a lot of times, it’s a decision. That’s what my teacher said. I wish someone would tell Hayley that!”

Peter looks down at his hands, as if he’s sad all of a sudden.

“You’re right. I guess it is a decision at that point.”

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