When her mother died two years earlier, Izzy thought the world would change in some identifiable way, but it didn't. It didn't even slow down. Along with constantly watching her brother, Jason, to ensure he didn't repeat his involvement with drugs, Izzy has managed to get through school and the r...
Henry from the office comes to the classroom door. “D’Arcy, you’re wanted in the office,” Mr. Kelly says from the doorway. I stand up and try to swallow past the huge lump that’s suddenly in my throat. Ms. Henry says something else to him. He nods and closes the door. “Take your things,” he says ...
I said to Q as he got dressed Thursday morning. “Why?” he said. “Because I want to go out with Lucy. It’s the end of term or something at the university, and she says people throw out a lot of good stuff.” “Yeah, well, forget it,” Q said. “I’m playing poker.” “So play another night.” He pulled hi...
Did she tell you that?” I hadn’t eaten any more onion rings, so why did I have this lump in my throat that I couldn’t seem to swallow down? Ren looked away and didn’t answer. The thing was, when life got too hard for Mac, she ran. I knew she’d run away right after her grandmother died, when she h...
Then I wobbled back to my chair. There was half a cold pancake floating in syrup on my plate, but I didn’t feel like eating anymore. Dad stood at the counter with his back to me, hands wrapped around a coffee cup. “The right thing doesn’t always get you money and a parade, Kev. Sometimes all it g...
She’d fallen asleep again. Her head was kind of slumped forward. Her nose was running too. I found a Kleenex in my pocket and carefully wiped her nose first, then my own. She didn’t wake up. I wiped my face with the edge of my sweater because I didn’t want to waste any more Kleenex. I started put...