Chapter 25

“What else do I have that you don’t?” I asked, knowing full well I was being a brat. “Think of…three things.” I couldn’t help it.

“I’m not going to do that, Reed. I’m just…I’m just going to go. Catch ya later, Devon.”

“Doesn’t sound like it,” Devon said.

“Maybe not. Hope your haircut works,” Mathias said to me, and then he tried another smile. It failed miserably. 5

The next time I saw Mathias it was a Valentine’s Day surprise. I’d thought about him a lot over Christmas and the week after, wondering, among other things, what those poor kids he’d thrown that fancy benefit for had received in their stockings and how much fuller his was. The imagined disparity had pissed me off. We’d gotten the computer, which was set up in the living room, meaning porn-surfing was still limited. I kept thinking about feigning some sort of illness so I could stay home from school and play on it naked all day while both parents were at work. So far, I hadn’t, mostly because of swimming.