You'd Be Home Now (44)



Joey calls to me that the movie’s starting.

I check the clock again, grit my teeth.

I wish I could call Maddie, ask her what to do, who to be, but it would turn into a thing, and I can’t handle any more things.

I throw the dish towel into the sink.

I have to stay a secret for a little bit longer. It’s all I have. The CuteCathys and PristTines of the world have had their share, and even though he’s much too large for my velvet hatbox of stolen things, maybe I can keep stealing Gage Galt from them for myself, just for a while longer, until he realizes we don’t have to hide, that we can be seen and the world won’t end.





Mis_Educated


Hey, Hey, Heywood Haulers!

It’s Saturday night in our drop-dead-boring town

What’s happening?

Who’s got the skinny

On the parties the hookups the broken hearts to be

Who’s at home lonely and just wishing for the day

Someone wants you

Invites you

Sees you

Erases all those hours

Of feeling like no one knows you exist

That palpable ache in your throat

When you hear your parents say

These are the best years of your life

And yet it feels like everyone is living it but you?

Aye, screw it

Parents never tell you the truth anyway

But I’m here!

Tell me your truths, you lonely Haulers



#heywoodhaulers #heywoodhigh #lonelyhearts #saturdaynight #hightimesatheywood #itgetsbetter #millhaven

NatetheGreat party at Stone’s house right now it’s ripped

Stewie13 Just another fun night blazing it up and playin Apex. Alone.

HelenOfJoy All my friends are virtual but they’re the best people I know

MandyMandy Killing myself reading The Scarlet Letter for the millionth time. I hate you, Nathaniel Hawthorne, with every fiber of my being. Hester did nothing wrong!!

TupacLives stone’s party is lit, y’all get here you won’t be sorry

FrancesP44 there are like fifty kids at Stone’s the jocks are doing kegstands

LzySusan Jocks are a-holes all muscle and no heart

     PaulMall I do wish I had more friends

LaceyZ i can’t wait to get out of this hellhole and go to college and meet actual human beings who care about more than partying or hooking up

TupacLives @LaceyZ I have bad news for you about college ?

LaceyZ whatever, i’ll find my people. it has to be better than this

ForrestGumpp My dad died last summer and I feel like I’ll never be happy again, that’s how I’m doing

Stewie13 sorry about that @ForrestGumpp that’s really sad

MackAttack I miss Shannon Roe. You guys called her a drama queen and said she was looking for attention and she was cuz she needed help! people don’t cut unless they hurt and you were the worst to her and now she’s gone you can all go to hell

NatetheGreat anybody think that Tom Kidder guy is one step away from a major meltdown

LucyK I miss Candy

AnnaBanana I feel gray, that’s how I feel. I feel gray and cold and I just want to know when I’m going to feel normal because life is really grinding me down does anyone care or understand

LaceyZ @AnnaBanana DM me I’m here, I’ll listen

PristTine Damn, GG is at Stone’s party and that boy is FINE

TupacLives get it @PristTine

MrPoppersPenguins My sister has been missing awhile now from Dover. She has an addiction. Was at a party in Mill Haven in May. Name is Carly. Anybody got any leads DM me

GiGi Check the bridge. That’s where the ghosties are





19


I’M HALF WATCHING THE movie, half checking my phone, Joey stretched out next to me on the couch. It’s nine-fifteen. His eyelids are drooping. I nudge him.

“Maybe you should go to bed,” I say.

He sits up. “Maybe. I’m wiped.”

“I’ll turn the lights off and stuff.”

“When’s Dad back?”

“He doesn’t get back until late,” I say, clicking off the television.

“I kind of thought he’d be…around more,” Joey says. “You know, like when I got back.”

I sigh. “He’s Dad. He’s busy saving people. You know how he is.”

Joey is quiet. “Yeah, I do. I just thought, is all.”

He stands up. “You going to bed, too?”

“Maybe. I might read or something.” I try to keep my voice normal so he can’t tell I’m lying.

I get up, straightening the coffee table, clicking off lights. Nine-twenty-five. Thirty-five minutes.

Joey goes upstairs. I stand silently, listening to the sounds of his feet in his doorless bathroom, water running, the toilet flushing. Then it gets quiet.

I find my suit, the one Gage said he liked, hanging in the laundry room. I change in the downstairs bathroom, then put my clothes back on, just in case Joey comes back downstairs, or my dad or mom comes home earlier. Maybe Gage will think it’s cute I’m wearing the suit. Sexy.

    And then I’m just standing alone in the quiet house, waiting, watching the time tick away on my phone.

When it’s 9:55, I go into the kitchen and turn off the security lights in the backyard. They pop on with any movement, and the last thing I need is Joey waking up suddenly because a flash of light sprang through his window. Then I slide the patio door open as quietly as possible, my heart thudding in my ears, and wait outside.

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