Break(7)

He laughs, and she says, “There we go.” She switches the camera to me. “What are you doing, Jonah?”


I draw a hard line. “I’m designing an ice rink for Jesse.”

“My little future architect.” She zooms in close to me, and I duck. “When are you gonna be famous, Jonah?”

“When my physics grades come up.”

Jess says, “Add a supply closet there. But don’t make it ugly.”

“I never make anything ugly.”

Naomi jumps out of the way to avoid being hit by an incoming car. It’s heading for the space next to us. I catch sight of the driver and smile.

“I’m jumping,” I say.

Jess says, “Don’t.”

“No, I am. Nom, get this filmed.”

As soon as the car starts to brake, I leap from Naomi’s hood and land squarely on the trunk of the other car with a huge thump. Charlotte shrieks inside and whips the door open. “What are you doing?”

Jesse is laughing so hard he’s got his arms around his stomach to keep from splitting in half. Naomi giggles, and the camera shakes.

Charlotte runs over and shoves me in the chest. “You could have broken my car, you psychopath!”

I smile and tweak her on the nose. “Frankly, Charlotte, I don’t give a—”

“Ugh, I hate it when you do that.” She waves at the camera. “Hey, Naomi. Jesse.”

His cheeks blush pink. Even my celibate brother isn’t resistant to Charlotte’s charms. Nobody is.

She leans over and kisses me on the cheek. “I’m late for Bio, and you’re late for Calculus.”

“All the more reason to hang out here with me.”

She squints, examining me. “Naomi was right. You do look pretty awful.”

“Thanks, babe.”

She’s not my girlfriend. I call everyone babe.

Seriously. Charlotte is not my girlfriend.

She touches my face. “You’ve got a black eye.”

Naomi shuts off her camera in disgust. She likes me, and likes Charlotte, but isn’t a fan of the two of us together.

I say, “Yeah, I painted it on this morning. Thought it made me look kind of badass.”

Charlotte says, “Mission accomplished. What’d you use, makeup?”

“Yeah. Jesse’s.”

Jesse squawks, and Charlotte laughs. Naomi pulls her baseball cap down farther and rolls her eyes.

I continue. “He’s a cross-dresser on Saturday nights. You didn’t know? He goes to karaoke bars and struts around to ABBA. He’s like six foot five in high heels.”

Jesse shrugs and pulls his feet up on Naomi’s fender. “It’s true.”

Charlotte lifts her finger toward my cheek. “So I could just rub this off—?”

I jerk away. “It’s actually this kind of makeup that hurts when you touch it.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah. Jesse’s into the S and M.”

She winks at him. “I knew that kid was twisted.”

“Yep. He’s got a freaky soul under that allergic exterior.”

She turns to him. “You don’t really—”

He shakes his head apologetically.

I say, “Ha-ha, no. Although I should start telling people he does. He’d probably appreciate people recog-nizing him for something other than his immune system.” I hand him what I’ve finished of his ice rink, and he looks it over, his smile widening.

Charlotte leans over and whispers in my ear. “My sister thinks he’s cute.”

“That’s adorable. We’ll have to do something about that.”

Naomi stands on her tiptoes to be seen. “As precious as this is, looks like I’m going to have to bail before I vomit.”

Jess hops off Naomi’s car and walks with her toward the building. “You’re both going to be late,” he calls to Charlotte and me.

I look at Charlotte and shrug one shoulder. “You want to be late?”

She rolls her eyes at me and hurries to catch up to Jesse and Naomi. I smile and follow her.





eight


“WHAT ABOUT YOUR NECK?” NAOMI SAYS, FLIPPING through her Google printouts.

I spin my combination. “I know. The plan still has a few kinks to work out.”

“And skull?”

“Okay. So yeah, there are a couple I’m not real anxious to break.” I open my locker and stuff eight pounds of physics homework into my backpack. My binder explodes and papers pour to the ground. “Shit. You want to help with this, Nom?”

She fixes her cap and doesn’t bend down. “Look. I’m fine with taking some film of you fracturing a few fingers and toes, all right? Not so anxious to watch my best friend die for a prank.”

Great. For Naomi it’s a prank. For Jess it’s an attention ploy. They really know how to personalize my actions. For themselves.

Marten Conway stops and touches my shoulder. “Jesus Christ, McNab. What the hell happened to you?”

I scoop the papers up in my good hand. “Tripped off Mount Everest.”

“Yeah, clearly. You’re just a little mess nowadays, aren’t you?”

“I’m clumsy.” I smile politely, hoping this will be enough to eschew him. I’ve got nothing against Marten, but this whole tragic hero thing can get tiring. Especially when it comes from everyone you know. All day.