Famous in a Small Town(58)

“Will you guys do something for me?” August asked.

“Yeah.”

“Sing Terrance’s song about the boots?”

I let out a breath. “I can’t think of a more inappropriate time for that song.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly why we have to sing it,” Dash said, smiling the slightest bit.

So we did, pausing line by line to quiz August on what might come next. He had only heard it twice, back at that first party at Tegan’s house, but he had absorbed the lyrics surprisingly well. Maybe Terrance really was a good songwriter—catchiness is a definite asset.

We got to the chorus (“And I just do love you / and those boots that are bluuuuuuue”) when the slam of a car door sounded from outside.





forty-seven


Kyle made us go outside while the firefighters worked to get August out of the basement. I didn’t want to leave, but Kyle’s expression brooked no argument, so Dash and I waited in the Cutlass. It was still raining, but not quite as hard as before.

Eventually they wheeled August out on a stretcher. He was covered in dust and dirt, and held one arm against himself. His face was gray, his expression pinched.

Dash and I jumped out of the car.

“We’ll take him to Saint Anthony’s,” one of the EMS guys was saying to Kyle.

“That sounds expensive,” August said tightly. “I’m fine. I can walk it off.”

“You’re seriously making jokes right now?” Kyle’s expression was a complex mix of relieved and exasperated. I could tell because I felt exactly the same way.

“Didn’t break my funny bone,” August replied, and managed a smile.



* * *



Dash offered to follow Kyle to Saint Anthony’s. Kyle just shook his head, said we should both go home and get some rest, that we had done a great job.

I didn’t want to go home, though. I wanted to go where August was going, and luckily Kyle seemed to understand that.

So he and I drove to Saint Anthony’s together, thirty minutes of Kyle nervously drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.

When we arrived at the ER, a nurse took us back to a room full of monitors and machines. August wasn’t there. The nurse told us he was headed for some X-rays, that we could wait here for him.

I couldn’t sit. Just moved back and forth, looking at the different machines. There was a tightness in my chest that only eased slightly when they wheeled August back in.

The ultimate diagnosis was a broken ankle, bruised ribs, a sprained wrist.

“One in every flavor,” August said with a weak smile.

“You’re like the Yum Yum Shoppe of bodily harm.”

He shook his head. “Fourteen flavors of fun. I would need eleven more injuries.”

“You’ll probably have a bunch of bruises.”

“Eleven of them?”

“Yup.”

“Then I’m the Yum Yum Shoppe.”

I went outside eventually to call my mom. I had texted on the drive here, but it wasn’t the same as hearing her voice on the other end of the line, calm and reassuring.

I had about fifty texts from WWYSE. Dash had told everyone what happened. I sent off a quick message and then sat down on the curb. Dropped my head, breathed in deep and let it out slow.



* * *



I sat with August while Kyle went out to call Heather with an update.

We were in a room off the center of the emergency department, glass windows lining one side so we could see the nurses at the station in the middle, see Kyle pausing to talk to the nurse who had shown us in earlier.

August had an IV taped to the back of his hand, a plastic sensor attached to one of his fingers. He tapped it absently against the bedsheets, looking out in Kyle’s direction.

“I couldn’t explain it to him right,” he murmured.

“Hm?”

“Last night. I couldn’t make him understand. So I thought it would be better just to leave now. Get it over with.” He shook his head. “But now I’ve made it so much worse when all I wanted was for—all I wanted to do was not be a burden on them—”

“It’s going to be okay,” I said.

“She stole,” he replied.

“Sorry?”

“My mom. She stole money from her job.” A slow blink. “A lot. Over … years.” He swallowed. “If you don’t steal that much … and if you pay it back … you might not even have to go to jail. But she just … it was too much, for too long. We couldn’t pay it back. Sold everything we could but there was just … no way.”

I didn’t speak.

“She told them she did it ’cause she wanted us to have a better life. But that’s not … you can’t shortcut your way to one, can you? It doesn’t work like that.” A beat. “I always had everything I wanted. Fucking … video games and sneakers and shit, I never thought about … I never thought. I just lived my life and maybe if I’d …” His eyes went liquid. “I never questioned anything. I was selfish. And I didn’t learn anything at all, I just kept on being selfish. With everything. Especially with you.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Soph. I should never have come here in the first place. Shouldn’t have made friends, shouldn’t have gotten involved—”