It's just a simple line, I can still hear it all the time

 

Keegan felt as if all eyes were on him. Like they could see the real guy that he was.

OK, so he was a loner. And he didn't know why he was there. Couldn't a guy go for a walk wherever he wanted? Even at night?

The interrogation was brutal. It was as if he'd done something wrong instead of saving someone from a burning car.

"Was there anyone else?" The question felt like it was on repeat. It was as if they were trying to break him. But Keegan always came back with a furious NO. He had a bad cough now. He coughed into his forearm. His throat was scratchy, and a continuous nose drip with no relief in sight.

"I don't know anything, I swear." He practically blinked tears, but he faced them. Tired and a little shaky.

Finally, someone brought him a bag of fastfood. That was the place the president only ate when he was traveling, which came to Keegan's mind. Imagining the President might have bought this meal for him, but there was no fish sandwich. He wished there had been a fish sandwich.

Keegan kept wondering if they were going to haul him off to some unknown country. Really, he didn't go out anymore. He hadn't even started back to the University. He'd decided if he was going to continue on in economics, it would be online classes from a University back East. He was staying at his grandmother's house. 

Did they know how hard it was to get Internet out here? Yeah, like that didn't matter. Nothing about him mattered. It was just questions about the girl.

He bit into the burger it was soggy and too sweet for his tastes. He couldn't seem to swallow. So he pushed in a few fries to get the thing down.

"When did you first notice the car being there?"

Keegan blew a breath. He thought they'd been through this. "A couple of times. I didn't really want to approach it. I just didn't know if it was a normal thing or not." Keegan said his grandmother had passed and left him the place.

 Now that he thought about it, it wasn't so great being a loner after all. He'd found he didn't like being alone in the dark in the country. But he'd made sure the locks worked. And he rummaged around the house, making sure it was safe.

"I did a good thing, right?" Keegan looked up at the guy who he knew would never be his friend.

"You did well, kid, it's just we're missing one person."

Keegan pressed his lips tight. He was keeping to his story. Damn straight. He slurped on his Pepsi until it was dry.

Just tell me we're OK

 The first thing Darry did after getting the phone call from KC about Junie was to go to the bathroom and throw up. It felt like a kind of relief, but not really. He was so woozy he thought he might passout. He could barely make it back to his bed to sit down and take it all in.

Junie had been found. Numbness set in as he stared at his phone. "You should be there," KC told him.

Of course, Darry responded that he was certain he would be the last person Junie would want to see. Tears welled up as he thought about it. Honestly, he didn't know if he could do it. Suddenly, he found himself texting Jude. He hadn't kept in touch with her. He didn't want to know her, but now it felt like the right thing to do. Why? He didn't really know. Honestly, he didn't know anything.

His eyes closed, thinking of the last time he saw Junie. Of course, she looked nothing like the Junie he knew. It was like she'd become someone else, Jude's doppleganger. He nursed his bottom lip, wondering what he'd done wrong. Where had it all gone wrong?

He'd sensed it, there relationship was destined to have an expiration date. Yeah, from the get-go, he kept wondering when she'd wake up and realize he was just ordinary. Although she'd made him feel he was someone. Now it felt he'd depended on her. He hadn't meant to. He knew she was special, even if she was a bit juvenile. Still, they'd grown up together. Now it felt that it had disappeared. And it made him feel ill.

His phone rang. Darry almost dropped his phone as if a bomb might go off. He felt too weak to even answer it.

"What happened?"

Darry's eyes sprang open. It was Jude. 

"She. She's in the hospital." Darry could barely say above a whisper. 

"Is she OK?"

"I guess." He didn't know much. Nobody really knew. He closed his eyes, thinking he should have found out more from KC. "I don't know."

"Darry, you don't sound so good."

There. She'd said his name. It startled Darry. A tickle got caught in his throat. He thought he might sneeze. He was quiet, as if under her spell. But it might be just the flu.

"Just give me your address, I'll pick you up."

"You don't want to do that." He thought he said, but he didn't. "Sure," Darry said instead. Maybe he'd wake up soon and realize it was all a dream.

Stay genuine, tables will turn.

 

"IBS?" Millie felt an all-time low. It was so generic, the idea that she was bringing all this on herself. Nerves. Was that it?

"I know you don't like the idea of having to quit the caffeine and having more plain meals." KC had all the paperwork to support her diet.

"I live for coffee." She looked straight at him as if she was not giving up the necessity of her life.bb Especially after all those blood tests she'd been through.

She knew what he wanted to say, "At least you aren't pregnant." But he didn't. Although it did make her wonder if birth control was giving her so much trouble. Especially, the headaches.

"I can't stop being stressed." She told him as he went to the kitchen to turn on the kettle while she flopped down on the couch, wondering where she'd gone so wrong. She hugged herself tightly. It had to be more than IBS, she thought. 

"Remember, they want you to keep a food diary to find out what triggers your stomach issues," KC said. Millie rolled her eyes at that.

She then sat up, her elbows wobbling on her knees, and pushed her fingers through her forehead and into her loose hair.

"God, I might as well be a grandma, already," she fussed. "All I'll get to eat is probably boiled chicken and carrots."

"You're supposed to think of smaller meals throughout the day," KC offered as if that would be an excellent option. "Maybe you're not drinking enough water." He reminded her of how she developed a urinary infection when she was on her Dr. Pepper craze.

"Don't remind me, I still want a Dr. Pepper," she whined. Millie got up then to confess, "See why I couldn't go to Nashville? I'd have poop in the middle of a show!" It was embarrassing to admit, but didn't he know already? She went back to the couch and hugged a pillow.

She felt so old, and it hadn't helped her in any of the adulting she was doing.

"Don't give up," KC brought her some tea. He thought she might need to see a new therapist. Even the doctor recommended it. Just then, he got a phone call from his dad.

"Maybe there's news about Junie," he said as he went back to the kitchen to answer the call.

I don't even like your company

 

Kat raked her brain from morning til night trying to figure out how she could get Chloe her own labubu. She'd hate to ask Darry if he could go on eBay for her. She knew Grand Betty would have a fit, and her dad might be furious, too. She doubted her mom would carry on since she was giving everyone the silent treatment.

It was best to hang out at the youth center and be up to her own devices about how to take care of the situation. Although it gave her nightmares. Chloe being furious that Kat got the labubu from Darry, and she didn't. Yeah, maybe that was why she couldn't help but be so bitter. 

"Why do you have to look so ugly?" Someone said to her while she was in her little corner looking through a stash of graphic anime that she'd looked through a dozen times already.

She looked up with the guy with hair in his face. She'd seen him around. He was Leo, and he just started high school. Still, she took him for a bully even if he was quite fashionable. She guessed he never got his hands dirty. Probably never had to wash his own clothes and had no idea what to do with a dishwasher or a kitchen sink.

"Why are you here?" She snarled back as she turned a page.

"Why can't I?" His banter wasn't nearly as growly as hers. 

Kat fumed back, but he plopped down next to her as if he owned the place. 

"Don't you shoot pool, or something?" She gave him the evil eye as she set up and put the book on the table, where kids brought old magazines and graphic novels to look at.

"What? You think you can beat me?" He thought he was cool, but it made Kat want to gag.

"I don't know, possibly." She watched a lot, but she'd never actually done it. High school boys always took over the pool table.

"Yeah, well, I'm thinking, maybe we could do something else." He shrugged.

"Like what?" She looked him over, wondering what he had in mind. His sweat radiated a certain sense she'd never been drawn to until now, and it worried her. He smelled of the gym and the cheap cologne her brother wore.

She found herself biting the corner of her bottom lip. He was making her feel a bit woozy. She didn't want to like it. She didn't. Besides, wasn't she hanging on to hope that maybe Darry wouldn't see her as a baby?

"I don't know. What do you like to do?" He gazed at her as if maybe he had a fever at the moment, but it would go away soon enough. Maybe it was the frigid weather.

"You don't even have a car," she snapped.

"Well, I will one day, and maybe if..if you go steady with me...you'll be the only one I drive around."

His words were so hilarious.

"Do you use that line on all the girls? Who goes steady?" She squinted, and her nose crinkled, and he touched it with his forefinger.

"I don't just.." he sighed as if he was losing steam. He then pulled out, none other than a real labubu.

Kat couldn't help but stare.

"How much do you want for it?" She wanted to know, wanting to grab it from his hands, but of course, he held it away from her.

"I know what you need," His lips curled up at the end.

"No, you don't."

"I've been watching you." His look told her he might be more than a stalker.

She sighed as if this might be her worst mistake.

"You go steady with me, and I'll give it to you."

Kat gritted as if she might as well drown herself in an icy lake.

"Sure." She furrowed a frown. She was definitely not gonna make it easy for this Freshman.