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“Have you met Omar’s new girlfriend yet?” he asked.

“She’snothis girlfriend,” Anthony said with a little too much emphasis. “At least, I don’t think so.”

“But they’re dating,” Ricky pressed.

“True,” he admitted grudgingly. “And yeah, I’ve kind of met her before. She works at the record store downtown.”

“Oh. Do you like her?”

Anthony shrugged. “Why does that matter?”

Ricky’s eyebrows rose above the frames of his glasses. “It’s important.”

“How so?”

“Because pretty soon, she’s all Omar will care about. Especially once they start having sex.”

Anthony’s stomach sank, which was ridiculous, because what the hell did this kid know? Anger made short work of his despair, slaughtering and shoving it aside. “You speak from experience?” he asked through gritted teeth.

Ricky noticed this reaction, his jaw working before he got a single word out. “Yes.”

Anthony continued to stare at him with a furrowed brow, even as his curiosity grew.

“I went through it back in Colorado with my best friend,” Ricky explained. He turned his face toward the window and stared out of it, like he could see beyond the plains of Kansas to the mountains he had once called home. His eyes were filled with emotion when he met Anthony’s gaze again. “Jeremiah. We were close like you and Omar, I guess. Maybe even closer because we did everything together.”

This was said with such intensity that Anthony didn’t even think to challenge the statement. Instead he asked, “What happened?”

“He met a girl,” Ricky said in bitter tones. Then he took a deep breath and sighed. “Pretty soon all he wanted was to hang out with her, or talk about her, or go shopping for her.” Rickyswallowed. “I hated it. Everything was perfect before she came along.”

Anthony stared. He felt like Ricky was peering into his soul and voicing the fears that he’d been struggling to define. Hewasafraid of losing Omar!

“Eventually,” Ricky continued, “when I got sick of never seeing him, I decided that it was better to be a third wheel than to keep rolling along by myself. So I got to know her, and it turned out that she was nice. We hung out together sometimes. All three of us. I didn’t like it as much as when it used to just be me and him, but it was better than nothing, you know?”

Anthony nodded, even though things hadn’t gone that far. Yet.

“That’s why it’s important,” Ricky concluded. “If you can be her friend, it helps. I wish I’d tried that sooner. The time we had left would have been so much better.”

Everything finally clicked. Anthony didn’t have a problem with Ricky, or with him wanting to be friends with Omar. That only seemed threatening because Anthony could already feel the distance growing between them, no matter how slight. It had started before Silvia came along, when Omar began noticing girls. His best friend was venturing down a road that Anthony couldn’t follow him on. If he didn’t act soon, Omar would crest the horizon before disappearing entirely.

Ricky was right. It was time to meet the real enemy.

CHAPTER 13

September 22nd, 1992

Ricky’s heart was heavy when he returned home from the library. His mother noticed during dinner but didn’t pry when he said he was feeling homesick. He was thankful for that, because sometimes it felt like he’d never be that lucky again. Messing around with Omar hadn’t given him much hope. If anything, it only underscored how the best part of his time with Jeremiah had been the emotional stuff.

After dinner he went upstairs and signed into Side Streets BBS, his spirits lifting when he saw that Cameron was online and waiting in the chat room. Ricky said hi to everyone, only to be polite, before eagerly sending him a private request. They had met like this a few times, Ricky always wearing a big smile after each chat session. This was exactly what he needed right now.

CAMERONX: How’s it going, Lar from the Sky?

SKYLAR99: Heh. Okay. It’s been one of those days.

CAMERONX: Uh oh. What happened?

SKYLAR99: Nothing. That’s the problem.

CAMERONX: Hmm. Why do I feel like this has something to do with Jeremiah?