Page 143

He closes his eyes, pretending to sleep again.

I walk down the hall, push the curtain aside, and step into Mia's even darker room. She hung a comforter over the blinds to prevent light from getting in, and she's barely moved in a week.

"Mia?" I lie beside her on the bed. "Get up. Let's go get something to eat, okay?"

"I'm not hungry," she says. "Just leave me alone, Tate."

"Well, at least get up and come into the living room with me. Everyone was asking about you at graduation rehearsal," I lie. "People miss you. I miss you…a lot."

"I don't have any fucking friends, Tate, and you know that. No one has called or texted, except to make fun of me. I only had one real friend, and she left because of you."

"That's not true."

"It is true," she says. "Why'd you do that to me, Tate? You took my only friend away from me."

"I didn't take your friend away from you, Mia. You sent her away. You got rid of her; you can't blame me for that."

She rolls over, turning her back to me.

"Mia, if you miss Noah, you should text her. I bet she would come if you asked. I'll even leave if you want me to."

"I can't. I was too mean to her."

"It wasn't that bad."

"No, it was," she says. "You don't know about the things I sent to her. It was really bad. It's the same stuff they're sending to me. And she's friends with them now."

"With them? Who do you…" Does she mean her ex and his girlfriend? Surely not.

"I don't want to talk about it anymore. It hurts too much."

"I'm going to make you something to eat, okay?"

"I don't want you to."

"Well, I'm going to do it, anyway. And you're going to come out and sit with me while I eat because I'm the needy twin, remember? And I need you. Do you need me to do anything else for you right now? Do you want some water?"

"No."

"Okay. I love you."

Before I can step back through the curtain, she stops me. "Actually, I do need one thing," she says. "Can you go get Mittens for me and put him in my bed?"

"Um…actually…"

She turns and looks up at me with the saddest fucking hazel eyes I've ever seen in my life. "What?" she asks.

"I can," I tell her. "I can get Mittens, but it might take me a minute because…he got out."

I bite my lip rings and wait for her to scream and throw shit at me, and tell me I'm the shittiest fucking twin in the history of the world. Maybe even get up and throw hands. That would be normal.

This isn't normal.

"So…my cat is gone, too?" she asks, her tone dull and emotionless.

"No, he just got out. He'll come back. Cats come back, and I'm going to go get him, anyway."

"Okay," she says before turning her back to me.