Page 57 of Room to Breathe

He sat up. “What if…”

I sat up too. “What if what?” I asked when he didn’t finish.

“What if I lay on the sweatshirt on my back and…”

“You want to be my pillow, Beau?” I asked with a smirk.

“I don’twantto,” he said with his own smirk. “But I’d be willing to sacrifice.”

“For the greater good.”

“At least for our good,” he said.

“Which, at the moment, is the only good,” I said.

“True.”

I nodded.

“Yeah?”

I nodded again.

He pulled my backpack closer, then arranged the sweatshirt on top of it, then lay on his back. “So much better,” he said.

I sat there, hugging a knee to my chest. I wasn’t sure I could lie with my head on his chest and not have all sorts of feelings rise to the surface. Not just the feelings of the past few months—hurt, sadness, anger—but feelings I’d buried deep a long time ago.

“You change your mind?” he asked, arm stretched out to the side, waiting for me.

I cleared my throat. “I was just deciding whether I should turn off the light or not.”

“Probably,” he said. “If we actually want to sleep.”

I nodded and moved to the light switch. Right before I flipped it off, we met eyes. Then it was dark.

Chapter 24

Then

“Did you get a car?”Ava asked when I climbed into hers. There was a lot of moisture in the air today and my hair felt frizzy, my skin clammy.

I stared out the window at the used Honda Civic my mom had helped me buy the day before. She had obviously paid for the majority of it, but when we got home I transferred every single cent in my bank account to her. And the entire paycheck I’d gotten this morning.

I liked the car…lovedit, but it also felt like some sort of weapon my mom had wielded in the battle that was happening in our house. And that made it feel gross. It made me feel like I had picked a side.

“Yes, I did,” I said.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Caroline asked.

“It just happened yesterday. It was a surprise.”

“That’s cool,” Ava said.

I looked at Beau. He was staring out the window at my caras Ava pulled onto the road. He was probably wondering why I hadn’t called him last night. Toldhim. Or maybe he was still thinking about how I’d cheated off his test on Monday. How he was glad I hadn’t called him.

“That means you can start helping with carpool,” Ava said.

“I can help with carpool too,” Beau said.