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After dinner, Yulia came by.

Walt had cooked. Focused on Hollis’s apparently “insufficient protein intake,” he made some rice-and-beans concoction with dried peppers and onions. He’d started back up the tedious work of fixing Hollis’s clothes when she rang their doorbell.

Neither Yulia nor Annie texted before they came over most of the time, so it wasn’t entirely surprising.

But Hollis had been so tied up in all of t h i s that it hadn’t occurred to him to talk to Walt about how to act around his friends. If he didn’t have the power to grab his body back and beg for help, at least he could have come up with some kind of contingency plan. But between arguing with Walt internally, and the six hours of manual labor Walt had forced them into, Hollis had completely forgotten.

Hollis begged, screaming, for Walt to just ignore her, but Walt walked them downstairs and opened the door anyway.

Yulia didn’t wait to say hi. She immediately pulled them into a tight hug, rocking them back and forth the way she liked to after it had been too long since they’d seen each other.

DO YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND? Walt shouted, alarmed.

No, this is just Yulia, act normal, for the love of God, Hollis begged.

Yulia pulled back and held both his hands in hers.

“Are you all right? I’m so sorry about what happened—” Yulia was saying, but Hollis could barely focus on her because Walt wouldn’t stop talking.

Jesus. She’s so hot. Gals never used to shave their heads back in the day, it looks so swell on her. She smells real good too, like caramel and lemon. Like a lemon pound cake.

SHUT THE FUCK UP, Hollis shrieked.

“—gonna go by Annie’s, but her parents are really mad, and they might ground her more if they catch us outside,” Yulia was saying.

How did you manage to get a girl this fine to pay attention to you at all? Walt asked. Her hands are really soft.

Externally, Walt said, “That makes sense. Hey, do you want to go for a walk?”

Tell her we’re busy, don’t try to talk to her more. You don’t even know her— Hollis hissed.

You do. Walt was slipping on Hollis’s shoes and pulling his coat out of the coat closet. It would have been convenient to know about this earlier. But you wanted to talk about how I need to stop changing out flickering light bulbs and cleaning all day.

Please, Walt, please, Hollis begged.

Walt shut the door behind them.

“I have to get back soon though,” he was saying to Yulia. “My ma wants me to help her with something.”

“Oh? What’s she working on?”

Walt paused, and Hollis panicked.

Tell her Christmas stuff.

“We’re working on something for Christmas.” Walt smiled. “It’s a surprise.”

“Mine better not be something other than plans for more bread,” Yulia was saying.

Your parents bake too? Walt asked him.

No, I bake, you asshole, take us back home now .

“What else do I make that you like?” Walt asked Yulia.

Hollis couldn’t tell what expression Walt was making with his face, but he didn’t like it.

Yulia gave him a double take. “Are you fishing for compliments?”

Please tell me you’ve at least kissed this woman once. Walt groaned. Looking into her face is like looking into a morning glory at dawn.

I swear to God, if you don’t stop talking about the way she looks I’ll do that twisting thing you hate. I’ll kill us both this instant.

“That rice bread you made that one time, and rhubarb jam, but if you didn’t get some in the summer, it might be too late for that.”

I won’t die if you die, Walt replied smugly.

Sure, but you’ll be trapped in my stroked-out body for a few decades, fucking locked in it, unable to charm your way into freedom. Don’t fucking test me.

Walt stopped talking.

“Ha ha, I’ll keep that in mind,” Walt said to them both. His cleverness pissed Hollis off more.

“You seem to be taking this whole school situation a lot better than I thought,” she said. They rounded the corner of the block and headed down one of the darker streets.

Walt shrugged. “I just... realized that I can’t fight it, so why should I be upset? I know what I did and what I didn’t do. No one here has enough money to bribe the police, and it’s easier for them to pressure Jorge’s family into leaving them alone than it would be to process the paperwork to frame me well enough to charge me. I’m not the only one suspended, so it doesn’t feel as bad.”

Yulia looked pensive.

They walked in silence for a while, all three of them.

“Well,” Yulia finished. “At least you’re confident. What are you gonna do if they decide to press charges?”

Run.

It was immediate and instinctive.

No. We’re going to jail for like five months or paying a fine.

I’m not going back to jail for anything, Hollis.

Back?!

“I’ll figure it out.” Walt replied. “What else can I do?”

How old are you?

You don’t know? You riffled through my wallet earlier.

Answer.

Seventeen, I’ll be eighteen in January.

“If they book me in before the New Year, it won’t even be on my record when I get out,” Walt said. “I’ll miss graduation though.”

“And I’ll be off to college. Annie too,” Yulia reminded him as they turned the block again and headed back down his street.

“I’ll find a way to visit,” Walt said at the same time Hollis thought it.

We’re getting better at this.