Dreamland

“That’s my cue,” Gollum said, hauling Richie onto one hip. She was surprisingly strong for someone so thin. Dea guessed it came from working on a farm. “I’m going to head back before we get to emotional Armageddon. Say bye, Richie. Say bye, Mack.”

Mack shadowboxed Co

Leaving Dea and Co

On a date. Dea quickly forced away the thought.

A group of guys wearing football jackets from a rival high school, obviously drunk, wove through the crowd, jostling one another, competing over who could be loudest. Two girls with thick black eyeliner and boobs practically to their chins smoked cigarettes by the fence, and waited to get hit on.

The sun reached up a final arm before drowning behind the horizon. While Co

“Hey.”

Dea turned around and was shocked to see Morgan Devoe and Hailey Madison, who had never spoken to her once, who had never acknowledged her at all except to throw empty cans of soda at her head from the window of Tucker Wallace’s truck. Hailey was chewing on a straw, watching Dea curiously, like she was an ancient artifact whose use Hailey was trying to determine.

“What do you want?” Dea said. She wasn’t stupid. She knew they didn’t want to chat, and she wanted them to leave before Co

Morgan Devoe was supposedly the prettiest girl in school. Dea had never understood it. She had a wide face, blank as a di

“You should be careful,” Morgan said, which wasn’t what Dea had expected her to say. She leaned up against the fence next to Dea. She smelled like butterscotch and menthol cigarettes and alcohol. She was holding a cup. Dea wondered what was in it.

“What?” Dea said.

“Co

“What about Co

Morgan leaned closer. She was drunker than she’d first seemed. She put a sweaty hand on Dea’s arm. “Aren’t you worried he might go crazy again? Slit your throat when you’re not paying attention?”

“What—what are you talking about?” Dea said.

Morgan gaped at her. “You don’t know?” she said. She made a face at Hailey.

“She don’t know,” Hailey drawled, and giggled, working her straw between her teeth.

“Everybody knows.” Morgan turned back to Dea. She smiled big, so Dea could see the gum in her mouth. “He killed his mom. His brother, too. Beat his mom’s brains out, then shot his brother in the head the day before Christmas. He was, like, seven.”

“That’s not true.” Dea wrenched her arm away from Morgan’s grip. “That’s—that’s insane.”

“Cooked up some bullshit story about some men who busted in and did it. It doesn’t make sense though, does it?” Morgan’s teeth were very white. “Nothing was stolen. What kind of robbery is that?”

Dea’s stomach tightened. She was suddenly too hot. And nauseous.

“He was too young to go to trial,” Heather said. Her nails were painted hot pink, and had tiny decals of Playboy bu

“Co

“Will Briggs says Co

“Shut up.” Dea squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. The girls were still there; still staring at her, swallowing back their fat, stupid smiles, sucking in their cheeks, waiting to burst out laughing the second she turned around. And she was on the verge of tears. She wouldn’t cry in front of them. “It’s not true. You’re making it all up.”

“We’re just looking out for you, Odea,” Morgan said, fake-nice. And before Dea could stop her or move or react, she’d licked a thumb and reached out and swiped Dea’s cheek with her saliva. “That’s for good luck,” she said, leaning close, breathing hot on Dea’s face. “You’re going to need it.”

Then they were gone—asses bumping right to left, the smell of booze trailing them—and Morgan’s spit was drying on Odea’s cheek, and Dea was fighting the urge to cry. She wiped her face with a sleeve and took three deep breaths.

“I’m back.” Co

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.” It was stupid to let Morgan and Hailey get to her. They’d probably made the whole thing up. Co

“Chickening out, huh? I’ll take it easy on you. I promise.” Co

“I’m sure,” she said. She had a sudden memory of Co

“Okay, no bumper cars,” Co

“All right,” she said. But evening had come and the magic of the day had been shattered.

Maybe, she thought, a move wasn’t such a bad idea. She could get a clean start.

Then she realized that a teeny tiny part of her believed what Morgan and Hailey had told her—that Co

He was more than nice. He was amazing.

The Ferris wheel was old and the seats were narrow. Co

Up and up, until Dea’s swinging feet looked like a giant’s, as if she could squash the small smudgy people on the ground. Until the whole scene looked like a child’s toy, and she imagined Morgan and Hailey were just toys, too, little plastic models instead of people.

They were stopped at the very top of the Ferris wheel. The view made her breathless. Co

“No,” she said, which was true. Fu

“I’m glad I met you, Dea.” He was smiling. In the darkness, up here, she couldn’t see the color of his eyes. “You’re . . .”

“What?” They were close again. He had twisted around to face her.

“I don’t know. Different.” Something changed in his face—a nuance she couldn’t have described, a definite switch.