Adam strutted through Conner's bedroom door shortly after two o'clock. Upon seeing Conner seated on the bed, he rushed across the room and leaped into the air, landing on top of Conner.
With Adam's elbow jabbed into his rib and the weight of his buddy pinning him to the mattress, Conner cried out, "What the hell?"
Laughing, Adam wrapped his arms around Conner, squeezing tight and pressing their cheeks together. "It's time to cuddle."
"Ow. Fine. But you're crushing me."
Adam released his grip and flopped onto the bed, leaving one leg draped over Conner's.
For several seconds, neither spoke. Then Adam said, "I'm glad that interview's over with."
"Me too."
Again, moments of silence passed.
Conner asked, "Did you tell him everything?"
"Yep. He said you did too."
"Yeah." Sitting upright, he asked, "Do you know if Trevor did?"
"Lou said he did. That's why I decided I should too. Because you and Trevor did."
"I haven't heard from him. Have you?"
Adam shook his head as he got off the bed. "I texted, but he hasn't texted me back yet." He hooked his thumbs through the belt loops of his jeans and rocked back on his heels. "Levi texted all pissed and said he walked outta the interview."
"Because of the deal between him and Jared?"
"Yeah. I mean, I didn't expect Lou to ask about that."
Conner shrugged. "Well, Jared's dad thought that was a secret."
"I told Lou what a smo-guy is. But I didn't mention—"
"I didn't say anything."
"Oh." Adam rubbed his unruly hair. "I'm hungry. I didn't even get to eat lunch."
"I zoned out and forgot," Conner replied, standing. "You want to eat something here or go somewhere?"
"Here. Things are kinda weird at my house since Friday night."
Conner laughed. "I bet."
"Like, my mom is paying more attention to me now," Adam said as he walked out into the hall. "Even my dad gave me a big talk this morning. Saying how proud they are of me. Stay out of trouble and everything, you know?"
"That's good. Better late than never."
Adam twisted his face into a sarcastic expression.
"Not trying to be rude," Conner said as they walked toward the stairs. "Just saying."
"Yeah, I know. But it's—"
"Kinda weird."
"Yep."
At the dining room table, they sat with their plates of food as Mason entered the house with two of his friends. The young teens gathered in the dining room, eyeing the two high school seniors with both interest and admiration.
"Whoa," Mason said, "you guys are pigs."
Conner squirted spicy mustard onto his tuna salad sandwiches. "We haven't even eaten lunch yet. Plus, good protein helps build your muscles. You'd know that if your scrawny ass worked out more."
"Hey, I'm building muscle." Mason snatched the bag of chips from the table. "You were a scrawny ass at my age."
"Yeah, I'm speaking from experience."
The blond teen chuckled. "He's gonna need to work out a lot to look like you."
Conner flexed his biceps. "All three of you, actually."
Chewing his food, Adam mumbled in agreement.
Everyone looked toward the foyer at the sound of the front door opening. Trevor marched into the dining room. He grunted a "hey" as he approached the table with a serious expression and the attitude to match.
"You runts go somewhere," Trevor said, "so the big boys can talk."
"Jeez," Mason replied as he directed his friends to the kitchen. "Good seeing you too, Trev."
"Hey," Conner shouted, grabbing the chips from Mason. "Don't steal our food. Get your own."
Once the three younger guys were gone, Trevor sat. "It's all out in the open now, huh?"
"Yeah," Conner replied. He analyzed Trevor's semi-scowl, the way his eyes squinted as if irritated by the thought swirling around in his head. "Now you're pissed about it?"
"I'm not pissed. I'm worried."
"About what?" Adam asked.
"That we're going to look bad, like we totally screwed our friend and deserted him."
"But we didn't."
Trevor gulped Conner's Gatorade Zero. "Seems that way. It didn't back then, but now I feel like we were a bunch of dicks."
Silently, Conner agreed. It hadn't seemed like a big deal to let Jared go off with that guy at the lake. Now it seemed like a colossal mistake. "But we didn't know anything bad was going to happen."
"Yeah, I know but—"
"If we thought something bad was going to happen to Jared, we wouldn't have let him go."
"We can't change anything," Adam said. "It could have been one of you or me. Who knows, maybe all of us. Like, we could all be cursed now or something."
Trevor raised his eyes to the ceiling as though he'd witnessed a random act of unbelievable stupidity. "All of this is so ridiculous."
"Well, yeah," Conner said. "But it explains what happened and how it all started. We can't ignore what we—"
"Except, Jared's dead."
The statement seemed loud and definitive, as though somehow the certainty of Jared's death had escaped them until that very moment.
Conner clenched his jaw. His eyes burned with tears he didn't want to shed. Unpeeling the layers of Jared's story with Lou had produced emotions Conner usually did his best to control and conceal. Trevor's blunt statement about Jared's death revived his grief.
"And Levi and Jared," Trevor mumbled. "What the hell was that crap all about?"
"Because his dad asked," Adam said. "It's not gonna be part of the show."
"Mr. Smith could've asked us. Instead of avoiding us and banning us from Jared's funeral, he could've talked to us about everything."
"But he didn't," Conner stressed. "Because we weren't around anymore. We avoided Jared just as much as Jared avoided us. So why would Mr. Smith ask us anything? We were MIA."
"What other secrets did you guys talk about?"
"Nothing," Conner said. "I didn't even talk about Jared and Levi. I didn't see the point."
Trevor looked at Adam.
