“No, I mean I’m going tonight,” I said.
“Bro, it’s
dark. You can’t go to a strange building with a mysterious address
in the
dark. Haven’t you ever seen a horror movie?”
“She could be there,” I said.
“Yeah, and a demon who can only be nourished
by the pancreases of young
boys could also be there,” he said. “Christ, at least wait till tomorrow, although
I’ve got to
order her corsage after band, and then I want to be home in case
Lacey IM’s, because we’ve been IM’ing a lot—”
I cut him off. “No, tonight. I want to see her.” I could feel the circle closing.
In an hour, if I hurried, I could be looking at her.
“Bro, I am not letting you go to some sketchy address in the middle of the
night. I will Tase your ass if necessary.”
“Tomorrow morning,” I said, mostly to myself. “I’ll
just go tomorrow
morning.” I was tired of having perfect attendance anyway. Ben was quiet. I
heard him blowing air between his front teeth.
“I do feel a little something coming on,” he said. “Fever. Cough. Aches.
Pains.” I smiled. After I hung up, I called Radar.
“I’m on the other line with Ben,” he said. “Let me call you back.”
He called back a minute later. Before I could even say hello,
Radar said, “Q,
I’ve got this terrible migraine. There’s no way I can go to school tomorrow.” I
laughed.
After I got off the phone, I stripped down to T-shirt and boxers, emptied my
garbage can into a drawer, and put the can next to the bed.
I set my alarm for the
ungodly hour of six in the morning, and spent the next few hours trying in vain
to fall asleep.