I wrap my arms around her tight. She tries to pull free, but I refuse to let her go.
“Tammy came in and stopped him,” she says, breaking down even more. “But he hit her and she fell into the mirror. There was glass everywhere, and he was shouting and cursing and calling me a whore and blaming it all on me. But Tammy knew and she hit him with a skillet.”
“I wish I had seen that,” Shadow says.
“Why didn’t you call me?” I cry.
“I always dump my stuff on you.”
“Because I want you to!”
“I’m taking you down to the precinct, and we’re going to get this on record,” my father says. “I’ll have some guys pick him up. One good thing about the Zone is he can’t get far.”
“Why bother? It just makes him worse,” Bex says, turning to face him. “He gets arrested and he comes back meaner.”
“So this happens a lot,” Shadow says as if all his questions have been suddenly answered.
Bex watches him, near tears and frightened that the boy might dash off into the night, never to be seen again.
“I can’t help you or your mom if you don’t file a report, Bex,” my father begs. “I can have your apartments searched, and I’m sure we’ll find lots of drugs and weapons, and we’ll arrest him—”
“And they’ll let him go,” Bex says.
“And they’ll let him go,” he repeats, defeated. “Here in the Zone, there won’t even be a trial, but if he’s dangerous and we can show he’s predatory, then we can keep him.”
“And what happens when you’re wrong and he comes home?” Bex shouts, her words bouncing off the grim-faced buildings that line the street. She stomps off down the street, leans against a streetlight, and sobs. I’m about to go to her when Shadow stops me.
“Let me try,” he says, then rushes to her side. They talk in the bright spotlight, their bodies glowing like angels.
“When we leave town, she’s coming with us,” I whisper.
My father frowns. “Lyric, no.”
“I won’t go without her,” I say.
“We’ll discuss this later,” he says.
“That’s fine, as long as you know I won’t go without her.”
“Does everything have to be a fight with you?” my dad cries.
“Not everything is a fight with me! I’ve done what you two wanted. I kept my head down.”
“We’ve all given things up, Lyric,” my mother says.
“True, but the difference is you two chose to. I was forced. I won’t give up my best friend, especially not when she needs me most, and you shouldn’t ask me.”
“Fine,” my mother says. “She comes with us.”
“Summer, you can’t promise that!” my father croaks.
“She’s right, Leonard, she’s given up enough. But Lyric, you’ll have to tell her the truth.”
Suddenly, I feel sick.
“Do you think she’s going to be able to handle it?” my father says. “She’s got a lot on her plate right now. What if she doesn’t understand?”
I watch my friend crying in Shadow’s arms. What if she doesn’t understand? What if it’s too much for her to deal with? What if she’s horrified? I’d lose her and every connection to the Lyric Walker I was supposed to be.
Shadow asked her to be brave, so she was. Bex filled out the paperwork and wrote down what happened and then had a counselor give her an exam. Then she came home with us. Now she lies next to me in the dark, fidgety, tossing and turning, and unable to get comfortable. I’m doing it too.
“He kissed me,” she whispers.
“Oh, Bex. I’m so sorry,” I say.
She laughs. “Not Russell! Shadow!”
I flip on my bedside light, nearly falling off the mattress in the process. Her face has the biggest smile I have ever seen.
“Oh my God!”
“I don’t know what it means yet.”
“Then you’re an idiot! Did you kiss him or did he kiss you?”
“Sort of both at the same time. We were at the police station, and I think there was so much emotion and then . . . oops.”
“Very romantic,” I say, though I immediately wish I could take it back. I don’t want to tease her into second-guessing what’s going on. I so badly want something good to happen right now. “So, Shadow and Bex,” I sigh. “Saw that coming a mile away.”
“Slow down, cowboy.”
“Wait, let me guess. You two didn’t talk about it after it happened?”
“No, we just kept kissing and holding hands.”
I laugh again. “You know he loves you.”
“Well, duh!”
“Don’t screw it up,” I say.
“Why would I screw it up?”
“You have to talk when you’re in a relationship. You have to share stuff.”
She reaches over me to flip off the light, and we lie in the dark for a long time.