“I did a bunch of homework while you were loafing around,” he announced. “I’m having
trouble with the math homework though.”
I would have offered to help him, but math was my worst subject—I had always found it
unsettling that, no matter what I did or how I calculated a problem, there could only be one
right answer in the end.
“I was thinking that we could do a bunch of the work while the rest of them leave,” he
continued when I didn’t put anything forward. “That way, next time they go, my foot will be
better, and I’ll be able to go with them again.”
I wondered if he had discussed any of this with his brother.
“When are they leaving?”
“Tomorrow morning,” he said dejectedly. “With most of the guards down with the flu, it’ll be
pretty quiet around here.”
The plan was quickly taking shape.
By the time the diminished troops started pouring in for supper, Rocco and I had dug clean
through a second box of cereal, and the Oreos had vanished. The minute I got up, I regretted
gobbling down so much food in one sitting. I lay on the couch and spent the better part of an
hour focusing on not hurling Captain Crunch. Rocco enjoyed his second supper with Tiny, Spider,
and Carly. Cameron didn’t come back for the rest of the evening. When eight o’clock rolled
around, Rocco was opening a bag of chips for his mid-evening snack. I’d had enough of the
gorging marathon by then and excused myself to go up to bed.
I went to work as soon as I got into Cameron’s room. With Cameron and the rest of the high-
rankers gone, with most of the guards out of commission, there was no better opportunity for me
to sneak away in the night. In his almost empty closet, I found an old green duffle bag and
started packing. The bag looked bigger than it was; I had barely emptied three drawers and the
bag was already full. I still had two drawers to go, plus all my stuff that littered the
bathroom.
I had two options: run on foot and get to the road, like Griff had planned, or try to steal one
of my brother’s cars, try to drive it without crashing, try to drive fast enough to elude the
flying bullets … as far as I could see, I had only one option, even if I didn’t take any
pleasure in the idea of running through the woods by myself in the dark. I packed, and repacked,
and realized I had no idea what I would even need to camp out in the wilderness, how long it
would take me to get to the road or what I would do when I actually made it to the road. Once
again, my cushy upbringing had come back to bite me … I was full of excuses. I didn’t want to
go, but I couldn’t stay either. Maybe I could convince him, change his mind, make him see what
I saw. But what if I couldn’t convince him? I dragged the duffle bag to the patio door and hid
it behind the heavy curtain. And then I went to the small desk, found a working pen, and pulled
out a piece of paper. “Cameron,” I scribbled.
“I love you. I do believe you when you say that you love me. That’s why I have to go. If you
do this, you’ll be changed forever. I can’t let that happen.”
I took a breath, gulped, and finished.
“I wish things could have been different. I promise to come find you someday, when things are
better. Please don’t worry.” Then I signed it with love.
I didn’t want to risk leaving the letter out until I was ready to leave. I grabbed my Rumble
Fish book from under my pillow, took my Rumble Fish movie off the shelf and coiled them into a
pair of jeans along with the letter. I packed the jeans on top of my stuff in the duffle bag.
Spider would keep his word to Cameron—of this I was sure. I just hoped that he wouldn’t come
for me that night.
I spent the night listening for any sound that he was coming. Trying to keep myself awake, I sat
in front of the TV, with the sound barely audible. Shortly after two o’clock in the morning, I
jumped when front door squeaked opened. When I heard the clinging of dishes and cupboard doors
in the kitchen, I relaxed.
A few minutes later, Meatball came scratching at my door. In an almost imperceptible voice,
Cameron ordered him down—several times. He had to climb up the stairs again to get the dog.
Sitting there, knowing that he was so close, just a door between us, knowing that I wouldn’t
see him again, it was very hard not running to him. But I had to stay in place for both our
sakes.
When dawn broke, I watched Carly and Spider sleepily trudge out of the pool house with their
bags. By five o’clock, the troops had left the compound once more, and I finally went to bed.
I was sad when I figured out that Meatball wasn’t coming back, begging to be let in. He had
gone with the rest of them. I wouldn’t get the chance to say goodbye.
Knowing that this was my last day at the farm, I didn’t sleep for very long after they all
left. I went downstairs to wait for Rocco to get up. How could it be that the Kid would turn out
to be my best friend in the whole world?