Shane wagged the paper. “It’s a miracle I found another one. I mean, what are the odds?”
“Impossible,” I answered, my heart a sledgehammer. I fought to calm my breath. “Look Shane, let’s be cool for one night, okay? Go to the prom. Have a good time. I’ll see y—”
“That’s exactly what I want. For you to have best night. Which is why I’m giving this to you now.”
Merle eyed me darkly. Things would get ugly quick if I didn’t play along. Plus, I was already late for Jo. I held out my hand to Shane even though every instinct told me not to. Shane’s eyes widened in a kind of nervous anticipation and once I had the note, he inched a step closer to Merle.
“Evan, don’t,” Garret whimpered.
I opened the paper with trembling hands. The words were written in a boy’s messy scrawl. Please take the freak off our hands. PLEASE.
“What is it?” Garrett asked, his voice sounding tiny and distant.
“Uh oh.” Shane pouted. “Turns out the note wasn’t too good after all. I may have forgotten to mention that part. Turns out, your real parents thought you were just as strange and freakish as we do. And did you notice, there? Two pleases.”
My vision fogged up red as a horrific glut of pain and rage coiled around my chest, flooding me with the burning fire. I fought not to implode. I sucked in deep breaths, the note in my hand crumpled in a tight fist.
It’s bullshit. Shrug it off. For Jo. Don’t ruin this for Jo.
I chucked the note at Shane’s dress shoes. It took every bit of willpower to keep from breaking him in half. I headed toward my truck. I couldn’t drive, not yet, but I could sit in the cab alone and pull my shit together. I felt dizzy, my vision still blurred and my blood on fire.
“What? That’s it?” Shane cried with mounting fury. “Don’t you fucking walk away from me!”
His cane snaked out and hit me in the shins, tripping me up. I fell flat, yanking the cane out of Shane’s weak hands. First my chin scraped on the gravelly drive, then my chest, scuffing my white dress shirt with dust and oil. The corsage fell out of my hand and landed a foot away.
“Isn’t that fucking precious,” Shane said, his voice shaky. “But a white flower for that slut you’re taking to the dance? Seems inappropriate if you ask me.”
I watched as Merle’s foot came down on the plastic box, crushing it easily, destroying the delicate flower beneath. Garrett, somewhere behind me, gave a little cry.
“There you go,” Shane said, as Merle lifted his boot. “Dirty and used. That’s more like her, I think—”
I flew off the ground as if propelled by a jet engine. Shane’s sentence died as my hands circled his throat. He let out a howl as I swung him around and slammed him against the side of my truck. He was lighter than air and his head smacked against the cab with a satisfying thunk.
“Shut the fuck up!” I screamed. “Just shut your goddamn mouth, you miserable piece of shit!”
I squeezed my hands and Shane clawed feebly at them, his eyes bulging.
“You talk about her like that again and I’ll kill you,” I raged. “Do you hear me? I will fucking kill you!”
Shane couldn’t speak, and I saw his fear-stricken eyes dart to something behind me. A split second later, heavy hands clamped down on my shoulders. Merle wrenched me from Shane and hurled me to the ground. My back scraped against the pavement and my head hit down hard. But the pain felt distant. Even the fire burning in my gut was muted.
No more! No more! No more!
The thought echoed in my head. No more fighting. End it tonight. The bullying, the unthinking hatred—I’d had enough.
No more.
But Jo was waiting. She was more important than this. I had to get to her. It wasn’t too late. I could salvage the night.
I started to get to my feet and Merle’s foot planted in my chest, shoving me back. I grabbed his leg and twisted it, rolling to my feet at same time. He was right there ready with a left hook to my cheek. Pain exploded all up the side of my face but I ducked his second blow and drove my fist into his gut. It felt like hitting a slab of meat. I followed it up with another. He grunted and staggered backwards, and the battle hit a short lull, like the quiet in the eye of the storm.
“No more,” I told Shane.
His eyes were wild as he pointed at me with a bony finger. “I hate you,” he said, his voice shaking and tears welling in his bulging eyes.
“Why? Why, you fucking bastard?” I cried, the fake note and Jo’s ruined corsage lying at my feet. “Why don’t you just leave me alone?”
“That’s what I want to ask you every morning of my life,” Shane cried. “I wake up wanting to ask why the hell you’re here. Why don’t you just go? You don’t belong here and you never have!”
“I’m leaving. After graduation you’ll never see me again.”
“No.” Behind me, Garrett gave a little cry.