a large pizza with everything, and then I asked him if Ron was out on a delivery. Mikey said yeah, that Ron would be back soon, that I should wait.
Ron lived in Cousins year-round. He went to community col ege during the day and he delivered pizzas at night. He was an okay guy. He’d been buying underage kids beer for as long as I could remember. If you gave him a twenty, he’d hook you up.
Al I knew was, if this was gonna be our last night, we couldn’t go out like this.
When I got back to the house, Conrad was sitting on the front porch. I knew he was waiting for me; I knew he felt bad for what he’d said. I honked the horn, stuck my head out the window, and yel ed, “Come help me with this stuff.”
He came down to the car, checked out the cases of beer and the bag of liquor, and said, “Ron?”
“Yup.” I hoisted up two cases of beer and handed them over. “We’re having a party.”
chapter twenty-seven
After the fight, after Mr. Fisher left, I went up to my room and stayed there.
I didn’t want to be around when Jeremiah got back, in case he and Conrad went for a second round. Unlike Steven and me, those two hardly ever fought. In al the time I’d known them, I’d only seen them do it, like, three times. Jeremiah looked up to Conrad and Conrad looked out for Jeremiah. It was as simple as that.
I started looking around in the drawers and closet to see if there was anything of mine left there. My mom was pretty strict about us taking al our stuff every time we left, but you never knew. I figured I might as wel make sure. Mr. Fisher would probably just tel the movers to throw al the junk out.
In the bottom of the desk drawer I found an old composition notebook from my Harriet the Spy days. It was colored in pink and green and yel ow highlighter.
I’d fol owed the boys around for days, taking notes in it until I drove Steven crazy and he told Mom on me.
I’d written:
June 28. Caught Jeremiah dancing in the mirror when he thought no one was watching. Too bad I was!
June 30. Conrad ate all the blue Popsicles again even though he’s not supposed to. But I didn’t tell.
July 1. Steven kicked me for no reason.
And on and on. I’d gotten sick of it by mid-July and quit. I had been such a little tagalong then. Eight-year-old me would have loved to have been included in this last adventure, would have loved the fact that I got to hang out with the boys while Steven had to stay at home.
I found a few other things, junk like a half-used pot of cherry lip gloss, a couple of dusty hair bands. On the shelf, there were my old Judy Blumes and then my V.
C. Andrews books hidden behind them. I figured I’d just leave al that stuff behind.
The one thing I had to take was Junior Mint, my old stuffed polar bear, the one Conrad had won me that time at the boardwalk a mil ion years ago. I couldn’t just let Junior Mint get thrown out like he was junk. He’d been special to me once upon a time.
I stayed upstairs for a while, just looking at my old stuff. I found one other thing worth keeping. A toy telescope. I remember the day my father bought it for me. It had been in one of the little antique stores along the boardwalk, and it was expensive but he said I should have it. There was a time when I
