While You Were Gone by Amy K. Nichols

Author:Amy K. Nichols
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2015-08-03T16:00:00+00:00

Friday after school, we drop off our backpacks, bag our paint supplies and head for the harbor to cause mayhem.

Well, maybe not mayhem. But that’s kind of how it feels. Like when I’d be out all night with the guys back home, tearing up the town. I watch my reflection in the shopwindows, my ratty jeans and shades. Bag slung over my shoulder. Germ said the other Danny is confident. Well, here I am. What would Eevee think if she saw me? Maybe I’ll try it out when I see her tomorrow. Germ looks pretty badass, too, strutting along, carrying the other bag.

It’s kind of a lie, though. I keep thinking about the look on Mom’s face when I walked in the door yesterday morning. The disappointment on Dad’s when he came home from work. The promise I made not to screw up again. All that takes the edge off my appetite for trouble. Back home, the things I did only affected me. I can’t be selfish like that here. My actions impact others now, for good and bad.

“We gotta be back before curfew.” As soon as I say it, the veneer of badassery falls away. Probably better to just be myself with Eevee. Well, as much as possible, anyway.

“No problem,” Germ says. “I got chewed out, too. Dad thinks I’m gonna wind up on the SPL.” When I don’t respond, he looks at me. “Sorry. The suspicious persons list.”

A patrol car approaches, and we become unusually engrossed in the fine print of a sign in a shopwindow.

“Why’d you guys get involved with RD in the first place?”

Germ watches the car pass in the window reflection. “Paint’s impossible to get. Those cans in your bag? That’s our thank-you from RD.”

“Isn’t that kind of a big risk just for paint?”

He doesn’t say anything, which makes me wonder if what I said ticked him off. I’m about to apologize when he says, “There’s nothing like blazing the side of a building to show them they don’t own us. That’s worth it. To me, at least.”

Can’t argue with that.

We continue down the sidewalk. Seagulls squawk overhead, and the stink of fish guts and seaweed mixes with the saltwater air. When we get near the harbor, we turn down an alley and emerge at the back of our first target: a coffee shop with oceanfront seating.

“Here we go.” Germ pulls two city utility worker coats and two hard hats from his bag. I pull a tarp and duct tape from mine. We put the coats on—his is way too large—and laugh at how stupid we look. I shake my head. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“I can.” He grins, sticking out his hand in a way I haven’t seen before. When I put out my hand, he walks me through what must be his and Danny’s secret shake: regular shake, bro shake, shoulder bump, fist bump.

Two scruffy teens walk into an alley. Two utility workers walk out. They hang a blue tarp to secure their work area and get busy.

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