Mr. 60% by Clete Barrett Smith

Author:Clete Barrett Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2017-08-22T04:00:00+00:00

Saying it out loud had made it more real. Matt was going to be alone.

Back at school it became difficult, for the first time, to maintain his 60 percent average. While his teachers droned on he found himself picturing it, aloneness, maybe trying to prepare himself for what lay ahead. But for some reason it was impossible to imagine. He could picture an empty trailer. He could picture Jack not being there. There had been lots of times when Jack had not been there while he was growing up, for a few weeks or even several months. What he could not imagine was Jack not coming back. The rational side of him knew it was going to happen, but the other part of him didn’t know what that could possibly feel like.

Amanda stopped by the trailer the next day with a magazine for Jack and a plate of food for Matt. But Matt didn’t feel like talking anymore. Didn’t feel like he could. Jack was taking a nap, and Matt just turned out all the lights and drew the curtains. After knocking a few times, Amanda left her gifts on the makeshift wooden steps outside the front door.

He avoided her the next week at school, too. Matt thought that might help him deal, not talking to anyone about this again. Maybe allow him to block everything out of his mind.

It didn’t.

—

With a few minutes left in the lunch period, Matt was still talking to a group of guys in the stairwell by the gym. The junior prom was coming up and everyone wanted to make sure they had enough weed and pills for their parties. Usually Matt had a more take-it-or-leave-it stance on how much he could offer—he didn’t want to have to listen to everyone’s stories and try to adjust his amounts with Big Ed—but he could use the extra money this month. He checked the time and made an excuse to get away from those guys. He walked to the lunchroom.

On the way, he had extra sensors out for Gill and Hershey. Those two had been entirely too quiet lately, and no way did Matt believe it had anything to do with his attendance at Helping Hands. Getting frisked on a weekly basis might’ve been a pain in the ass, but it was better than wondering what they were up to.

When he got to the cafeteria, Amanda was sitting at one of the smaller tables, homework spread over the table and her backpack on an empty chair.

“Hey.”

“Hi, Matt.”

“So…how’s it goin’?”

She gave him a half-smile. “Not bad. Just trying to catch up on some science homework.”

“Right.” Matt looked around the cafeteria. Pulled out a chair halfway but didn’t sit down. Pushed it back.

He didn’t know how to say what he came to say. Or even if he should say it. The only person he had ever asked anything from was Jack.

Amanda broke the awkward silence. “Actually, if I’m being honest, the homework is just a distraction.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I had this interview.

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