My Crunchy Life by Mia Kerick

Author:Mia Kerick [Kerick, Mia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult
ISBN: 978-1-64080-392-3
Publisher: Harmony Ink Press
Published: 2018-06-26T00:00:00+00:00

Kale, 10:00 p.m.

DAD IS freaking out. Freaking out so much he actually called Mom at her henna tattooing appointment to see if she’d heard from Hughie. And he knows Mom can’t tolerate being interrupted while having a henna design applied to her hands. She says it’s supposed to be a steady, mystical experience.

It was a daring move on Dad’s part. Commendable, though probably unnecessary.

He comes into my bedroom and starts to pace in the space between the beds. “Hughie hasn’t contacted your mother or your aunt. Neither of them have any idea where the boy is.”

“Maybe he has a date.” We both know that this is a ridiculous suggestion. I snicker.

“This is not a funny situation, Kalin. Your cousin is missing. He never came home from school, and he hasn’t contacted any of us with an explanation.” Dad rubs his palm over his head and then back down over his face. “It just isn’t like him not to be here, especially since he knew I was making my special pulled pork for dinner tonight.”

I wrinkle my nose. “You’re right. Wild horses couldn’t drag him away from your pulled pork sandwiches.”

Dad flops down onto the bed that Hughie sleeps on. The bed he sleeps on like, every night since last October right after the Filmore Bridge incident.

I guess it wouldn’t kill me to call it Hughie’s bed.

“Concentrate for a minute, son—did he tell you he had any out-of-the-ordinary plans tonight? The library, maybe?”

I shake my head for the zillionth time. “No. You dropped us off in front of the school and I went to homeroom. I figured he did the same.”

He sighs and the sound makes him seem old and tired and worn out. I feel guilty, and I’m not sure why.

Something hits me. “But that kid Julian who came over here to study last week told me Hughie wasn’t in class today.”

My father shoots up off the bed. I had no idea that a man with such a large beef-belly could be so agile. “He wasn’t in school today? Interesting. I think I’m going to try to get in touch with Mary Pat again to see if the school contacted her.”

I start to shrug in the “I wish I could help you but I haven’t got a clue, dude” way, but midshrug something else hits me. What if he took a bus over to Julian’s house to study? They have that FDR project due tomorrow, and God knows, those two nerds are all about having the best project in the class. They’re probably doing something geeky like picking out costumes. Ha!

I grab my peacoat and throw it on over my plaid flannel sleep pants and T-shirt. Then I slide my bare feet into the Birki’s beside my bedroom door and head down the stairs. Dad’s talking on the phone, and is in such an intense conversation that I figure he won’t even realize I left. On one hand, I don’t want to get his hopes up that I’m about to

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