Page 72 of More Than Pen Pals

“Works for me,” my brother says.

“Me, too,” I say. “Where do we want to go?”

thirty-five

“How’s life in Chicago?” Shannon asks. “Anything exciting happen since I helped you move in?”

“Well …” I didn’t intend to tell my brother about Ash yet, but I can’t lie to him anymore.

“Well, what? What happened?”

I twirl the phone cord around my finger. “Remember my pen pal when we were kids?”

“Ashley? How could I forget?”

“We reconnected.”

“No way! Did you track her down through her old address?”

“No, I didn’t.” I unwind the cord.

“Why does your voice sound weird?” Shannon demands. “What’s going on?”

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

“That sounds ominous.”

“Ash isn’t a girl.”

The line is silent for a few seconds. “Did he pretend to be a girl all that time?” He’s angry. Of course he doesn’t think I’m the one in the wrong. And of course he’d be mad if someone did to me what I did to Ash.

“No.”

He’s quiet again before asking, “What are you saying, Les?”

I close my eyes. “I pretended to be a boy.”

“Forfour years?”

I explain what happened.

“So let me get this straight,” Shannon says. “You lied to him,andyou lied to all of us?”

“Yes,” I say in a small voice, although I never technically lied. He won’t see the distinction. “I’m sorry.”

“Did you not think you could trust me with the truth? Me—your twin who loves you more than anyone else in the world?”

Tears well up at the knowledge that I hurt him.

“It’s not that. I thought you’d make fun of me for writing to a boy. And if Mom and Dad found out, they would’ve made me stop writing to him, but I didn’t want to. Can you forgive me?”

“You know I will. But I’ll be mad about it for a good fifteen minutes.”

“I’m sorry.” I swipe a few tears from my cheeks.

“What I most want to know, though, is what Ash did when he found out. And how did you run into him?”

“It’s going to take a while to tell the whole story,” I say. “Do you have time?”

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