Page 19 of Between Never and Forever
My skin prickles with unease, and I cock my head to the side.
“What’s your plan?”
She snorts and gives me a side-eyed glance.
“Like I’d tell you. You’d just go an’ tattle on me again like a little weenie.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Youwould,” she stresses, then starts running again, so I run beside her. “Go back to band, Levi.”
She’s going to run away. I know she is. Fear rackets inside my chest.
“The Oglesbys aren’tthatbad, right?” I try again. “It’s better than any alternative. I could start bringing extra food to school for you, if you want. You can keep it in your room.”
“Theyarethat bad. And it’s not just all that, either. It’s the way Ted looks at me. It’s creepy. I don’t like it at all.”
I glance at her to find her lip curled and her eyebrows scrunched.
“Don’t run away, Sav.”
I just come right out and say it. I don’t even try to hide the plea in my voice. I brace myself for a shove, or a fist to the shoulder, but instead, Sav just sighs.
“Go back to band,Leviticus.”
Then she takes off on a sprint, and I stop running. I watch her run the track until it curves around the opposite end, and then I turn and walk back to band class. Sav’s going to do what she wants. She always does. There’s nothing I can do about it.
6
Two weeks of silence later,there’s a tap on my window in the middle of the night.
I glance at the clock, then shoot upright and hurry over to it.
Savannah hasn’t even looked at me since that day on the track, and I haven’t tried to talk to her again. I’ve watched her like crazy, though. I don’t know what I was expecting to see when I pushed open the window, but Sav standing with her backpack jammed full at her feet doesn’t surprise me.
I stare at her for a minute, but she doesn’t make a move to climb into my room.
“Are you coming in?” I whisper, hopeful.
When she shakes her head with a small smile, my chest aches.
“You come out.”
I look over my shoulder at my door. It’s closed. The house is quiet. If I tell her no, she’ll just call me a weenie. Besides, something in my gut is telling me I shouldn’t tell her no. So, I climb out. It’s awkward, and I basically fall on my face in the dirt, making Sav cover her mouth with her hand to silence a laugh.
“Nice,” she says between giggles.
“Shut it.”
I stand up and brush off my pajama pants. I don’t know how she does this all the time. I didn’t realize it was so hard.
“Well,” Savannah says, dropping her hands to her sides. “I wanted to come say goodbye.”
I stand up straight and shake my head.
“What do you mean goodbye? You said you wouldn’t run.”
“Never said that.”
