Chapter 19
Tenth grade
“You can’t seriously be thinking of asking him to the dance,” Jodi said to Mylie one morning before first period English.
“You could go with anybody. Why would you ask him ?”
Mylie looked over at Ben, who was sitting on the concrete floor beneath his locker, reading a book. She smiled when he absently
shoved his glasses farther up onto the bridge of his nose. Ben was her friend. He’d been her friend for a long time, and Jodi
knew that.
“Oh my GOD,” Jodi squealed.
“What?” Mylie asked.
“You like him!” Jodi said. “You like like him!”
“I do not,” Mylie replied. “He’s my friend.”
“Whatever,” Jodi said, grinning. “I can’t believe it took me so long to figure it out.”
“I don’t like him,” Mylie protested, inwardly cringing at how terribly she was lying. Of course she liked him, but she would
have died before telling anyone.
“Want me to see if he likes you back?” Jodi asked,
“Please don’t!” Mylie said, a little louder than she’d meant to. A few people turned to look at them. Ben hadn’t noticed.
He never noticed anything when he was reading.
“Okay, okay,” Jodi said. “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was that serious.”
“It’s not serious ,” Mylie replied, her voice now at a near whisper. “Just please, please don’t say anything to him.”
“Hey,” Jodi said, touching her friend’s arm. “You know I’d never do that, right? I mean, not unless you wanted me to?”
“I know,” Mylie said, breathing a sigh of relief. Honestly, she hadn’t known. Sometimes Jodi did things without thinking,
and that got them both into trouble... a lot.
“So, are you going to ask him?” Jodi wanted to know. “To the dance?”
Mylie shook her head. “I can’t,” she said. “He’d say no.”
“He would not.”
“He would,” Mylie said. “He told me last week he wasn’t going.”
“Maybe that’s because you haven’t asked him yet,” Jodi offered. “Jason said he wasn’t going to go, and then I asked him. Now
we’re going together.”
“He’s your boyfriend,” Mylie replied, rolling her eyes. “That’s different.”
“Ben could be your boyfriend, too,” Jodi said.
“No,” Mylie replied. “I don’t think he’ll ever be my boyfriend.”
“Well, he won’t be if you never tell him,” Jodi replied. “That’s for sure.”
Mylie knew Jodi was right. She also knew, deep down, that she’d never tell him. She couldn’t. She knew who she was. Even at
fifteen, she knew. She was her mother’s daughter, after all. She’d watched her mother search for a man to stay her entire
life. All they ever did was give her children and run away. That’s how Mylie had been born. That’s how her new baby sister,
Cassie, had been born—straight into the chaos and fire of the Mason women.
Eventually, everyone left.
Mylie didn’t think she could bear it if Ben left, too. Ben looked up when the bell rang and caught Mylie looking over at him.
He gave her a half grin and waved.
Mylie waved back. It was better not to tell him. It was easier this way, wasn’t it?