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“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. Friends don’t do things like that.”

“Really, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m going to make it up to you,” Adam promised. “I don’t care how long it takes. Maybe...I don’t know, maybe there’s a lab that’s developed a brand-new line of artificial toes, toes that they’re still experimenting with, ones with retractable toenails or something like that, maybe really strong toes where you could hang upside down with just one of them—don’t monkeys have those long toes where they can dangle? I’ll figure out a way to get you on the list. And if you don’t want that, if you want plastic toes that don’t do anything special, I’ll make that happen too. Whatever you want. And you will never do homework again. English homework, math homework, chemistry, economics, home ec, PE.. .I’m doing it all for you. Maybe not PE. I can’t do PE for you. But any work you take home, just pass it on to me.” “You don’t have to do my homework.”

“I do. And I’ll do it right, not the way I do my own homework. And you can have all of my video games. Maybe the ones you already have you can let me keep so I have something to play, but everything else is yours. Tonight. As soon as we get the doll fixed, I’m going to put them all in a box and bring them over. I swear.”

“I don’t think we’re going to have a lot of free time tonight, even after we fix the doll,” I said.

“Well, whenever. Whenever we have some free time. I’m not going to renege on this. Kelley is a witness. And Kelley, you can go into my room and pick three things you want. Any three. I didn’t drag you into this, Tyler did, but I’m so sorry for dragging Tyler into this and making him drag you into it.”

“I don’t want any of your things, but thanks,” said Kelley. “You’ve never been in my room. I’ve got lots of stuff. Tell her, Tyler.”

“You don’t need to give all of your things away,” I said. “It’s fine, really.”

Adam shook his head. “I’m not going to do dumb things anymore. Never again. Those days where I was constantly doing dumb things—they were fine for a while; they’ve worked for me so far. But they have to end. I can’t keep living like this. I can’t keep being the friend who messes everything up. I want to be the friend you introduce to other people. I want people to say, ‘This is Adam, and he is my friend,’ instead of, ‘This is Adam, he’s a little better when you get to know him, but not much.’ I want you to be proud of me. You too, Kelley, even though I know that’ll never happen. You guys are going to see a brand-new Adam Westell. I may not even keep the name Adam. Maybe I’ll be Blake. Or Ziggy. Or I’ll make up a name that nobody has ever had. Something without vowels. Zgmf. Or something that isn’t pronounced the way it’s spelled. Didn’t some guy do that one time? I don’t remember. But I promise you, both of you, that I’m not going to be the one who ruins everything anymore. I’m going to be the one who solves problems, not causes them. I’m going to be the one you can count on, the one you call when you need help, not the reason you call somebody else. As soon as I saw all of that blood on you, I knew—”

“What blood?” asked the cabdriver.

“Uh,” said Adam.

The driver applied the brakes and turned around to stare at me. “If you’re bleeding inside my vehicle, I’m gonna cut you.” “Wouldn’t that make the problem worse?”

Hadn’t Kelley, Adam, and I been discussing my injuries right here in the cab where he could hear us? Maybe the driver was a polite individual who made it a point not to eavesdrop on other people’s conversations, and so he’d been thinking of a favorite song or something while we discussed my missing toes. Or maybe he was moderately stupid. Either way, he looked pretty darn mad.

“I’m gonna kick you out and then cut you. Where are you bleeding?”

“Nowhere.”

“Don’t lie to me.” He pulled off to the side of the road and shut off the engine. “I just had my cab cleaned after this lady gave birth in it a couple days ago, and I’m not going through that again. You kids can just pay me and get out.” He tapped the meter. “That’s one-oh-three.”

As has been previously mentioned, we didn’t have much money. If you choose to take life lessons from this book, and I hope you don’t, one of them would be that at some point, the cabdriver is going to want to be paid, and if you knew you didn’t have enough cash, you should have figured something out along the way instead of simply hoping that the problem would disappear.

Kelley, Adam, and I all did that thing where you look at each other with “So, do you have any money?” expressions even though you already know the answer. Like when your dad looks in the pantry and says, “Who ate all of the Ho Hos?” and you and your friends all look at each other, even though all of you were there for the Ho Ho-eating party.

“We’re not sleazeballs,” I assured him. “I promise you’ll get your money.”

“Good. Then hand it over.”

“We don’t have it right.. .y’know.. .wow.”

The driver narrowed his eyes. “Define ‘now.’”

“On us.”

“You let me drive you all this way and you didn’t have money for the fare?”

“We never thought we’d need you this long. We actually didn’t think we’d need a cab at all. But my car got stolen, and we needed somebody to do a high-speed chase, and.well, you remember, you were there. We were never going to jump out and run. My parents will pay you. I guarantee it.”

“And are your parents in the cab with you right now?”

“Uh, no.”

“Then we have a problem, don’t we?”

“No, no, no, there’s no problem. You’ll get your money. If you have to drop us all the way back off at my house, that’s fine. I’ll make sure you get paid.”

The driver sighed. “You seem like good kids. Well, no, you seem like rotten kids, but you don’t seem like thieves.” He reached into his pocket and handed me a business card. “This is how you get in touch with me. I expect you to do so. Understand?”

“Yes, sir.”

We all sat there for a moment.

“Are you making us get out?” I asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“Is there any chance you could take us to the jewelry shop? I mean, we’ve promised to pay you, so what’s another ten bucks on the fare, right?”

The driver opened his door and got out of the cab. Kelley and

Adam hurriedly got out as well. The driver opened my door, saw my foot, and then gave me one of the ugliest scowls I’d ever seen.

“There’s.there’s.I didn’t know you were bleeding that much! I thought you scraped up your elbow or something! Look at that!”

“It’s not leaking that bad,” I insisted. “See? There’s barely any on the floor.”

“That’s worse than the umbilical cord stain! Get out! Now!” The driver grabbed me by the shirt collar and pulled me out of the car. He raised his fist.

“I’m not a violent person except in the monster truck audience,” he said, “but this is a bunch of garbage. You think you can just bleed all over my cab and not suffer the consequences?” “I didn’t bleed all over it!” I said. “It was only a little bit! There was no spurting!”

“It’s spurting right now!”

I looked down at my foot. “That’s not spurting. That’s dripping.” “It’s dripping a lot.”

“That’s because you pulled me out of the car. It wasn’t dripping that much inside. I’ll clean it up. I promise. Get me some hot water and a sponge, and I’ll clean it up right now.”

He slammed me against the car. Kelley let out a quick scream. “It would be different if you wanted me to take you to the hospital,” said the driver. “That I could get behind. But you, you’re being inconsiderate with your blood while you’re making me take you to a jewelry store! I should call the cops.”