Page 44 of Jacob Michaels is Dead

“It’s my house.” She demanded, though there was no power in her words. “Fine. Fine. I’ll go dust the fuckin’ bookcases or somethin’, I spose.”

“Thank you.” Rob chuckled nervously as his grandmother marched out of the room, pretending to be upset.

Lucas frowned, noticing that Mrs. Wagner hadn’t bothered to find a feather duster or cloth with which to do her chores. Of course, he had always heard that Esther Jean Wagner was…odd…so he decided to not let it bother him any. Instead, he picked up the can of soda—or “sodey pop” as Mrs. Wagner had called it—and brought it to his lips. Rob mimicked his actions. The two boys sat in silence, only the sounds of effervescent bubbles in the cans as a soundtrack.

“So,” Rob finally spoke, luckily before the silence had grown too thick, “you’re on the football team, right?”

“Yeah,” Lucas answered eagerly, glad to have something, anything, to talk about. “Uh, yeah. Um, I tried out. I’m a running back.”

“Kind of cool for a freshman to be on the team.” Rob smiled, trying to think of a way to direct the conversation.

“I mean,” Lucas blushed slightly, “I guess. I’m just small and fast, so…”

“Easy for you to sneak the ball by other players?” Rob smiled.

“Yeah.” Lucas agreed. “Season’s over, though, so we’re just stuck in practices now. Maybe I can actually get off the bench next year.”

“I feel like I know you.” Rob blurted out suddenly, then looked down. “I mean, obviously that’s stupid. We go to the same school, so of course, you’d seem, uh, familiar and stuff, right?”

“Right.” Lucas’ face was stuck between a smile and a frown. “But, I, uh, know what you mean. I feel like we’ve hung out before or something.”

Rob shrugged.

“Did you go to CARNAVAL last year?” Rob asked. “I think I went to that. Around Halloween? It seems so long ago.”

Rob gave a nervous chuckle as Lucas shrugged.

“I don’t remember going,” Lucas replied. “I mean…it was such a big deal, right? It seems like I was there. Everyone was talking about it, anyway. Maybe that’s why?”

“Yeah.” Rob agreed. “Maybe.”

The two boys took sips of their sodas again, looking anywhere but at each other. Suddenly, Rob got a curious grin on his face, then leaned in conspiratorially.

“It’s like I can remember the taste of the popcorn and cotton candy.”

Lucas smiled. “Right? All popcorn and cotton candy from carnivals tastes the same, though, right?”

“Yeah.” Rob relented. “Wish I had gone. People wouldn’t shut up about that for forever.”

Lucas laughed at the way Rob rolled his eyes and sunk down in his chair as though he had been through war.

“CARNAVAL this, CARNAVAL that.” Rob groaned comically. “I bet no one’s parents let ‘em go anyway. And it was gone the next day, so…”

“Right?” Lucas laughed. “I mean, Jason and—the guys on the team—they all probably went. I heard them talking about it a lot. But…”

“What?” Rob leaned in, grinning. “What were you going to say?”

“Nothing.” Lucas shook his head with a smile.

“Nah.” Rob shook his head with an impish grin. “You can’t leave me hanging like that. You started a sentence; you have to finish it.”

“Is that how that works?” Lucas laughed.

“Yep.” Rob nodded as he grabbed his soda. “House rules.”

“Fine.” Lucas rolled his eyes, though he was amused. “Jason and the other guys on the team are kind of liars. That’s all. They probably didn’t go either. Just them wanting to be cool and stuff.”

Rob grinned widely.