Page 2 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

She was the kind of girl who could sit down at any lunch table and no one would look at her sideways.

Annie Watanabe could do it all.

But instead, she was there. Right beside Hollis, always.

Scream

Yulia Egunyemi leaned against her Dodge Challenger and waited for Annie and Hollis to stumble across the parking lot. Hollis wasn’t heavy, but Annie was small, and he had at least a foot on her. His long arm dangled over her shoulder, welts turning vivid and red.

“You’re such a dumbass, Hollis,” Yulia shouted when they got close enough to hear.

“It was James Miller,” Annie yelled back. “Hollis won’t tell me what he said to him, so I’m sure it was awful. As usual.”

Yulia helped Annie shuffle Hollis inside so he could lie across the seats on his stomach. Then she slapped the back of his calf hard.

“Ow! Fuck!”

“Shut up.” Yulia slammed the door.

She hopped in the front of the car, turned on the ignition, and squealed out of the parking lot.

“Where are we going?” Hollis griped.

“Urgent care. I heard that James got a scholarship for mixed martial arts. Who knows what he rattled around in there.”

“I’m fine, just take me home.”

“No!” Annie shouted.

“I’ll pay the fucking copay, but you owe me,” Yulia snapped. “I don’t care if you don’t have any money—figure it out.”

Hollis stayed miserable and quiet until they pulled in to the urgent care parking lot. Yulia sucked her teeth in disgust as they helped him into one of the waiting room chairs.

Annie settled down beside him while Yulia handled the bill. She plucked at the thread from a hole in his jeans.

Yulia

Even though he had known Annie longer, Yulia was Hollis’s best friend. She got him in every way there was to get someone. They just clicked.

Yulia was tall and very dark, like a supermodel. Eyes slender and lionlike, a jaw sharp and glamorous. She dressed like she was going to a casting and didn’t let the stares stop her. She took to farm culture in furs and thigh-high tights. The only reason Yulia wasn’t the most popular girl in school automatically was because she was the kind of New York chic that small-town people didn’t like. Plus, her and her family were the only Nigerian immigrants for miles around.

A trust fund angel like her shouldn’t even be in a podunk place like this.

Her pa was a real estate developer who moved their family to town to work on a nearby housing development. They were supposed to have stayed for just a year, but the project was taking longer. All projects near Rose Town did.

So here she was, three years in. Trapped with the rest of them.

Gray

Hollis had nothing fractured and nothing broken, just bruises and burst vessels and shame. Annie and Yulia bundled him home, fast as holy chariot.

Yulia agreed to be paid back in bread and demanded Hollis bake it for her by the end of the week.

Annie helped Hollis into his house and put him to bed. She scraped her acrylic nails across his cheek, soft, while he held himself together.

Hollis watched them leave.

He waited until he heard the sound of Yulia’s car peeling out of his driveway to cry.