Page 9 of The Corruption of Hollis Brown

“I’d rather die than owe you a new car.” Hollis opened the trunk and stuffed his sleeping bag inside.

Yulia folded her arms. “I’ll hold you to that.”

Annie wriggled underneath them to force Yulia into a hug, then slid into the passenger seat.

“Bye! We love you,” she shouted.

Yulia nodded sharply, then turned and started her long walk home.

Brief

It was so much.

To have Annie beside him in the quiet like this. One hand on the wheel, one hand sweating on his knee.

Annie could tell he was nervous.

“No one is going to mess with you, I’ll be there the whole time. You can hang out with me and the rest of the girls.”

“I don’t think the girls like me either,” Hollis mumbled as they turned onto the highway.

“Dude, they don’t know you. Worst-case scenario, they know their boyfriends don’t like you, and for some of them that might even be a good thing,” Annie said. “The one thing they do know is that me and Yulia like you, and that counts for something.”

“What do you mean?”

Annie glanced over at him. “Well. Your reputation rides on ours in its own way. . . . People think, ‘They wouldn’t hang out with him for no reason.’ They don’t know you, Hollis.”

Hollis smirked. “They think there must be something worthwhile going on with me since you and Yulia waste all your time with me?”

Annie huffed. “They don’t deserve to know you if they think that. I told them you’re our mascot.”

“You can tell them whatever you like,” Hollis said, fond and indulgent.

Annie grinned.

Begin

Rose Town was beautiful in the summer. A city in a garden, trees down every street, shade for a hot summer, birdsong.

But in the cold, with brown leaves cluttering the roads, there was nothing to obscure the decay.

Someone had set up a garbage can fire, and people from school were gathered around it. Hollis could see candlelight brightening the windows of the buildings closest to the city line. They were in the town, but just barely.

He pulled the car onto the gravel, far from where the others were parked. In a better position to drive off if anything happened.

“You come here more often than most people do,” Annie said. “Any of the houses your favorite?”

“I don’t go in the houses.”

Annie sat there, worrying her lip between her teeth. She bounced her knee anxiously but didn’t get out.

“It’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that,” Annie said quietly.

Hollis reached over and tugged the sleeves of her thick sweater down over her hands.

“We’ll take care of each other,” he promised. “No matter what happens, I’m getting you home.”