AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Please call me Auggie. For the millionth time, Colt. I’m literally begging you.”
“Mr. Hazard says he can’t,” Ashley said. “It’s not because you’re not cool, Mr. Lopez.”
“Why don’t you call me Auggie?”
“Oh no, Mr. Lopez. My parents would shi—um, crap a brick if they heard me do that.”
“Your parents aren’t here right now—” Auggie began.
“Consider how that sounds when you’re addressing two minors,” Theo said.
Colt snickered.
“Your dad has been a bad influence on him,” Auggie said. “He never used to say stuff like that.”
“Hello, Colt,” Theo said. “Hello, Ashley. Dare I ask what you’re doing here?”
“He’d be mean, sure. Like one time, we had this epic fight because I washed my face.”
“You washed your face. I’d just cleaned the bathroom, and fifteen seconds later, it looked like you went in there with a firehose.”
“But he never sniped like that.”
“You let the soap dry on the mirror.”
“You like projects! You’re always looking for things to do around the house!”
The whole thing was cracking Colt and Ashley up, of course; the two numskulls were falling over each other laughing. Auggie was grinning too and doing a poor job of trying to hide it, and Theo had to admit that even he felt better. Well, also an echo of outrage at how Auggie had treated that mirror, but better. Like that tunnel vision had opened up some. Like he could think again.
“They don’t have a lot of time,” Auggie told Theo.
“Oh shi—shoot,” Ashley said and checked his phone.
“Football,” Colt said with that particular mixture of brashness and insecurity that so many teenage boys operated under—sayingfootballlike it was no big deal, and, at the same time, the biggest deal in the world.
“You guys made the team,” Theo said with a weary smile. “That’s great. Look, we don’t want to keep you, but I’m not sure—”
“We’re trying to track down Shaniyah Johnson,” Auggie said.
Colt and Ashley traded looks.
“Do you know her?” Auggie asked.
“Well, yeah,” Colt said.
Ashley nodded.
“Do you know where she is?”
Colt shook his head and looked at Ashley. Ashley said, “No, Mr. Lopez.”
“How well do you know her?” Theo asked.
“Just, you know,” Ashley said and shrugged.
“We know who she is,” Colt said.
It was hard not to, of course—that was what neither boy said. In a town like Wahredua, in a school system this size, it was hard not to know everybody, especially by the time they got to high school.
