Can You Remember? (Sequel to Can You Keep A Secret?)

Chapter 11

Sadie’s P.O.V

I entered the house, not bothering to worry about how loud I slammed the door behind me.

Everyone looked towards me; I sat down on the edge of the arm chair, feeling aggravated.

Slowly my cheeks started to gain heat and my anger flourished.

“What the hell happened to my brother?” I exclaimed.

Everyone just looked back at me, their silence only making my frustration worse.

“He’s balling his eyes out and he won’t tell me why, what happened?” I continued.

Dally, who looked the least bit interested, said “He told Rosey he loved her.”

I felt my face grow pale and my insides twist.

“How-How did she take it?” I asked.

Dally looked up at me now, “How do you think?” he sneered.

I knew. Although I didn’t want to say it out loud; we all knew she would find out and we all knew it would be messy.

Silence swirled in all of us.

Dallas stood up, flicking the ashes of his smoke onto the rug.

“I’m going to talk to him,” Dallas announced, “If any of you care to tag along, then—well whatever.”

I hurried after him out the door; I didn’t hear the padding of footsteps behind me. Dallas and I were the only ones who could make this better. We knew. And they knew.

“Where was he, Sadie?” Dally asked when I had finally caught up to him.

“Uh- Well he was at our house, but he just grabbed a jacket and left. He’s probably off to the lot now,” I said.

Johnny always slept in the lot if he was upset; he didn’t like talking about his problems and he knew I did.

So Dally took the path that uppercut our houses from the school, and behind the school was a barb wire fence that had worn down enough you could get through a hole in it without cutting yourself from the wire. Behind the fence was a small, vacant lot of some superstore that got shut down God knows how long ago.

We found Johnny wrapped up in his jacket with a smoke dangling unlit from his mouth.

Dallas approached him, taking the cigarette from him and lighting it.

Johnny was shaking when he took it back from Dally, the bud quivered in his fingers.