like they’d been sitting out for a long time.
“That makes sense,” Roy agreed, feeling slightly resentful because she wasn’t the one who had to go into orbit and complete the mission. “I suppose I’d better watch that Blue Lagoon film with my daughter.”
“Oh God.” Peaches snorted. “Forget I even mentioned it. Just promise me no one’s going to give birth in space.”
Chapter 7
Big Boy had been acting funny all day. He turned his head away when Liam picked up his leash and lay down behind the sofa, panting. Liam’s mom thought just breathing some fresh air would do him good. So, after dinner, she and his dad sat on the stoop with the huge old dog and sent Liam out for ice cream.
Ample Hills was only four blocks away from home. Liam wanted a cone, and he’d promised to bring his parents back a pint of Smack Mallow Pop. “It really is smack,” his mom said. “I’m going to eat the whole pint.”
The weather had been weirdly warm and the place was packed. Bruce Cardozo, Ryan, and Black Ryan from school were in line ahead of him.
“We’re going to PS 919 to play basketball,” Ryan said.
“You should come,” Black Ryan offered.
“Oh, he’s coming,” Bruce said and punched Liam’s skinny shoulder. It was only then that Liam was able to confirm that they were actually talking to him.
They were all big guys, but they’d ordered child-size ice cream cones because they were cheaper.
“We’ll wait for you outside,” Bruce called, weaving through the crowd with his tiny cone held high.
Liam wasn’t sure why they were being so insistent. He liked Black Ryan, but the other two guys—Bruce especially—were total assholes. He didn’t know them that well, but they were popular athletes who went to parties. They didn’t have to make an effort, so why were they making an effort with him? Maybe he was wrong, maybe they weren’t total assholes.
He ordered a double kid-size cone but decided against the pint, just in case he really did want to play basketball with Bruce and the two Ryans. His mom would have to suck it up. She was always complaining about the size of her thighs anyway. And it was sort of cool that they’d asked. Plus, it was such a nice night.
Sorry no ice cream for u, he texted his mom. Met up with some guys. Going to play basketball.
Good for u. Good for me. Ice cream is evil, she texted back with a little skull-and-crossbones emoji.
Outside, Liam and the other three boys performed the requisite palm slaps and finger-grab handshakes and then ambled down Union Street, quietly devouring their cones. Black Ryan was the tallest. Everyone called him Black Ryan, even the teachers sometimes. The prevailing opinion was that the moniker wasn’t racist; it just made it easier to distinguish between the two Ryans in their grade. There were also three Mayas, but no one called them Freckly Biracial Maya, Asian Maya, and Blonde Maya. Liam wasn’t sure why. He also had no idea why they didn’t call the other Ryan White Ryan. That would’ve been funnier.
“I feel like summer never really ended,” Ryan said dreamily. He tossed the very end of his cone in the trash can on the corner of Court.
“Right?” Bruce agreed. “It needs to get cold or no one’s going to take school seriously. In fact, I’m considering cutting to go to the beach on Friday.”
“I love Rockaway Beach,” Liam mused. His family used to take the A train out there all the time in the summers. They’d bring a picnic and stay until well after sunset. Sometimes his dad would bring his ukulele and his mom would sing.
“He meant the Hamptons, loser,” Ryan said. “He has a house.”
The boys walked down Court, four abreast. Passersby averted their eyes and skirted the edge of the sidewalk to avoid them, as if frightened by the pack of teenage brutes. Liam smiled at this. Black Ryan was tall, but his legs were like toothpicks. Bruce was big all over and weird-looking, with bulging blue eyes and straight, dirty blond hair that fell to his shoulders, but he was kind of short. Ryan had the dark shadow of a mustache but a little-boy haircut, and he still wore the dorky yellow polo shirts and khaki pants his mom picked out for him. Liam was Liam Park, medium-tall, skinny, belt-wearing, pimply son of the school nurse and the lower school music teacher. Except for Bruce, the four of them were hardly a