Stupid Fast - By Geoff Herbach Page 0,64

face heated up again.

“I miss Jerri.”

“I do too,” I said.

“I hate Jerri,” he whimpered.

“We have to call Grandma Berba. Or if not her, I guess the cops or something.”

“Grandma,” Andrew nodded.

We discussed what to do next. One thing was very obvious: we couldn’t stay in the house anymore. After going through our immediate options (neighbor, Andrew’s piano teacher, Cody Frederick—Andrew had no idea who he was), I suggested the Jenningses.

“You mean Aleah Jennings?” he asked. “Her dad thinks we’re nuts. Jerri slept in front of their house.”

“I’ve, uh…” I realized that Andrew and I had been so out of touch that he had no clue I’d been with her.

“What, Felton?”

“Aleah’s my girlfriend.”

“Oh my God,” Andrew stared at me. “I forgot she liked you.”

“I…I really like her.”

“I’m so stupid,” Andrew said.

“Do you like her too?”

“Like her?” he asked, tilting his head like he does.

“You know, want her to be your girlfriend,” I said.

Andrew gasped, “No! I’m just embarrassed.”

“Because…” I was confused. “You like her?”

“Because I haven’t practiced piano in over a month,” he mumbled. “I’ll be rusty if I play.”

“That’s the least of our troubles.”

And with that, we decided to go to the Jenningses. Mr. Jennings was kind, and I loved Aleah. I was used to that house, and I needed something steady, which would help me call Grandma Berba, and—maybe most important—the Jenningses weren’t connected to the town, so they wouldn’t tell people about our trouble. If we went to Cody’s, the cops and everybody else would be involved from the start.

CHAPTER 44: ESCAPE

Because it was the middle of the day, I assumed that Aleah would be asleep and Ronald would be at the college. There was nobody around to pick us up, so I’d have to ride the bike, even though that jerk Ken Johnson (sorry) had broken my back. I stayed out in the driveway and tried to stretch, in complete pain. Meanwhile, Andrew ran into the house and pulled a bunch of my sweats out and stuck them in a backpack. There was no reason to pack clothes for him because he only owned his pirate outfit. He did grab our toothbrushes and my deodorant. (“You smell sometimes,” he said. “You smell like you haven’t showered in a month,” I said. “That’s fair,” he said.) He also grabbed Jerri’s address book, which wasn’t easy because it was in the desk drawer in her room. He snuck in. She rolled over while he was in there but stayed asleep.

“What in the world would I have said?” he asked. “Felton and I are running away. We’ll send Grandma?”

“She would have strangled you,” I said.

“With her sweaty sheet,” Andrew said.

I laughed.

“It’s not funny. It’s true,” Andrew said.

We began to ride down the drive. Then I stopped.

“Andrew,” I said. “We need my phone charger.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I want to keep my life. It’s really important to me. The charger’s on my night stand.”

Andrew was inside for a couple of minutes. When he came out, he was trying to hold it together. Jerri was behind him. My stomach dropped. Andrew stared at me as he moved forward. He was definitely shaking. Jerri was in her robe. Her hair was frizzed out, and there was no color in her face, and she was super skinny. She followed him through the garage and onto the drive, where she squinted in the summer light. She looked like she hadn’t seen the sun in weeks, which was probably true.

“Felton,” she said. “Andrew won’t tell me what he’s doing.”

“Don’t worry,” I said. “We’re going for a bike ride.”

“You’re what?” She shook her head.

“Just a bike ride, Jerri.” She looked confused. She probably was confused. “Don’t worry, Jerri. It’s going to be okay,” I said.

“Okay, Felton,” she nodded. “You give me a call. Okay?”

Maybe she wasn’t confused.

“Okay, Jerri,” I said.

At the end of the driveway, I looked back. Jerri was still standing there outside the garage.

“Does she know what we’re doing?” Andrew asked.

“I don’t know,” I said.

***

It was probably good for my back to be riding the Varsity. It hurt like crazy to go up the hill on the main road, but by the time Andrew and me got to the top, I was sweating, and my back was looser. Because he’s small and really isn’t and will never be an athlete, Andrew rode incredibly slow. I could’ve biked circles around him. If my back didn’t hurt, I probably would have. We only had one conversation as we rode. It was very short.

Going up the hill, I said,