End of the Innocence by John Goode Read Free Book Online Page A

chest stand out so I didn’t look like I was seven. The pants actually hugged my legs so they weren’t just huge, shapeless blobs that ended in my sneakers. At first I couldn’t describe it, but then it hit me. I looked my age for once.
    “See?” he said over my shoulder. “That was what I was complementing you on earlier.” I honestly couldn’t talk. “So take them off so we can ring you up.”
    That got my tongue working in a flash. “I can’t afford these!” I said quickly. “I live at the end of East Avenue in trash apartments, and my mom would kill me if I asked her for clothes I was only buying to wear to a party!” I was horrified that I was saying all this out loud, but once my mouth opened I couldn’t stop. “I didn’t even want to go to this stupid party, but my boyfriend wants to bad, and I don’t want to go and make him look like an idiot, which is what I’ll do if I dress normal!” I leaned up against the dressing room wall. “I wish I was dead!”
    Robbie waited for me to draw breath and then asked, “You done?” I nodded as I forced myself not to cry. “Okay, good. Look, if you don’t want to go to this party, then don’t go. It’s that simple. And if your boyfriend is embarrassed to be out with you unless you’re dressed to suit him, he is an idiot.”
    “It’s not like that,” I tried to explain. “It’s just Brad lost everything because of me, and I know he wants to get some of it back, and if I go to this party dressed like a reject, then everyone is going to look at him and go, ‘He went gay for that? Ugh!’ I couldn’t take that.”
    “Brad?” he asked. “As in Jennifer’s Brad?” I nodded. “Oh shit! You’re that Kyle?” I nodded again. “Oh well, that changes everything,” he said with a smile. “I just thought you were one of Jennifer’s friends. Look, you want to go to this party?” I sighed and looked away, but I nodded. “Okay then, this is what we’re going to do. You have a job?”
    “Like a paying job?” I asked stupidly.
    “If you ain’t getting paid, it’s not a job. Yeah, that kind of job.” I shook my head. “Look, I need someone to help go through inventory and pricing. How about you start after school and work off those clothes, and if you work out, you can make your own money. Sound good?”
    “You’re offering me a job?” I blurted in amazement.
    He paused and then raised one eyebrow. “I thought you were supposed to be a genius or something. Didn’t I just offer you a job?”
    “That would be wicked!” I said, overjoyed.
    “Calm down, newbie. It’s a job as a stock clerk, not a slot on American Idol . Take those off so I can ring them up. Can you start Monday?” I nodded quickly. “And tell no one I did this, or my reputation as a bitch would be ruined.”
    “Thank you!” I said. Overcome with emotion, I hugged him.
    “Oh, see? Now this, this is sexual harassment,” he remarked, not hugging me back. “Get off me before people think I’m molesting you back here.”
    “Sorry,” I said, letting go of him.
    “Oh jeez,” he groaned, rolling his eyes. “It’s a joke, Kyle. You are going to need to learn how to take that stick out of your ass, or you’ll drop dead at thirty.” He turned to walk away. “Now get in there and change. Shoo!”
    I looked at myself in the mirror again.
    I had no idea who that was staring back at me, but I relished the idea of becoming him.
     
     
    B RAD
     
    W HEN I came down off my baseball high, I realized today’s practice wasn’t the worst I’ve had, but it was easily in the bottom ten.
    I had been so distracted by Kyle and Jennifer and The Party that I would have caught more fly balls sitting in the stands than I did out on the field. Thankfully, we were on the last week before Christmas break, so everyone sucked equally, but I knew I was sucking for completely different reasons than the rest of the guys were. I waited in the coach’s office for the showers to open up,