yet, but the stuff I have to do . . . isn’t always good.”
“What? What do you mean it’s not good? Like, illegal?”
“Sometimes . . . I guess.”
“So, your dad does illegal stuff, and now you’re doing illegal stuff with him?”
“Look, the only reason I’m telling you is because you’re my best friend in the whole world, and I like that I can tell you stuff about me. Stuff that nobody else knows. So, I don’t want you to judge me. I don’t need that. I just want us to be able to tell each other everything. That’s what best friends do. Right?”
I pause for a minute to let all of his words sink in, then I answer. “Yeah, that’s what best friends do. I’m not gonna judge you, Dominic. I told you when we were in fifth grade, I only care about how you treat me. And I promise not to tell anyone. Ever.”
He smiles at me and I feel butterflies in my stomach, although I’m not sure why.
“Good,” he says, just as a dark red Cadillac turns into the parking lot, and he grabs his backpack as he stands.
“Is that your dad?” I ask, marveling at the nice car with the tinted windows so dark I can’t see inside.
“Yeah. I gotta go. I’ll see you tomorrow, Alannah,” he says as he starts walking towards the car.
“Okay, see you tomorrow.”
As Dominic walks to the car, the passenger window slides down and I can see his dad’s smiling face. He’s got slick black hair and the same strong jaw as Dominic, but there’s something about him that makes me feel nervous. Even as he smiles at Dominic, he looks like a person who you want to be your friend, not your enemy. I guess that’s probably the same way people see Dominic.
I don’t know exactly what Dominic was talking about when he was saying all that stuff about his dad. I don’t know how he could be working for him when he’s only thirteen, and I don’t know what illegal stuff he was talking about either, but it doesn’t matter. Dominic really is my best friend, and there’s no way I’d say anything to anybody about what he told me, and nothing he said changes the way I feel about him or the way he treats me. We’ll always be close. No matter what.
Dominic
“I ’m getting ready to go.”
“You’re getting ready to go where? Like, out?”
“Yeah, Ma has to work tonight, so my dad’s coming to get me here in a few.”
Alannah pauses for a moment like she’s surprised. I can basically see her scrunching her forehead and pinching her lips together like she does when she’s confused. I’ve always liked when she does that.
“So, your mom has to go to work, and your dad is about to come pick you up and take you into St. Louis? It’s, like, nine o’clock at night. I’m actually getting ready to go to bed,” she replies.
“Yeah, it’s weird, I know. I finished my homework for history just before my mom told me to get ready.”
I hear Alannah’s father come into the room and tell her it’s time to get off the phone.
“Well, have a good time, I guess. I have to go. Bedtime, well, at least for some of us it is,” Alannah says behind a giggle.
“Okay. I’ll talk to you later,” I reply.
We hang up as I hear the doorbell ring. My father’s here. Time to go.
It’s really dark out here. I feel the gravel under my shoes, but I can’t see it. I even lift my hand to see if I can make out the outline of my fingers. I can’t. It’s too dark. The lights from the city are way down the road, so they’re doing nothing to brighten this area. It’s dead quiet, too. So quiet, in fact, I’m almost scared by it. Almost. I know what’s going on, and I know what I have to do, so I’m not afraid, I’m nervous.
I’ve never done anything like this before, and I don’t want to mess it up. I have to do it exactly right, or I could ruin things, so there’s no time for screw ups. I take a deep breath, because I think I hear a truck coming. I look down the road and see headlights coming towards me and the dust kicking up behind