Stretch here a much-needed assist.â
âWhere you from?â Fat-Dave asks.
âDown the block. Joey Rosaâs.â
They all glance at one another. Sure, weâve had some BS with Joey Rosa kids over the years, always getting into fights whenever they invite themselves over to our block, but I can tell Thomas isnât like them.
Skinny-Dave doesnât care about the rivalry. âYou know Troy? He still with Veronica?â
âI know him, but I donât like him,â Thomas answers. âMy neighbor Andre was pissed at Troy for some reason and I overheard him asking Veronica what she saw in him and she had no idea what he was talking about.â
âYES!â Skinny-Dave jumps. âI knew that fucker was lying. I should go call her.â
Thomas scratches his head. âI hate to break it to you, but sheâs seeing Andre now.â We all laugh at Skinny-Dave who falls back into his seat.
âHowâd the rest of the manhunt game go?â he asks me. âYou win?â
âI got caught ten minutes later,â I say. I sit back down with Genevieve and hold her hand. She pulls awayâand then I see why: sheâs holding out her palm as a landing place for a firefly. Itâs easy to forget itâs there when itâs not glowing, until all of a sudden it comes back and surprises you; it reminds me of grief.
âDid you know fireflies glow for mating purposes?â Thomas says.
âNope,â I say. âI mean, I believe you, I just didnât know that.â
âImagine if we could glow to attract a mate instead of spraying on cologne that chokes everyone in a fifty-foot radius,â he says, which is weird since I donât think his cologne smells all that bad.
âAaron and Genevieve know enough about mating,â Nolan throws out.
Genevieve flips Nolan off, again. âDid you all know fireflies also glow to lure prey? Itâs basically the equivalent of a girl who gets you to follow her into an alley with her great ass, and then eats you.â
âWhat a crazy fun fact.â I wrap my arm around her shoulders in the hopes sheâll never eat my head off in an alley because I never realized girlfriends existed in the same predatory universe as hungry fireflies.
Me-Crazy bullies Baby Freddy into going to Good Foodâs to buy another handball since he knocked the other onto the roof earlier during the baseball match. They go back and forth for a while until Thomas reaches into his pocket, pulls out a dollar, and hands it to Me-Crazy. Itâs a thank-you to everyone for letting him crash Family Day. Me-Crazy nods, doesnât thank him, and hands it to Baby Freddyâwho sucks his teeth, victorious enough that he didnât have to buy another ball with his own money, but still enough of a loser that he has to go get it. When he returns from Good Foodâs, he bounces the handball over to Me-Crazy.
âNow what?â
âSuicide,â Me-Crazy says in a low growl, which sounds fucking crazy even without the growl, but heâs not actually suggesting we all somehow use this handball to kill ourselves because that would be a) insensitive to meânot that he cares, I guessâand b) impossible.
Genevieve looks up at me as if weâre all some cult run by Me-Crazy.
âItâs a game,â I tell her.
How to Play Suicide: Itâs every man for himself. Someone throws a handball against the wall, it bounces back, and if that ball touches the ground, someone else throws it. But if someone catches it, the original thrower has to race to the wall and shout âSuicide!â before anyone has a chance to bean them.
â . . . and the game goes on until youâre the last one standing,â Brendan explains to Genevieve.
âSounds barbaric,â she says.
âYou can opt out of a beaning,â Baby Freddy says.
Heâs right. Thereâs a rule we reserve for girls and younger