Tweaked by Katherine Holubitsky Read Free Book Online Page A

tone that he didn’t believe him.
    But before he’d even had time to invent an excuse, Mom stepped in. She argued that they would eventually have to trust him again, so what was the harm in letting him take the car to the store. Reluctantly, Dad gave in.
    Chase returned three days later; starving, stinking and ready to crash. Dad was furious. It was the first time I ever saw him blow up—I mean, really blow up. He was just hollering at Chase who was so amped-out he could barely keep his eyes open to listen to the rant. Dad did tell Chase that he would be out on the street if it happened again. A threat that I knew Mom would have difficulty letting him carry out.
    As for Mom, she had gone nearly berserk in those three days. She’d driven around the seediest parts of the city, looking for him. She’d called all his old friends,not realizing they’d dumped him months before when he got into meth. The only response she did get was from Harris’s mother, who hadn’t seen her own son in weeks.
    When he got home after his three-day binge, Chase slept for two days. Finally he got up, showered and, once he’d eaten everything in the fridge, asked Mom for fifty dollars. “What for?” Her tone was unusually demanding. “Why should I trust you this time?”
    â€œIt’s for school,” Chase persisted. “Look, Mom, I’m sorry I lost control. It was just a reaction to being cooped up in rehab for a month. But I know that I’ve got to change. Believe me, I am so thankful you guys have stuck by me through all of this. I don’t know what would have happened to me if you hadn’t. I need the money for the application fee for Outreach. If you want me to finish my diploma, I’ve got to apply.”
    Moms’ face softened. If Chase could get a diploma for being a manipulator he would have graduated a long time ago. She gave him the money along with a warning that she really should call the college and run it by Dad, but she didn’t want to interrupt his teaching, so she wouldn’t as long as Chase gave her his personal promise that he wouldn’t take off.
    He didn’t take off, but he did come home at midnight, high. Mom and Dad were in bed, although it wasn’t likely they’d been asleep. Chase had phonedaround eight to say he was going to a movie. Still, not until they heard him come through the door could they ever really relax.
    â€œSay, what’s up, Gordie?” Chase was flying. He plunked down on the end of my bed, grabbed a pen from my desk and began following the pattern on my comforter, over and over.
    â€œDid you apply?”
    â€œHuh?”
    â€œTo go back to school.”
    Chase laughed. “Oh, yeah, I applied to the school of life. That’s where I’m going. I’m thinking of sales. I think I could make a killing at it. You ever notice how I can talk anybody into anything? I’m a natural. With my looks and personality, nobody turns me down.”
    His ego made me gag. Sitting there at the end of my bed, looking like he just rose from the dead, and he’s telling me how good looking and intelligent he is. “Have you looked in the mirror lately? A cadaver would have a better chance of selling a car than you.”
    He didn’t say anything; he was totally fascinated by the pen. I knew he could go on geeking like that for hours. If I left him until noon, he’d still be sitting there tracing the pattern with the pen.
    â€œYou’re an ass,” I told him. “Get out of my room.”
    Over the next three months, Chase came and went, lying about where he was going and where he’d been.Stuff started disappearing from the house: small electronics and jewelry, Dad’s watches. At first, Chase denied taking these things. He’d turn the conversation around, trying to place the blame on us for misplacing them. He’d get so worked up denying it that we’d drop it. It got to