Page 9 of I Dare You
“You got a curfew?”Kit asks when he notices me looking at the time.
“Something like that,” I reply, digging my nails into my palms.
I do this when things become too much.The pain balances me out.I don’t understand it, but it seems the more pain I feel, the less regret I have for what I did that night when everything changed.
Screaming from the front seat.
My parents argued about picking me up so late.
My father assured my mother that it was all right.That it was good for me to make friends, and he didn’t mind.
But my mom called me a spoiled brat.
The road had frozen over.It was slippery.
Suddenly, bright lights and a horn, then glass shattering as the world turned upside down.
I don’t remember much after that.
“Superman or Batman?”The question sucks me from the vortex I often get lost in.
“Excuse me?”
Kit casually slouches back in the seat, hands relaxed on the wheel.
“Who do you like better?Superman or Batman?”
“Oh, I haven’t given much thought to it.But I guess Superman because is Batman really a superhero?He’s just a regular guy with money.”
Kit turns over his shoulder to look at me before bursting into laughter.“So true.So Superman it is.Favorite animal.”
“That’s easy.Cats.”
Kit turns up his lip.“Oh, you’re one ofthosepeople.”
“And what’s that supposed to mean?”I ask, unsure if I’m supposed to be offended.
“It means you’re one of those crazy cat ladies.”
“If having ten cats makes me crazy, I’m fine with it.”For some reason, Kit puts me at ease.
He doesn’t seem phony like a lot of people.
He seems like he doesn’t care what others think of him.
“What grade are you in?”
“Eleventh,” he replies, bored.“So you’re in school with Dandy.”
I nod, realizing I am no longer digging my fingernails into my palms.Mundane talk, it seems, helps deal with my demons because that’s how I feel most of the time—like demons are clawing at my skin, trying to break free.
“Why haven’t I seen you before?”
“I moved from Florida about a year ago.”
“Where are your parents?”
“Dead.”The word slips out before I can stop myself, surprising me, as I’ve never said it aloud to anyone before.
