Page 16 of Phoenix

“I know,” Tyson said. “How’s school?”

“I’m graduating in a few months.”

“Yeah.” He slid his arm around Jule’s back and ruffled his hair. “That’s great. We’re all proud of you.”

“Tor was supposed to walk with me. We were tied for valedictorian. He was going to be the first person in his family to graduate high school. We were going to go to ASU together.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. “It’s not fair.”

“No, it isn’t. But life isn’t fair.”

“What life?” Jule looked at Tyson. “He dropped out of school and disappeared. He’s been gone for seven months. What kind of life is Tor living? Where is he?”

Tyson was quiet for a long time. “He didn’t drop out.”

“What do you mean?” Jule asked, brow furrowing.

“You two geniuses were ahead in everything, right?”

Jule nodded. Tor was the genius and he had dragged Jule along for the ride.

“He had all the classes he needed to graduate.”

“How do you know that?”

Tyson squeezed his neck. “I’ll show you.”

He stood and walked over to the cabinet in the corner where they kept card games and random shit and then he pulled down a box that was wedged on top. “Thought I put it here.” He got an envelope out of the box, put the lid back on, and hefted it to the top of the cabinet again.

“What is that?”

Tyson held his hand out as he walked back over. “Came in the mail in August.”

Jule took the envelope from him, pulled out the paper inside, and unfolded it. “It’s his diploma.”

“Yeah.” Tyson grinned. “He did good. You both did.”

Jule pressed the paper to his chest and tried not to fall apart.

“Hold onto that for him,” Tyson said.

“You sure?”

He nodded.

“Thanks.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes and then Tyson said, “You’ve lost a lot of weight.”

He shrugged. “I miss him.” He unfolded the paper again. “Ty?”

“Yeah?”

“The school wouldn’t know that he wanted to graduate early unless someone told them.” He looked at Tyson. “There’s paperwork to fill out or whatever.”

Tyson didn’t say anything.

“Do you know where he is?”

He shook his head.