“I’ve been craving these!” Taysom says, grabbing the box. His blue eyes light up as he and my brother tear it open. He, Kyle, and Maddy run back outside.
I expect Kyle and Maddy, after getting me inside, to move onto the next thing. They know this happens. They know it’s nothing serious and it will just take a few minutes of stretching until I’m able to walk normally.
But for Taysom to so swiftly forget about me for…Twinkies? It’s both kind of funny and also disappointing.
It hurts.
Which is silly.
What did I expect? Him to forgo his entire afternoon with friends to hang out with me?
Instead of it actually happening, which I know it won’t, I can imagine it. My imagination is always better than reality anyway.
I adjust the ice pack. I should have gone over to the sofa to stretch my leg out because this isn’t really working. But then I notice a scrap of paper on the table next to a mess of smeared peanut butter, a still-opened bag of bread, and a knife coated in dried jelly.
“I am runing a way,” the note reads in Penny’s first grade handwriting.
I take in a breath. She’s never run away before. And I was supposed to watch her.
The next few hours are a blur. A tortuous, heart-pounding blur.
At first, Kyle and Maddy don’t take it too seriously. “She’s probably just at Kelsey’s house,” Maddy says, and then laughs at the misspelled words.
“No,” I insist. “She’s never done this before. She was mad at me.” I swallow hard. “I was mean to her.”
Maddy sighs. “I’ll text Kelsey’s mom.”
The Grangers haven’t seen her. None of the neighbors in our cul-de-sac have. Kyle’s friends leave and my siblings tell me to stay at the house with my ice pack and they’ll go out to try to find her.
“I’m coming with you,” I say, standing even as the ice pack slips to the floor and my hip seizes up again.
“Stay here,” Kyle demands. “You can’t walk right now. And if Penny comes home, you need to be here to let us know.”
I guess that’s my job. To sit here and wait until the stinger in my hip subsides. But I know the pain in my stomach isn’t going anywhere until they find my little sister.
This is my fault. For being impulsive and thinking that the magic of thirteen could somehow extend to me. That I could be flirty and bold, like Maddy. It’s my fault for being mean to my little sister and not making her a stupid PB and J.
Kyle calls our parents, who rush home immediately. A call to 911 and three hours after I saw her note, she’s found. In a park by herself a mile and a half away from our house.
She’s okay. She just has her backpack stuffed full of random things and a smudge of peanut butter on her cheek.
But I’ll never be okay again.
And I’ll never be selfish and stuck up again.
If this is what happens when I do what I want instead of what I’m supposed to do, then I want nothing to do with it.
Chapter 28
Charlotte
IfinishtellingTaysommy story, but I feel cold. Not because it’s actually cold but because…why? Because I laid my heart out bare for him to see? Because I kissed him just now?
He sighs and the way he’s looking at me settles in my stomach like a moth, flitting around, tickling me.
“That was rude of me to walk out like that, not even letting you answer my question.” He cocks his head to one side. “I’m sorry.”
“You’d just carried me in the house! You were great. Sometimes Twinkies make me forget my surroundings, too.” I laugh. “It’s all good. I just wanted to tell you since I sort of blew it all out of proportion in my mind, you know? And with Penny leaving…well, I blamed myself for trying to flirt with you. I realize now I was just a confused kid making rash conclusions.”
