He didn’t know if that was proof of anything, but it made him feel better. Until this morning when he heard his mom crying again when talking on the phone. He didn’t know who she was talking to, but she said one thing that stuck with him.

“I have to leave. I don’t a choice, I have to.”

Divorce. Just like his friend Rafi two years ago. Rafi’s parents got divorced and Rafi moved to Austin with his mom and Ricky only saw him when he visited his dad and it was weird. It wasn’t the same, and Ricky didn’t want anything to change. He didn’t want to see Joe and Ginny only a couple times a year. He didn’t want to change schools and find new friends. He didn’t want to move. He wanted everything to go back to the way it was before his mom and dad started fighting.

That morning, he’d left for school early even though he didn’t even really like school. Sure, he was good at tests and stuff, but he was bored. Joe made school fun, and if he moved he wouldn’t ever find another friend like Joe, who could make him laugh when he drew funny pictures of Vice Principal Jenkins or the biggest bully in the school, Monica Brazzno. Or when Joe put a frog in Mrs. Perez’s desk drawer.

It made him feel all weird to hear his mom cry and talk about leaving. He was going to cry and he was not a crybaby. He didn’t want his mom to leave. He didn’t want his dad to leave. He wanted everyone to stay. Even Tori, who was sometimes mean to him.

After school he’d gone home with Joe and Ginny, which he did almost every day. They were twins, which was cool, and Ginny wasn’t a girl like Becky and Tori. Well, she was a girl, but she liked baseball and dirt bikes, so she wasn’t a girl girl. Joe and Ginny’s dad worked and their mom was always at her church volunteering for this and that, so they had the house to themselves. Ricky called his mom, and her phone went right to voice mail. He left her a message that he was at the Youngs’ and he’d be home by six. He did the same thing almost every day, so he didn’t think much about it. And she wouldn’t leave without saying good-bye.

She’s not leaving.

He’d feel better when he talked to Becky, but Becky had volleyball practice every day after school and he’d much rather be here with Joe and Ginny than alone waiting for everyone to come home. Waiting and worrying.