you.

But first,

she says aiming the camera,

more

pictures.

I pose,

hand on my head,

covering my mouth,

pointing to my butt.

Mari poses,

pulling at her hair,

mouth wide open,

grabbing her bosoms.

We take pictures,

laughing the whole

time.

Carrying on

till Mari’s mother

stops in to see what’s going on.

We’re leaping on Mari’s bed,

both of us, leaping,

catching action shots.

What are you two doing?

her mother says

just as the bed collapses.

I hit the floor

on both knees,

and roll onto my back.

Mari falls to the floor, purple

hair every-which-way.

She aims the camera.

I point to my O-shaped

mouth.

Snap!

34.

Enough of Ian St. Clair,

Mari says a few days

after the kittens,

after the photos,

after we have gone

through three magazines

full of the singer.

He’s hot and all,

but what about Robbie

or Spencer or Jeff ?

Boys that live close.

What about Jace?

Jace Nelson?

I say,

thinking about

how on the bus he wouldn’t

let me free from my seat.

Kept me trapped

by his legs.

I remember how the boys laughed

and the girls

hollered

and pointed.

I remember how

my Lizzie

whopped Jace a good one

right upside his head

with her notebook

till he set me free.

Then how Liz

grabbed my hand

and pulled me away.

I don’t love

Jace Nelson, if that’s what

you’re asking,

I say.

Mari leans close.

But do you think

he’s cute?

I shrug.

Why? Because if

I was going to pick

someone from school

it would be

Alex Cain.

I don’t say

a word

but he is a hottie.

That’s what I thought,

Mari says to

my silence.

She gives me an evil grin.

You like naughty boys,

don’t you, Hope?

She says this with an old lady voice.

And I laugh right out loud.

35.

At home

now that the sun

is down,

I can see Liz’s fear

myself.

In the bodies

of those kittens

grown cold.

Fear

smeared in the night sky

and

at the edges of our room

I worry

that maybe,

maybe

Liz will follow

those kittens

on outta here

and leave me

alone

for good.

36.

Lizzie,

I think,

are you okay?

When

are you coming back

home?

37.

Once,

me and Lizzie,

we fought

so loud

and so hard

that

Momma put us

in the front

yard

and said,

You two wild

things

fight it out

out here.

We did.

We fought,

hollering at

each

other

until

I took

a

swing at

Lizzie,

connecting

with her

chin.

That’s it!

she said.

That is it!

She knocked me

to the

ground

and sat on my back.

Say uncle,

she said.

She pushed my

face into the

ground.

Into that sharp

Florida

grass.

Say uncle,

she said,

or eat dirt.

Never,

I said.

Never

ever.

I ate dirt and grass,

both.

But

I never said

uncle.

38.

Right before they

took Lizzie away.

We sat in the sun,

school still in