I tried to think, to breathe. Going back home. Would that actually be so bad? She probably realized I was gone by now. Maybe she even missed me. Gloria was angry last night, but so was I. Choking on it. I’d bet she was devastated that I’d run away. Wishing she hadn’t punished me like that. I could imagine it all, Gloria pacing around wondering where I was. Maisy was probably crying.

I looked at my food. Lines of ketchup crisscrossing my white plate. Drops of melted milkshake on the countertop. My tongue bumped my tooth, and I gasped from the jolt of it. Why was I trying to trick myself? Gloria wasn’t upset about me. She wasn’t worried. She didn’t care if I lived or died.

Everything inside my heart was one big ugly snarly mess.

Marion brushed past me, then stopped, said, “You good, honey? You want me to find your uncle?”

I shook my head. I actually had a real uncle. Gloria’s brother, Rick. He used to visit Gran’s house, and he constantly complained that she shouldn’t have me there. That Gloria was “once again shirking her responsibilities.” Gran always hugged me tight and said something nice in my ear. “Never you mind him. He’s just grumpy about his sister.” After Gloria and Telly took me away from Gran’s, I never saw him again. I never saw Gran again either. Except that one time through the window when she came to Pinchkiss Circle. She was standing on the road just in front of our driveway, and Gloria was screaming so Telly went out to talk to her. Gran kept patting her chest, her heart, but Telly wouldn’t let her come in. Then she turned around and walked away.

Tears started slipping out of my eyes. I didn’t want them doing that; they just started falling. Splashing onto the counter. My face hurt and my stomach felt sick. There was no going forward and no going back. I was stuck.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Marion said. “Go on. Have some more shake.”

I brought the straw to my lips but couldn’t swallow. The thin arm on the clock above her orange hair kept clicking. What was going to happen to me now?

Marion pushed another serviette toward me, tapped the side of her face with her finger. “Here. You got a spot of mayo.”