I shrugged my shoulders. “Just looked like you needed someone to help you out, I guess.”

He picked a stick up off the ground and used his fingernail to crack the bark. “So you think I did it.”

A truck rumbled in the distance. Like thunder.

“Didn’t you?”

He’d torn the stick down to soft wood and was rubbing it slowly with his thumb. “Does it matter?”

He got up and walked to the middle of the road to examine the jeans, then came back and sat beside me. “One more.”

I saw the headlights approaching, but now I knew when to turn to avoid the most brutal moment. When I turned this time, so did he. The truck zoomed by and the world shook and the air between us shivered. In that moment, I thought I saw something. Or maybe I felt it. Prickly, electrical sparks ran up and down my arms and then, as quickly as it came, it was gone.

He stood up and retrieved the jeans from the road. “We should get going.”

We walked back in silence. When I got to the porch, I slipped off the jacket and handed it to him. “Thanks.”

He nodded.

“I’ll see ya.”

He nodded again.

I snuck back inside and quietly made my way up the stairs. I thought about getting into bed, but I was so wound up I knew I wouldn’t be able to lie still so I walked over to the window. He was still standing there, looking up at me. He held the jeans and his jacket close to his chest. I focused really hard on his lips, because I could see that they were moving but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I watched carefully and then suddenly I understood. I nodded my head and held my hand up to the window, his silent words ringing in my ears.

“I didn’t do it.”

I tossed and turned most of the night. When I woke, I decided it was time to have a talk with Lavi so I invited her over after school. We were sitting on my bed, our notebooks by our sides. Wicked West had assigned a poem that neither of us understood. I quickly lost interest and was staring at Lavi’s ponytail which was resting on the page she was writing. She brushed it aside like it was debris.

“How are you going to answer question two? List three symbols and why they are used?” she asked.

“I don’t care.” I put the pen cap in my mouth and bit down on a familiar dent. She looked up to see if I was serious. “Lavi, it’s a poem. You can pick any line and argue that it’s symbolic of something. The assignment is stupid and West is an ass.”

“You mean a fat ass.” She looked back down at her notebook but not before I saw her smile.