Now I was showered and dressed, with ten minutes to spare before Amelia picked me up for the Heath Hall event. And even though he wasn’t real, as I had stated very confidently to Amelia earlier that day, and even though he was probably already on his way to the bridge, I found myself on the computer again typing out a message.

Good luck tonight.

I was surprised when he quickly replied, Are you going?

Of course.

It’s nice to have support when facing fears.

So this was about a fear. He was afraid to bungee jump. Don’t you always? It seems like these things are pretty packed.

Not always. Sometimes it’s something that needs to be done alone.

I wondered what things he had to face alone. Do you still wear the mask even when nobody is there to watch?

There’s power in the mask.

Like Dumbo’s black feather?

Yes, but a lot hotter.

Do you mean temperature wise or looks wise?

You tell me.

Hmm. Not sure I find rubber masks appealing.

Now you’re just trying to hurt my feelings.

I smiled. Is the mask now a part of you?

He’s a part of all of us.

You’re a dork.

There was a pause. One that made me regret calling him that.

What happened today? he asked.

I analyzed that question. Was he just asking me about my day? Was he asking about the swim meet? He was there, then? Someone on the swim team? No, him jumping into the pool with the mask on didn’t support that. I tried to remember who’d been at the meet but could only remember a few people. Jackson. Robert.

I choked, I responded.

Why?

It was my turn to pause. There were so many reasons. Talking to DJ. Amelia grilling me. My parents. Jackson. My shoulders. I let too much in. I should’ve kept the headphones on like I had planned. Stared at the pool. Shut it all out. Kept my walls up. I got distracted.

I can’t always be perfect.

Before he could respond, Amelia honked her horn out front and I quickly typed, See you later, and shut the laptop. On my way out the door I grabbed a sweatshirt. It was supposed to get cold once the sun went down.

The bridge was even more crowded than the museum. Partly because people unrelated to the Heath Hall thing were there to jump and support their friends and partly because of Heath Hall. We’d been there awhile and the Heath Hall crowd was getting a little antsy—constantly looking toward the parking lot, their watches, their phones. I tugged on my hood because I was cold.