"I don't know."

"I know how it is, Vince. I talk to this guy, Joey, who lives out East. He's got cancer, too. We kinda latched onto each other 'cause the support...it's nice. What've you got to lose? You're both miserable. Why not be miserable together?" Casper moves on. I follow.

I guess she's right. Misery does love company.

#

We spend two hours browsing the museum. I buy Casper and myself each a postcard of the mural we liked before she tells me she ought to be heading back. I try not to sound too disappointed, especially when she says, "I promise I'll stay longer next time. But my parents are gonna freak when they find me gone."

I can breathe a little easier. Apparently I haven't chased her off. We head back for the light-rail station and she buys her ticket, and while we're waiting I work up the nerve to say, "Thanks for coming. You know. I had fun." I scuff my shoe against the concrete.

She elbows me gently. Probably the first physical contact we've had all day. "You weren't kidding when you said you don't get out much."

"I don't get out ever." Not since moving. Not since Corey. There's been no one else. "Do you have friends you hang out with?"

Casper sighs and squints at nothing. "Once upon a time."

It's none of my business, but I'm curious. "What happened?"

"No one wants to be friends with a raving bitch." She purses her lips. "Which is what I became when I got sick. Chased off every last one of them, boyfriend included."

"You aren't a bitch to me."

"Because I realized after they were gone how shitty it was to be alone. It's horrible, you know? Not having anyone." She shrugs her thin shoulders and with that simple movement, I realize how small and frail she really is. "I used to be fat, too, did I tell you? But I had friends. Used to be fat and happy, now I'm skinny and miserable."

I try to remember a time when I was ever truly happy and can't. "I think I chased off my only friend, too."

"By being a raving bitch?"

"No." I hug myself. "By being me."

Casper starts to say something when the light-rail rumbles up ahead of us. She gives it a thoughtful look and, for a second, I'm desperately hoping she'll take a later train and stay. Just for awhile longer. So that I can tell her how Corey hates me now except when she feels sorry for me, and how everyone else I've ever known except for Maggie thought I was crazy.

But she sighs and punches my arm. "Then your friend wasn't really worth keeping around. Next time I come, you'll have to show me that bridge you were talking about."

I watch her multi-colored back and blonde hair retreat into the tram that carries her away.

August

CHAPTER 8

"You only have two weeks left, kiddo," Harold calls to remind me.