“Straight up.” Blue laughed. “I had two brothers and two sisters. You know how families are, everyone finds their space. My oldest brother, Akim, he was trouble. My next brother, Felix, was into sports. My big sister, Lulu, was obsessed with fashion, looking good and all that. My other sister, Sissy, she was into boys. My thing, I was the brainy one of the family. I was always good at school. Didn’t really try, just came easy to me. Because I was good at it, I really liked it, homework and all, though I couldn’t tell anyone back then. They found out that I read lots of books, though. Gave me a hard time for it. I didn’t much care. I didn’t get out much. I spent hours on my computer, and not just playing games. My mom used to go on about me not getting enough exercise, but at the same time, she liked the fact that I was learning stuff. She wanted me to go to college. I didn’t know about all that. Akim, he was into gangs. Mom didn’t want me having nothing to do with that way of life. Some kid from our school was stabbed. It was big news, Mom was scared. But I was never part of that world. Never got in a fight or nothing. When it all kicked off I had to learn fast, man. You know what? The first to die were the tough kids. They went out there on the streets. No more cops. No more adults telling them what to do. No more rules. All the gangs just went crazy and fought each other. Killed each other. Stupid jerks. For a little while it was like a war zone out there. Soon those that didn’t kill each other began to realize who the real enemy was. So then the gangs went up against the grown-ups. Most of them died early on. Not all, though. Me, I kept my head down. I watched, I learned, it was what I was good at. Who lived and who died. Was a lottery. Just raw luck. Like in a war, the first to get it are the regular army, the trained soldiers. After that the army takes whoever they can get. I’m who they got. The disaster made me tough, Maxie, and that’s why I have to try hard when there’s people around. Because it don’t come easy for me.”

“Aren’t I a person?” said Maxie.

“You’re different. You understand all this stuff.”

“Sometimes I think I do, sometimes I think I don’t.”

“It’s funny,” said Blue. “Lying here, I feel I can talk to you about anything. It don’t matter no more.”

“I’m glad you told me all that,” said Maxie.

Blue rolled onto his back and looked away. “Maybe I just want you to like me,” he said.

“Oh yeah?”