“Definitely not.” Nick looked left, then right, filling time with movements, contemplating what to say. Finally, he asked, “What’s the house arrest for?” He squinted, fighting daylight to see me better.

You and Marley, I thought to myself. The only two people ever getting me into trouble. “A few things,” I said instead. “Shouldn’t be a problem. Not until Saturday, at least.”

“Why?”

“No work for my parents then.”

He held his hand up to shield the sun. “That gives me five days.”

“Us,” I corrected, playing the game better than him. “That gives us five days.” I used the brightness of the sun as an excuse to close my eyes and settle.

Nick laughed again. Our interaction seemed to keep him in a constant state of confused amusement. I wished it did the same for me. “Quick!” he yelled, startling me. “Be a girl under house arrest!”

I folded my arms. “That’s not the game, and you know it.” When he didn’t budge, I relented. I sat crisscross on the pavement and examined my fingernails. “Quick! Be a boy fixing his bike!”

He scooted away from his real bike, instead miming a wrench, turning it over and over in the air. “This spoke.” He wiped sweat from his brow. “Always giving me trouble.”

I couldn’t give in. It was too easy. I had to fight him at every turn. “Oh, there’s dialogue now?” I asked, standing again. The sun’s warmth glowed red through my closed eyelids. If I watched him, I would cave.

“The rules are always changing, Ollie. Quick! Be a person who tells me what she’s doing with the rest of the day.”

My heels snapped into the earth, denting the ground with the force of the motion. I opened my eyes, seeing Nick see me. I wouldn’t lie to him. “Meeting Ruby at the park. She’s got the box.”

Nick stood. “Can I come?”

The older I got, the more the desire to make a mess became an active choice. And it was a choice I could taste in my spit. Salty and metallic. “Sure,” I said. Bringing Nick along was not playing fair. If Aidy and I remained locked in battle mode, neither of us benefited. Fights were only satisfying in the aftermath.

But I couldn’t deny that Nick started this with me. No matter how everyone else tried to revise history, he was an Albany kid like the rest of us. If we were going on an Adventure in the name of Marley Bricket, Nick deserved to be a part of it.

“Let’s go.” I pointed to Harrison’s house.