Mia and Imani immediately raise their hands. That’s two out of five. Three out of five means Mia wins.

I slowly raise my hand.

“What!” Deke is shocked at the result. “Are you serious? You’re siding with the girls? Is something wrong with you? Are you mentally ill? That’s it! That’s the only explanation. You’re a mental defective, like your wacky dad.”

I’m stunned. Not by Deke’s angry outburst—I expected that—but by the stuff about my dad. How does he know? I’ve never talked about it with anyone outside my family, except for the therapist my mother made me see. And I’m pretty sure a therapist is sworn to secrecy.

If Deke knows, then everybody knows. It feels like I’m sinking into the ground. Like I’m on a falling elevator. Falling, falling.

Part of me wants to attack Deke, and part of me wants to run away.

Weenie that I am, I don’t do or say anything. But one thing is for sure, I’ll never be the same again. This fall, I’m supposed to go to a brand-new regional middle school, full of kids I’ve yet to meet, and apparently all of them have already heard that my father has serious mental health issues.

Not going to happen. I’ll tell Mom, and she’ll have to make other arrangements. Send me to another school district, far enough away so they won’t know my secret shame, that sometimes my father is so freaked out, so agitated, that he has to be confined.

It happened when I was nine years old, and I’ll never ever forget it. My father in the state hospital for three weeks. It felt like forever.

Mia says to Deke, “That’s so mean, what you said. What if it was you? How would you feel?”

He gives a cruel laugh. “Like throwing myself off a cliff.”

Imani says, “Oh, stop, you rotten bully! You called for a vote and you lost. Get over it. We need to be a team. We need to help each other, not make fun of each other.”

“Oh yeah? The person I need to help is me, okay? Because I’m sick of being hungry and I’m sick of some dumb little girl ordering me around. So that’s what I’m going to do, help myself!”

Deke kicks the flashlight, and as Mia scrambles to retrieve it, he yanks the backpack away from her and shoves her to the ground.

“Mine,” he says. “Believe it.”

He slips the strap over his shoulder, steps out from under the tarp, and vanishes into the night.

“Wait for me!” Tony shouts. And a moment later, he’s gone, too.

16. Three Choices