Mayhem Read Free

my pants leg. Like she can really see my dirty hands.
    â€œUm, are you busy?”
    I don’t answer right away. Don’t want to seem too desperate to see her. “Ah, no. What’s up?”
    â€œI’m at the cemetery and I found something I think you should see.”
    â€œI’ll be right there.”
    So much for not sounding desperate.

two
    I could be in love with Krystal Bentley. In fact, I think I am. The million-dollar question is does she feel the same way about me? I feel like I’ve loved her forever when I know its really just been a few months since I met her.
    Sasha talks about how different she and her boyfriend Antoine Watson are, but I swear you can’t tell. Those two are so in tune with each other you’d think they were born to be together. I wonder if that’s possible. If there’s only one person born to be with another in the universe. If so, is Krystal the person for me?
    I guess Sasha means she and Twan are different because she has lots of money and he doesn’t. Or it might be because she’s Latina and Twan’s black. If that’s the case, Krystal’s black and I’m just white. I think her family is better off than mine, but not just in terms of money. My dad makes decent money, enough to take care of us and all Pop Pop’s medical bills. We just don’t have a lot of extras. Their house is bigger and her stepdad’s a big shot at the company where he works. But the biggest difference between us and the one that I think of most is that Krystal has her mom. As much as they’ve had their ups and downs since moving here, her mom has always been there for her. And now they’re spending all this time together in church. Okay, that probably sounds like I’m against churchbut it’s really not like that. What bothers me is that Krystal has a mom to spend time with. And I don’t.
    I think the consensus is that boys need their fathers, and I don’t doubt that. I’m glad my dad’s in my life. But there’s always been something missing, like a part of me walked out the door when my mom did. I don’t know if she meant it to be that way, but it was. I give the impression that my life’s been okay without her—me and Dad do. But it’s a lie. Our lives, where she’s concerned, are a lie.
    For years I blamed myself, wondering what I could have possibly done to chase my mother away. Maybe I didn’t clean my room enough. She was always after me about making up my bed and putting my shoes in the closet. I was just a messy kid, so I ignored her. And I never ate broccoli. The more she cooked it, the more I shoved it under my shirtsleeve and dumped it out afterward. I hated how it looked and smelled and wanted to barf at the idea of putting it in my mouth, let alone chewing and swallowing it. Could that have finally pushed her over the edge?
    I’m older now, so I think her leaving because her kid wouldn’t eat broccoli is about as likely as Christmas coming in July. Still, there’s some guilt there—deep inside of me. I don’t know what I could ever do to get rid of it. She’s gone and that’s that. I need to get over it.
    Just like I need to figure out what I’m going to do about Krystal. Am I finally going to make a move or just keep harboring this secret crush like a coward?
    Â 
    â€œHi,” she says, looking up from the spot where she’s squatting, surrounded by tombstones.
    I know this sounds creepy considering the circumstances,but every time I see Krystal Bentley she gets prettier. At first I thought I was just being dramatic, sounding like some dude in a chick flick, but it’s really true. It started when she first came to Settleman’s High and I saw her get off the bus. We became friends and I began hearing her voice all the time. That only added to what I liked about her. Now, this summer, since we’re connected by the Mystyx stuff, I