What It Takes Read Free Page A

him—well, yells.
    “Why would you do that?” Milo’s voice carries, snatched by the wind. Andrew’s been out on the beach for an hour, staring morosely at the water. He’s been going all the way down to Graylock for days, hoping to run into Milo. Andrew knows Milo rarely comes here, despite it being just south of his house and so much closer than Chickopee and even Pine.
    “I didn’t know what to do!” Andrew feels miserable and small. Milo hasn’t talked to him in a few weeks, and until now he didn’t know what happened. All he knows is that after his mom promised to try to take care of it, Milo dropped off the face of the earth. “Can you tell me what happened?”
    “It was so dumb . This dumbass lady showed up. She asked some questions and did stuff and then it was over. There’s nothing for them to do because it is nothing!”
    “How can you say that?” Andrew can feel his own voice getting louder. He cannot fathom a world where his parents would ever do something like that to him.
    “Well, it wasn’t anything,” Milo says acidly.
    “Has he done it again? We can tell for sure this time!”
    “No, of course not, asshole.” Milo has never, ever called Andrew a name. His face is all twisted up, and his eyes are scrunched up and angry. “Why would he do that after some fucking person comes to our house asking about abuse and neglect and—” Milo presses his hands to his eyes. But when he looks at Andrew again, he’s not crying. “He’s mad. He’s really mad, and that’s worse. And you won’t ever get that. And you won’t ever know more because I am never, ever trusting you again.”
    “Milo, no, please. I’m sorry.”
    “I don’t care.” Milo walks back toward the parking lot, and doesn’t turn around. Andrew wants to follow him, but it will only make things worse.
    ° ° °
    Milo doesn’t speak to Andrew for months after that. And that sucks and Andrew wishes he maybe hadn’t told because it didn’t help Milo anyway. Milo never talked to him that much about anything else that happened with his father, so Andrew doesn’t know how bad things were, or what Milo meant when he said it was worse after he told. He has no way of knowing, now. Constant guilt and fear sit in his stomach, along with the ache of missing his best friend deeply. He still has friends, but no one gets him like Milo.
    It’s the first day of school after Christmas break when Milo finally talks to him again. They’re in the same social studies class and were paired up for a project, so it’s not as if Milo actually wants to. Andrew closed his eyes and groaned when Mrs. Kluzinsky read off their names, unsure if he was happy or mad or if he should get his hopes up. For a while after Milo stopped talking to him, Andrew tried to convince himself it was fine, that he didn’t  need  Milo and that he didn’t care. But that only lasted so long. Andrew isn’t stubborn enough to hold onto anger for long, and he’s never really been that great at being angry anyway.
    He has Milo come to his house, because there is no way he’ll go to Milo’s, and no way his mom and dad would let him. It’s a flat and uncomfortable conversation, with Milo looking anywhere but at him and shrugging it off as though this is the biggest burden ever. But he still agrees to meet Andrew after school. 
    When he gets to Andrew’s house, Milo takes off his shoes and puts them where they go. He’s always been welcome here, but once that’s done he pauses in the entry instead of thundering up to Andrew’s room.
    “Um…” Andrew fiddles with his binder, shoving loose papers back in and crumpling them hopelessly. “We can work at the table. My mom is working there too. Or in my room.”
    Milo’s eyes are a little hard, and he looks angry, but he shrugs. “Your room is fine, whatever.”
    “Want something to drink, or a snack?”
    Milo sighs. “No, I want to get this over with already.”
    Andrew swallows hard and turns without a word to