Responsible (7 page)

“You love that guitar.”

“You're more important than a guitar. Even that guitar.”

I swallowed a couple of times because for a second I almost felt like crying. “Well, when we get some money we'll just go get it again.”

He shook his head. “I didn't hock it, Kev. I sold the guitar to a collector. It's gone.”

“But...” I couldn't finish the sentence.
I didn't know why I cared. I couldn't play the stupid thing. I didn't even like it.

Dad put his hand on my shoulder. “In the end it's just a guitar. I can get another one.”

“But not like that one.”

“It's a guitar. Wood and lacquer,” Dad said, his voice suddenly hoarse. “There are thousands, millions of guitars in the world. You're one of a kind.”

A week later I was starting at a new school in a new district. Dad had a new job as well, thanks to Erin's dad. On the weekend we were moving, away from Ellerton, into a real house. A small one that needed a lot of work. But still, it wasn't a trailer.

The first day was like every other first day of school in my life. Nobody talked to me, the teachers couldn't remember my name and I was way behind.

At lunch I took my tray to the end of a vacant table at the back of the cafeteria. I was just starting to eat when a voice said, “Can I sit here?”

I looked up. Erin stood there with her tray. She had red streaks in her hair. They looked good. For a long moment we stared at each other. “Uh. I'm growing roots here,” she said.

“Oh, um, yeah, sit down,” I said.

She took the chair next to me, arranged her food and picked up a fork. “Can you believe all this healthy crap? I mean, no French fries?”

“Yeah,” I said. “And who eats vegetarian pizza?”

Erin gestured at the potatoes on my plate. “It helps if you get extra gravy,” she said.

“I'll try to remember that,” I said. Then she smiled at me and started to eat, and I thought maybe, just maybe, we were doing the right thing.

Darlene ryan has been writing since she figured out that letters made words and words made stories.
Responsible
is her third book from Orca Book Publishers, following
Saving Grace
, another Orca Soundings novel, and
Rules for Life
, a YALSA Teen Top Ten and a Best Book nominee.

Darlene lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Visit her web site at
www.darleneryan.com

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