Flipped

Maybe it was all how you looked at it. Maybe there were things I saw as ugly that other people thought were beautiful.

I told about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. “It's that way with people, too,” he said, “only with people it's sometimes that the whole is less than the sum of the parts.”

“She's … she died?”

He nodded. “And I miss her terribly.” He tossed a branch into the heap and chuckled. “There's nothing like a head-strong woman to make you happy to be alive.”

I'd dash away from him before he had a chance to say anything.

Darla shook her head and said, “She's through,” and she was. Bryce went to Shelly and Miranda for one hundred twenty-two dollars and fifty cents

No one's bidding,” she whispered back

That feeling carried me clear through to eleven o'clock, when the entire student body assembled in the gymnasium.

Shelly? Shelly Stalls?” I could feel my cheeks flush

Five from the top, there it was—Bryce Loski.

I should

No, Bryce,” he said softly. “She's the same as she's always been; you're the one who's changed.” He clapped his hand on my shoulder and whispered, “And, son, from here on out, you'll never be the same again