Free Rise by Stefne Miller Page B

that irks me sometimes.”
    “I asked if there was anything I do around your friends to annoy you, not for just anything in general. That was an in-general statement, and I wasn’t prepared for it.”
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it to upset you.”
    I was in full-blown pout mode, and his apology wasn’t helping. I think he knew he was in trouble.
    “Why don’t you tell me something that I do that irks you and that way we’ll be even?”
    “You don’t do anything that irks me.”
    “Sure I do. Nobody’s perfect.”
    “You practically are.”
    “Come on. There’s gotta be something.”
    I searched the crevasses of my mind, and within seconds, one popped up. “I got it.”
    “For not thinking I had any, that sure did come to you fast. What is it?”
    “Straws.”
    His eyebrows arched high. “Straws?”
    “Yes. You walk around chewing on straws all the time, and it totally grosses me out.”
    “Straws?”
    “You chew them until there’s hardly anything left, and then you leave them lying around the house or in your car. I can’t even stand to look at them.”
    “Well—”
    “And sometimes you coil them up and stick the whole thing in your mouth at once, and then when you finally spit it out and put it somewhere, it slowly starts unraveling. Seriously, it makes me want to vomit.”
    “I get the point.”
    “They have your teeth marks all over them and saliva and stuff. Really, it’s—”
    “I get it!”
    “Oh.”
    “No more straws. Got it.”
    “Or toothpicks.”
    “Forget I asked.” He jumped out of his seat, stomped to the refrigerator, and threw open the door.
    “I’m just saying that you do it with toothpicks too. Maybe it’s a nervous tick or something. Chewing gum might help, and it’s not nearly as gross.”
    “I get the point, for cryin’ out loud. Enough already.”
    “You’re not mad, are you?”
    “Not mad. I’m annoyed!”
    Marme sheepishly walked back into the kitchen and looked over at me with wide eyes. “Evidently you two annoy each other a little more than you thought.”
    Riley slammed the refrigerator door and looked fiercely at his mother. “This is your fault. You started it.”
    “My fault? I was trying to help.”
    “Don’t you get on to her, Riley Bennett. I hate it when you talk to Marme like that.”
    “Oh really?” His face turned crimson. “Since you’re getting it all out in the open, why don’t you just keep on going? What else don’t you like about me?”
    “Nothing!”
    “It sure doesn’t sound like it.”
    “I just don’t like it when you disrespect your mother like that. You should be nicer to her. You’re lucky you have a mother at all.”
    His jaw tightened, and his eyes practically burned holes right through my body. I wanted to shrink away into nothingness and avoid his glare altogether, but all I could manage to do was squirm in my seat.
    After what felt like forever, he finally released his hostile glare and stomped out of the room. “I’m leaving so I don’t say or do something I’ll regret.”
    Marme followed behind him. “You get back here. Dinner’s ready.”
    “Leave me alone. I’m not hungry.”
    I listened to his feet clomp all the way up the stairs, across the hallway, and finally into the room where he slammed his door shut.
    Pops promptly followed behind, made him walk back down the stairs, apologize to his mother and me, then quietly walk up the stairs and close his door properly.
    After that, I didn’t see him the rest of the night.

chapter 8
    (Riley)
    The first four classes of the day were horrible. I hadn’t laid eyes on Attie all day, which meant she was avoiding me. The fact that I hadn’t run into her once in the hallways made it obvious that she was somehow making it to each class without taking her normal routes or stopping by her locker. Not that I cared what other people thought, but let’s just say I wasn’t the only person to notice. At least a dozen people asked if we were all right or if