Free Every You, Every Me by David Levithan Page A

korrect or ole kurreck —but they’re not really sure.
    Meaning divorced from origin. And it’s okay.
    “Weird,” Matt said.
    “Yeah,” I agreed.
    He never noticed that I hadn’t answered his first question.

12J
    I wondered if this was how you’d felt.
    I wondered if I was making myself feel how you’d felt.
    I knew it wasn’t a choice. It was just what my mind was doing.
    Although I could’ve been fighting it more.

12K
    What if Jack is right? What if all these things that appear connected aren’t really connected? What if none of us are connected?
    Then I opened my locker after school and found another photo waiting for me.

13

13A
    On the back, someone—presumably the photographer—had written 4:00.
    Was that when the photo had been taken?
    Or was that when I was supposed to be there?
    I saw the skulls on her vest.
    A coincidence?
    A sign?
    I had to find Jack, then find out.

13B
    It was like the day hadn’t happened. Or that it had only happened to me. He was out on the patio, talking to Miranda. She was laughing. He was smiling. They looked like they were happy vulnerable flirting together. It stopped me. In my mind, they were kissing, they had their hands all over each other. But then I blinked, and they were just standing there, talking. It was nothing. I didn’t want you to know about this. I watched for another minute. They didn’t do anything wrong. I knew I’d be interrupting, but that didn’t seem wrong, either. Jack would want to know.
    “Hey, Jack,” I said, stepping close enough for him to hear, but not in their space yet. “Hey, Miranda.”
    “Hey,” Miranda said.
    “What’s up, Ev?” Jack asked.
    “Can I talk to you for a second?” I said, leaving the alone implied.
    Miranda heard it.
    “I’ll just go get my stuff, okay?” she said. “Good to see you, Ev.”
    You didn’t even know my name, I thought. You’re just repeating what he said.
    When she was gone, I took out the picture.
    “It was in my locker. It has a time on the back. I think we’re supposed to meet her or something. It’s three now. We have an hour.”
    “Whoa, Evan. Just stop for a second.”
    I never said a bad word about him. The whole time the two of you were together. Not one bad thing.
    “I know,” I said. “It’s a long stretch of railroad track. But I think she wants us to find her, so it’s probably close by. And if you look in the back, there’s a spot where the brown dirt turns into gray gravel, and there’s also a kind of green post on the left side. We can look for those.”
    “Come on,” Jack said. And I honestly thought we were setting off right away. But instead he was taking me to the ledge of the patio and sitting down. He patted the space next to him.
    He was attractive. I knew that. And I knew that attractive people always got away with things. But I never said a bad word about him.
    “I think we need to talk,” he said.
    Because he meant something to you. He did.
    “Because I think you need to let this go.”
    “What?” I didn’t understand.
    “I said, I think you need to let this go.”
    He had been there.
    With me.
    He had been there with me.
    “Not now!” I argued. “We’re so close.”
    He shook his head. “I have something else I have to do.”
    “What?” I said. Then I pointed to the direction Miranda had walked off. “Her?”
    “Not just her. Life, Evan. We have to go back to life. We have to let this go.”
    “Let go!” she screamed. “Let go of me!”
    I wanted to cover my ears.
    Jack went on. “I’m genuinely worried about you, Evan. Whoever’s doing this with the photos is playing a sick joke on us, and you’re falling for it. It’s messed up and it has to stop. But it’s not going to stop until we act like we don’t care. It’s not going to go away. We’re not going to be able to move on.”
    “What?” I yelled back at him. “Do we just forget that she ever existed? Forget what happened?”
    Jack shook his head. So sad. “No.