Free Tell by Carrie Secor

hot.”
    “Yeah, you said that already.”  Shane turned to look at his friend.  “Cadie is her best friend.  I’ve done a lot of shit to Felicia in the past, but this is one thing that I’d never do.  Got it?”
    “Whatever you say,” Will responded with a wicked grin that clearly meant he did not believe him.
    Shane sighed in response.  Felicia was his younger sister by one year and 364 days.  Though that was not even technically two years, he was, chronologically speaking, her big brother.  Because they were so close in age, they had grown up close as well, even though they had never been into the same things.  Shane had played sports; Felicia had done ballet.  Once junior high had begun, Shane had scored himself a spot on the football team, where he had been ever since.  Felicia, instead, had fallen into the theatre crowd.  For a few years, he had barely hung out with her—his friends had constantly ribbed him about his dorky little sister.
    Then, at the beginning of high school, Shane had begun to notice a different story.  Having Felicia as a younger sister was like being a girl magnet.  She had lots of friends in the drama, chorus, and dance crowds who had all swooned over Shane.  A lot of girls would want to come to Felicia’s parties simply for the chance that they might see him.  A lot of girls would invite Felicia to their parties in the hopes that she might bring him.  And it became hard for her to determine who was in it for Felicia and who was in it for her brother.  Shane had an easy way of weeding them out for her.
    It was not like he took any great pleasure in fooling around with someone she considered to be a friend; it was just something he thought needed to be done.  She had taken an instant liking to Desiree when they had been in one of the school’s musical productions together, but when she started bringing her around to the house, Desiree had instantly forgotten Felicia existed.  She hit on Shane constantly, even though Felicia warned her that she would not be very pleased if Desiree had done anything with her older brother.  Apparently, that had not mattered to Desiree, so Shane had nipped it in the bud and had sex with her just to get her out of Felicia’s life.  She was annoying, anyway.
    Cadie, on the other hand, was a different story.  Felicia had first brought her home when she was in fifth grade and Cadie was in sixth—Shane’s age.  He had seen her before, of course, but they had never had any classes together, except maybe gym or a study hall here or there.  She was in the advanced classes, which was how she had met Felicia.  The two of them had had a lot of fun together, exploring the woods in their little town, having slumber parties, doing makeovers, experimenting with bulimia or whatever the hell else twelve-year-old girls did.  And Cadie had never shown more of an interest in Shane than was considered polite.  Shane, therefore, approved.
    And yes, in the past couple of years, he had noticed that she was beginning to blossom into a very pretty, possibly beautiful, girl.  And since he had known her for so long, he knew that she was smart, and funny, and friendly; a girl, under different circumstances, that he would be very eager to get to know.  But he had refrained from doing so, never showing her more interest than she bestowed upon him.  She was Felicia’s best friend, she had stuck around for a number of years without pursuing her brother, and Shane did not want to ruin that for Felicia.  He steered clear of Cadie in a romantic sense.
    He was only two years minus one day older than Felicia, but from time to time, in little ways, he still managed to be her big brother.
    Will shook his head as Shane loaded his textbooks into his backpack.  “I can’t believe you’re taking calculus,” he said, chuckling slightly.
    “Don’t rag on me just because your math book is called The Abacus Made E-Z. ”
    Will furrowed his brow.  “How would that