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been a bakery. It was dark and empty. The front door was locked, but a side door into the basement was open. Someone had busted the lock. It was pitch-black as Ozzie and I walked inside. I dug out my flashlight and looked around.
    The place had been royally trashed. There were crumpled beer cans and broken liquor bottles. I wondered if the partiers would come back, and that made me want to get the hell out of there. But where would I go?
    I had Ozzie. I’d have to take my chances. I saw an old mattress in the corner and a blanket. I lay down and folded my body into the fetal position. I was scared, yeah. And I lay there wondering if Mackenzie was holed up in some place like this. Alone and cold and scared.

Chapter Nine
    It was a long, cold night. When I woke up in the morning, I could see my breath. I looked around the basement. It was not a place I wanted to spend another night in. I was starving. I had no plan. I thought about going to school and bumming some money for cafeteria food, but I had a feeling it would go badly. Besides, I looked terrible. And what would I do with Ozzie?
    All I could do was head out onto the street. I walked downtown, and though I’d been here many times before, it looked different to me now. Busy people all going somewhere. Jobs, school, stores. I wasn’t one of them. I was going nowhere, and I felt like the biggest loser on the planet.
    I walked a few blocks more, back to the coffee shop. Outside the place, I bumped into Ethan Sparks, a kid I knew from school.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” he asked.
    â€œIt’s a long story. Have you seen Mackenzie?”
    â€œNot recently. She’s been gone for a while, and some of us are worried.”
    â€œUs?”
    â€œYou know.” It sank in. The rumors about Ethan, that he was pretty much on his own.
    â€œShe was at my house for a while,” I said. “But I got kicked out.”
    Ethan looked shocked. “Wait a minute. Do you mean what I think you mean?”
    â€œI’m not sure what you think I mean, but yeah, I’ve been booted out. I’ve got nowhere to live. Me and Ozzie.”
    Ethan looked more than a little concerned. “You going to school today?”
    â€œLooking like this?”
    â€œYeah. You do look like something your dog hauled out of the garbage. No offense.”
    I was beginning to see Ethan for what he really was. A lifeline.
    â€œEthan,” I said, “I’m in a messed-up place. Got any advice? Got anything?”
    He looked intently at me. I read genuine concern. “Yeah. Go home. Say you’re sorry for whatever you did. Kiss ass. Do whatever. You don’t want to be here.”
    â€œIt’s not that easy. Besides, I gotta find Mac. She ran off from my house when the cops showed up.”
    â€œAnd I’d like to see you find her. She’s a good girl.”
    â€œThen tell me what to do.”
    Ethan didn’t say anything at first. Then he looked me in the eye. “A few of us have been crashing at an apartment owned by a guy we call Crazy Eddy. Eddy is crazy, but he’s fairly harmless. I’ve been sleeping on my cousin’s couch this week, but that’s not gonna last long. He’s got a new girlfriend moving in. So if there’s room, Eddy’ll take me in. Hell, he’ll take in just about anyone. You can only crash there from midnight to six in the morning, but it’s better than the street. You’ve got to be clean. No drugs. Eddy used to have a habit, and he kicked it after he got busted. But he wants twenty bucks a night from whoever he takes in.”
    â€œI don’t have that.”
    â€œWell, then, you do what you have to do.”
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œWell, you see kids panhandling for money. Learn to work it.”
    â€œI’ve never done that.”
    â€œIt’s no fun, believe me. Look, here’s ten bucks. All you have to do is scrounge the rest. I gotta go, but