Dead Ends Read Online Free PDF

few other big mouths. Success, every time.
    I cocked my head at Billy as we turned down our street. “What did you mean, ‘would have said’?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYou said your dad
would
have said ‘all bark and no bite.’ Is your dad … is he, like, dead or something?”
    â€œNo.” There was a flicker of an expression on Billy’s face, but I couldn’t make it out.
    â€œSo where is he?”
    â€œHe’s—” He shifted that heavy backpack higher on his shoulders, causing him to hunch forward farther than normal. “Not here,” he finished.
    He glued his eyes to the pavement and walked faster, right down the middle of the road. I didn’t press him any further. I knew as well as anyone how annoying it was to be asked questions you couldn’t answer—especially about an absent parent.
    Instead, I reached up to unzip Billy’s backpack.
    â€œWhat’s in here that’s so heavy, anyway?”
    â€œHey!” Billy spun on instinct, causing something big and flat to tumble out of his pack and onto the wet street. I snatched it up faster than he could and brushed off the muddy gravel clinging to the front.
    â€œWhat’s this?”
    â€œDuh. Can’t you read?” He pointed to a huge word on the book’s glossy cover and sounded it out. “At-las.”
    â€œNobody says ‘duh,’” I told him, flipping the atlas open. “You have a geography class or something?”
    The pages settled on a map of West Virginia. Just below and to the left of Charleston, in squiggly handwriting, were the words “Big Ugly.” They were circled with red marker. I leaned in to take a closer look, but Billy snatched the book out of my hands.
    â€œI don’t need a geography class,” he said. His voice sounded calmer than his movements. He was fumbling with the zipper on his backpack, trying to stuff the atlas back inside.
    â€œOkay,” I said.
    â€œI’m awesome at geography.” He tugged the zipper hard over the corner of the book.
    â€œFine.”
    â€œI could
teach
geography.”
    â€œAll right. Relax.”
    He slung the now zippered pack onto his shoulder and looked me dead in the eye. He spoke in a deliberately reassuring voice. “Don’t worry, Dane. I’m not going to go berserk on you.”
    â€œUm. Thanks … I guess.”
    We continued the trek down the center of the street until our houses rose up on either side and we silently moved to opposite curbs.
    I stopped on my sidewalk and looked back.
    â€œHey, Billy D.”
    â€œWhat?” He turned.
    â€œMy dad … he’s not here either.”
    Billy watched me for a few seconds, expression unreadable. Then, in a flash, his face lit up with a smile.
    â€œOkay, then.”
    â€œOkay, then.”

Chapter 6
    It’s the calm
after
the storm, and it’s typical of Mom and me. We’d had a tornado of a fight, when I’d handed her the detention slip and offered my excuse. Now it was the silent breakfast that always followed one of those storms. And by breakfast, I mean coffee for Mom and a soda for me. I took advantage of the silent treatment to finish up an algebra assignment at the kitchen table. Mom sat across from me, pressing a lotto ticket into a new frame.
    I put the final bracket on my last equation and slammed my textbook shut.
    â€œHow much?” I asked.
    Mom cleared her throat. “Dane.”
    â€œHow much?”
    She closed the clasps over the backing and turned the frame over to check that it was centered. “Five dollars.”
    â€œFive dollars that could have bought me lunch today.”
    â€œStop that.”
    â€œStop what?”
    â€œStop acting like we don’t have enough money to buy you lunch.”
    â€œDo we have enough money to pay the rent this month?”
    â€œOf course we do. Now that’s enough. I don’t want to start again this