Everything Beautiful Read Online Free PDF Page B

in. Ter-rif-ic.” She smiled at us all for a few seconds too long and then sat back down.
Just when I thought it was all over, there was Neville again.
He said, “This year we have some old friends and some new faces. If you treat the new faces like old friends, then it’s going to be a beautiful time for everyone.” He raised his head. “Dylan Luck, would you come up, please?”
Wheelchair Boy came forward slowly until his tires bumped the foot of the stage. For a second no one did anything, but then Craig and Neville lifted the chair onto the stage. Neville said, “Some of you know Dylan from previous camps; you may not have seen him since his accident. He’s still Dylan and he’d appreciate your support and friendship. Don’t be strangers!”
Dylan stared to the back of the room. He looked embarrassed to be up there on display. Some of the younger kids were staring, with dropped jaws. “Accident” is such a non-word, so nonspecific. Neville made it sound like nothing, but here was this boy in a wheelchair, and you couldn’t call a wheelchair “nothing.” Then I recalled Fleur and Sarita’s mystery boy who’d jumped sixteen floors—and realized he and Dylan had to be one and the same.
Neville went on. “Dylan, we’ve got something for you because we value you, and because you deserve it.”
Craig came forward. “Here you go, dude.” He clamped a hand on Dylan’s shoulder and handed him a shiny bundle. Dylan was slow to unfold it, too slow for Craig, who moved across and shook it out and held it up for display. It was a vest identical to his. Craig draped it over Dylan’s shoulders and announced: “So this year there are two Youth Leaders!” He turned to show his letters and everyone clapped. I clapped, too—I was bored. I was getting delirious again. I whistled and threw my lavender sprigs at the stage. A flower landed on Dylan’s chest. He watched it fall to his lap and then he picked it up. I noticed his cross then: thick and silver, hanging on a thin leather string. As he held the sprig of lavender, his face changed and I had a sudden flash that he looked on the outside how I felt on the inside: Lost. Moody. Superior. Charged.
Dylan smelled the flower and stared straight at me. Then he put it in his mouth and ate it.

9
Breaking and Entering
Orientation was over, but you wouldn’t know it for the amount of hang back. It was a whole new hubbub of hugs and memories. I took the opportunity to hunt down a phone. The counselors’ annex was too close for comfort. I walked back around the main building until I was standing outside Neville’s office. His door was locked from the inside, but the louvered windows were open wide enough for me to snake my arm in. I felt around for the doorknob, mentally preparing my defense. Your Honor , I’d say, you can’t call it breaking and entering when it’s this easy . I went straight for the phone. Chloe picked up on the third ring.
“My friend, my friend!” she greeted me. “Are you there yet?”
“I am.”
“And?”
“Hell.”
“Expand.”
“There’s nothing here. It’s a desert. I feel like an Arab.”
“Let me see what I can do.”
We laughed our bawdy-house laughs.
“BTW, thanks for the book.”
“I told you I’d get you out of it.” I could hear Chloe smiling. She took a special pleasure in sorting me out. This would become one of her stories.
“Now all I’ve got to do is make it to Wednesday.”
“My advice is to treat it like a prison term. Embark on a course of self-improvement. Do crunches, learn sign language. Don’t wash your hair. If you let the grease build up it actually makes it stronger and shinier.”
“Thank you, John Frieda.”
She tried to make me smile. “Is there no hotness? No cute, virginal Jesus-boys? All trembling and stuttering and eager to please?”
“No, they’re more your acnefarious kid-brother types.”
We laughed again. I felt a little bit better. But Chloe was still laughing, and I had a sudden