JUST PASSING THROUGH

Hey, kiddo,” Grandma said when I came in. “How was your day?”

“Um… unbelievable?” I said.

“That’s nice.”

“Is Mom around?” I asked. I hadn’t seen her car out on the street.

“She went for another job interview,” Grandma said. “But she’ll be back.”

Mom had been to so many interviews, it didn’t really seem like it meant anything anymore. Nobody ever ended up giving her a job.

But it was going to make my next move easier.

As soon as Grandma went into the kitchen, I ran upstairs to Mom and Georgia’s room. Georgia was on her bed, talking on the phone when I came in.

“Get out,” I said.

“You get out,” she said. “It’s my roo—”

I figured Georgia would run straight downstairs and cry to Grandma that I’d yelled at her. Or maybe stop along the way to mess with my stuff somehow. But I didn’t care about any of that. I just needed to keep moving.

As soon as Georgia was gone, I opened Mom’s top dresser drawer and took out this little seashell-covered box she had in there. That’s where she kept her “just in case” money. When I checked, there were three twenty-dollar bills folded up in a big paper clip.

I took two of the twenties and put one of them back in the clip, with a note.

The one other thing I took was Mom’s key for the big storage locker in Hills Village where we still had a lot of our stuff—like my sleeping bag and some extra clothes.

Once that was done, I snuck halfway down the stairs and listened for Georgia’s whining in the kitchen. I couldn’t hear anything, but the coast seemed clear, so I kept going.

Then as soon as I got my hand on the front doorknob—

“What are you doing?”

I turned around and Georgia was right there, looking at me over the top of Grandma’s big recliner. Seriously, she should get a job spying for the CIA. Like, in Mongolia would be nice.

“Nothing,” I said. “But… tell Mom I’ll call her later.”

“Rafe?”

Georgia looked like she could tell something was up, and didn’t want me to go.

“Sorry I yelled at you before,” I told her. Then I opened the door and left before she could say anything else.

As soon as I hit the sidewalk, I started walking fast, back up Killarney Avenue the way I’d come just a few minutes before.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Leo said.

“No,” I said. “But I’m going anyway. You coming?”

“Well, duh.”