Ali
Married people don’t know what love is.
I can tell by the way they’re always fighting all the time about stuff like “Why do you keep hiding the broccoli in the crisper where I can’t find it?” or “Don’t you think that for just this once you could manage to clean the bathtub when you’re done taking a bath?” Married people fight like that because if they didn’t keep their minds busy picking each other apart, they’d have to face the fact that they married the wrong person to begin with because they never really loved each other, not one bit.
Kyle and I aren’t like that.
We are truly and deeply in love for forever.
Kyle became my soul mate the day we were walking home from school together and he grabbed my arm to keep me from stepping off the curb when that Beemer blew through the red light and almost squashed me. He saved my life, and you don’t forget something like that. When I was thanking him (trying hard not to cry or do anything else dorky), I looked into his eyes, those awesome dark blue eyes, and they pulled me in until my soul saw right into his soul. I understood then what life was all about.
He understood, too.
After that, it was Kyle+Ali=4ever.
To make sure I always remembered that moment, I stood in front of my bedroom mirror and scratched KYLE+ALI= 4EVER into my stomach with an X-ACTO blade, then rubbed black ink into the letters. It hurt, but it didn’t bleed much, and it was worth the pain even if I forgot that mirror images are always reversed, so now I can only read it if I’m looking in a mirror. Which is kind of cool in a way, because it’s like a secret code only Kyle and I can decipher. He did the same thing for me, scratched ALI+KYLE=4EVER into his stomach, only he remembered the part about mirrors.
Before gym the next day, we made a pact that we’d die for each other, just like Romeo and Juliet. If we had to, we swore we’d kill for each other, too, no matter who we had to kill. Our English teacher. My parents. Why, we’d even kill the President of the United States for each other! That’s what real love is all about—finding and staying true to that one perfect person on Earth, because he is you and you are him and nobody else matters.
Kyle and me, we’ll never complain about putting broccoli in the crisper or forgetting to clean out bathtubs. We’re about deep, undying love.
So I don’t let myself think about Dad or Mom or Alec because the whole killing thing was really, really necessary and what happened wasn’t my fault, was it?
It was Mom’s, that’s whose fault it was! Sitting me down and telling me I had to cool it with Kyle for a while and that she’d already called Kyle’s foster mom and told her the same thing. Oh, really? Kyle stay away? As if! And then the next day Dad came across like Godzilla because I only got a ninety-four on my algebra test. He didn’t understand why I didn’t ace it because he’d looked at the test afterward and said it was easy as pie. I told him it wasn’t, but he just kept repeating the same phrase over and over again, easy as pie, easy as pie, until I thought I’d scream. He makes me crazy sometimes, he really does. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an hour later Mom came up to my room and said she wasn’t going to let me spend the night at Tiffany’s house just because she found out the last time I was over there, her mom gave us a beer, helped me dye my hair black, and let me sneak out to see Kyle.
Tiffany’s mom Suzy is mega super cool. She gets it about me and Kyle. My parents don’t, especially my stupid dad.
Didn’t, I mean. Past tense, considering what happened.
Whatever, no biggie.
Nothing I can do about any of it now, is there? Besides, it was their own stupid fault, wasn’t it? Even Alec’s. Talk about a snot-nosed little brat!
Well, screw him. Screw Mom, screw Dad, screw them all. I don’t care what happened to them and never will.
All I care about is Kyle.
And Misty.