table.â)
Sheâs cool with it.
He takes her to Tunnel Barbecue and they load up on ribs instead. Guzzle Pepsis and get messy.
Sheâs cool with it.
Takes her to a horror movie, something standard. A bunch of teenagers alone in the woods. They drink. They hook up. They die.
Sheâs cool with it.
(Better than cool, in fact: sheâs all over it, screaming at the scary bits, burying her face in Adamâs coat, gripping on his arm for dear life.)
Adam walks her to the bus loop after the movie. Victoriaâs bus pulls up. She lingers. Bites her lip. Looks away.
(âWhat do you do if she wants to kiss you? You go with it, obviously.â)
Adam leans in and kisses her.
Sheâs cool with it.
81.
Sam claps his hands. âDamn right you kissed her,â he says. âWhat did I tell you?â
Theyâre on the riverfront trail, looking out across the water at the Detroit skyline beyond. Theyâre just a few blocks away from the movie theater, Tunnel Barbecue, and the bus loop, and the air feels
infused
with Victoria.
(Adamâs still buzzing.)
âIt was just like you said,â Adam says. âShe looked at me and I knew she wanted me to kiss her andââ
âAnd you went with it,â Sam says.
âIt was so good,â Adam says.
Sam grins like he knows exactly what Adamâs going through. Like heâs loving every minute.
âI told you,â he says. âDidnât I?â
82.
Second date.
âSo whatâs the deal with you?â Victoria wants to know. âYouâre always hanging out with these pretty girls in the hall. Are you, like, a player or something?â
Adam laughs. âAre you kidding?â
âI was talking about you with Steph,â Victoria says. âWe canât figure it out.â
Then she blushes.
âNot that, I mean, you shouldnât be hanging out with pretty girls. Your sister just doesnât seem to think itâs your style.â
âItâs not,â Adam tells her. âItâs just business.â
Victoria frowns. âBusiness?â
Adam looks at her. Adam pauses.
(Adam doesnât want to tell her about the homework scheme. Not Victoria Lemieux. Heâs getting the sense sheâs a good girl.
Heâs getting the sense that she
would
not
approve.)
So:
âSometimes I tutor people,â he says. âHelp them out with their homework, that kind of thing.â
âSo youâre a nerd,â Victoria says. âYouâre just a really big nerd.â
âFuck no,â Adam says, harder than he means to. âI mean, no, Iâm not a nerd.â
Victoria laughs. âI take it back, jeez. Didnât mean to insult you or anything, Mr. Big-Shot Cool Guy.â
âHa,â Adam says. âIâm not that, either.â
(Yet.)
83.
Victoriaâs story:
Freshman.
Only child.
Both parents work at the Chrysler plant.
(Adam doesnât say anything when she tells him this. Doesnât tell her how lucky he thinks she is that her folks kept their jobs. How much he envies her life.)
Victoriaâs family lives in Walkerville, the old distillery district down by the river. The trendy part of town.
(Adam doesnât say anything when she tells him this, either. Doesnât tell her about how he lives in a shithole in Remington Park. How envious he is. What he says is:)
âWhy didnât you go to Walkerville High?â
Victoria screws up her face. âItâs all stoners and burnouts and losers.â
âYeah,â Adam saysâ
(conveniently omitting the fact that he himself
has pretty much
always been a stoner
and a burnout
and a . . .
well, you know)â
âbut Nixonâs like three miles away.â
Victoria blushes. âOkay, confession time,â she says. âI was in advanced placement in grade school. They bussed us out of district. All my friends graduated to Nixon, so
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