“How do you kill coyotes? Shotgun?”
“We’re bow hunters,” Ralph said with quiet pride. “Dad thinks it’s cheating to use a gun on an animal. Guns are for other people.” That was a joke his dad made all the time.
“I like that. Give the animals a fighting chance. Sounds more fun to shoot arrows anyway.”
Jeremy didn’t have much of a British accent. He must have lost it living in the States the past few years, but to Ralph, he did sound smarter than everyone else.
“I’m Jeremy.”
“Ralph,” he said.
Jeremy winced like he’d tasted soap. “No. Unacceptable. That’s a redneck name. At least say it right.” He lifted his chin and, in a voice eerily like Scar’s from The Lion King, said, “Thou shalt pronounce thy name Rafe.”
“What?” Sounded like he’d said rave.
“Rafe,” Jeremy said again. “Rhymes with safe or chafe. Like rage with an f. Got it?”
“Rafe,” he repeated. He liked it. He didn’t know why he liked it, but he liked it. Maybe he just didn’t want to be a Ralph anymore. Maybe he never had.
“Much better. You hunt a lot?”
The spine of the girl sitting in front of them stiffened dramatically, almost melodramatically.
“Every weekend, pretty much. Almost deer season.”
The girl couldn’t take it one more second. She spun around in her chair to honor them with her opinion.
“Hunting is gross,” she said. “What’s wrong with you two? Why would you want to go out and kill defenseless—”
“You a vegetarian?” Jeremy asked before Ralph could muster a defense.
“No, but—”
“Then shut up, Mabel.” The girl’s name was not Mabel. “You think your pet pepperoni pizza shot itself in the parking lot behind Blockbuster?”
A question that made less sense the more one thought about it.
Jeremy twirled his finger, warning her to spin her nosy little self around to the front of the class again.
“Sexist.” She huffed and whirled away.
Jeremy’s mouth fell open. He raised his fists and shook them as he silently screamed at the back of her head. Ralph had to wonder if all British people were like this.
Tantrum over, Jeremy tapped the girl on the right shoulder. She looked back at him, haughty as a duchess.
“I am not sexist,” he said. “I am an asshole. There’s a difference. Get it right.”
With a roll of her eyes, she faced forward again. Really, what could she have said to that? Sorry?
The bell rang. Their teacher, Miss Farris, strode into the classroom, and everyone got quiet.
Jeremy jotted something on a scrap of paper and passed it to Ralph when Miss Farris turned her back.
Would your dad teach me to hunt?
Sincerely,
The Asshole (Who is not sexist because I’m an asshole to everyone equally)
Before Jeremy, Ralph had felt like an outsider. There was no reason for it. He was, seemingly, just like everyone else. His grades were good enough. He was fine. He was acceptable. But telling himself that never did erase the sneaking suspicion he didn’t belong. And then…Jeremy. It wasn’t like Jeremy belonged either. He stuck out like a sore thumb, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t living in their world. He lived in his own world, and Rafe wanted to live there too. For the first time in his life, he was glad he didn’t belong.
He replied,
Yeah. This weekend?
And the note was signed,
Rafe
Before they were the West Virginia Lost Boys, they were just boys.
Chapter Nine
When they turned down the long gravel drive to Rafe’s mother’s house, he spotted her beat-up red F-150, which had been his dad’s beat-up red F-150, parked in its usual spot in front of the garage. She was home. The garden lights in the flower beds around the porch were already glowing, but no romantic lighting could make the old house with the ancient putty-colored vinyl look good. It was ugly, ugly enough that the first time he’d had Jeremy over, Rafe had tried distracting him by pointing out the woods attached to the backyard, ten acres with a little stream through it. To that, Jeremy had said, “Awesome,” and it sounded like he meant it. Then when Jeremy’s mother came to pick him up, he’d complained about having to go home.
They’d been friends for less than a week, and Rafe would have given him a lung, kidney, or both if Jeremy had wanted them.
Jeremy parked and turned off the engine.
