Leo:

Well, let’s just say that there were lots of guys in juvie in the same situation as me. Or worse. And some were far worse. What had they been thinking?

It was a breeding ground for new and, shall we say, better ideas. For after we got out. 

It was not exactly a reformatory institution, as they liked to think of the establishment.

But even they knew the truth, probably. 

There had been ideas circulating about the best places to steal high-end cars, and new routes to get them across the border. 

I did want to get out. For sure I did. And that’s why I was on such good behavior. 

With my yes sirs, to all the guards.

“Leo, you must clear your tray entirely before you put things into the trash.”

“Leo, if you leave your bed unmade again, you can count on doing extra time. And no wrinkles on that blanket!”

“Yes sir,” I would say.

I would gladly say yes sir at any time, and on any day, to help with the illusion of who I was. 

A polite, caring young man, with a future to boot.

I just needed to get out first, to have that future.

I had loved Brooklyn. This was true. But when I heard what she had said, I felt like the exposed fraud that I was. 

It was like a punch to the right side of the gut.

What she had seen in me, that really was me, she had backstabbed. 

It had taken me a while to be comfortable with her. To trust her.

I knew that I could be brooding. And I could be opposing, but it was usually inward and toward myself. 

Or of course, toward my stepdad. I had no problem with being a jerk toward him. He didn’t care about me anyway. Just his ego. 

I imagined him walking in through the front door in his gym shorts, after pretending to mow the lawn for two hours; while he had reclined on the outdoor chaise lounge chair for over half the time.

Ryan was probably beyond overjoyed that I was here now. He could have the house to himself now, with my mom. And his barbecued meat, and the yellow kitchen. 

I dared myself to think about how I still wanted to be in Mexico someday. In my own palatial house. But with my car shenanigans, it wasn’t looking likely that my ticket to Mexico would involve that business. 

Or maybe it would. I hadn’t decided yet if I was going to try the low level crime that it actually was, again, when I got out.

I did know that Brooklyn had loved me. 

And I wished that I could see her again. 

How could she do this to me? And now I was sitting behind bars, being forced to go to classes and to make a bed. 

Maybe I was as strange and problematic as I had felt before Brooklyn. 

Maybe there was some way I could explain to her, but it was not likely. 

I usually didn’t do that kind of thing. 

* * * 

Brooklyn:

The words that I told Leo’s friend about him were really what I wanted to feel. It was too painful to feel what I really felt, which was none of that. 

It was the opposite of that really. 

But we must do what we have to do. 

And so I had to convince myself that I had not loved him, and that his problems far surpassed what could have been.

And wasn’t that actually the truth? 

So maybe I had not been tricking myself after all.

* * * 

Leo:

I will find another get rich strategy. I know that I will. 

Or maybe it will just be a more elaborate plan involving the cars. 

It really is just facilitating the sale of a car. Like brokering. And it really just is pretty measly, and low level. I can think of higher crimes than taking a car. 

And no, I will not go to college. Are you freakin’ kidding me? I won’t need to, anyway.

I am actually trying to finish my high school classes right now. 

We have the classes right here. And they are the same useless ones as at the high school. Just different teachers, obviously. But the classes are all the same. And there are no girls to catch my eye, when I tire of looking at the haggard teachers.

With absolutely nothing else to do here, except for the occasional game of a highly watched over game of pickup basketball, I am actually turning in my homework. 

It is a sorry sight to see. 

Me going to all the classes, and turning in my homework. 

Yes sir, I am.

Because what else would I be doing?