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“To be fair, you’re working two jobs,” I replied, sucking<br />
some sauce off my thumb.<br />
“That is fair,” she agreed. “But you should see the student<br />
loans I’m racking up at school down in Jersey. I gotta save some<br />
money.”<br />
“I hear you,” I reassured her as I very attractively guzzled an<br />
entire crust in one bite.<br />
“How was school this semester?” Gunner piped up.<br />
“It was school, you k<strong>no</strong>w. How was school for you?” she<br />
asked. “Or more importantly, how’s your summer going?”<br />
He shrugged, looking up at us over his book. “It’s okay. I’m<br />
<strong>no</strong>t doing much. Timmy Johansson keeps telling me he has a ghost<br />
in his house but he won’t let me come over and see it.”<br />
Michelle immediately whipped around. “Oh, my gosh, that’s<br />
right. How was your ghost hunting class? You never gave me the<br />
full details.”<br />
I dabbed my napkin at my face in a very ladylike manner to<br />
make up for the beastly way I had wolfed down my pizza. “It was<br />
actually surprisingly interesting.”<br />
Her heavily-lined eyes widened. “You’re shitting me.”<br />
“Not. I actually enjoyed it. I made friends with one of the<br />
group members and I’ve been asking him questions about it. He<br />
wants me to try it out for myself.”<br />
“Hold on. ‘He’?” She wiggled her eyebrows.<br />
“Yes, he. But <strong>no</strong>t he he. He’s kind of geeky. Like, really pale<br />
and scrawny.” Instantly I felt bad for saying that, but I had to dismiss<br />
any ideas she was getting that I might be interested in Tucker.<br />
She <strong>no</strong>dded, looking a little disappointed. Michelle never<br />
really dated any boys, since she was agonizingly shy around anyone<br />
that wasn’t me. So she liked to try and live vicariously through my<br />
experiences. Which, let me tell you, were <strong>no</strong>t all that many.<br />
“His name’s Tucker. He owns <strong>The</strong> End Shelf, which is<br />
where they had the class. I went back a few times with some<br />
questions from both Gunner and myself, and then we hung out on<br />
Sunday night.”<br />
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