* * *
“Hey, Sis, wait up.”
“What, Max?” I whirled around, pinning him with an exasperated look.
“What’s going on? You seem… pissy? I asked Mom what was wrong, but she wouldn’t tell me.”
“I’m just tired of it all.”
“Being their golden child finally wearing thin?”
“Max…”
“What? I’m just saying it’s taken you long enough to realize she’s nothing more than a cold-hearted bitch.”
“Max!” I gasped.
He shrugged. “It’s the truth. She doesn’t really care about us. Well, she definitely doesn’t care about me. All she cares about is her image and reputation.”
“I… yeah, I’m starting to think you’re right.”
“Don’t let her get to you.” He nudged my shoulder with his. “Hey, listen, do you want to hang out with me, Toby, and the guys at lunch?” I gawked at him, and he frowned. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“You know you just invited me to hang out with you and your friends at lunch, right? Like those exact words came out of your mouth.”
“Okay, you don’t need to get all hysteretic about it.”
“Hysteric.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“No, you said hysteretic which means something entirely diff—”
“You know this is why you have no friends, right? Nobody wants to hang out with a walking talking thesaurus.”
“Bite me.”
“Seriously? You are so fucking weird.” He shook his head. “Do you want to hang out at lunch or not?”
“You don’t have to do that, Max.”
“Do what?”
“Pretend to care.”
A strange expression flickered across his face. “It’s not that I don’t care. I’m just… I’m not good at this kind of stuff. I’ve spent years living in your shadow. It hasn’t exactly been easy to like you.”
“Max, that’s not true.”
“Yeah.” He gave me a sad smile. “It is. But I’m over it now.”
“If you say so.” I smiled, and he grinned back.
“So lunch…”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be okay.”
“If you’re sure.”