And a purple streak shot straight up from my middle finger into the ceiling.
I screamed as flakes of stucco popcorn bits rained down on me while I scrambled out of bed, in case the whole roof came down.
But it was just a little smoldering hole in the ceiling.
I was gonna have to get way better at spackling.
CHAPTER FIVE
IWASin full-on freak-out mode. Expert-level, advanced, no extra lives freak-out mode.
Buuuuuut… Maybe I’d been existing in freak-out mode long enough that it didn’t have quite the same power over me. I’d been freaking out since Brayden kissed me, yeah, but even before that, when I packed up my room at school and realized I might not be back, maybe ever, that was when I realized freaking out wasn’t going to help.
Really, I could only swear, cry, puke, and scream so much before it was time for something else.
Shooting purple lightning out my fingers was apparently something else.
Somehow, some wires had to have gotten crossed in my VR glove, and the resulting power surge destroyed part of my wall and my ceiling. It was the only explanation I could think of.
Carefully, I peeled off the glove, making sure not to point at anything important. I wasn’t sure exactly how it worked, but I didn’t want to put a hole in anything else if I didn’t have to.
The tight fit of the fabric pulled on the cuts across my hand, and I grimaced at the welling dots of blood. It itched again, not as bad as before, but still annoying. I patted a tissue across the wounds, and the oozing stopped.
Even more carefully, I shoved the gloves way under my mattress, into the middle. Hopefully the old memory foam would absorb any explosions. And it would keep Mom and Gwumpki from accidentally blowing anything up.
That wastwolawsuits in one day: the freezie mix corp for almost poisoning me to death and now the VR glove company for nearly destroying my house.
To cement my case, I took pics with my phone of all of the damage, the popcorn dust and drywall fragments speckled around my room. And then vacuumed it up.
Even with my room back in order, I was too keyed up to be at home anymore. I quickly got dressed and grabbed my phone. I hustled to the kitchen and left a note for Mom on the fridge.Feeling better, I lied.Went to get some fresh air.
Me going out for fresh air? Mom would never buy it, but I had to do some thinking.
I locked up and started moving…nowhere in particular. Head down, I walked past the checkerboard of green and gravel yards. The sidewalks were exposed to the sun, which would be unbearable in just a few months, and were so close to the street that the exhaust from cars whizzing past tugged at my skinny jeans. The bus was pulling up as I walked past a stop. With no better ideas, I got on, paid my fare, and staggered to the back seat.
My hand was still itching and hot like I’d shoved it into a patch of prickly pear cactus, and I found myself unconsciously rubbing it. Little zings of electricity prickled under my skin, and it felt…
Kinda good?
None of this made sense. My life had been spiraling into shit lately, but it hadn’t been insane. I needed to grab hold of something steady, someone who had it all together.
So I texted Swann.Got a minute?
The answer came right back.For my Mojimo?! Just a sec
It was actually like ten minutes, but I didn’t have anywhere to go. Except around in circles on this bus. In the meantime, I watched videos of exploding batteries while I waited. I had to say, mine was the coolest—
Whassup?
I wrinkled my nose at the screen. Maybe I should just call her… Nah.Date sucked
A frowny face then a furious scowl then a heart.
Yeah, I loved her too.Also, Mom’s not doing great
A breaking heart flashed on the screen.What can I do?
Nada.My thumbs hovered for a long second then tapped furiously, before I chickened out.Also also, I dropped out. I’m back home. I’m managing the Freeze. I think I’m going to di
