The other kids agreed. “Yes,
Maylene. You should definitely ask
Maylene. You have to ask Maylene.
You guys are perfect for each other.”
Maylene was a girl I used to
walk home from school with. We
lived in the city now, me, my mom
and Abel, who was now my
stepfather, and my new baby
brother, Andrew. We’d sold our
house in Eden Park to invest in
Abel’s new garage. Then that fell
apart, and we ended up moving to a
neighborhood called Highlands
North, a thirty-minute walk from H.
A. Jack. A group of us would leave
school together every afternoon,