“We’re head-banging,” Justin said.
“What’s this song?” Henry asked.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Justin nudged Bryce. “Can we try a chat room now?”
Bryce nodded and turned to Henry. “Did you bring my picture?”
“Yeah,” Henry said. He pulled out JM and handed her to Bryce.
“Aw man, look how messed up it is. What have you been doing with it?”
Henry stared at JM in Bryce’s hands and didn’t like how Bryce held her.
“Nothing,” he said.
“Yeah right,” Bryce said. “Hank and Jenny sittin’ in a tree, H-U-M-P-I-N-G.”
Bryce made the masturbator gesture with his hand again and laughed. “Come
on. Let’s go see if any girls will cyber.”
Henry followed Bryce and Justin back to Bryce’s computer room. Bryce’s
mother must have been running errands. Bryce’s family was repainting the
room, so all of the furniture other than the desk and chair had been removed
and a sheet of plastic covered most of the carpet. Bryce sat at the desk and
Henry and Justin leaned over his shoulders.
“Last night Justin and I cybered with two high school girls from Texas,” Bryce
said. Henry felt the pang again—he hadn’t known they were hanging out the
night before. “We told them we were exchange students from Australia and
they totally bought it. Right, Justin?”
“Fuckin’ A,” Justin said. He had started saying that, but Henry didn’t know
what the “A” meant.