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Whaddaya say?”
    I could tell Alex would be a really good salesman some day. Or maybe something worse — a lawyer or a politician. Mostly I wanted to get something going with Kelsey. I wanted her to understand me. And I wanted to play music again. Even if it wasn’t totally hardcore. Maybe I’d be able to shift some of their emo tunes in the right direction. So why not?
    â€œI’m in,” I said.
    â€œI’ll see what I can do to put Kelsey in a better mood.”
    Jordan and Logan couldn’t understand why I was talking with Alex. Who could figure it? As I walked past them I thought I’d give them something to chew on. “He just wanted to consult me on a worry he had over school spirit. I told him we could boost morale if they served beer instead of milk.”
    Nobody laughed. Jordan eyed me with suspicion. Logan cracked that evil crooked smile — his trademark. I had them confused and that felt good. I also knew I had stepped one foot over the line just by talking to Alex. I was in no man’s land and wondered if I could ever go back.
    After school, Kelsey found me. “Come clear your drums out of my garage. I want them out of there. Today.”
    I thought I’d try a different approach. We’d had some harsh words. I knew better now. You have to handle women with a certain kind of psychology so they think they are winning the battles. My old man taught me that. It was probably the only reasonable word of advice he ever gave me. But then he, of course, always took things too far.
    â€œTell me about the street,” I said, wanting to change the subject. “Tell me what it was like.”
    I caught her off guard. She turned her back on me like she was going to walk away but then she wheeled round. “Jeffrey was one of the few good dependable people I knew there. He’s a little odd. You’re right about that. People pick on him for it. Guys like you. I’ve seen Jeffrey and his friends get thrashed before — just for being who they are.”
    â€œIt comes with the territory,” I admitted.
    â€œWhy?”
    I could see I was heading down Dead-End Alley again. Big mistake. I took a deep breath and looked down at my shoes. “I wouldn’t have beat on him,” I said, “if I’d known he was your friend.”
    â€œOh great,” she said sarcastically. “I’ll make you a list of all my friends so you won’t beat on them. What about everybody else? Who you gonna grind into the dirt next?”
    â€œI get over-excited sometimes,” I tried to explain. “It’s something that happens when I’m around guys like Jordan and my other friends.”
    â€œYou think you impress them by beating up street performers?”
    I blinked. That was exactly the way it worked but I’d never admitted it to myself. I sure wasn’t about to admit it to her. “Nah. I do it ’cause I have to.” I swallowed hard and tried to pretend I felt sorry about it. “But it’s different now. I’m changing.”
    â€œOn the street, I knew guys like you. They acted that way because they were hurting inside. Hurting bad. In that sense, they were just like me. Only I didn’t have to send somebody to the hospital to make myself feel better.”
    She was looking at the watch again.
    â€œIf that guy was so down and out, how come he had something like this? Somebody paid big bucks for this beauty,” I asked.
    â€œJeffrey was freestyling in front of the lineup at the Palace one night. This guy came along. Turned out to be Vin Grecko from the band Crime Therapy. He was in town for a concert. Vin liked the way Jeffrey performed. He gave him the watch. It blew us all away.”
    â€œToo much.” I looked at the watch on my wrist and thought it was pretty cool that it had once belonged to Vin Grecko.
    â€œJeffrey thought it was a good omen.”
    â€œWhat do you