No More Us for You Read Online Free Page A

mouth, lowering his head at the same time. He held the thread between his front teeth and yanked, then spat the thread out onto the blacktop.
    No one was talking. Something had obviously happened between Will and Suji, an argument about something silly, I figured. Me and Mira had been seeing each other for six months and fought only once during that time. I’d caught her checking out some guy on 2nd Street. She said she wasn’t and I said she was and suddenly the vibe between us turned black. Next thing I knew she was weeping.
    â€œDid you guys hear about the puppies?” I finally said.
    Will looked at me. “What puppies?”
    I slapped Snake on the arm with the back of my fingers. “Tell ’em.”
    â€œThese crazy drug smugglers sliced open some puppies and put heroin inside their bellies,” he said.
    Suji turned her attention away from the basketball courts and looked at Snake.
    â€œThat’s got to be a hoax,” Will said.
    â€œNo, man. I saw it on the news this morning. Matt Lauer and shit.”
    â€œDid they die?” Suji wanted to know.
    â€œSome did,” Snake said, “but they were able to save three that still had dope in them.”
    â€œGod, that’s awful.” Suji turned back to the courts, but her eyes were focused someplace farther. The parking lot. The gleaming cars going up and down Palo Verde. The houses on the other side of Palo Verde. The leafless February trees.
    Snake grabbed my backpack and unzipped it.
    â€œWhat the hell?” I said.
    â€œGetting another Red Vine.”
    â€œWhy don’t you ask, dickhole?”
    Snake slipped out a piece and jammed it into the corner of his mouth. “Can I have one?” he said, chewing and grinning like an idiot. “Please, Carlos?”
    Will chuckled, and Suji jerked her head in his direction. There was anger blazing in her dark brown eyes.
    â€œSo are we going to the beach or are we just going to sit here?” Snake asked.
    Will had his head down. “I can’t, man. I have a quiz in algebra.”
    â€œYou just remembered that now?” Snake said, irritated.
    A basketball came bouncing toward Suji in short hops. She caught the ball and held it at her midsection, her elbows pointed outward as if she was about to toss it back into the courts. A boy lacquered in sweat came running with his palms out before him.
    â€œHere,” he said.
    Suji held the ball.
    â€œCome on,” he said.
    Suji held the ball.
    â€œWhat’s her damn problem?” the boy asked.

ISABEL
    Back in September, my dad clipped out a chart from the Los Angeles Times and left it on the kitchen counter by the coffeepot. I had just woken up and was moving around the kitchen with the speed of a slug. I took down the box of Cheerios from the top of the fridge, my favorite red bowl from the cupboards, and set them both on the counter. That’s when I saw the newspaper clipping. The chart was labeled “Risk of Death” and looked like this:
    Risk of Death
    This chart lists some causes of death, their annual numbers, and the odds that a U.S. citizen will die of each over the course of his or her lifetime. For example, the lifetime risk of being killed by alcohol poisoning is one in 10,530.
    Â 
Cause
Annual Deaths
Lifetime Odds
Heart disease
652,486
One in 5
Cancer
553,888
One in 7
Diabetes
71,372
One in 54
Motor vehicles
44,933
One in 84
Homicide
16,137
One in 226
Assault by firearm
11,624
One in 324
Fire or smoke
3,229
One in 1,167
Fall from stairs or steps
1,638
One in 2,301
Airplanes
747
One in 4,858
Drowning in bathtub
402
One in 9,377
Accidental electrocution
376
One in 9,968
Alcohol poisoning
358
One in 10,530
Lightning
46
One in 81,949
Flood
22
One in 171,348
Venomous spider
14
One in 269,262
Fireworks discharge
2
One in 1,884,832
    Â 
    I set the clipping on the kitchen table and opened the box of Cheerios and shook some out into my bowl. I took the milk out from the fridge and