Chapter 5

“Is anything wrong?”

Both Nate’s mom and dad looked at him funny. “What do you mean?” Mrs. Abraham asked.

“Yeah, you haven’t answered my questions about Nate.”

“What do you know about him?” she asked him back, making Zeke’s jaw go slack.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, lately. What did you hear about him?”

Suddenly Zeke went cold all over. He shivered and was this close to hunch down right there before Nate’s parents. Ill thoughts filled his mind and he felt as if someone had stabbed his heart right in the middle. It was all because of the one question from Nate’s mom.

Zeke didn’t know or hear anything about Nate since he left Oil Hills. And worse, he’d never tried to find out. He didn’t call, not even email his old friends and especially, not Nate. And it was all because Nate was with Paulina. What if something terrible happened to Nate and nobody told Zeke because he’d started it all by cutting lose all the remaining ties between him and Oil Hills?