chapter nineteen JEREMIAH When Belly got up to go to bed, I knew she wanted me to stay and try to talk to Conrad about school. I knew it because when we were little kids, we used to practice ESP on each other. Belly was convinced I could read her mind and she could read mine. The truth was, I could just read Belly. Whenever she was about to tell a lie, her left eye squinted a little. Whenever she was nervous, she sucked in her cheeks before she spoke. She was an easy read, always had been. I looked over at Conrad. “Wanna get up early and surf tomorrow?” I asked him. “Sure,” he said. Tomorrow I would talk to him about school and how important it was to go back. Everything would work out. We watched some more TV, and when Conrad fell asleep on the couch, I went upstairs to my room. Dow

