Kalliope 2015 | Page 183

so I thought I’d drop this off.” I don’t even have to check the handwriting on the front because I know, without a doubt this is the Rainy Day Fund, my Rainy Day Fund that Johnny could’ve easily taken for himself and I wouldn’t have been able to do a damn thing about it, but he didn’t. “How’d you find it?” My voice cracks and my eyes are filling up with tears because I’m a fucking crybaby. I clear my throat and pray that my voice doesn’t crack again. “I caught you one time putting the screwdriver away and I was really curious as to why you’d want to hide a screwdriver from me, so since I knew that I could swipe into your apartment, I waited until you were in class one day and I unscrewed everything in your room.” I stare at him blankly. Here I was thinking I was the obsessive one. “To be fair, there’s not that many things in your room you can unscrew, so it’s not that weird.” “It’s pretty fucking weird.” “Well, I just thought you’d want it back, so there it is.” When I don’t say thank you he shrugs his shoulders, says, “see ya around,” and leaves. His car’s parked behind the house and I watch him drive away. Once he’s gone I decide to check the envelope and make there’s $2,463 in there but there’s not. There’s $2,463 and a folded piece of paper. It’s a check for a hundred dollars. I tear up again and then start to laugh. I don’t realize how loud I’m being until Andy opens the front door. “What’s so funny?” he calls from behind the screen, dressed in only his boxers. I slip the cash and the check back into the envelope, sniffle and simply say, “I’m ready to head back to school now.” I finally know what I want to do with the money. As Andy is gathering his things and loading the car, I grab the few personal items I brought with me and call a cab. “All set?” he asks when he sees me wearing my backpack and holding the envelope. “Yeah, but I can’t go with you.” As soon as I say it, I can tell he’s hurt. “Why not?” he avoids eye contact with me and sucks his lips inward. “I’m not going back to school. I’m going away.” “Where?” 183