Passenger

by Andrew Smith

  Both of us have.

  Anyway, I told him, it’s not like we’re talking about hyphenating our last names or anything.

  He laughs about that still and, of course, makes fun of me just for having brought up the idea in the first place.

  That’s Conner.

  Right now, Ethan is packing clothes for his trip home to Bath. We’re riding into London together with Conner and Neal Genovese.

  I watch Ethan for a moment. He’s every bit as disorganized as I am.

  I take a breath. There are a couple things making Jack a little nervous.

  I haven’t seen Nickie in weeks. I wonder if she’ll still be as beautiful as always; if she’ll act noticeably different toward Conner and Jack.

  Maybe she’ll have a new boyfriend tagging along, and he’ll glare at me and Conner and mutter smartass British comments to her under his breath about American boys.

  I pack just a few things in a small nylon bag. I don’t need much. I have plenty of stuff at Wynn and Stella’s house in Glenbrook. And I don’t care if Jack’s clothes are different than I remember or if they feel weird on me, because they’re just clothes, after all, and I’ve changed, too. But who hasn’t?

  And this is it.

  Conner’s in the hall, knocking, rattling the doorknob, saying, Hurry up, dipshits, let’s go.

  Passengers again.

  I zip the bag shut.

  And never for one second do I think about bringing those two small bundles along with us on our trip.

  A FEIWEL AND FRIENDS BOOK

  An Imprint of Macmillan

  PASSENGER. Copyright © 2012 by Andrew Smith. All rights reserved. For information, address Feiwel and Friends, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

  ISBN: 978-1-250-00487-1

  Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto

  First Edition: 2012

  eISBN 9781466827585

  macteenbooks.com