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we’re not. And I don’t know how to get out. We’re going to die and they’ll never even find our bones.”
    â€œYou don’t know where we are? “ Whatever concern I felt for him vanishes. “You never knew?” I reach down with both hands and haul him to his feet. “Well, thank you for bringing me with you.” I shove him in the chest. “For taking the stupid forestry road in the first place. For rolling your truck and almost killing us right then and there.” I shove him again. “For hanging off my ass since first grade.”
    â€œI didn’t force you to take this trip.”
    â€œNo, you just expected I would. Like you expect me to do everything you want. You know how often I’ve turned downparties because they didn’t invite you too? You know how often I’ve gone to parties with people you like, and I sit there all night wishing I were anywhere else?”
    Tej looks away from me.
    â€œI’m sick of you. I’m sick of the way you talk to me. I’m sick of your so-called jokes about Jordan.” I suck in a breath. “Don’t you ever say anything about Jordan again. I never should have listened to you about anything. I’ll be happy when you leave town, Tej. Then I can get on with my own life.”
    His voice is small. “So, go. Piss off.”
    â€œI will.” I take a step away from him.
    â€œWhen I leave Tremblay, I’m not coming back.”
    â€œGood. We’ll be a better town for it.”
    â€œYou don’t know where you’re going either, Einstein.”
    â€œLike I care. At least I’ll be rid of you.”
    I break into a run. Tree branches snag on my pack. I rip off my pack and leave it. The downward grade increases and Ibounce against the trees, pinballing down the mountain. I don’t think I could stop even if I wanted to. My head starts to spin and I grab onto a tree to slow myself.
    Maybe all that has kept those bears from killing us is that we’re two people together. Maybe, apart, they’ll pick us off. Or maybe they’ll be satisfied with Tej.
    Tej. I look back the way I’ve come. I can’t see him.
    He doesn’t mean to be a butthead, I know that. I know him. When we snowboard together, or play sports, or watch movies, he’s the best guy on the planet. He just can’t stand being wrong. He gets a hundred percent on a math test, and then he agonizes over the bonus question he missed. And with me, he’ll bluff rather than admit he made a mistake.
    He’s scared about leaving Tremblay, I know he is. I’m scared about him leaving. He’s still leading, but I’m not following, not this time. I don’t quite know where that leaves me.
    In football, I love the long bombs thatbring the crowd to its feet. But sometimes the best play is into the thickest resistance. These plays aren’t spectacular, but they are solid and what you expect, a few yards gained each time. That’s the way it is with Tej: not always what you want, but solid and predictable. I head back up the mountain.
    I find Tej about halfway up, picking his way from tree to tree. He doesn’t look surprised. I guess I’m predictable too. He doesn’t say anything to me, just takes the lead again. And I let him.
    The sky has lightened so that blue shows now and then. Otherwise we’d never have seen the far-off plume of smoke. Not a forest fire, not when it’s been so wet. Man-made smoke. Like from a smokestack.

Chapter Eleven
    Tej surveys the rock face above us. “Looks like granite. The smoke could be coming from a quarry,” he says. We’re perched at the edge of a scree slope that extends above us and then down a good ways through a gully to a creek. We can’t see any buildings; they must be too far away.
    The scree is basically flat shards of rock smaller than my hand, but the slope is dotted with a few chunks the size of soccer