The Summer of Broken Rules

by K.L. Walther

Sarah told us there was a cookout planned for that night

She and her wife, Rachel, had two kids: six-year-old Ethan and four-year-old Hannah. Aunt Rachel was very pregnant with

She was drunk and hunched over the toilet but had somehow still managed to laugh so hard.

Loki finished his food before I finished peeling the fruit, so I paused to open the back door and watched the dog shoot outside and vanish into the woods. It was like that with all the dogs on The Farm—they’d eat breakfast, then disappear until dinner. Sometimes even later.

“She thinks your last name is Dupré?”

Thanks to Wit,

“Because we’re bonkers.”

Cringe

I hardly heard them, tears still falling. Is this what it felt like? I didn’t want to wonder, but did. It was impossible not to now. Is this what it felt like when she was hit?

“Oh,” Sage said as I held my breath. “Oh no—sorry, I didn’t mean anything.” She laughed and shook her head, then held up the last item to scan: a pie. “Strawberry rhubarb is my boyfriend’s favorite.” Her face lit up like the sun. “He says it’s totally epic.”

my sister was killed instantly. Instantly.

“Watch this, Claire,” I whispered and pulled the trigger.

stopped gawking long enough to blink and see who was responsible for such blasphemy. Just delightful, @sowitty17 had written. Thank you, my lobster, for the recommendation! #HurrayShesADupré.

Hannah’s red lobster stuffed animal. She won’t notice,

She has so many toys, she won’t even notice!

Yes, I thought. I want to smile and laugh with him…

I wanted to kiss Wit.

“I need your help,” she said as I walked away, back on her call with whomever. “I need you to get me off this island.”

Wit was fading fast, but I kept nudging him awake.

Wit.

Yes, Claire had met a boy in New Orleans. Just not one for herself. “Stephen,” she’d decided back when we were still young enough to match our outfits and joke about who I would marry someday. “His name will be Stephen!” Now I felt as faint as I had when I’d first seen his name on my Assassin slip. Stephen…

Michael did let me drive home.