"Men'll have sex with anything, given the chance," said Amanda. "Now she's saying he's a pimp at heart. And he despises her and treats her like shit. I think she's crying."
"Maybe we should stop listening," I said.
"Okay," said Amanda. We stayed with our backs against the wall, waiting until Lucerne would start wailing. As she always did. Then Zeb would stomp out and slam the door, and we might not see him for days.
Zeb came out. "See you around, Queens of the Night," he said. "Watch your backs." He was joking with us the way he liked to do, but there wasn't any fun behind it. He looked grim.
Usually after their fights Lucerne would go to bed and cry, but this night she started packing a bag. The bag was a pink backpack Amanda and I had gleaned. There wasn't much for Lucerne put into it, so quite soon she finished her packing and came into our cubicle.
Amanda and I were pretending to be asleep, on our husk-filled futons, under our blue-jean quilts. "Get up, Ren," Lucerne said to me. "We're going."
"Where?" I said.
"Back," she said. "To the HelthWyzer Compound."
"Right now?"
"Yes. Why are you looking like that? It's what you've always wanted." It's true that
I'd longed for the HelthWyzer Compound, once. I'd been homesick for it. But ever since Amanda'd moved in, I hadn't been thinking about it too much.
"Amanda's coming too?" I said.
"Amanda's staying here."
I felt very cold. "I want Amanda to come," I said.
"Out of the question," said Lucerne. Something else had now happened, it seemed: Lucerne had cast off her paralyzing spell, the spell of Zeb. She'd stepped out of sex as if out of a loose dress. Now she was brisk, decisive, no nonsense. Had she been like that before, long ago? I could scarcely remember.
"Why?" I said. "Why can't Amanda come?"
"Because they won't let her in at HelthWyzer. We can get our identities back there, but she doesn't have one, and I certainly don't have the money to buy her one. They'll take care of her here," she added, as if Amanda was a kitten I was being forced to abandon.
"No way," I said. "If she's not coming, I'm not!"
"And where would you live, here?" said Lucerne with contempt.
"We'll stay with Zeb," I said.
"He's never home," said Lucerne. "You don't think they'd let two young girls camp out by themselves!"
"Then we can live with Adam One," I said. "Or Nuala. Or maybe Katuro."
"Or Stuart the Screw," said Amanda hopefully. This was desperate -- Stuart was dour and a loner -- but I grabbed the idea.
"We can help him make furniture," I said. I imagined the whole scenario -- Amanda and me collecting pieces of junk for Stuart, sawing and hammering and singing as we worked, making herbal tea ...
"You won't be welcome," said Lucerne. "Stuart is a misanthrope. He only tolerates you kids because of Zeb, and it's the same with all the others."
"We'll stay with Toby," I said.
"Toby has other things to do. Now that's enough. If Amanda can't find someone who'll take her in, she can always go back to the pleebrats. She belongs with them, anyway. You don't. Now, hurry up."
"I need to put on my clothes," I said.
"Fine," said Lucerne. "Ten minutes." She left the cubicle.
"What'll we do?" I whispered to Amanda as I started to dress.