"You want to work on it now?" Kyle asked as they reached the car. He was getting nervous that Jason stil hadn't begun work on it.

"I'l help you too!" Nelson chimed in.

"Maybe later," Jason said.

"We can work on it while we're driving," Kyle insisted, climbing into the front seat beside Jason.

"Let me drive," Nelson interjected.

"Look, I don't want to work on it now," Jason snapped.

"Fine!" Kyle barked. "If you want to wait til the last minute, that's your problem." He climbed out of the front seat, no longer wanting to sit beside Jason, and tossed the keys to Nelson.

Just like that, al three of them suddenly got in a bad mood. As they headed south on 1-55 through Mississippi toward New Orleans, Jason and Nelson argued about CDs. Jason wanted to play one of his headbanger albums, whereas Nelson wanted to play "Redneck Woman" for the milionth time.

"Why can't you just take turns?" Kyle intervened. "You two act like kids sometimes." He returned to reading On the Road but got annoyed every time the author used words like "fags" or "queers"-and not in a good way. He finaly closed the book and stared out the window at a flock of buzzards circling overhead.

"I'm getting hungry," Jason announced.

Nelson pointed to a bilboard of doe-eyed women and suggested, "Let's stop at the 'XXX Barely Legal Al-You-Can-Eat Topless Truck Stop.'" But instead they stopped at a Burger King and walked inside to stretch their legs. Upon placing their order Kyle reached for his walet, but his back pocket was empty. His pulse quickened as he checked his front pocket. "I think I left my walet in the car."

"I'l pay." Nelson puled out his own bilfold.

"I'm going to look for it," Kyle said and hurried outside. The walet contained his driver's license and half of Jason's money.

His heart pounded as he searched under the seats, in the CD compartment, and everywhere else the walet could've gone to. How could he tel Jason he'd lost two hundred bucks of his money? And how could he drive without his license?

"I can't find it," he announced to Jason and Nelson as they carried their drinks and food across the hot blacktop to the car.

"Oh my God!" Nelson screamed. "You lost it?"

"Where'd you have it last?" Jason asked.

"At the museum ..." Kyle thought back. "Buying our tickets. I'm sure I put it back in my pocket." He felt his pants as if he could've somehow overlooked the leather lump. "Half your money was in there. I'l pay you back."

He watched guiltily as Jason's forehead furrowed with worry lines. "Where's the other half?"

"In the glove compartment." Kyle reached down and flipped open the latch, puling out the envelope to prove he stil had it.

"That's a clever hiding place." Nelson puled a French fry out of the bag and chomped on it. "No thief would ever think to look there."

"I'm really sorry," Kyle told Jason. "I don't know how I lost it."

Jason took a deep breath and let it out again. "Wel, you didn't mean to lose it."

"Maybe the museum found it." Nelson handed Kyle his cel phone. "Cal them."

They went back into the air conditioning and sat at a booth. While Nelson and Jason ate, Kyle dialed the number on the museum brochure. He spoke to several sympathetic people, but none reported a found walet.

"Eat something," Jason said as Kyle hung up the phone.

"My stomach's too tense," Kyle replied. He knew he'd screwed up big-time.

"Can I have your fries then?" Nelson poured them onto his tray. "So, how much money do we have if we put al our money together?" He puled out his walet and withdrew its bils.

"That's not enough to get us to California and back," Kyle told them.

"Then I'l phone my old lady," Nelson offered. "Can I have your burger?"

Kyle nodded. He had no appetite whatsoever.

"I can phone my mom," Jason suggested.

"No," Kyle mumbled. "I'l phone my dad. I'm responsible for this. Besides, he gave me his credit card in case of emergency. I'l ask if we can use it."

"He gave you what?" Nelson's eyes grew huge as Kyle puled the card from the envelope with the second half of Jason's money. "Then what're you so worried about?"

"Because it was supposed to be for emergencies. That's why I left it in the envelope."

"This is an emergency," Jason argued.

"No, this was stupid." Kyle stared at the card, recaling his dad's concern about money even before the trip started.

"Kyle, you're human." Nelson covered his mouth to burp. "Get over it."

"Hey, I lost the tent poles." Jason tapped Kyle's foot beneath the table. His brown eyes gazed at him, reassuring. "Just cal and tel him."

"And what am I going to do about my license?" Kyle thought about how much farther they stil had to travel. "I won't be able to drive."

"Jay-Jay and I wil drive. You've hardly driven anyway."

"Stop caling me Jay-Jay." Jason snapped a look at him. "I don't like it."

Kyle picked up Nelson's cel phone and dialed his dad's office. When Kyle told him about the lost walet, his dad said, "You need to be more careful, son. How'd you lose it?"

"I don't know," Kyle told him. Didn't his dad realize how bad he felt screwing up like this?

"Wel, that's why I gave you the card." His dad gave an audible sigh. "Just remember the bil wil be waiting for you when you get back."

"I know," Kyle said, exhaling relief.

"How's everything else going?" his dad asked. "Everyone getting along?"

Kyle glanced across the table at Jason and Nelson. So far, four days had gone by and even though at times it seemed like they wanted to kil each other, they hadn't-yet.

"Everybody's fine," Kyle replied.

"Al right. Cal your mom tonight. She'l be worried about this. Okay? Love you."

"Love you, too," Kyle echoed and hung up, announcing, "He said okay."

"Woo-hoo!" Nelson thrust his hand in the air to high-five Kyle. "How much is the credit card limit?" He clapped his hands and bobbed his head, chanting, "Party!

Party! I wonder if they have an ATM here."

Kyle scowled at him and asked Jason, "You're not mad at me?"

"No." Jason gave a vague shrug. "It's kind of reassuring when you screw up."

Kyle pondered that and leaned back in his seat, stil wishing he hadn't lost the walet.

chapter 20.

Jason wasn't exactly thriled that Kyle had lost his money, but at least now he felt less dumb for running out of gas, leaving behind the tent poles, and not having known who Rosa Parks was.

Up til now this trip had reinforced Jason's image of Kyle: inteligent, thoughtful, caring, and wel organized. Jason admired him, but at moments he felt inferior by comparison.

That unease had never come up in his relationship with Debra. Because she was a girl, he never felt like he had to compete with her. But because Kyle was a guy, Jason sometimes felt like they were competing-and Jason was the loser.

As Jason drove out of the Burger King parking lot, Kyle gently laid a hand on Jason's shoulder. "Sure you're okay about the money?"

"I'm good," Jason replied. He wished he could articulate his complicated thoughts. Instead he reached up to Kyle's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

For the next hour he focused on the road, until he told Kyle and Nelson, "I need to take a dump."

"How fascinating," Nelson replied. "You know, Kyle and I take a huge interest in your bowel movements." Jason ignored the remark, scanning the horizon for an exit sign, but Kyle spoke up: "Nelson, would you cut it out? Please?" Nelson opened his mouth in mock shock. "Kyle, don't deny it! You know we wonder every day about Jason's poop."

"Nelson!" Kyle shouted. "Would you shut up?"

Jason realized it was the first time he'd heard Kyle tel-or at least ask-Nelson to shut up. Fortunately, Nelson did.

"About time," Jason muttered as an exit came into view.

At the bottom of the ramp, a lonely road offered up a solitary gas station with a beat-up tow truck and a couple of service bays. Jason parked beside a pump so Kyle could fil the tank, and he hurried inside for the restroom key.

Pushing through the door, he stopped in astonishment. At the counter, brushing her hair, sat Britney Spears-or at least a teenage girl who looked exactly like the singer: sexy brown eyes, silky blond hair, luscious lips.

"Um ..." Jason hesitated. "Men's room key?"

"Sure." The girl flashed a bright white smile and handed Jason the key, her soft fingers grazing his.

When Jason came back out of the restroom, Nelson was standing at the counter, talking to Britney and borrowing her lip gloss.

"Everything come out al right?" He grinned at Jason.

Jason pretended not to hear and handed the girl the key. "Thanks."

She smiled like the photo on a CD. "You're welcome."

Outside, Kyle was squeegeeing the windshield.

"Did you see her?" Jason asked in a stage whisper.

"Yeah." Kyle nodded. "There's a Britney look-alike contest in New Orleans tonight. She asked if we could give her a ride, so she won't have to wait for the bus."

"Oh, I get it." Jason gazed through the plate glass window. Even the girl's figure resembled Britney's, slim and shapely. "Fine with me," he told Kyle.

Kyle gave him a slant-eyed look. "Okay." After returning the squeegee he went inside, with Jason folowing.

"I'm BJ." The girl extended her hand to Jason.

"I'm Jason." He gently shook her hand, smiling.

When Kyle told her she could come with them, BJ cheered, clapping her hands. She ran to tel a gray-haired mechanic in the service bay. He looked over at the three boys. BJ returned saying he'd asked her to write down their license numbers and addresses. "In case you guys turn out to be ax murderers." She grinned.

Once the boys had done that, BJ returned to kiss the old man on the cheek. Then she grabbed her bag from behind the counter and climbed into the car's backseat with Nelson.

"Put on one of my Britney CDs," Nelson told Kyle as they puled back onto the interstate. "I worship Britney," he said to BJ. "She's a great look for you. So what's it like out here in the sticks growing up gay?"

Jason flashed a glance in the rearview. Was the girl in the backseat a lesbian? Wow. He'd never have guessed.

"Wel, the truth is ..." BJ hesitated, her voice quivering a little. "I never realy thought of myself as gay." Jason listened carefuly. Was BJ saying she wasn't a lesbian?

"Not that I have anything against gay people. But for as long as I can remember, I've always known I was a girl." Jason didn't understand. What was she trying to say?

"Is it okay if I smoke?" BJ asked, and Nelson gave her a cigarette from his pack.

Jason frowned into the mirror at the two of them smoking. To make matters worse, it had starting raining, so he could open the window only a bit.

"In school I always played with the other girls," BJ continued and puffed on her cigarette. "And I always wanted to wear my sister's clothes, though my mama and papa tried to stop me."

BJ raised her chin to exhale a stream of smoke and Jason noticed something weird from the rearview. Did BJ have an Adam's apple?

"The problem," she said, "was I'd been given the body parts of a boy."

"Watch out!" Kyle shouted, reaching over to grab the steering wheel.

Jason swerved, barely missing a truck that had braked ahead of them. His heart pounded as he refocused on the road ahead, while trying to keep from staring at the boy/girl in back.

"The school I went to hadn't a clue what to do with me," BJ resumed. "They sent me home for wearing skirts I borrowed from other girls. My papa took a strap to me, teling me he'd die before any son of his wore a skirt."