Impossible Things by Robin Stevenson

on my wall. Mom didn’t understand anything. She didn’t even know that the last year of school had been torture, or that things had just started to look more hopeful. She didn’t have time to hear about my life at all. And now she was furious with me for letting Ben down.
    I dragged myself downstairs, my stomach in knots. Ben was curled up on the family room couch with a soft quilt and a mug of hot chocolate. He was sucking his thumb. I hadn’t seen him do that for a really long time, and my anger instantly faded. “I’m sorry,” I said softly.
    Ben pulled his thumb out of his mouth and quickly shoved his hand under the quilt. “It’s okay, Cassie. I told Mom it wasn’t your fault.” He gave me a tiny smile. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”
    â€œI deserve it. I shouldn’t have let you go ahead.” I swallowed hard, remembering what he’d said before about getting picked on because I was his sister. “I only wanted to talk to my friends for a few minutes,” I told him. “I never thought anything would happen to you.”
    â€œTyler hates me,” he said. His eyes were puffy from crying. “He says he’s gonna pound me.”
    I swallowed, feeling helpless. I didn’t know what to say. Amber might hate me and she could be pretty mean—but she used words, not fists.
    Ben looked down at the quilt and started picking at a loose thread. “Mom wants to talk to you,” he said. “She’s in the kitchen.”
    Mom was making chili for dinner, a pot steaming and bubbling on the stove. She was actually cooking. I wondered if that meant she was feeling guilty about Ben too. I frowned. A pot of chili wasn’t going to fix anything.
    â€œI just wanted to talk to my friends for a few minutes,” I told her. “I didn’t mean to stay so long.”
    She kept stirring the pot. “I’m disappointed in you, Cassidy. I don’t think it’s a lot to ask you to walk home with Ben.”
    I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to start crying. “He said he’d be okay.”
    â€œOf course he said he’d be okay.” Mom looked exasperated. “Ben looks up to you.”
    I stared at her. “He does?”
    â€œHe’s been following you around since he learned how to walk.” Mom turned down the stove and started slicing mushrooms, the knife clicking fast against the wooden cutting board. “It’s not easy for him to make friends. He’s not as confident as you.”
    â€œMe? Confident?”
    She sighed. “You’ve always had lots of friends, but Ben isn’t like you. We don’t ask you to look after him very often. I need to be able to trust you to take care of him when we do.”
    â€œWhat friends?” I raised my voice. “Hello? Mom, where have you been for the last year?”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?”
    I was almost shouting now. I couldn’t help it. “I’m talking about everyone making fun of my lisp, and Chiaki dumping me, and me having no friends at all. I’m talking about being Cathidy Thilver, the school freak. Okay? Satisfied?”
    Mom looked stunned. “Cassidy, are you serious? I knew you and Chiaki didn’t spend much time together anymore, but I assumed you’d just drifted apart. I had no idea.”
    I stared at the counter. “Yeah, well, you’ve been busy.”
    Mom reached out a hand toward me. “Not too busy for you, honey. I’d never be too busy for you.”
    I pulled away and shrugged. “Could’ve fooled me.” I didn’t meet her eyes. There was a long tense silence; then I changed the subject. “Mom,” I whispered, “did Tyler hit him?”
    She sighed and let her hand drop back to her side. “No, Tyler and some other boys were calling him names and throwing snowballs at him. Ben was running away and he fell. His lip got cut