Don't Ask Me About Anything Like That Ever Again

There weren't very many things in life Casey wanted. He had learned not to get his hopes up by now but he desperately wanted to go to a sleepaway camp for a month in the summer so he could get a break from his sister. 

The problem was that he was going to have to get her permission for it. He wracked his brains for weeks as the end of the school year got closer because he wanted to figure out the perfect thing to say that would make her not immediately shoot him down. 

He wasn't good with words and never had been. So how was he supposed to ask for something so big? 

"What do I do, Kane?" Casey asked miserably. "She's going to say no. Then do something that hurts because I made her mad by asking."

"Probably," Kane agreed. 

"…aren't you supposed to try and make me feel better?"

"I'm being realistic here. You and I both know how she works by now. She'll never say yes."

"Can't you be a little more optimistic?" Casey sighed.