Page 87 of Something in Between

“Nothing,” he says. “We were just saying hi.”

I don’t know why, but I start feeling a twinge of jealousy in my stomach as I watch Kayla beeline to the opposite end of the room.

I wonder how things are with her and Dylan. I half expected him to be here, even though this isn’t his kind of crowd. Still...she seemed weird around Royce. Or was she flirting? I can’t tell. My mind is racing. I glance at Royce, my jealousy now a raging green-eyed monster.

Come on, Jas. Stop. Be serious. Your best friend isn’t trying to steal your boyfriend.

“Let me introduce you to a few of the girls,” I say, and lead him to where my teammates are clustered. “Royce, this is Anabel, Natalia, and Deandra. They’re on the team with me.”

“Hey, everyone, congratulations on everything... Nice to meet you,” he says. He makes small talk with everyone, but then pulls me away.

“What’s up?”

He grimaces, looks at his watch. “I’m sorry, Jas, I really have to go.”

“You’releaving?”

“Yeah.” He shuffles his feet.

“But you just got here.”

“I know, but my dad...”

I feel everyone trying to look elsewhere, to give us our privacy, but I’m embarrassed nonetheless. I was so proud to introduce him to everyone, but he’s not himself, I can tell. He’s anxious and won’t look me in the eye.

“We’ve barely seen each other since the week before I left for Nationals. You know, if you leave now, Lola Cherry will be mad she didn’t see you. She’s not even here yet. Did you even say hello to my parents? Can’t you stay alittlelonger?”

He gently removes my hand from his arm. “I really need to go,” he says. “Sorry. I wanted to make sure I came at least for a few minutes. I’ll make it up to you. Promise.”

He gives me half a kiss, apologizes again. “I’m really sorry.”

“Fine, go.” I pout. “Call you later?”

“Yes, later,” he says and apologizes again.

I want to ask him what he’s doing with his dad this time, but I don’t want to seem possessive. I don’t want to be one of those stereotypical clingy girls. He must have his reasons for leaving so quickly. I need to trust him.

Deandra comes up to me as soon as he walks away. “Where’s he going? I was going to give him some of my lumpia. I think I’m finally starting to get full.”

“He has to go do something with his dad,” I say.

“Really? He’s probably pretty busy. I heard his dad’s a congressman or something.”

“He is,” I say, a little annoyed that the only thing people know about Royce is his father’s name. I take Deandra’s plate from her. “Here, give me those. I’m hungry.”

“Oh yeah, sure,” she says. “They’re really great. Your mom’s such an awesome cook.”

Just then, I hear Mom yell. “Danny!” It isn’t her usual voice. She sounds frantic. Pained. I turn to look, and I gasp. There’s my brother, dripping blood from his nose and mouth. His eyes are swollen nearly shut. Isko is helping him walk, nearly falling over from the extra weight. Some of the girls on the cheer squad instantly run over to hold him up.

“What happened?” Mom yells. “Angelo! Get over here, right now!” she says, calling for Dad.

“Eric and his friends jumped him after calling us FOBs,” Isko says. “They told us to go back to our stupid island. I tried to fight back, but Danny told me to run away.”

“What’s an FOB?” Deandra asks.

“Fresh off the boat,” I say.Go back to your stupid island?Eric learned that from Mason at Lo’s party. I’m seeing white, I’m so angry.

Dad carries Danny over to a couch while Mom grabs packs of ice. He winces from a pain in his side where he must have also been punched in the ribs. One of the girls has already brought wet cloths to wipe away the blood. He looks awful. This wasn’t just a little school-yard fight. They really, really beat him up. They wanted him to hurt.

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