Page 89 of Something in Between

I shake my head. “That’s okay,” I say. “It’s Danny he should apologize to, but I’d give him a day or two to heal.”

“I can’t believe my brother! God! What a little jerk! I promise he’ll learn a big lesson from this one, especially when he has to go begging Danny’s forgiveness.”

“Thanks, Lo.”

“I’m sorry this happened, Jasmine. You know we’re not like that.”

I nod. I know.

* * *

On the way home, I text Kayla. No answer.Hey, I need to talk to you, I write, adding,Why did you leave?I don’t want to just show up at her house. For some reason, I don’t feel that’s the right move here. She could have left because she wanted to deal with her brother herself. Maybe she was embarrassed or ashamed. I would be. Maybe she didn’t think she was welcome at my house anymore, which would be a dumb thing to think, because Kayla will always be my best friend.

I text Royce too. I feel like a broken record.

I write,Hey, I kind of need you right now.

Unlike Kayla, he writes back to me right away.

royceb: I’m with my dad, can I call you later? I think I can see you tomorrow.

jasmindls: sure.

He didn’t even bother to ask what’s wrong. That isn’t like Royce. Why doesn’t he care?

I text Kayla again.I’m not mad at you. I just want to know what’s going on.

By the time Deandra drops me off at home, Kayla still hasn’t answered me. Inside, Danny is asleep on the couch, his head on Mom’s lap. All of the guests have left. What a celebration.

Dad looks at me. “Well?”

“Eric’s taken care of,” I say. “I’ll deal with Brian too. Don’t worry.”

Mom whispers, “Thank you, Jasmine.”

“You’re welcome. How is he?”

“He’ll be okay,” she says.

Mom continues to stroke Danny’s head. “I heard back from our lawyer. He called after you left. Mr. Alvarado got us a court date. It’s sooner than we all thought.”

* * *

Kayla doesn’t respond to my texts all weekend. It’s taken everything for me to not go to her house and pound on the door. Royce isn’t much better, even though we hang out on Saturday night and go to the mall. For a little while, it feels like everything is normal between us. He’s incensed about what happened to Danny, angry that he didn’t stay longer at the party and wasn’t able to help, and wants to go over there to beat up the little punks immediately.

I tell him I’m taking care of it. I don’t need him to fight my brother’s battles. But I do tell him one thing.

“They learned it from Mason,” I say. “To tell my brothers to go back to the island I mean. They thought it was funny.”

Royce puts his head in his hands. “Oh man,” he says. “I’m so sorry. I’m going to make himhurt.”

“Don’t,” I say. “I don’t want our families to have trouble. Just leave it.”

He drives me back to my house and gives me a brief kiss on the lips. We don’t make out like we usually do. I think he feels bad about the Mason connection and doesn’t know what to do about it. I can tell that’s not the only thing bothering him though, but when I ask him what it is, he brushes it off, says something about family pressure.

When he’s gone, I begin to worry that maybe “family pressure” means his parents want him to break up with me, an illegal alien. Could that be it? Or am I just paranoid? I wish he’dtalkto me. But every time I try to reach out, he clams up.

I haven’t even told Royce that we have a court date for the deportation trial. If he can’t be bothered to tell me what’s up with him, why should I offer any information?

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