Page 90 of Something in Between

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On Sunday afternoon, Lo’s parents have a meeting with my parents. It’s pretty civil. Eric starts tearing up when he has to apologize. Danny is hilarious, which almost makes me cry.

After Eric apologizes, Danny smugly crosses his arms and smiles. “It’s all right,” he says, leaning back in his chair. “I know your friend put you up to it. But I actually have to thank you.”

Eric wrinkles his forehead. “Thank me?”

All of us at the table stare at him—Mom and Dad, Lo’s parents, me—waiting for what Danny will say next.

“Yeah,” Danny says. “The entire National High School Cheerleading Championship team kissed me. That ain’t ever gonna happen for you! So, yeah, forget about it.”

I think Eric was in awe after that. He left pretty wide-eyed. And Danny, though his face still looks like a bruised apple, is pretty much back to normal.

Monday night I’m sitting at the kitchen table, doing a set of difficult problems for Calculus, when I finally hear a text go off on my phone. It’s the music I assigned for Kayla.

Shoving away my homework, I pick up the phone with both hands and open up her text.

kaykayla: I heard brian planning the fight with his friends the other day. I didn’t believe him though. but don’t worry, it’s been taken care of. That’s why i left your party so quickly. I wanted to catch him before he went to my dad’s. I’m so sorry about danny. Is he ok?

I’m furious. How could she have known and not told me? How could she not say anything until now?

jasmindls: Thanks for taking care of the problem. I wish you’d told me though. Danny’s okay. He’s a tough kid. What about you. What’s going on?

kaykayla: not much. dad has a new girlfriend. She’s a ho. See you at school.

See me at school? What’s that supposed to mean? Kayla suddenly feels like someone I don’t know. She’s shut me out, and I don’t know what to think. Even though her parents have split, Kayla seemed to have been doing okay lately. She applied to the Art Institute in Hollywood and CalArts to study dance next year, and she’s planning on getting a place of her own after graduation.

Dad’s not happy with her response either. He seems to have a sixth sense about everything.

“It’s been taken care of?” he asks. “What’s that supposed to mean? Did she take her brother out back and beat him with a switch?”

“That’s what I would have done,” Mom says, putting dishes into the dishwasher.

The plates and glasses clank against each other loudly. Dad sighs and rubs his temples. “We’ll have to tell school officials about what happened. Make doubly sure there’s no problem. It’ll keep others from copying. We can’t have our boys beaten up every week because of what some dumb kids hear from others. What’s wrong with these people?”

“I blame the parents,” Mom says. “Parents need to know where their children are and what they’re up to. They need to keep them busy.”

I don’t tell them I found out the attack on Danny was planned. That would send Dad over the edge. If he wants to go to the school and complain, that’s fine, but I’d rather not be in the middle of it.

How could Kayla not say anything to me about it? What was up with that? She’s been acting so shady lately. I’d gotten over my irrational jealousy—I know there’s nothing going on with her and Royce. She would never do that to me, and he never would either. I trust both of them. Yet I can’t help but notice that both of them have been sort of avoiding me.

What’s the deal?

29

Wine comes in at the mouth, and love comes in at the eye; that’s all we know for truth, Before we grow old and die.

—WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

BEFORE I HEADoff to school the next Monday, I examine Danny’s face. Even a week later, it’s still bruised from the fight. There’s a scab forming by his nose and mouth. Yellowish-blue shadows circle his eyes. I tell him I can cover it with makeup. He groans and squirms away from me.

I don’t blame him. He’s got a badge of courage.

As for myself, I’m feeling wounded too. At school, I walk with my head down. I focus on schoolwork. I start talking less, hanging around less. Kayla doesn’t have the same lunch period as me this semester and she’s not in any of my classes, plus we don’t have cheer practice anymore, so I don’t see her at all. I guess I could text her, but since she doesn’t text me, I don’t bother. I’m still mad at her brother for beating up mine. I can stand to give her the cold shoulder for a while.

Royce sends a few hello texts all week, but they read like lip service.

royceb: Hey, thinking of you. Everything OK?

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