Page 36 of Please, Sir

“I completely ditched them for cheer. They hate me and I don’t even blame them!” she shouts, correcting herself immediately, adding, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

I shrug. “You’re frustrated. You’re allowed to feel frustrated. But I bet if you called Peyton and Cassidy, they’d love to hear from you.” I glance at the speedometer, and let off the gas some, slowing down our last few minutes together tonight.

“Maybe,” she shrugs one shoulder. “I wish my mom was alive, or that my dad remarried, or that, I don’t know, we lived near my grandparents or something. I just… I want a family. I’m so jealous of people that have people, and the more I want family, the meaner I am to my only family, which makes absolutely no sense!” she huffs, shaking her head in utter frustration.

“Do your grandparents live far?” I check my rearview mirror as I approach the stop sign. We’re alone out here, a few hundred yards from her house, so I stay at that stop sign, and turn to face her. “Maybe you could talk to your dad about visiting them more.”

Despite the seriousness of the moment, I still see Jake Turner’s closet in my mind, and draw my legs together.

“I think I resent him a little. Like… he got good years with Mom and then she died and I had to go my whole life without her. And then he didn’t even give me a stepmom—or even any hope for one.” She drags the sides of her thumbs below her eyes, then pushes her hair off her face. “Okay, you can drop me. I’m not gonna like… spontaneously combust.”

I left off the brake. “It would be okay if you did, though. That’s just my point.” I pull into the driveway, staying close to the end. “Have you ever told your dad why you wanted to start doing cheerleading? You know, what you told me about finding that photo of your mom.”

She shakes her head. “No. He’d probably ask me where I got the photo and put it back into the locked box of her stuff.” She gives me a sad smile. “Anyway. Thanks for everything today and I’m sorry I ruined your night. You probably have way better things to do than hang out with one of your students.”

“This was great,” I tell her, making sure she knows I wanted to take her out tonight. “I hope you feel better.”

She smiles. “I do.”

After we exchange goodbyes, I watch her walk across the lawn, stepping over a large, coiled garden hose, and up the steps to her front door. She waves once the door is open, and I drive away hoping that I really did help cheer her up tonight.

My phone rings again, and I spot Michael’s name on my caller ID. I silence him, and I don’t think about him or my parents.

I only think of Jo Jo, and her sweet heart, and hope beyond hope that things turn around for her soon. I also can’t help but wonder why in the world Jake Turner hasn’t been swooped up by now.

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

I don’t getmad a lot. Being uncontrollably angry, to me, is for people who don’t know how to articulate themselves. As long as you’ve got words, there’s not a big need to holler and make a scene.

But right now, it feels like steam is coming out of my ears, and if Jolene says one more thing that angers me, my head just mightexplode.

She tugs her t-shirt down, her cheeks red from the confrontation. “It’s not a big deal, Dad.”

“You already said that,” I say, my teeth clenched. I stroke a hand down my jaw, suddenly feeling hot in my t-shirt and sweatpants, even though ten minutes ago when I went out to grab the paper from the walkway, I was cold as hell. I’m used to being her punching bag, but I’m not used to feeling so angry and… quite frankly, helpless. “I don’t know what to do, Jolene. You don’t talk to me, you’re always angry with me, and we don’t spend any time together. Then you go and do this, and I just… I don’t know. It’s not like you to go off and do something like this.”

“Not me?” she questions, her voice wavering as her nostrils flare. Her wide green eyes, ones I’ve looked into so many times over the years to find solace and peace, flood with tears. “And how wouldyouknow?”

My heart fractures—not at her words, but at the truth in them. “I want to! Who’s fault is it that I don’t know you, hmm? You don’t want to work my booth with me, you don’t want to ride horses with me, you don’t even want to sit at a table and eat in silence with me, Jolene! I love you, do you get me? I love you. I don’t know what's been going on with you but… all I want is to know you better.” I sink into a seat at the table, catching my head in my hands, sighing. “You should have at least asked me.”

“You would have said no,” she says quietly.

“Damn straight I would have said no, Jolene! Because you’re fourteen. You got no business getting your belly button pierced!” I get angry all over again as I hear it aloud. She went and modified her body. She doesn’t even have a driver’s permit for Christ’s sake. “It’s too soon. You’re too young.” It occurs to me then that… she is actually too young. Legally, I mean. I lift my head from my hands, narrowing my gaze on Jolene. “Did Trace do that for you? I’ll fucking kill him,” I hiss. Trace and Ivy are the main tattoo artists and piercers at Ink Time, and if either of them would be willing to pierce without a damn consent form, it’s Trace.

“No,” Jo Jo says defensively. “Ivy did it.”

I cock a brow. “How? Ivy knows you, Jolene Turner. She’s well aware of your age. So how’d you do it? You somehow deceive them and me?” I feel bad accusing her of such a thing, but I’m hurt and hurt people… you know what they do.

She folds her arms over her chest. “I didn’t deceive Ivy.”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Go get your laptop. And your phone. They’re mine.”

“What?” she cries, stomping her foot. “No! I need them for school. I need my phone to… call you for a ride after practice. No, Dad, no!” Pain vibrates in her voice, and I’ve never been the parent to take things away. I’ve never had a need for control that required me to do it. But right now, I don’t know what else to do. It feels like all I have.

I keep my voice calm and steady when I say, “Yes, Jolene, they’re mine. Go get ‘em. And don’t worry, you don’t call me for a ride hardly at all anyway. You got Miss Rivers for that.”

Her mouth parts, and she just barely shakes her head. “Oh you couldn’t wait to use that against me, could you?”

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