Page 54 of Something Rad
“Yes,” Denise says. “We both do.” I shake my head, reminding myself that she also wants to be a doctor. “Jesse’s smart. He tutors kids at the middle school after school sometimes.”
A loud screeching sound breaks through the parking lot, pulling my gaze over the top of Denise’s head. I quickly realize it was the sound of a school bus door opening. I start to look back to Denise, but then pause, a blur of something catching my eye.
A blur of something red.
“He volunteers at the community center on the weekends,” Denise continues.
Cooper is standing in line a few people deep for the bus, her nose buried in a book she has lying open on top of the stack of other things she always has in her hands.
“He’s president of the Italian club.”
She moves forward, her eyes never leaving the book in her hands, her feet seeming to have a mind of their own. I look down at her scuffed white Keds and notice her frilly little bobby socks poking out of the top of them. I’m used to seeing her in jeans, but today she’s wearing a skirt. I find myself tilting my head, taking in the baby blue plaid skirt and wondering how I didn’t notice it earlier today.
“He’s captain of the basketball team.”
I shake my head back to reality, refocusing my attention on Denise.
What the hell?
“He takes honors math and science classes.”
I grit my teeth, forcing myself to focus on the highlights of Jesse Lamonte’s being, but am quickly distracted again by a loud voice in the distance.
“Yo, go long!” I glance back up, seeing a boy that looks like he’s a freshman or sophomore throwing a football to another boy. The other boy is jogging backwards without looking where he’s going. My eyes dart between where he is and where he's heading. I think I might intervene for a second, but it’s a second too long.
“He’s on the debate team.”
The boy rams right into Cooper’s shoulder, sending her stumbling to the side. I find my body flinching automatically in her direction, but I don’t move any further, seeing her quickly recover. I force my eyes back to Denise for a second, but my eyes automatically shift back to the scene. The boy seems to apologize to Cooper and she graciously accepts, even smiling in the process.
Freaking Cooper. I’ll never figure you out.
“He’s currently the class salutatorian.”
All seems well again as Cooper turns back to the bus, stepping onto it as she’s next in line. I let out a sigh through gritted teeth, starting to look back to Denise, but something catches my attention. Something on the ground. The bus doors shut as the last student gets on, and it pulls away from the front of the school. Once the area is empty of the bus and students, it’s clear as day.
“He’s even running for student body president!”
Cooper’s journal.
Left on the ground.
“Are you even listening, Robbie?”
Denise’s voice brings me back to reality, and my eyes back to her face. I take a deep breath. “Yeah, sweetheart. I hear you loud and clear.”
And I do.
She’ll never take me seriously.
Denise purses her lips, her blue eyes searching my face. “I’m really sorry, Robbie. I just…I have to think of the future. I have to be–”
“Serious,” I say, finishing her sentence. “I get it.”
And I do. But it still doesn’t stop the pinch of defeat I feel in my chest. I shake my head, quickly forcing it away.
I reach up, pushing a lock of hair that escaped from Denise’s ponytail behind her ear.
“I’ll see ya?” I ask.
