Page 85 of Call the Shots
“What am I doing?”
“When things are good, you make a comment, and ruin everything.”
“Do you know where he is?”
“You don’t talk shit aboutanyof my friends. Ever. I don’t tolerate it, I certainly won’t tolerate it from you.”
“Your boyfriend doesn’t give a shit that we slept together.” I balled up the bed sheet in my hands. “Do you know who he’s hanging out with tonight?”
“No concha.”
Taken aback, I blinked. “What?”
“It’s something we said on the orientation team. One of the guys’ moms made us conchas, the spiral Mexican rolls, we meant it as a reminder not to spiral. Because you’re spiraling.” She finished pulling off her second heel and dropped it to the floor. “Why do you do this? Don’t spiral,talk. What’s your problem with King?”
“No concha,” I echoed, drunk. “You have a shitty, shithead boyfriend.”
She crossed her arms over her chest.
“He’s never in our dorm?—”
“You don’twanthimin our dorm.”
“We live in the same building—King’s seven or whatever floors above us—I see him more in the lobby than I see him with you. Hell,Isee you more than he does.”
“His mom’s in and out of the hospital, is that what you want to hear?”
I froze. “What?”
“You heard me. That’s why he’s busy, that’s why he couldn’t make it tonight. His mom had to go to the hospital, and he took care of his little sister.”
“Like…you’ve met his mom and…?”
“She’s like a second mom to me. I call her every Sunday.”
My eyes dropped to the floor. “Oh.”
“Yeah.Oh.”
“I didn’t know.”
“So why are you assuming? Why do you think that’s any of your business?”
I met her eyes again. “You really love him, don’t you?”
“I’d do anything for him.” June picked at her dress, her voice suddenly soft. “When he came to Marrs…a lot of these guys come from legacy families and King obviously didn’t. I know he’s a big guy, I know he’s a grown man, but no one’s going to make snide comments behind his back again, especially not someone I’mlivingwith.”
I started to apologize but she wasn’t finished.
“The same thing is happening to Montoya. I know they think it’s just jokes, it’s not funny. He’s a kid.”
“It’s because they’re jealous, June.” I motioned to the dorms outside of ours, the floor full of hockey players. “If the accident didn’t happen, Montoya would’ve signed to a professional team. Half of these guys would kill for the kind of attention he had in high school?—”
“That’s the difference between the Gladiators and the Romans. You’re supposed to lookoutfor each other, not tear each other down!”
“He needs tougher skin?—”
“He’s getting bullied!” she snapped. “He’s ostracized, he’s set apart, it’s not like his coach cares, you have no idea what he’s going through?—”
