Page 18 of The Wrong Side of Kai
“Okay, partner.” Kai pulls his hood up over his head. “Let’s do this.”
I brake sharply outside Harrison’s house. His lawn is so huge, his house is actually set a hundred yards back from the sidewalk. I’ve been here a couple times. Never inside the house itself, though. Always the basement. Harrison didn’t want his parents to know he had a girl over. Not a girl like me, anyway. They would have lost their shit if they’d ever caught us, apparently.
“I guess they’re home,” Kai comments, nodding at the driveway full of cars. Harrison’s truck is among them. “Gotta be extra sneaky now.” He gets off his father’s bike and dumps it behind the oak tree on the sidewalk, then crouches down. I follow suit, huddling behind the tree next to him.
“Plan of action?” I whisper, hyper aware of his shoulders nudging mine.
“Slash the tires, then maybe – oh, I don’t know – run like Usain Bolt?”
I narrow my eyes at his deadpan expression until he chuckles under his breath, rolling his eyes at me. I guess the plan was obvious. It’s not like we’re going to hang around to get caught.
He pulls out the Stanley knife from the front pouch of his hoodie and encloses his fist around it. The fact that we’re biking around town with a knife only makes this feel way more wrong than it already did, and a lot more serious. “You’re my lookout, okay? But first, full disclosure. You’re aware this is a crime, right?”
“So is sharing indecent videos of a minor,” I say flatly, staring evenly at him. I can play his deadpan games. “Now shall you do the honors or shall I?”
Kai smirks, then pulls on the drawstrings of his hoodie to conceal his face before he dashes off across the lawn. He disappears behind Harrison’s truck, then a few seconds later, I spot his head pop up. I glance all around the street – listening for approaching cars, searching for wandering neighbors, checking the house for movement. There’re lights on inside. Colors from a TV screen flash from a room downstairs.
My gaze flickers back over to Kai, and I nod to give him the go-ahead. I still don’t know why he’s doing this, but I can’t help but admire his commitment to the cause.
Immediately, he ducks out of view again. I wait by the tree, listening for some sort of loud bang or something, but all I hear is silence. And then the quiet hissing of air. And then a thunderousbang!makes me jump half out my skin.
Suddenly, Kai is sprinting toward me, his hood blowing down as he runs. “GO, GO, GO!” he hisses, gesturing wildly at me with his hands. He shoves the knife back into his pocket and jumps onto his bike. I stumble to swing myself onto mine, the adrenaline rush rendering me useless, and I panic even more when Kai catapults off without me. He’s standing tall, cycling at his hardest, a shrinking figure in the darkness.
My blood is rushing to my ears, my heart pounding as I clamber onto the bike, desperately trying to find the pedals. I hear the front door open and a deep voice calls, “HEY!” across the lawn. I’m convinced I’m having a heart attack becausenone of my limbs areworking, but then I finally burst into motion. I cycle so hard my legs go numb as I race off in the direction Kai went, leaving Harrison Boyd’s house behind, never glancing back.
The wind blows my hair into my eyes, obscuring my vision, but I just keep on pedaling, my legs powered by fear. Was that Harrison who came outside? Or his dad? I pray with everything in me that it was his father. Harrison would have recognized me, although when he discovers his vandalized truck, I’m sure he’ll know in an instant that I’m behind it. Either way, I’m screwed. I start thinking about jail cells and extortionate bills and the criminal charges that the Boyds will press against me.
“Nessie!” I hear Kai call, and I skid to a stop. My heart is beating so hard it hurts. I move my hair out of my face as I search for my partner-in-crime, and my shoulders sink with relief when I see Kai perched on the edge of a low wall. His bike is on the ground.
“What the hell, Kai? Teammates? You left me behind!” I yell, panting my words. I clamber off my bike – or his bike, whatever – and walk it over to him. I throw it down hard onto the sidewalk and watch him squirm.
“I’m here waiting for you now, aren’t I?” he says, cocking his head. He doesn’t make any comments about me possibly damaging his bike. “Teamwork also meansnotgetting the other one caught. Sorry, but you sucked back there.”
He’s not wrong. I just couldn’t get myself away from the scene; it was like I was glued to the spot, a sorry excuse for a criminal. With my head hung low, I sit down next to Kai and sulk. We’re in the next neighborhood over, but it doesn’t feel far enough. I’m worried the police are going to come whizzing down the street, lights blaring, any second.
And then what? What if Dad had to pick me up from the station because I’d been charged with a crime? Would that be enough to shake him out of his numbness?
“I got the front tires cut, but the rear one burst. Nearly blew my damn brains out,” Kai tells me, running his hands through his hair. “But at least now Harrison has one wrecked tire and two that’ll be totally flat by morning. Does that make you feel a little better?”
I look sideways at Kai. He gives me a gentle smile. “Yeah, it does,” I admit. Harrison deserves to have a shitty week. I can picture him now – standing around his truck with his parents in shock, examining the damage. He was probably already pissed at me for hurling gravel at his paintwork last night. But who cares? He and his precious truck can go to hell.
Kai leans back on his hands and stares up at the cold sky, dark and dotted with stars. “It’s fun, right? Doing the wrong thing,” he says almost wistfully.
“Sounds like you’re used to doing the wrong thing.”
“Only lately,” he says.
“Why’s that?”
“No one worth doing the right thing for.” He slides off the wall and yanks his bike up from the ground, turning his back on me. I get the sense that he doesn’t want to elaborate, so I don’t push it. “We should turn in for the night. The plan is to start off easy, then ramp up the pressure until Harrison cracks.”
We get back on the bikes and head off, making our way to Kai’s place so that I can, unfortunately, claim back the Green McRusty. It’s nearing eleven, so Westerville is pretty much dead to the world. At least in these neighborhoods. We cut across lawns and fly through cross sections without looking, feeling indestructible. Kai and I don’t say much to one another, not until we’re nearing his house.
“Damn, no one stole it,” Kai says, tutting in dismay at my horrible SUV still parked up outside.
I slide off my bike and pull out the keys from my pocket, pausing next to the car. I think my heartbeat has only just returned to normal. I look at Kai as I hold onto the handlebars, waiting for him to take his bike from me. “I guess I’ll see you at school.”
“No, you won’t see me at school,” he says matter-of-factly. He’s still sat on his dad’s bike, feet planted on the ground to keep his balance. When I stare at him with confusion flashing across my face, he rolls his eyes as though the explanation is obvious. “We’re not friends. We don’t know each other. We’re not associated. So, don’t look anywhere in my direction. And keep the bike. You’ll need it for next time.”
