Page 59 of The Wrong Side of Kai
“Okay,” Mr. Boyd says nonchalantly, then rolls his eyes. “Thanks for reminding me to give my son a high-five. Anything else?” His wife tuts and shoots him a look of disapproval.
“They had sex,” Dad repeats, his resolve unwavering, “and your son filmed my daughter. Not only that, he then shared it all around school.”
“Harrison!” his mom gasps in genuine horror.
Richard drops his casual disinterest and presses his lips together. “Did you do that, Harrison?”
“Only because she screwed me around!” Harrison defends, his voice desperate. He’s not so brave without his buddy Noah around. He looks more like a little kid who knows he’s about to find himself in deep trouble and is prepared to throw a tantrum to get out of it.
“No,” I say, talking for the first time since I got out of the car. I want to keep my chin held high and my voice strong, but my head is still lowered and my words sound like a garbled jumble as I say, “I had every right to end things between us if I wanted to.Youhad no right to post that video.”
“Dad,” Harrison says quickly, eyes flying over to his father, seeking help, “this is the girl who messed up my truck. She’s been screwing with me all week. Why do you think she was in our basement? She was probably trying to burn the house down or something.” Harrison is trying to justify his wrongdoings by highlighting mine, but I don’t think his parents are falling for his distraction techniques.
“Yeah, and you dragged me into the janitor’s closet and threatened me,” I remind him, my voice growing stronger. Dad throws me a look – I hadn’t mentioned that part – but I ignore him and look Harrison straight in the eye instead. “We can both play this game, Harrison.”
“Sit down,” Richard orders, and Harrison groans as he slumps down into an armchair. “I can’t believe you would do something so stupid, Harrison. We raised you better than this.”
“As you can see,” Dad says, cutting in, “the situation has gotten out of hand. The two of them have been fighting all week and I think it’s time that they cut it out and stop hurting one another. And, of course, we’ll pay for the truck’s new tires.” Dad looks at me, disappointment in his eyes, and I glance down at the plush carpet. Now Dad has to fork out a small fortune to pay for my mistakes.
“I’m sorry for breaking into your basement,” I apologize to Richard. How did I ever let things get this bad? “And for ruining your dinner at Bob Evans.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’m more than furious at this idiot too,” Richard mutters, glaring at his remorseless son. Harrison is staring at the floor now, his hands in his hair, perfectly aware that his parents are going to lay into him the second Dad and I are gone.
“Can I talk to Harrison?” I ask, and everyone looks at me, surprised. “In private, please?”
“That’s a good idea,” Mrs. Boyd says, nodding to give me the go-ahead. Her husband looks worried, like he thinks I’m going to tear his son’s throat out.
I stand up from the couch, my legs wobbly, and walk across the living room. Harrison gets up too and follows me through the house. I have no idea where I’m going, but I walk through the kitchen and into a small study at the back of the house. It’s far enough away from the living room that our parents can’t eavesdrop.
“You seriously came over here with your dad, Vanessa?” Harrison mumbles, still pulling at the ends of his hair. At least he’s not getting aggressive with me. He just seems abashed now, apprehensive, his face a picture of embarrassment.
“He didn’t give me a choice,” I say. “He knew everything.”
He paces the study, unable to keep still. “And so what? You couldn’t manage to ruin my life properly, so now you expect my parents to do it for you? Because they’ll probably ground me – and worse – forever.”
“No,” I say, then sigh. I’m so tired of this. I step closer toward him. “Harrison, can we end this? I won’t mess with you anymore, and you don’t mess with me. We don’t have to be friends or anything.”
“And what about that friend of yours? Kai Washington,” he says, and there’s so much hatred in how he spits out Kai’s name. “You expect me just to sit back and do nothing after last night?” He clenches his jaw tight and points at the bruise Kai inflicted with his killer punch at the party, then raises an eyebrow at me as he awaits an answer.
“Kai is done too,” I tell him. “Youdidbasically steal his girlfriend and try to beat him to a pulp, remember? I think you’re pretty even now.”
Harrison snorts, shaking his head. He pulls out the desk chair and collapses down into it, staring up at me. “So what? We just ignore each other?”
“Yep. Easy. And you’re not allowed to have Noah do your dirty work for you.”
We eyeball one another while Harrison contemplates the deal I’ve offered.
At the end of the day, all he has against me is that video, which has lost its power because everyone has already seen it – and will soon have moved on. But Kai and me? We have so much more. We have that video of him and his friends smoking pot in the bleachers. We know that he cheated on his SATs. Harrison has the most to lose and he knows it.
“Okay, Vanessa,” he says at last. “Let’s call it quits.”
“Shake on it,” I order, and he gets up, gives me his most challenging stare, then slips his hand into mine. We shake on our agreement that this fight is over.
“Just so you know,” he says, swallowing hard as he tries to look me in the eye, “I really didn’t mean for things to happen the way they did. I never meant for that video to spread as far as it has.”
“Then why did you send it to everyone in the first place?”
He glances away. “I didn’t.”
