Page 50 of Tell Me Softly
I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. I couldn’t screw up again. I couldn’t fight. Not at school, anyway.
“Stop it, Thiago,” Kami said, turning to my brother. “If you get in a fight, it’ll be way worse for you than it is for him. You’re on probation, and he’s a minor!”
“Yeah,” he said. “And I never would have gotten arrested and none of that other shit would have happened if you hadn’t come along and fucked my life up.” He looked like a lion ready to pounce on its prey. “You fucked up our lives. Mine, my mother’s, my brother’s. And don’t even get me started on––”
“Goddammit, that’s enough!” I pushed him as far as I could away from Kami. “Stop stirring up the damn past, Thiago.”
“You disgust me,” he said. He walked past me down the hall, bumping my shoulder.
I looked at Kami. She was totally shaken up. I immediately pulled her close and hugged her. It took her a moment to respond, but then she wrapped her arms around me.
“I’ll talk to him,” I said. “I promise you this will be the last time he says something like that.”
“I deserve it,” she said, and tears began to cloud my eyes.
“Shh,” I told her, stroking her hair. “Don’t cry, Kami. Please. My brother’s an idiot. You and I…”
“No,” she said, pushing me away. “We can’t, Taylor.” She wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Don’t you realize? I ruined your lives! We can’t just pretend that never happened. This is never going to work.” She pointed at herself and then at me. “I can’t just get in arguments with your brother every day. And I can’t keep living with this guilt.”
“You’re not guilty of anything,” I said, slowly mouthing every word as I grabbed her cheeks.
“I am!” she shouted. “Stop acting like nothing happened, like I never…”
“It was an accident. And it’s time for all of us to move on from it.”
“Tell your brother that.”
“Enough, Kamila!” She was giving me a headache. “We’ve got to put this shit behind us. I’m tired of letting what happened govern my life, my mother’s life, Thiago’s life. He’s got to learn to move on.”
“I’m serious,” she said. “Please. From now on, you can talk to me about school, but otherwise…”
“I’m not going to let him come between us.”
“Taylor, come on.”
“You’re my best friend. You always have been, and that’s not going to change now. I’ve got to go, though. I need to get to physics.”
I walked around her and up the hall. But I promised myself nothing would take her away from me again. Not even my brother.
Chapter Nineteen
Thiago
Kam didn’t show up to the library for detention. I wasn’t the only one who noticed. The three guys all stared at the door waiting for her to come, and I…I did the exact same thing. And I don’t know why.
My brother hadn’t spoken a word to me when he came in or even bothered to take out a book and pretend he was studying. He just threw on his headphones and started texting. I could have taken his phone, but things were tense, and I didn’t feel like adding fuel to the fire. Kam’s ex-boyfriend, Danny, was there too. He was looking worse by the day. Not that I cared, but I did wonder what it was about Kam that got to him. Then there was Julian, leaning back in his chair and reading a book without a jacket on it, so you couldn’t see the title.
I opened my laptop, thinking I’d watch an episode ofBlacklist, but that’s when I noticed her come in. She was panting as if she’d run there, her hair was pulled back and wet as if she’d just gotten out of the shower, and her cheeks were flushed.
“Sorry,” she said, looking at me.
I deliberately ignored her, focusing on my computer.
“Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to the principal.”
“It’s my mom’s fault. She didn’t show up to take my brother home, so I had to. That’s why I’m late.”
“And I’m supposed to care because…?”
