Page 34 of Tell Me Softly
He’d been a dick that afternoon at detention. He couldn’t just keep talking to me like that in front of everyone. It wasn’t fair, him showing how much he hated me in front of everyone at school. Rumors would circulate, and the last thing I needed was everything from the past coming up again.
I walked inside and heard the sound of my brother playing some video game at top volume. My mother peeked out the kitchen door and motioned for me to go in there. I wondered what she wanted. When I went in, I found her stirring a pot of tomato sauce. Spaghetti was one of the only dishes she ever made. Sheusually made it on Mondays, when Prue was away, and those were some of the only times I actually liked sitting with her and keeping her company. She acted like a normal mother, and if Dad wasn’t around, she’d pour me a glass of red wine, which she did today. I took a sip as I savored the aroma of ripe tomatoes. I guess she shouldn’t have let me drink, but whatever, that’s how Anne Hamilton was.
“Don’t get mad at me,” I said, “but I got in trouble.” I flopped down on the bench across from her.
Sucking her teeth, she said, “Trouble? You too?”
“Me too?” I asked.
“Your brother got in a fight during recess,” she said, lowering the pasta into boiling water. “School called me, I had to go pick him up. His face is a disaster.”
“What are you saying? Cam’s never fought with anyone.”
“Now he has. I told him he’d have to skip dinner as a punishment and he can’t take Juana out of her cage.”
“Mom!” I shouted.
“Don’tMomme,” she replied angrily. “I should do the same to you.”
“Make me skip dinner? Are you for real?”
“Worse. I’m taking away your phone.” She stretched out her hand. “Give it up.”
“You’re not even going to ask me what happened?”
“I don’t care,” she responded, opening and closing her hand to tell me to hand over my phone.
“Mom, this is dangerous. Imagine if something happened to me.”
“I don’t want to hear your fairy tales,” she said, interrupting me. “I can’t believe both my children were caught breaking the rules at school on the same day. What will people in town say?”
“You honestly think anyone cares?”
“I care!” she shouted, snatching my phone when I finally,reluctantly, handed it to her. “You’re a little old for this kind of nonsense, don’t you think?”
“Yes, you’re absolutely right,” I said. “I’m going to go talk to Cam. You have dinner by yourself. If he can’t eat, I won’t either.”
I walked out, furious that she hadn’t even bothered asking me what had happened. She probably hadn’t asked Cam either. In the living room, I sat down on the couch, saying, “Hey, buddy.” I wrapped an arm around my little brother’s shoulders. I was surprised when he grimaced and said, “Don’t touch me!”
“Hey!” I couldn’t believe his attitude, and I sure as hell couldn’t believe his gigantic black eye. “What happened, buddy?”
“Nothing!” he shouted, throwing his controller against the table.
I hated seeing him like that. And something had to be up. He just wasn’t the kind of kid to go getting in random fights.
“You want to know a secret?” I said, almost in a whisper. “I got in trouble today too.”
“Really?” I’d piqued his curiosity.
I nodded and continued, “Don’t tell Mom, but three guys got in a fight over me.”
His eyes opened wide, and then he flinched from the pain.
“Yeah, I got in a fight too,” he murmured.
“That’s not good… Fighting never leads to anything good. Why’d you do it?” I asked softly.
I thought he was going to say something from the way he looked at me, but instead he shook his head and picked up the PlayStation controller
