Page 17 of Fighting the Tide
“I really enjoyed the movie,” I tell her just as my stomach grumbles, the noise loud and so damn embarrassing.
“Are you hungry?”Her eyes brighten at the prospect of hanging out a little longer, and I shrug my shoulders.“I still have some cake leftover.”At the sound of cake, my stomach grumbles again, and she tips her head back to laugh, grabbing my hand and dragging me to her car.“Let’s go eat cake, and I think I have some frozen pizza pockets.I can’t really cook, so most things are frozen.”
“I’m not picky,” I tell her as she unlocks the doors to her car and jogs around the front to hop into the driver’s seat, then turns to look at me.
“It’s refreshing not to hang out with someone who expects the best of everything because of who I am and who my parents are.”She starts the car and puts it in reverse, and as she’s pulling out of the spot, she says, “I like hanging out with you.”
My insides grow warm and I can feel a blush skating along my cheeks.Never in a million years did I think I would be friends and hang out with Brooke Eastham.There had always been a divide, even when we were kids.Our paths rarely crossed, and if they did, I was reminded of exactly where I belonged.I don’t know when the lines began to blur, or how, but I’m having fun and that’s all that really matters right now.
My mind rapidly flips to thoughts of Avery as Brooke speeds back to her house.For the longest time, she was my only friend, and I fear I’m losing her to experience something new.I’m just not sure if I care right now as much as I should.
Chapter Eight
It’sbeenaweeksince Avery and I have stopped speaking, and in that week I’ve skipped school every day.I’ve seen three more movies and hung out at Brooke’s house, getting stoned and stuffing my face.The first few days I felt slightly lost without my best friend, but gradually I just became detached, and now, I find myself slightly angry at her for how long she’s been holding this grudge.I’ve been giving her the space she so desperately needs, but after a week, I can’t fully understand what I did that was so wrong.So I’ve let it go.
I’ve collected about fifty-five dollars worth of tips and I’m ready to go to the electronic store to see what I can afford, but the thought of doing it without Avery has me feeling pretty bummed.
It’s not the only thing that’s been happening that I want to talk to my best friend about.There’s also the fact that my father hasn’t been coming home most nights, and I find my mother sleeping alone in bed, her face red and swollen from crying.There have been rumors around town that he’s been getting into things darker than alcohol, and the thought terrifies me.I’ve been holding it all in because even though Brooke and I have formed some sort of a friendship, I still don’t trust her enough to tell her that.I only trust Avery to know the deepest, darkest secrets of my family because I know she would never judge me based on them.
“Are we hanging out today?”I turn in my seat to find Brooke finally attending homeroom and I give her a small shrug.
“I have somewhere I have to go in town, and besides, we should spend at least one whole day at school.Don’t you think so?”
“I can take you to town!What do you need?”She has abandoned her usual seat in the back row to sit beside me, having chased a quiet girl in our class out of her desk.
For some reason, I’m slightly embarrassed about telling her I need to buy the recording equipment and I’m not sure why.Maybe it’s because I need it to win a scholarship, which would prove just how broke my family is, not that that’s a secret, so I’m not too sure why I’m feeling hesitant, but when she leans over my desk and taps her long red nails along the varnished top, I blurt out, “I need to buy recording equipment so I can make a ten-minute video to enter the scholarship program at Columbia University.”
“Like what?A camcorder?”Her fingers that were tapping on my desk move to grip my forearm, the nails biting into the tender skin of my wrist.I wince from the sharp pain and try to pull my arm back.If the teacher sees us talking instead of copying the notes from the board, we’ll both end up in detention.
“Yeah, pretty much,” I answer as I gingerly peel her claws from my flesh.
“I have a ton of camcorders at my house!Just take one!”My heart stops in that moment, not a movement in my chest as I stare at her, my eyes watering as they begin to burn with the lack of blinking.A smile slowly forms on her mouth as she shakes her head.“Oh, Nolan.This friendship goes both ways.You skip school with me and I give you all the recording shit you need.”
“If I keep skipping school with you, Brooke, I’ll never be able to graduate and get into Columbia in the first place.”She falls back into her chair and laughs as if I told the funniest joke she’s ever heard, and I roll my eyes just as the bell rings.
“Fine.How about this?”She stands up beside me and wraps her fingers into my dress shirt, holding me in place before I get a chance to walk away.“We’ll stay at school today, but you come home with me after and I’ll let you pick whatever camcorder you want.Then when you’re done filming your fancy little video, you can use my dad’s editing studio in the basement.”
“Editing studio?”Again my heart does that funky stop-beating thing and I swear I’m about to suffer from a heart attack in the middle of homeroom.I take a deep breath and try to remember that this is a friendship, not a charity.“I can use the studio here in the yearbook room.”
“The yearbook room?”She laughs while dragging me out of the classroom and into the bustling hallway.“That equipment was installed in the ’80s.You’ll need top-of-the-line equipment with proper sound effects and whatever else is needed for editing videos.”
I want to tell her no, that I don’t need her things, that our friendship is enough, and she doesn’t have to buy me like she’s clearly bought everyone else in her life, but going to Colombia means more to me than reassuring my friend.It means I’ll be able to provide a life for my mother beyond our cottage with its crumbling foundation.“Fine.I’ll see you after school.”
She lets go of me and skips off down the hall in a different direction from the English class she has, but I’m not Brooke’s parent, I can’t chastise her every time she decides not to go to class.If I was, I would be doing it all day, every day.Instead, I adjust my bag on my shoulder and head through the courtyard toward science, preparing myself for a day of sitting beside Avery without speaking a word.We’ve managed to get through a few labs together without conversing, and that in itself deserves an A-plus.
I get to the classroom to find her already there, her back straight as she sits on the stool with her hands linked and resting on top of the table.Her eyes are focused straight ahead on the board as I slip onto the stool beside her.I give her a once-over, checking to see that she’s okay, then I begin to pull out my books.
“You’ll be lucky if you pass this class.”The sound of her voice shocks me.My head snaps up and I spin in my stool to look at her, but she’s still looking ahead.I almost think I’ve imagined it all when she finally turns to look at me and says, “I can’t keep covering for you.I can hand in the labs you miss with both of our names on it, but I can’t take the tests for you that you’re missing.So I hope thisfriendshipthat you have with Brooke is worth it.”
“She’s not the person everyone sees.She’s more than that,” I try to explain, but she raises her hand to stop me, her jaw clenching with the effort to hold in her anger.
“I don’t care to know how she’s manipulated you or with what,” she spits out, her innuendo making my cheeks heat.“But I won’t be around to watch you crash and burn.Everything you’ve been working so hard for will disappear and you’ll become a Chatham nobody… like your father.”The second the words fly from her mouth, I can see she instantly regrets it, but there’s no taking them back now.I rise up out of my seat just as the teacher comes into the room.I don’t want to be anywhere near Avery after that and that means I need to get the fuck out of this school.She reaches for me, her eyes filling with tears as she chokes out, “Nolan, wait.”
“Don’t touch me.”I draw out of her reach and feel my chest begin to boil with anger.“My father may be a nobody and I am for sure his son, but I will never be anything like him.”
“I know, Nolan.I didn’t mean—”
“Fuck you, Avery.”My words are like spears, aimed to maim, and when she crumples to her desk, I feel vindicated at the sight.I didn’t deserve her vitriol and I certainly don’t deserve to be compared to my father.
