Page 81 of Fight For Us
Nerves tore up mygut as I waited outside the school to pick up the kids at the end of the week. Even though Wes and I sat for a meeting with their principal, and he assured us he’d keep an extra eye on things, I was still a nervous wreck. Alex’s shoulders were scrunched up to his ears every afternoon. Like he’d been wound tightly all day and needed to let loose. Lilly wasn’t much different, but she still chatted with me like usual.
I decided to forgo our usual route home and drove into town to Cone Cove, a little ice cream shop that Mia told me about. The owners had recently hired her on as their accountant and Mia hadn’t stopped raving about their homemade ice cream.
After too many samples, each of us ordered and Alex grabbed a table in the corner while I waited for his shake and my cone.The place was cute and bright. Beach themed, like most places in Palm Cove, decorated in sea blue colors and whimsical artwork.
“Thanks for taking us here,” Lilly said, digging into her massive hot fudge sundae. “This is sooo good.”
“I’m glad you like it.” She walked over to join Alex at the table as the employee handed me the rest of our order.
“So guys, catch me up. How was your first week back?” I smiled and passed Alex his cotton candy shake.
“Well, nobody messed with us. So there’s that,” Lilly said. “But we’re starting something hard in math. Problems with numbers and letters. I’m completely lost.”
“I can help you,” Alex said. “It’s easy.”
“Easy for you,” I said. “Math doesn’t come naturally to everyone.” I tasted my cookies and cream cone and almost moaned, it was so good.
“I’ll do your math if you do my dumb project for me,” Alex said. He rolled his straw wrapper between his fingers.
“What project?” I asked.
Lilly winced and stuck her spoon into her cup. “A family tree. It’s going to count as a big portion of our grade. She wants us to interview family members and stuff.”
“I don’t want to interview my grandparents. They’re so boring,” Alex said. “Like, what would I even ask them?”
“Ask them about the olden days,” Lilly said and laughed. “Where were you when dinosaurs roamed the earth?”
Alex snort laughed mid-sip and I couldn’t help but join them. My parents were kind of the worst.
“What if Mrs. Nolan asks about my father?” Alex asked.
I froze and almost dropped my cone. I hadn’t even thought about that when they mentioned the project. Shit. How was I supposed to answer that question? In all these years he hadn’t asked much and what he had asked I was able to give my standard response.He hasn’t been in our life.A part of me knew this day would come. I hoped it would have been when he was older.
“Um, well,” I hesitated. “Like I’ve said, I don’t know much about him. He hasn’t been a part of our life.”
“So you never met your dad?” Lilly asked with an air of nonchalance.
“Nope,” Alex said as he shrugged.
“That’s tough,” she said. “But I guess it’s better than knowing him and having him not want you.”
Well, fuck me sideways.How was a sweet ice cream hangout turning into talk of their childhood trauma?
“We’ll figure out the project guys,” I said, ruffling Alex’s curls. “Don’t worry.”
Within a few seconds, they were on to talking about something else. Thank God. But I still felt terrible. I pulled out my phone and texted Mia.
Me:Found out Alex has to do a freaking family tree project for school. He just asked about his father. WTF am I supposed to do?
My chest loosened a bit from typing out the words.
Mia:Wow… who assigns a project like that these days?! Okay… I know you’re probably freaking out.
Me:Of course I am. I don’t want him to show up with half a tree. It’s hard enough that he knows he doesn’t have a father… but to say that out loud in class, where he’s already getting bullied. Maybe I should email his teacher…
Mia:You could, but I can’t see her axing a whole project because of one student. And it’s fifth grade sis, no one wants to be the odd one out. If she lets Alex do something else, that would be equally bad.
Me:True.
