Page 94 of Smooth Moves
After Rafi blew his nose a few times, he settled into uneven sobs. “You can’t tell Jordan. Promise.”
“I don’t lie to your sister. She deserves better than that.”
“Yeah.” Rafi cried harder. “I just…I don’t know how it happened.”
“Start at the beginning.”
“I should just go, and this would all be over.”
“Look. I’m not letting you leave. I’m willing to keep this between us…ifyou give me a good enough reason to.” Cash wasn’t sure what he was dealing with, but it couldn’t be good if Rafi fell apart over it.
The hope on the kid’s face made Cash feel terrible for maybe lying. “I-I got kicked out of school.” Rafi waited for Cash to react.
Cash showed no expression. “Go on.”
“And I was hanging around th-this guy. Juan. He was in my class.”
“This the guy your sister doesn’t like?”
“Yeah.” Rafi sighed, blew his nose again, and continued. “He’s nice. Or at least, he was. But he’s into some bad stuff. I didn’t know. And then it was too late. I had to say I’d do it, or he’d hurt me and Jordan. He knows where I live.”
“He knows you’re here?”
“No. I meant at the apartment.” Rafi looked like a little kid all tucked in on himself. He rocked as he spoke, and Cash felt bad for him. Fifteen years old and having to deal with his sister’s and his safety, with no one to confide in who might understand. Jordan, for all her love for Rafi, had been a cop. She lived in black and white. “Juan sells drugs at school.”
Hell.“What kind of drugs? For who?”
“I don’t know. The pills in my bag, some weed, sometimes heroin, I think. I saw rocks in his stash. And he’s selling them for WSW.”
“Shit.”
“I thought he was talking smack. I mean, he likes to brag a lot. I don’t care. I’m not into drugs or anything.” Rafi wiped his cheeks. “I don’t want to sell drugs.”
“No, you don’t.” A hell of a mess. “So you couldn’t tell Jordan about getting kicked out of school, and you couldn’t tell her about selling drugs.”
“Yeah.”
“Right. But back up. What happened at school that you got kicked out?”
Rafi looked down and seemed to grow smaller, were that possible. “I’m not smart. At all. I mean, yeah, I can do writing and stuff. I like to draw. And I like to read, but don’t tell anyone. Reading is for nerds.”
“Yeah.” Cash chuckled. “I’m kidding.”
Rafi relaxed a little. “I can’t do math. At all. It’s confusing all the time. And I hate being so dumb. I really tried. But this year my friends didn’t help. The tutor my parents paid for was a pervy old guy. I didn’t like him.”
Pervy? Angered at the idea of some teacher getting gropey with his students, Cash growled, “He mess with you?”
“Nah, but I didn’t like the way he looked at me sometimes.” Rafi paused. “Like he knew I was stupid and hated me.”
Cash knew all about feeling stupid. “Summer school didn’t work either.”
“No. Simpson is a dick. He was always making fun of the kids, me especially.” Rafi explained the Homer joke, and Cash couldn’t help laughing.
“Okay, that’s funny.”
“I thought so.” Rafi’s smile faded. “But last week, he was all over me. Like, on me in front ofeveryone. He told me I was a loser and stupid and should drop out. Like, that even the middle school kids were smarter than me.”
“Wait. A teacher told you that? In front of the class?”
