Page 28 of No Good Deed

“You going to go see him?” Leo asks.

“My dad? The guy’s psycho. Why would I go see him?”

Leo shrugs. “I just wondered.”

“I always liked your dad,” Troy says, picking up the TV remote and flipping through the channels.

“What’s there to like about him?” I ask, wondering if Troy’s joking. My dad was a violent alcoholic who beat up anyone who looked at him the wrong way, including my mom. He was always hitting her.

Troy chuckles. “He knew how to keep his woman in line.”

I look at Troy, wanting to smack the grin off his face. “Are you serious? He almost killed my mom.”

“He’s just joking around,” Sean says.

“It’s not funny,” I say, glaring at Troy.

He doesn’t notice, his eyes on the TV.

I’ve never liked Troy, but I like him even less after he made that comment about my dad, like he approves of him beating up my mom. Does he really think that, or was he just trying to rile me up? Get me to fight with him? Troy’s an instigator. He likes stirring up trouble. He’s always been that way and I’ve never understood why.

Sean changes topics, talking about his car and what he has to do to fix it. I’m not really listening, my mind wandering to Tara, which is strange since I should be thinking about Haley. This morning when she dumped me, I didn’t know how I’d ever get her out of my head. But now, I can’t stop thinking about Tara. Is it because I think Haley’s already moved on with some other guy? Am I trying to force myself to do the same?

“Jake,” Sean says, getting my attention. “You gonna get the door? The pizza’s here.”

“Yeah.” I get up and answer the door.

A scrawny kid who doesn’t look old enough to have a job is standing there, holding the pizza box. I hand him some cash and take the pizza, then quickly shut the door and lock it. Now that it’s dark out, I feel like I’m going to be robbed or shot if I go outside. I didn’t feel that way when I lived here. I knew this areawas dangerous, but I didn’t think anything would happen to me. Now I’m worried something will, which makes me wonder if I’m not the person I used to be. The longer I’m here, the more I’m feeling like an outsider.

I don’t like feeling this way. If I don’t belong here anymore, then who am I? My whole identity is this place, this neighborhood. One of the reasons I moved back here is so I could feel like I’m where I belong. Living in Dallas, I never felt like I fit in anywhere. I had a few friends at school, but we weren’t close. I only let myself get close to Haley, but now I’m not sure if what we had was even real. If she could let me go that easily, I’m wondering if she was just using me and didn’t really care about me.

“I need to get going,” I say when I see it’s past midnight.

We watched a movie after the pizza arrived. Leo fell asleep and Troy went into the bedroom to call someone, probably Tara. I’m surprised he’s dating someone who doesn’t live around here. I’m guessing he doesn’t go see her much, especially if his car keeps breaking down.

“Come over tomorrow,” Sean says, walking me to the door. “We’ll watch the game. But it’s your turn to bring the beer.”

“I can’t. I’m busy tomorrow.”

“Doing what? School just started. You can’t be doing homework already.”

“I had homework assigned the first day of class. It’s not like high school. They actually make you work for your grade.”

The school I went to when I lived here, the one Sean went to, was so easy that I could pass most of my classes without even studying. My school in Texas was totally different. It was so hard I thought I was going to flunk out. As soon as my grades slipped, Dean was on my ass, making sure I studied and not letting me leave the house until my homework was done. Looking back now, it was good I went to a school that challenged me. If I’dstayed at my old one, I don’t know if I’d be able to get through college. The first week of classes was already a lot harder than high school.

“Maybe next weekend,” Sean says, walking me to my car. Police sirens are going off, but Sean doesn’t even notice. Living around here, you get used to that sound.

“Yeah, maybe.” I stop before getting in my car, thinking I should tell Sean about my plans with Tara. “So about tomorrow.”

“What about it?”

“I’m not studying. At least, not for the whole day.” I pause. “I told Tara I’d go over there.”

“Over where?”

“To her apartment. It’s not a big deal. We’re just going to hang out. Catch up.”

“Why didn’t you tell Troy?”

---