by Nicole Nwosu
“The entire Cahill family is gorgeous. Have you seen all of them? A few of them go to school with my sister and—” Stevie cringed. “Except for that one Cahill who hit on me a few days ago.”
“Christian?” I asked. The young Cahill had approached her at our table the other day. His pickup lines failed, but Stevie wasn’t really annoyed by it, more so entertained.
“He’s so annoying,” she said dramatically before turning to me. “Anyway, look at Sam and Cedric. You know your boyfriend’s cute. And Sam is—”
“A friend,” I reminded her. Besides, she and Sam spoke, but it was never in a flirty way.
“Yes, we’re friends,” Stevie repeated. “Am I not allowed to admit when someone’s attractive? Sam’s attractive as hell. Macy, back me up.”
“I don’t see Sam that way,” I said.
Stevie shot me a dry look. “Have you met him? Tell me you don’t think he’s the slightest bit attractive.”
Down the hallway, Caleb stuffed his binders inside his backpack as Sam spoke to him. His curly hair framed his face and his pink lips moved animatedly as he talked, hands gesturing all over the place to prove his point. His build was strong yet not overly muscular. His emerald eyes squinted whenever he laughed and grew brighter when he smiled. Those same eyes met mine. He waved in greeting and I returned it.
“Yeah.” My voice was soft. “He’s attractive.”
“Even if you weren’t dating his cousin, you would stay friends with him?”
My heart was beating in my ears. My hands gripped the strap of my backpack. “Definitely.”
“Andrew!” I yelled once I entered his house after practice. Andrew’s dad waved at me as I headed upstairs. Andrew was lying on his bed, his foot propped up on a pillow as he scrolled through his phone.
I dropped my backpack and duffel bag as he said, “I think I’m coming down with a cold.”
“Did you take something to help with it?” Moving past his dog, Freddy, I climbed onto his bed beside him.
“Yeah, but a broken ankle and a cold?” Andrew groaned. “Anyway, what’s up?”
“How did you know you at first liked Jasmine?”
He put his phone down. “I guess it was that feeling you get. Heart beating faster when I saw her. I got really nervous around her. I had to choose my words carefully to get on her good side. Even when I got on her bad side, I wanted to be the one to make her happy and I still do. Why?”
“No reason.” I hastily retrieved my backpack. Some of his points about how he felt for Jasmine did seem applicable to my situation, but I didn’t want to think about it any longer. “Want to work on homework for a while?”
A couple of hours later, as my mind was distracted by a word problem, the door opened to reveal Jasmine. “I texted you three hours ago,” I said, and she shrugged and closed the door before settling down on the bed.
Andrew looked down at the paper in front of him. “Why do I have to do this? I’m impaired for a while. Don’t people know that?”
“You fractured your foot, idiot,” I pointed out. “Not your fingers.”
Jasmine explained the homework to him but I must have been fidgety because Andrew stopped working. “What’s wrong?”
“Yeah, what’s up?” Jasmine asked.
“I think—” I paused. Admitting it out loud was harder than I thought. The realization hit me like a truck. “I like Sam.”
For a moment it was quiet. Too quiet.
“You like Sam?” Jasmine asked slowly.
“I said I think,” I clarified.
“Cahill?” Andrew echoed.
Jasmine put her hands up to her temples. “I can’t believe it.”
Andrew cleared his throat. “If you think you like Sam then what about Cedric? His cousin? The one you’re supposedly dating.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s a small infatuation.” My words formed a pit in my stomach. “It’ll end soon.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing,” I said abruptly to Jasmine’s question. “Absolutely nothing because I have Cedric, who is nothing like Sam. I’m fine and happy.”
“Then why do you have feelings for Sam?” Andrew mumbled.
“The sexual tension should be killing the both of you,” Jasmine muttered.
“There is no tension!” I exclaimed.
“You shouldn’t deny it. Plus, he’s a bad boy. He has some type of tension with everybody.”
I shot her a look as Freddy hopped in my lap. “He doesn’t have tattoos or piercings.”
“He’s charismatic,” Jasmine pointed out. “Good looking and dangerous.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call Sam dangerous.”
“This is Samuel Cahill,” Jasmine continued. “Ultimate player, gets all the girls who have the nerve to walk up to him. Even after the fight people are buzzing about how he’s had twice as many girls coming up to him. Him rejecting even one girl besides Beatrice is bound to make some news.”
“Honestly, I think it’s nothing. Just a little infatuation, nothing more.”
“Seriously? You’re turning redder the more we speak about him,” Jasmine said.
I instinctively moved my hands up to my warm cheeks. “It’s nothing more,” I repeated.
“And Chewbacca is Luke Skywalker’s father,” Jasmine muttered dryly. I lay back beside Andrew who cracked a grin, Freddy crawling between the two of us.
Jasmine and I stood at my locker on Thursday morning before the first bell, when she nudged me. “Here he is at ten o’clock.”
I turned, thinking she was talking about Cedric, but Sam approached us, his duffel bag over his shoulder and soccer ball in his hand. “Ready for practice today? We get to play together. We’ll finally understand each other through this sport. The whole two peas in a pod bit.”
“Like understanding each other, right?” I asked.
“Whatever you want it to sound like,” he said with a grin.
“That was flirting,” Jasmine whispered to me as Caleb came up and started talking to Sam.
Behind her Cedric was approaching. “And that’s my boyfriend.”
“Hey.” Cedric kissed me on the cheek.
He put an arm around my waist. As Caleb continued talking, Sam’s eyes were on his cousin. I waited for either of them to say something to the other when thankfully, the bell rang and everyone went to their classes.
Sam? Cedric. Sam? Cedric.
As I walked to my class, my muddled thoughts cleared when Jasmine suddenly called my name, falling into step with me. “Where did you stay last night?”
“Stevie’s,” she murmured as we entered the classroom and approached our desks.
“Your dad isn’t at home anymore, right?”
“No, but I don’t want to spend time at home.”
“You’re avoiding your mom?”
“I’m avoiding the house,” she corrected. “If I face the house, I face the reality that my parents aren’t together anymore.”
“You’re going to have to sooner or later.”
“I prefer later,” she quipped, taking her binder out of her backpack.
Loud chatter came from the hallway and I walked back to the threshold to see Caleb throw a soccer ball at Sam. Sam stopped the ball and Caleb hit Sam lightly with the familiar notebook in his hand just as a teacher approached. Sam took charge, feigning seriousness as he issued a fake apology that satisfied the teacher.
Sam caught my eye after the teacher left, then he rushed down the hallway. He latched on to my arm, his warm touch freezing me in place. “My place after practice?”
“I’m surprised you didn’t get detention.”
“I’m on the team,” he reminded me. “Can’t get in trouble now.”
“I can’t. I have plans with Cedric. Go to class, dude, the second bell’
s about to ring.”
“I will. I’ll send you a video. Phillip had an idea to prank Ivan. It involves exploding powder. I was going to try it out at school but I don’t want to risk expulsion, suspension, or words from my dearest uncle.”
“You’re crazy.” It didn’t help when I reciprocated his smile.
“I’ve been told,” he teased, tossing the ball to Caleb before walking away.
17
The Double C Cup
Later that day, I was grabbing my duffel bag from my locker when I spotted Sam talking to Brandon down the hallway. This little crush needed to end.
The entire day consisted of me waiting for when he would talk to me, visit my locker before last period, or if he would pass by me in the hallway. It needed to stop. I had closed my locker when Beatrice’s condescending voice spoke up, “You know you’ll never have him, right?”
The dirty looks she had thrown my way weren’t enough anymore and now she was resorting to trying to talk to me again? I sighed, turning to see her with her famous follower, Ivy. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s obvious you like Sam since you can’t stop hanging around him.”
“Guys and girls can’t be friends?” She gave me the familiar once-over. At my hair, at my clothes, at me.
Ivy scoffed next to her, her own eyes pointed in his direction. “Not with Sam Cahill.”
How does Beatrice not notice that her own friend is interested in the one she “claimed”?
“He wouldn’t be with Jasmine either,” Beatrice said. “She knows that Sam would never go for someone like her so she gave up. A word of advice: you should give up too.”
My grip on my bag tightened. “We’re friends,” I hissed at her. “Jasmine has a boyfriend. If you want him go ahead and try, but after that fight? Leave me and Jasmine out of it. And leave us alone.”
I moved over to the boys, not wanting to engage in any conversation with Beatrice for longer than I needed to. By practice that afternoon, I was still angry about it.
Passing the ball to Jon Ming, I ran far down the field where the rest of the team was doing other drills.
“Now!” I yelled and Jon Ming kicked it. I caught the ball with the side of my knee just as a whistle cut through the air.
We jogged over to the side with the rest of the team. “How about a little game?” said Coach before splitting us up into teams. A lot of my teammates glanced over at Sam. This was our second practice with him. Sam’s soccer skills were outstanding, and everyone was curious about how he played.
Sam nudged me. “Jon Ming needs to practice.”
“What he means,” I said, noticing Jon Ming’s frown when he overheard, “is to keep trying those long shots.” I suggested to one of our teammates, Liam, that he practice with Jon Ming by the side.
“How about Malcolm takes Liam’s place at center midfield,” Sam suggested and I agreed. “I’ll take forward with Anderson.”
Anderson?
As the game progressed, I dribbled the ball, watching it go through Jacob’s legs and he grumbled, attempting to catch up to me. I passed the ball to Sam, the two of us rallying until we were close to the net. When the ball came to me, I faked a kick at Tyrone in goal, tipping the ball to Sam, whose foot touched the front of the ball, directing it into the net.
Sam squeezed my shoulder. “Nice job.”
My breath caught in my throat at his touch. Nodding, I jogged back over to my spot. Tightening my ponytail, I wiped my clammy hands on my shorts. Until a few days ago, Sam was just my friend. What was happening to me?
I sat on my bed with a plop later that evening after Cedric and I had gone out to eat. “I think I ate a lot.”
Cedric lay down next to me. “I don’t understand how you finished all that.”
“I think I’m going to take a long nap.” I was about to roll onto my stomach when I saw a thoughtful expression on Cedric’s face.
“I was watching you guys at practice before I picked you up. You and Sam play like you’ve been by each other’s side for years.”
“Sam and I practice together. We want to win.” Cedric wasn’t letting up, looking bothered. I was too. There was no way I could act like that around Sam again: flustered, awaiting his next move. Cedric was here and yet Sam constantly came to my mind. I hate this.
Cedric was the right guy. Not Sam. Focus on Cedric.
I steered the conversation away from Sam and when Cedric left, I let out a loud groan that led to Justin yelling outside my closed door. “Did Cedric leave? Because if you guys are being inappropriate, let me warn you, Sandy, Mr. Krabs is coming in about ten minutes.”
“He left,” I shouted.
Justin opened the door, then came over to sit next to me on the bed. “What’s wrong?”
I covered my face with a pillow. “Nothing.”
“I’m fourteen, not stupid. Is it boy trouble? Now that you’re in a relationship, I can guess that it’s boy trouble this time.”
“What do you know about relationships?”
“I know some things.” He stood, taking my camera from around my neck with some difficulty and turning it on to record. “Let’s talk about your relationship with the infamous Cedric Cahill. The rugby star CC. The double C cup.” He looked pleased by his joke, turning off the camera and lying down next to me. “What’s the problem?”
“Have you ever been confused about your feelings?”
“What feelings?” I hit him with a pillow. “I don’t know. Just follow your heart or something. If you do that, then you can find an awesome way to proclaim your love for Sam!”
“I wasn’t talking about Sam,” I lied.
“Okay.” Justin got off the bed, unconvinced. “Once again, I may be fourteen but I’m not stupid.”
In the parking lot of school on a cloudy Friday morning, someone rapped their knuckles on the window of Cedric’s car, making Cedric and I spring apart. Caleb grinned on the other side, opening the door. “Get a room!” he shouted.
Jon Ming was standing next to him, wiping fake tears away. He gave me a dramatic hug once I got out of the car. “I’d never thought I’d see the day that Macy Anderson would be locking lips with someone in a car. They just grow up so fast!”
Pushing him away with a scowl, I caught sight of Jasmine walking toward the front of the school. “There’s Jasmine. I gotta go.”
Cedric pecked me on the cheek before I ran to catch up with her. “Jas!”
My lips parted at the sight of her. She looked extremely tired and worn out, with bags under her eyes and cracked lips that she usually would’ve fussed over but didn’t seem to have the energy to do so.
“What happened?”
“Can we talk?” Her voice was raspy and hollow, as if she had been screaming. “Not here.”
“We’ll go to Andrew’s, okay?” He was still sick with a cold, and his mom had insisted he stay home. We were about to crash his fun by skipping school along with him.
I grabbed her keys from her purse and made a beeline for her car, Jasmine hurrying along behind me. “Macy, you haven’t driven in months and are you seriously going to skip school for me? You barely ever miss school.”
I jumped into the driver’s seat. “It’s fine.”
Minutes later, we entered Andrew’s driveway and I texted my dad to call the school to say I wouldn’t be in today. Jasmine family emergency, I added, grabbing the spare key under the plant.
“Mom, that you?” Andrew yelled when we entered.
“No it’s us,” I shouted back as Jasmine and I kicked off our shoes and joined him in the living room. He sat on a pile of pillows in the middle of the room, his foot raised on a separate pile, with a game controller in his hands, his eyes glued intently to the screen. A box of tissues was on the coffee table while a bunch of used ones littered the floor around him.
He paused
the game and looked at us, an arm raised in Jasmine’s direction for her to sit next to him. “What happened?”
I sat on the floor in front of them as Jasmine coughed, trying to clear her throat. “What happened to your voice?” Andrew took her hair out of the bun, using the elastic to tie her braids into a low ponytail instead.
“Yesterday I came home and he was arguing with Mom and a woman was standing beside him.” Jasmine’s voice was a harsh whisper, her eyes trained on the ground. “Turns out the woman was the person he was having the affair with, and he had the nerve to bring her to our home. He said he was leaving. Mom was crying and I just . . . I found out the woman’s pregnant.”
She was on the verge of tears now, and my heart sank as she started to cry. “She was probably in her midtwenties, having a kid with a guy who is thirty years older. If Drake was there he would’ve known what to do or say. Dad left with her.”
Jasmine sniffled and wiped her eyes with the heels of her hands. I reached over to the coffee table to get her a tissue, which she gladly used to blow her nose. I couldn’t fathom how she must’ve been feeling for the past weeks about everything happening to and around her.
“How about we all have a peaceful day? No dads, no Sams,” Andrew suggested. “Just us three. How it used to be.”
Jasmine wrinkled her nose. “Have you showered lately?”
Andrew shrugged. “When you feel like completing missions on a variety of video games and you feel like the walking dead, showering is the last thing on a person’s mind.” Andrew handed each of us a controller. “I’m going to kick both of your asses.”
“With that injury? How?” Jasmine snorted at my words, her spirits lifted a bit. I reached over and grasped her hand. “Wait, how are you feeling, though?”
“Honestly, I feel betrayed by everything he did.” She raised the controller. “Let’s go?”
“Jas.” I stopped her with my hand on her arm. “You sure you don’t want to talk about it any further? We’re here if you want to talk.”
Jasmine objected, eyes on the television. “No more talking. Let’s just play.”
The one Saturday I didn’t have to volunteer at the rec center and Cedric was sleeping through the afternoon, I stood outside of my house with my group of friends, arguing about where to go, when Sam nudged me. “Let’s go skydiving.”