by Anne Key
“I don’t know. I was on the cheer squad back home, but they’re sort of clique-y.”
Eli nodded. “Same up here. But, you know, they do work pretty hard, I hear.”
“It’s not easy.” Cheering was a lot of work—physically, mentally, and socially. You had to remember everything, do tumbling, and not piss anyone off. It helped if your mom knew the coach and everyone else’s mom. It was sort of a political deal.
“Well, you should try it. Why not? You’re already plenty sparkly.”
“Hey!” She started giggling, undeniably tickled. “I went super not-sparkly.”
“I love it.” Eli chuckled too. “The earrings, the nails. You mean you’re usually even more sparkly?”
“Yeah. Folks here wear a lot of black….” Like tons. It was kinda creepy. Black made her all washed-out-looking.
Eli laughed and tugged on his black T-shirt and then pointed to his black cargo pants. “No idea what you’re talking about.”
“I’m sure it’s real classy and all.” She wore jeans and fun tops, mostly. She only owned this one pair of jeans without bling on the butt, for God’s sake. “You could wear purple. You said that was your favorite.” She blinked all of the sudden. “What are the school colors? Do you know? Do we wear them Friday? Do y’all do pep rallies Friday or Thursday?”
Oh God. There was so much she didn’t know. She’d never not known at home. She was gonna wear blue and white. She was gonna cheer and make good grades and go to UT and cheer there and major in communications and then go to Dallas and be on the TV. Now, her plans were all horked.
“Ravens. Black and red. I know exactly zero about football, and I’m as clueless as you are about this school. But my old school had pep maybe once a month? Maybe twice? I can’t remember. But if you make the cheer team, then I guess you’ll find out.”
“The tryouts would have been last spring. You spend all summer in cheer camp and getting your routines down. Maybe my senior year, though.” Black and red. Okay. Okay, ravens were kinda cool. At least they weren’t the chipmunks or the skeeters. Or the lady lumberjacks. That one was weird.
Eli shook his head. “That is way too much work.” He stopped walking and pointed to the corner. “One big blue Victorian.”
“Oh. You’re made of win. Thank you. For, like, all the things, huh?”
“Are you okay? I mean, I know you decided you were gonna be, but are you, like, really?”
“I don’t know, but I’m less scared now than I was this time yesterday. My momma would have called that a win.” She couldn’t look much further into it without sinking into a hole, and she was already damn tired of making that climb up and out. “I—you want my number?”
“You—I, um.” Oh boy. She sure made him nervous. He actually took a full step backward like she had grown a second head. One with a wart. “You want to give me your number?”
“Sorry. Sorry, that wasn’t cool.” God, this was hard. “See ya. Thanks for the coffee.”
She headed for her front door, her cheeks on fire. Why wasn’t there a handbook? The Texan’s Guide to High School in Yankeeland: How to Survive without Screwing Up So Bad You Don’t Get a Date to the Prom.
“Hey, Sammy! Got a bike?” Eli called after her.
“Yeah. Daddy bought me one last week.” That, apparently, was way more a deal than at home. Here they had sidewalks.
“Wanna ride in with me tomorrow? The bus sucks. I can meet you here at like, seven twenty?”
“Yeah. Okay, sure. That would rock.” She was going to have to get Daddy to run out and get her a bike lock or let her borrow his. “Seven twenty. I’m good with that.”
“Right on. See you then!” Eli smiled and waved from the sidewalk before heading around the corner.
Okay. Okay. So. Okay.
She grinned at herself and unlocked the door. She totally had to call Lace as soon as band practice was over and tell her everything.
See, Momma? Day one. Survived with coffee and a cute guy. Sammy, one. Life, zero.
Chapter 4
GOING HOME to babysit his sister, Rebecca, seriously sucked. Also, it was a thousand degrees out and humid and his backpack weighed four hundred pounds. After that walk, he needed air conditioning. And Gatorade.
He watched over his shoulder until the blue house disappeared behind a line of trees. What were the chances he’d meet the girl who lived in the raddest house in the neighborhood on the very first day of school? And she was cool too.
But, like, “new friend on the block” cool. Not “phone number” cool, yet, right? She was cute and all, but god, he wasn’t even sure he was into girls. He thought so, but then he wasn’t sure if that was because guys were supposed to be or because he actually was. Whatevs. Doc said he didn’t have to decide, and he was going with it.
He climbed the house steps and dropped his backpack on the ground to find his key. He should have known he wasn’t going to need it. Becky frowned at him as she opened the door. She stuck her hand on her hip and tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder.
“You’re late! Mom’s gonna be mad.”
Eli groaned. “Shut up, Becky.” He hauled his pack back onto his shoulder and half ran her over on his way through the front door.
“Hey! Not my fault you had a bad day.”
“Who said I had a bad day?” Because it definitely wasn’t.
“You always have a bad day.”
Eli snorted. That was kind of true about last year. “Thanks. Did you do your homework?”
“Working on it,” Becky mumbled. She mumbled when she lied.
“Good. You don’t tell her I was late, and I won’t tell her you didn’t start your homework.” Eli grinned at her.
“Ugh!”
He laughed as Becky stormed off in a huff. He already knew he wouldn’t see her again until dinner. He pulled out his phone and texted his mom as he headed for his room.
Home soon? What’s up for dinner?
He dropped his bag, tossed his phone on the bed, and pulled off his double-layered T-shirts. The last time he’d let himself breathe was lunchtime; he was way overdue. He wrestled his binder up and over his head and dropped it on his bed. This one wasn’t his favorite style, but he liked it for school because it didn’t have Velcro that would make noise when he adjusted it in the men’s room.
Bringing pasta and salad. Good day? He could almost hear her worry. Did you pass? Did you get messed with?
His day was the longest story ever. Instead of getting into details, he pulled his T-shirts back on and then told her what she really wanted to know. I’m good
Good. Love u. Homework homework homework.
Blah, blah, blah. Snack first, then homework. After digging through the snack cabinet and finding a bag of pretzels, he spread out at the dining room table and started on his math homework. He wondered if Sammy was on the same math track he was, or if she was AP—either way, she wasn’t in his class.
By the time he heard his mom’s key in the door, he was almost finished with his homework.
“Hey, guys. Come grab some bags from me?”
Eli hopped to his feet to help. Mom had a bunch of bags with dinner, salad, two-liters.
“Beeeeeckyyyy!” Eli shouted for his sister as he took the bag of soda and one of the others. “Did you get the penne vodka?” That one was his favorite. “What about garlic bread?”
“Nope. Only mussels and stuffed shells,” she teased.
“Wow, and I was going to set the table without being asked. Fat chance now.”
Becky came strolling in just as he and his mom finished with the bags. Of course. “Hi, Mom.” She smiled sweetly. “Did you sell a house?” The perfect-daughter act made Eli want to gag.
“Thirty or forty. It was a banner day.” Mom winked, but Eli thought she looked tired. “So, tell me about your day.”
Eli shrugged. “I think I passed. I mean, I did. I’m pretty sure.” He opened the bottle of Sprite before it even hit the counter and poured it
into a glass, then dug around in the freezer for ice. “They wouldn’t let me out of the drama class, so that happened. First freakin’ period.”
“Good teachers, though?”
Did they even make good teachers? Mostly he thought they were just trying to survive the day like he was. “I guess.” He wondered whether he should mention Sammy. Mom kind of got weird when he talked about girls, not bad weird, just Mom weird. But he knew she’d be happy he made a friend. Or had at least talked to someone.
“I met a girl from Texas. She had sparkly earrings and sparkles on her fingernails and big eyelashes—I think they were fake, but she was… sparkly.” And pretty. And nice to him.
“Texas? No kidding? That’s interesting. I bet she had some culture shock.”
“Maybe? Yeah, probably. She was kind of losing it over finding her bus after school, so I walked her home. You know she lives in the blue Victorian? How cool is that?”
Becky had finished putting the food out on the table, and Eli served himself some pasta. “I am so starving.”
“Leave the alfredo for your dad. He’s running late.”
“You got it.” Dad ran late a lot. He mostly blamed the trains.
“So, you walked her home, did you? That was nice of you.” Oh god. There it was, the Mom Look.
Eli shrugged. “No big deal.” That was obviously enough 411 on Sammy for the day. “Pasta’s good. Oh. I need a bunch of cra—stuff for math. Can we go Saturday?”
“Sure. Like what?”
“Index cards,” Eli said with his mouth full. “Three of those pocket folders, and graph paper. Maybe something else. I have a list.”
Becky made a face, and Eli stuck out his tongue at her.
“Close your mouth, you’re gross.”
“You’re gross.”
The front door banged open. Had to be Dad. The perfect daughter went running for the door. Eli rolled his eyes and kept eating.
“Daddy!”
“How’s my girl?”
“Good. Come eat. Mommy got alfredo.” Becky and Dad came into the kitchen arm in arm.
Dad dropped everything a few feet from the dining room table and leaned over and kissed Mom. “Hey. Sorry I’m late.”
“Uh-huh. I’ll make you pay later.” Mom smiled at Dad, and it was gross, but also pretty cool. They liked each other, and Eli knew some parents didn’t.
He kept eating but watched out of the corner of his eye as Dad sat and served himself dinner. Eli started counting in his head; one, two, three, four, five, six, seven—
“Hey, Eli.”
Hm. Seven. About average. Better than fourteen the night before. “Hey, Dad.”
“School was good?”
“Yep.” That was usually all Dad really wanted to hear from him. Nothing complicated.
“Rebecca?”
“It was okay.”
“New friends?”
“Some. I still don’t get why I had to move schools too, though. It was just Eli that didn’t like it.”
Eli sighed. She was allowed to be upset; this wasn’t her choice; she is only twelve; he had to be patient with slow acceptance… blah, blah, thank you, therapy. There was no way he was having this conversation again.
Mom leaned toward Becky. “Rebecca, we explained this.”
“Yeah. All of a sudden, my sister’s my brother and I have to play along with it. Still, I miss my friends.”
Eli dropped his fork in his plate, making a much sharper sound than he’d intended. Oh well. It made his point. “I have some homework to finish up. Can I be excused?”
Dad sighed. “Are we going to do this every night, now?”
“Apparently.” Mom pierced Eli with a glare. “Eli, you will sit there and eat. Becky, you will apologize to your brother. Neither of you will argue with me. Clear?”
Becky rolled her eyes. “Sorry, brother.”
“Mom!” Eli protested, collapsing back into his chair.
“Rebecca Isabel!”
“God!”
“Rebecca!” Now Dad was mad. Mom could lose it pretty easy, but Dad? Not so much with that. “Your room. Now,” he ordered.
Becky burst into tears and threw her uneaten food into the trash. “I hate this!”
The table was suddenly super quiet and then Mom looked at Dad. “Glass of wine?”
“I’ll get it.” Dad stood up and disappeared into the kitchen.
Not going to cry. Not crying. I am not going to cry, dammit. Eli took a couple of deep breaths and closed his eyes. Becky was mad, Mom and Dad were drinking, and everything was all his fault. Again. “’M sorry,” he managed to say, hopefully without sounding like he was about to explode with stupid tears. God, what a long day. He just wanted to crawl into bed and hide.
“Eat your dinner, kiddo. What classes do you have tomorrow?” Mom always tried to smooth things over.
“Um. Science. History. And…. PE.” He loved history, and science wasn’t so bad. He was actually pretty decent at it. He was dreading PE, though. If he was going to get outed, it would be in that class for sure. Dad wanted him to try it, since they were going to let him use the boys’ locker room, and there was a private room to change in, but he’d been begging Mom for a doctor’s note anyway. There was no way he was going. He’d just cut and take detention like he did at his old school.
He wasn’t hungry anymore, but he played with his fork to make Mom happy. Dad came back with two glasses of wine and set one down in front of Mom. “You want me to go talk to her?”
“In a minute. Come finish your dinner?”
“Right.” The table got quiet while Dad ate. It made the hair on the back of Eli’s neck stand up. He searched his mind for a change of subject. “I’m gonna ride my board to school tomorrow, okay?”
“Sure. Just be careful and wear your helmet.”
Eli snorted and maybe smiled. A little. He never wore a helmet. “Yeah. Okay, Mom.”
“So, Eli. You, uh—you maybe wanna throw some balls this weekend?”
Eli looked at Dad, giving him a real smile. “Really?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
“Yes! Thanks, Dad!” Eli was so excited he couldn’t stay in his seat. He practically knocked over his chair in his hurry to give Dad a hug. “Awesome.”
Dad nodded. “Looking forward to it.”
Eli was too. Wow. His grin was too wide, and he probably should have gone for the handshake but whatever. Dad actually wanted to hang out.
Dad had been okay about everything, but just okay. Just hanging in there and not giving him a hard time. Eli wanted Dad to get him, and this felt good. It felt like maybe Dad was ready. He couldn’t remember the last time Dad had asked him to do anything with just the two of them.
He watched Mom rest her hand on Dad’s as she sipped her wine, and Dad smiled and shrugged at her. God, they were gross. “Can I please be excused now?”
“Poor abused child. Go. Shoo. You’re on dish cleanup tonight, don’t forget.”
“Knock when you’re done.” Eli headed for the quiet safety of his room. He hesitated as he passed Becky’s door, though, wanting to knock, wanting to say something. He just didn’t know what to say. Maybe sorry? Maybe thank you?
He shook his head and slipped into his room instead, flopped onto his bed, and pulled on his headphones. The good, the bad; he’d think about it all later. Right now, he was just so tired.
Chapter 5
“YOU KNOW you didn’t text me back, right?” Daddy’s voice rang through the house, and Sammy rolled her eyes.
“Lace, I gotta go.”
“Call me later?”
“You know it.”
“Sammy?” Daddy called again.
“Right here. I’m fine.” God, he acted like she was ten or something. She was damn near grown.
“You need to text me when you get home, Sammy. I was worried.” Daddy was at the bottom of the steps with his hands on his hips. “Come on down.”
She rolled her eyes and headed down. How was y
our day? Great, thanks. So glad you care. No problem. I didn’t want you for the first sixteen years, be grateful I showed when your momma died.
“Who were you talking to?”
“Lacey.” You know, my best friend that’s a zillion miles away? Her?
“If you have time to talk to Lacey, you have time to text me and tell me you made it home okay.”
“I—”
“I was stuck on a train, Sammy, and all I knew was that you were walking home. Did you even know the way home? Did you walk by yourself?”
“What answer’s going to get me in the less amount of trouble? I forgot to text you. I’m sorry.”
Daddy closed his lips tight and stared at her with squinty eyes for a long time before turning and heading into the kitchen. “Okay.” She could have heard that sigh from a mile away. “Well, I’m glad you made it home safe.”
When he reappeared in the kitchen doorway, he was holding a beer. “You wanna tell me? About your day, I mean. I can tell you about mine in one sentence. All I could think about was you.”
“No one talked to me all day except this one guy, and I totally wigged him out. Apparently, girls don’t share phone numbers with boys here, and they only wear black clothes and no bling.” She wiggled her fingernails that she’d torn the acrylic from. “My English teacher yelled at me, my Spanish teacher is a German lady, and I had coffee after school.” I miss my momma, and I really want to go home now.
“Coffee isn’t good for you.” Daddy took a big swig of his beer. “I mean—I’m sorry. That’s not what I… I don’t care about your coffee. I want to know if you’re okay,” he stammered, taking two steps closer. “Can I hug you? I need a hug.”
“Yeah. You totally can.” She went to him and hugged him, but she didn’t have any tears left right now. “You could have called me, you know.”
“Yeah. A little voice in my head told me that, like, one minute ago.” He wrapped his arms around her and sighed. “I suck at this whole dad thing, but I’ll get better. I promise.” When he let her go, he waved her into the kitchen. “What I don’t suck at, though, is finding Mexican takeout in the city. It’s probably a little cold, but—” He started unloading the bags. “I got some tacos and stuff.”