by Ali Berman
“Have you heard any news about your mom this morning?” my Mom asks.
“She’s doing better. She’s awake and everything. I can go see her after school.”
“How about we all go together?” she asks.
He looks at me for a second as if her question is funny.
“Thanks. I can take the bus though if you’re busy.”
“Nonsense. I’ll pick you boys up after school.”
“Thanks,” he says.
We get ready and hop in the car so my dad can drop us off at school. As we’re getting out of the car he hands James a bag. James gives him a questioning look.
“Lunch,” Dad says with a smile. “Have a good day, boys.”
He drives off and James and I walk toward the front building.
“Dude,” says James.
“What?”
“Your parents are like, parents.”
“Yeah.”
“I mean even when my dad was alive we never had pancakes or bagged lunches. He was always busy working.”
“We don’t have pancakes every morning. Tomorrow will be cold cereal.”
“Do you have milk in the house, which hasn’t gone sour, that you didn’t have to go out and buy yourself?”
“Yeah.”
“Then it’s better than my house.”
“You know, maybe if your mom agrees to get some help, she’d let you stay with us for a while. I know my parents wouldn’t mind.”
“She’s gotten help before.”
“Maybe this time it will be different. I mean, she almost died.”
“Maybe,” he says, sounding unconvinced. “She’s actually a pretty decent mom when she’s sober. She doesn’t make me lunch for school or anything. She’ll cook dinner sometimes, and she bought me candy and stuff.”
During lunch, James calls the hospital to check in.
“I don’t remember the last time I talked to her when she was dry,” he says, after getting off the phone.
“Dry?”
“Sober.”
“Oh. Is she different?”
“She used to be angry. Now she sounds sad.”
James doesn’t really look at me when he says that. I want to say something that could help or make him feel better, but what do you say? It’s not like it was an accident. She drank herself into the hospital. What kind of a person does that?
“You deserve better, man. You really do.”
“She can be great,” says James, still not looking at me.
“Great? She almost killed herself by drinking. If she would just stop, you could have a mom and she wouldn’t be in the hospital.”
“She’s an alcoholic.”
“And if she wasn’t so selfish, she’d give it up. For you.”
“Listen,” he says angrily. “It’s awesome that you have two parents who take care of you and siblings that you can talk to. I mean, what a freaking life. Your biggest problem is where you can make out with your girlfriend. My mom has real problems. So just back off, okay?”
I feel like a total d-bag. I don’t know what to say so I just stand there feeling stupid.
“I know,” says James, saving me from having to say anything. “You’re a fricking Cosby kid. Even though my mom sucks at being a mom most of the time, it doesn’t mean I hate her or anything. She’s my mom.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
“I can still talk crap about her for the record. ’Cause she’s my mom.”
With that I pull a Seth and punch him in the arm.
At lunch Tess stops by the library on her way to meet her friends. I tell her what happened and ask if she wants to come to the hospital with us after school. She calls her parents to see if she can go, but they say no. They know James is my friend and won’t let her go anyplace where I’ll be.
“They send their prayers for your mom, James.”
“Well that’s freaking helpful,” I say.
Tess scowls at me. “You’re becoming way more annoying about religion than when you first moved here. Just remember, your girlfriend is religious.
“It’s okay,” says James. “My mom would actually appreciate the prayers.”
“I think I’ll sit with you guys for lunch.”
“Don’t you have to meet your friends?” I ask, smiling to offset my jerkiness.
“I’m with my friends. Even if one of them is sometimes an idiot,” she says, looking at me half smiling, half shaking her head.
After school, my mom and dad pick us up. We go straight to the hospital and stand in the waiting room while James goes in to see his mom.
I take out my homework and read some stuff for class, but I’m only half paying attention. I keep looking up the hallway waiting for him to come back.
About twenty minutes later he comes out and sits down next to us.
“How is she?” asks my mom.
“She’s okay. She looks bad but the doctor told her she’d be fine. She just needs to stop drinking or she’s going to bust her liver. And alcoholics don’t get new ones.”
We’re all silent.
“There’s something else,” James says and takes a breath. “Child Protective Services came by to see her. They aren’t convinced she can take care of me right now. Plus, she needs to go to rehab. I don’t have any other family within like a hundred miles. So, I don’t really know what to do.”
James’s voice is holding steady, but he’s looking at the ground.
I look at my mom and dad and they nod.
“You can stay with us,” I say. “I mean if your mom gives permission they have to let you, right?”
“Yes, of course, dear,” says Mom. “You can stay with us for as long as you need. We’d love to have you.”
James looks at her and then at me, and to save him from having to say anything, I say, “We’ll watch movies in Pete’s room.”
“Want to come meet her?” he asks.
“We’d love to,” Mom says.
Mrs. Bullard is hooked up to a clear liquid bag and her face looks like someone painted it gray and then gave her two black eyes.
“Mom, this is Ben. And this is his mom and dad. They said I could stay with them for a while so you could get better.”
She nods, smiling and also sort of half crying. She takes my mom’s hand and says, “Thank you. They want to take James away. But he’s my boy. What will his dad think looking down on us if I lost him?”
“It’s okay, Mom,” James says. “You just have to get better. For real this time.”
She nods. “This time I’ll do it. I’ll make you proud.”
There is a moment of silence.
“Do you need anything from home?” my mom asks. “We could go get some of your things.”
“You’re so kind. I don’t need anything. Would you be able to talk to the woman from Child Services though? I told her James would be coming back after school. She should be here.”
“Let me go find out,” says Dad.
When he comes back in the room, he’s with an older woman wearing a suit. My mom puts out her hand, introduces herself, and says, “James is best friends with my son Ben. We’d love to have him stay with us as long as he needs to.”
“These are good people,” says James’s mom. “They took him in last night and Ben is the only real friend James has. Please let him stay with them,” she says.
The woman nods formally. “Mr. and Mrs. Pinter, if you could come with me so I can ask you a few questions about your residence,” she says.
“Yes, of course,” says my mom and follows her out of the room.
Chapter 19
If You See Your Girlfriend's Sister's Boobs, Look Away. Now.
Having James live with me is even better than I expected. We get our homework done in half the time, which is great because it leaves more time
for watching movies, reading comics, and hanging out.
James also visits his mom a lot in rehab. She has to be there for a month or so. Living here is probably the most normal family experience he’s ever had.
Three days a week at school, during our free period, Tess and I meet in the auditorium in our spot. This goes on pretty flawlessly for two weeks. And because James is an awesome guy who feels like he owes me one, he hangs out in the seats in the auditorium and acts as lookout, just in case someone does come in.
Everything is going great. In fact, life is better than it’s ever freaking been before. I’m living with my best friend. I get to see my girlfriend. James’s mom is getting better. And because she isn’t around, for the first time in his life he doesn’t have to go to church.
Like I said, everything is perfect. Until one day during our auditorium time Tess has to go to the bathroom. We walk out of the costume room together. That is the first big mistake. Then we walk past the green room. Because the light is on in there, we look inside. That is the second big mistake.
Inside, I see Angela half naked and making out with some senior. Tess looks over and is so surprised that she drops her bag and gasps. Yep, she actually gasps.
Angela covers herself and turns around in time to see my face and Tess’s face staring at her.
Tess doesn’t even hesitate. She opens the door and yells, “Put your clothes on right now.”
I stay outside the room. A few seconds later the senior, still putting his shirt back on, strides out of the room.
“Hey,” he says as he walks by.
“Oh, um, hey,” I say.
He puts his bag over his shoulder and jumps down off the stage to leave.
“What is wrong with you?” I hear Tess say.
“What’s wrong with me? I’m not the one hanging out with him,” she says, pointing at me, “against orders from Mom and Dad.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not the one taking my clothes off for some guy just because he’s on the football team. I mean, he’s not even your boyfriend.”
It goes on like that for a while, both of them threatening to tell their parents. I’m trying to get the image of Angela’s naked upper half out of my head. It’s got to be against some boyfriend code to know what your girlfriend’s sister looks like naked. I don’t even know what Tess looks like that naked.
Now that I think about it, this is probably how Trent knew that the auditorium was empty during the day. Angela probably brought him here.
James comes running backstage.
He says, “I’m sorry. I had to take a leak. I didn’t see her come in.”
I tune back in to hear Angela say, “I can do whatever I want. Back off.”
“Then why can’t I do what I want? Why are you so against me hanging out with Ben?”
“You may not like what I was doing with John, but he’s a Christian. I wonder what Mom and Dad will care about more. Me with him or you with your sinner.”
I get up and walk into the room.
“Hey, Angela. You may think I’m a terrible person because I’m an atheist, but me and your sister have never done the things you were doing with that guy.”
“You arrogant little—”
“Watch your language,” I say smiling. “God is watching.”
Angela grabs her backpack and leaves, slamming the auditorium door as she goes.
Tess turns to me looking shaken. “She can’t tell. She knows that she’d get in trouble too,” I say to her.
“Not as much trouble as me.”
“So you’re telling me that your parents would be more pissed at you for seeing me than they would be at your sister for mounting the nearest football player she could find.”
“We’ll see,” says Tess.
She steps away from me and gives me a weird look.
“What?” I ask.
“Did you see?”
“See what?” I ask uncomfortably.
“My sister without her clothes on.”
“Maybe,” I say with a cringe.
“Great.”
“It’s not like . . .”
“Not like what? She’s gorgeous.”
“You’re gorgeous.” I reach out to her but she brushes me off. “You won’t hug me?”
“You won’t be thinking of me.”
“Just because I saw her doesn’t mean I want her. I want you.”
Tess won’t look at me and she starts to cry a little.
“What’s wrong?”
“I hate her so much. And now you’ve seen her and we haven’t even . . .”
“Stop. Okay? Just stop. I think you’re beautiful and you’re also a wonderful person. And when you’re ready to do more, we’ll do more. Okay?”
“You don’t wish you were with her?” she says with tears on her cheeks.
“I think I hate her even more than you do.”
“Promise?”
“Promise. I’m not saying I wouldn’t want to see you like that. I mean, I really really really . . .”
“Stop talking,” she says, half laughing between tears.
“Done.”
Chapter 20
When a Bad Day Gets Worse
After getting caught with Tess by Angela, the last thing I want to do is go to biology and listen to Mr. Thompson go on and on about the importance of the Bible in science. But that’s what’s next.
For the first time since my new straight-A goal I’m having a hard time listening. I never raise my hand anymore in this class. Not since he was such a jerk about that blood thing. At least we aren’t talking about the circulatory system any more. It’s the respiratory system now. Not that I’m even really paying attention. I’m just worried Angela is going to tell her parents. Even if she doesn’t, Angela seeing me and Tess in the auditorium means we can’t use it as a hiding spot anymore. Which means we have no place to hang out. Again.
“Ben?” Mr. Thompson says.
“Um, yeah?”
“Did you hear me?”
“No. I guess I . . .”
He sighs. “I asked if you could tell me how it came to be that man breathed his first breath.”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I mean, that happened millions of years ago before man was even man. No one knows I don’t think.”
The class laughs. Mr. Thompson doesn’t look amused.
“Every other student in the class knows this Ben. Just not you.”
“Is it some Bible thing?” I ask with more attitude than usual.
“Open up your textbook to the chapter on the respiratory system and read the first sentence, please,” he says.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” I close the book.
“So I ask again, please tell me how it came to be that man breathed his first breath?”
“My answer hasn’t changed.”
No one in the class is laughing now. Mr. Thompson is starting to look really annoyed.
“And what about the Creator? Would you just ignore Him?”
I pause for a second, trying to decide how to answer him. I didn’t lie to Tess’s parents so why lie now?
“I don’t believe in a creator,” I say. “I believe in evolution. No one gave us a respiratory system. We developed it over millions of years.”
Mr. Thompson takes his glasses off and puts them on his desk. Kenny makes a chimp noise and throws a wadded up piece of paper at me. Tess’s friend Beth gives him a dirty look.
Mr. Thompson turns to Kenny and says, “We have a student in class who, if he died tomorrow, would go to hell. You think that’s funny Mr. Schrock?”
Kenny looks down at his desk. “No sir.”
“Then I suggest you keep quiet.”
Mr. Thompson turns his attention back to me and says, “Stay after class. I want to talk to you.”
When the bell rings I get my stuff together and wait in my seat until the other kids are gone. Then I go up to Mr. Thompson’s desk.
I just stand there while he puts his notes in order. He looks up at me and smiles.
“Yes, Ben. Thank you for staying.”
He looks at me, his fat lips tight and moving between a smile and a frown before he actually starts speaking.
“You’ve got a remarkable scientific mind. You pay attention to details and you seem to really have a knack for biology and understanding the mechanics of how things work. With that said, that’s only a portion of this class.” He leans forward and looks me straight in the eyes. “How we apply science is equally important. I need to know that you’re able to take what you’ve learned and put it in context with the Bible and the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. Do you understand?”
“Your lord Jesus Christ,” is all I can manage to say under my breath.
Mr. Thompson leans back in his chair and says, “You’ve been here for a month and a half now. More than enough time to start your journey toward Christ. Perhaps you haven’t looked into the subject deeply enough. I want you to write me a two-page paper on why knowing the facts isn’t enough. Why a good scientific mind also has to have a background in the Bible. Due next Friday.”
What I really want to say is, I hate you and this entire school for trying to change my beliefs. All that comes out of my mouth is, “Seriously?”
“You’re a great student and I want to see you excel. This is about more than just a grade. Although your grade will suffer if you don’t do it. More important, it’s about your soul. Get it done.”
I hesitate for a second, then just say, “Yes sir.” What else am I supposed to say?
“Good boy. See you tomorrow.”
Chapter 21
Christian Rule #87: Dating an Atheist Is Worse Than Dry Humping a Guy You Aren't Dating.
That night I text Tess but she doesn’t respond. I email her too but still nada. I don’t even see the light on in her room. I have no idea just how much trouble she’s in for seeing me.