All the Things We Never Knew
Page 21
It’s the best feeling in the world, but I can’t even lie, it’s making me feel kind of shy. “So, Shannon is here,” I say, and turn to look back at everybody else. Shannon grabs the rebound from Cole’s missed shot before Jordan does.
“Yeah, Cole set it up.”
“Gotta love Cole.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure he set this up, too,” she says, and twists her lips. But her eyes have the happiness of a thousand smiles. Okay, maybe not a thousand but at least one.
“Looks like it,” I say, a monument of hope springing up inside of me.
“So how are we about to do this?” Cole yells over to us. “We got five. Quick game of horse to see who sits out first?”
“No, y’all go ahead. I’m not playing,” Carli yells back.
Takes everybody a second to process, but then Jordan finally shouts, “Damn, that’s right!”
CARLI
Didn’t feel like sitting on the sidelines. Wanted to be in the mix with everybody else, so I’m the ref. Just called Cole for his third foul on Rex.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Cole complains, throwing his hands up in the air from the baseline. “You’re clearly giving Rex preferential treatment. I can’t even look his direction without you calling a foul.”
“Yeah, you can’t be out here playing favorites if you’re the ref,” Shannon backs him up from the middle of the key. Didn’t take her any time to get comfortable with sibling bickering.
“Nobody’s playing favorites,” I snap back, and grab the ball from underneath the basket. “It’s not my fault y’all haven’t found a way to guard him yet. Stay in front of him. Keep a hand in his face. Block him out so he doesn’t keep getting all the rebounds.”
“Oh, so now you’re the ref and the coach?” Cole replies.
“Tell me about it!” Shannon echoes.
I dribble the ball a few times, noticing how it pops up quicker than it would on a normal court. “Whatever. Don’t be mad at me. I’m just callin’ it like I see it.”
“Y’all are funny,” Jordan says, and walks to the low block.
Rex walks to the free-throw line, looking uncomfortable with being in the middle of all the arguing.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Jordan says, turning toward me. She reaches into her sneakers and pulls out a piece of paper rolled up into a flattened scroll. “Here,” she says, and holds it out.
“Ew, I’m not touching that,” I reply.
“Girl, would you look,” she says, eyes wide, and unrolls it. The hospital menu.
I quickly slide the ball between my left elbow and hip and take it. The paper is damp from Jordan’s sweaty feet, but I don’t care. I flip it over, and there it is in blurred blue ink:
The very first kisses were blown in Mesopotamia as a way to get in good with the gods.
Tangible evidence of where it all began for me and Rex. A sign of where we’re going? Maybe, but who has time to try to figure that out?
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not totally giving up on my signs. I still believe that if I pay attention, signs will pop up and let me know I’m on the right path. But all that business of thinking everything was a potential sign had to stop. Some things just are what they are, and trying to give them extra meaning all the time was overcomplicating my life.
Take me and Rex. Regardless of the first-kisses fact, our fate will depend on how we treat each other—how much of the good in ourselves we’re willing and able to give each other—simple as that.
But should I at least give him the menu? So he can always have it as a reminder of how I’ve felt from the very beginning, no matter what happens to us?
“Any day now,” Cole says, walking up to the block opposite Jordan.
Shannon sets up beside him, already looking ready to rebound even though Rex hasn’t even shot his first free throw.
I bounce pass the ball to Rex with my right hand, still trying to decide what to do with the menu in my left.
Rex catches the ball and dribbles—one, twice, three times, and swish. No kisses.
I grab the ball and pass it back to him.
Again—once, twice, three times, and swish. No kisses.
The first time he went to the line and didn’t blow a kiss, I thought he might’ve forgotten.
The second time I allowed myself to hope. That he’d stopped asking forgiveness from his mom. That he’d realized her death wasn’t his fault. That he’d somehow let go of his pain and rearranged himself into a boy who would never hurt me again.
Now three times, and the hope in my chest slides on its wings and starts flapping all over the place. I can’t help but think that there will be more between us. Much, much more.
But only the future knows.
I slide the menu into my back pocket, where I keep it for myself. And the game goes on. With us and only what belongs to us. Nothing else.
Acknowledgments
Book two. Say what? I feel so incredibly grateful to be putting more words into the world. For me, writing has always been an exercise of going deep within, extracting bits of my human experience, and shaping them into a universal story. The fact that people are reading my stories and connecting to them feels so rewarding. So, to all my readers: thank you, thank you, thank you! You don’t know how much you mean to me.
To my little family, Amina and Larry: you give my heart a home. A home filled with light and beauty and joy and kindness and peace. I’m so grateful to have you both. I love you.
Seneca Shahara Brand, aka Sha Love: I’m so lucky to have such a loving, artistic friend. Thank you for being so generous with your creative gifts. This book wouldn’t be the same without you.
Rochelle and Stan, aka Mom and Dad: None of this would be possible without your continued love and support. Thank you. I love you.
Loveis Wise: I love your name. I love the energy you put into the world through your work. Thank you for putting that energy into this book’s cover. It’s gorgeous, and Carli and Rex are perfect.
To my agent, Jennifer Carlson: Thank you for being my advocate. I am happy I have you.
To my editor, Virginia Duncan, and everyone at Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins: thank you for turning my words into a book and getting that book out into the world.
About the Author
PHOTOGRAPH BY SENECA SHAHARA BRAND
LIARA TAMANI is the author of the acclaimed Calling My Name, which was a 2018 PEN America Literary Award Finalist and an SCBWI Golden Kite Award Finalist. She lives in Houston, Texas.
www.liaratamani.com
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Copyright
ALL THE THINGS WE NEVER KNEW. Copyright © 2020 by Liara Tamani. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
The lines quoted here are by Tracy K. Smith, excerpted from “Everything That Ever Was” from Life on Mars. Copyright © 2011 by Tracy K. Smith. Reprinted with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC, on behalf of Graywolf Press, Minneapolis, Minnesota. www.graywolfpress.org
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; Cover art © 2020 by Loveis Wise
Cover design by Sylvie Le Floc’h
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Tamani, Liara, author.
Title: All the things we never knew / Liara Tamani.
Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2020] | Audience: Ages 13 up. | Audience: Grades 10-12. | Summary: “Carli and Rex have an immediate connection, an understanding that must mean first love, but family secrets, disappointments—and basketball, which holds center stage in both their lives—all create complications”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019060207 | ISBN 9780062656919 (hardback) | ISBN 9780062656933 (ebook)
Subjects: CYAC: Dating (Social customs)—Fiction. | Basketball—Fiction. | Family life—Texas—Fiction. | African Americans—Fiction. | Texas—Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.T355 All 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019060207
Digital Edition JUNE 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-265693-3
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-265691-9
2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
Greenwillow Books
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