I still haven’t heard from Emily since last night, and that worries me. Just like Mom staying in bed does. So I’m downstairs early, trolling around, making my toast, making my own lunch. Wishing I had coffee. Waiting for the car honk. Finally, it comes.
Mom stumbles downstairs in her bathrobe. “I’m sorry, honey.”
“It’s fine, Mom. I gotta go.”
I race by her, out the door, and into the car, where I find a really sad-looking Emily.
“Hey, are you OK?”
She’s got tears in her eyes, and she shakes her head and closes them, working like mad to keep them from flowing. Her hands frame each word. “I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? I’m sorry you got in trouble for…”
She shakes her head. “They disabled their location notifications. Who does that?”
“I’m sorry. What did they say?”
“What didn’t they say? They are disappointed in me.”
“Because of…”
“They thought I was going to be make better decisions. They worry I’m going down a bad road. Alcohol. For God’s sake, alcohol.” She’s imitating her mother’s voice, but she’s laughing. She turns to face me. “They don’t know about you at all. They’re so stupid.”
“What? They are that mad because you had a little Jack?”
“Where did I get it from? How could I do that?” She gestures wildly, imitating her mother, I’m sure.
I laugh. But it kind of makes me mad. I mean, Emily is such a good kid, and her parents give her shit about a little drinking.
“I’m grounded. For life.” She smiles like she can’t believe her bad luck. She shakes her head, her hands still doing the flourish thing.
“They say grounded for life, but they don’t actually mean for life.”
“They probably do. But it doesn’t matter. I want to go to your award ceremony. That’s tomorrow night.” Tears fill her eyes, and she blinks a couple of times. She slams the car into park.
I hold her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I’m going to have a huge crowd anyway. It’ll annoy the other kids.”
Her eyes are all watery, and her face is blotchy. “I’m sorry, John, I really am. And about…you know…”
“I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”
She laughs. “Maybe.”
It bugs me Emily won’t be there, but underneath the entire thing, I’m worried that Mom and Dad will let me down somehow or be disappointed once they see my work or how I do in the competition. This entire thing stinks of stupid. Me being stupid for even letting Mr. Bonham talk me into it.
She laughs again.
“Are you sorry we almost…” God, I’m such a needy son of a bitch. Some Son of Anarchy.
She looks down. Blushes. Smiles. “No. Of course not.”
“Hey.” I point to the empty parking lot. “We better hurry to beat the crowd.”
“Oh. Wait. I forgot. This is what I have left.” She digs her hand in her pockets and pulls out a wad of cash. She hands it to me, all crinkled and clumped together, her hands so small, cradling mine. It’s her hands that get to me. They are nothing like Leah’s. Her nails are cut super short, and she’s got these leather bracelets with knots that make me like her even more for some stupid reason. Leah would never wear anything like that. Emily wears almost no makeup. She has these incredibly urgent and intense little hands. I don’t know why I’m making a not-like-Leah list in my head, but it feels like maybe it’s the right thing. I straighten out the cash and put it in my wallet, chuckling as I do.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s just cute the way you keep your money.”
“Cute?” She smacks my arm. “Girls don’t like being called cute anymore. It’s insulting.”
I put my hands up. “Sorry. Wow. Remind me not to make you mad anymore.”
She puts a strand of hair behind her ear. Which I take as an invitation to lean in to kiss her.
Brandon and Will pull into the parking lot just as we are walking toward the courtyard. “Hey, Strickland. Wait up.”
I stop.
“Guess I’ll see you later.”
“Guess so.” She looks like she wants to say something to me. Or do something. I feel myself leaning toward her. Remind myself that this is OK. It’s just fun. No one’s getting hurt. I want to kiss her again. I almost do. But then someone throws a ball against the brick wall behind her, and her head whips in that direction.
“Asshole!” I yell to Matt, who has nothing better to do than mess with my love life.
“Bye, guys.” Emily scoots off into school.
“Should we tell Dominique that you’re officially off the market?” Brandon claps me on the back, then says, “Don’t let that get in the way of your game, Strickland.”
Matt jumps in. “I’m pretty sure Dominique’s into me anyway.”
Parker scowls at him. “You wish.” Then to me, “Big scrimmage Thursday. We can’t get beat again. You gotta leave it on the field, not in the bedroom.”
Matt shakes his head. “You sound like a public service announcement.” He lowers his voice like one of those TV announcers. “Boys, don’t get caught with your dick outside your pants.”
“Very funny. All of you. Seriously, I think you should do stand-up.” My phone vibrates. I take it out. Pete. Got a quad for you.
I text back. Great. I get my Jeep back tomorrow. Will be in touch.
Pete texts. No prob. It’ll keep for a few days.
I walk through the halls with Brandon and Parker and Matt and try to get ready for my day while trying like mad not to think of what’s coming tomorrow night. Something tells me the universe thinks it’s going to be bad if it’s sending weed my way. But then I feel like I’m being an idiot and always trying to find the negative. Gotta work on that.