My parents stared at me as I held an ice pack to my mouth while it throbbed in time with my heartbeat.
“So why did this boy hit you?” my mother asked, looking perplexed.
I shrugged. “I haven’t been pulling my weight with the team. I missed a couple of practices because I was dancing. I guess I just pushed him too far. I got mad, and a couple of punches were thrown. It was nothing. Just guy stuff.”
“But why didn’t the principal call us if you got sent home?” she asked.
“He doesn’t know about it. Coach sent us both home to cool off. Everything is fine. I’m not even in trouble.”
My mother clucked around me and refilled my ice pack while my father looked at me thoughtfully. Mom announced that she was going to make a poultice to help with the swelling and bruising, then went out to her garden. As soon as we were alone, my father leaned in to talk to me. Man to man.
“It’s not like you to fight, son,” he said quietly. “Is there anything you want to talk about?”
I shrugged as if it was no big deal. “Tanner took a video of me dancing and sent it to the entire soccer team. He spied on me, and now it’s up on YouTube.”
“Ah. And everyone knows about the dancing now,” he said, his face sympathetic.
“Yeah. The video got sent around to the entire school.”
“Okay. So the secret’s out.”
“Yeah. It is,” I said, probing my swollen lip with the tip of my tongue.
“Then you don’t have to hide it from anyone anymore, right?”
“I guess not,” I admitted.
“Then, misguided as it was, he did you a favor.”
I stared at him. “What do you mean? He spied on me and humiliated me!”
“Yes. But now they all know.” He took a sip of his coffee. “A secret like that is hard to keep, son. It eats away at you when you have to hide something from your friends. Especially when it’s something you love that you’re hiding.”
“But they were all laughing at me.”
“And tomorrow they’ll find something else to laugh at. You hid it like you had something to be ashamed of,” he said. “You don’t. You should be proud of your heritage, John. Remember who you are and hold your head up.” He patted my shoulder and grabbed his coffee mug. “Gonna get a refill,” he said, standing up.
“Okay, Dad.” I watched my father’s retreating back and thought about how cool my parents actually were.