Page 21 of Anything Goes

“Really? I would love to hear it.”

Patting me on the shoulder, Denver said, “Well, I’ll let you handle this. If I catch him again, he’s going to be in detention, and he’ll have to sit out the next meet. I hope it doesn’t come to that.”

“Oh, come on Principal Roland.”

“Don’t,come on Principal Roland, me. You know the rules. I’m not giving you another pass. Get to class on time.”

As soon as Denver disappeared around the corner, I pulled Keyon down the hall. “What the hell is going on? You’re missing practice, showing up late to school…this isn’t like you.”

“Nothing’s going on. I’ve just had a few days where I woke up late.”

“I don’t believe you. Something is going on.” I could tell that Keyon wasn’t giving me the truth. He was working way too hard to avoid looking at me, and he was too damn nervous. Yanking him forward, I said, “Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

“To the gym.”

“But I’ve got to get to class. I’m already late. Coach Jeffers is going to kill me if she finds out that I didn’t show up at all.”

“I’ll let her know that you were with me.”

Lifting his backpack further on his shoulder, he followed me out of the building. It was obvious that we needed to talk and that wasn’t going to happen if he felt like someone was watching.

As soon as we made it into the gym, I led him to my office. Luckily, it was my off period, so I didn’t have to worry about us being interrupted.

Closing the door behind him, I motioned for him to sit down. He didn’t seem too thrilled, but he went ahead and took a seat.

I looked him over and made my way behind my desk to sit down. “So, you want to tell me what’s really going on?”

“Nothing is going on. Like I told you before, I woke up late. It won’t happen again, I promise.”

Shaking my head, I folded my arms over my chest. “Keyon, I don’t have time to be going back and forth with you. Give me the real or we’re going to have a problem. You know I have absolutely no problem interrogating your ass. I do that shit for a living.”

“Youusedto do it for a living,” he corrected. “You’re not a cop anymore, remember?”

I wanted to come across his head for the not so subtle reminder, but I held back. “Keyon!”

“Okay, fine. Yes, there’s more to the story, but I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because if I start talking about it then everything is going to blow up. I really don’t want to make things worse.”

“How could you make things worse?”

“Because it involves Reggie.”

Now my interest was piqued. Leaning forward, I said, “Has he done something to you?”

“Nah. I mean, he hasn’t done anything crazy. He just came at me about doing more around the house.”

“Doing more around the house?” I replied, confused. “How?”

“He wants me to pitch in more financially. He feels like since I’m about to graduate, I need to be bringing in more money and handling all of my own stuff.”

“What does he mean, handling your own stuff? Did your mother have a conversation with you about any of this? Did she mention wanting you to pitch in more financially?”

“Nah, this came straight from Reggie and he told me not to mention it to Mama. He said that she’ll never admit that she feels like I need to do more.”