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CHAPTER EIGHT

Skylar

“Why is your hair blue?”

Chuckling, I run a hand through my turquoise hair, and smile. I raise an eyebrow at the kid, a smirk on my lips. “Why is your hair brown?”

Gregory looks at me, a scowl pulled deep on his face. “Fine. I guess.”

I’m not saying I’m great with kids—I don’t know if I say or do the right thing around them—but according to Sadie, Gregory hasn’t been going to school recently. Because truancy is a big deal in Miami, she was hoping that maybe I could talk some sense into him. As the director of the shelter, I trust her judgment. Why me? I have no idea. I sucked at school, nearly failing every class and barely graduating. Still, I accept the challenge, even if the kid looks like he’s ready to pop in his headphones and ignore me.

“Why haven’t you been going to school?” I cut to the chase. “Is it because of a bully?”

He snorts, eyeing me like I’m an idiot. “Do I look like someone who could be bullied?”

Well, when he puts it like that, no. Gregory is big for sixteen, tall and daunting, and he has more facial hair than I do. Mostly, I don’t think anyone would fuck with him, because his expression makes it clear you wouldn’t come out the victor.

“Come onnnnn ,” I whine. “Tell me. It’s not like I’m going to tell anybody.”

“That lady asked you to talk to me?” He juts his chin at Sadie, who’s standing by the craft area with some younger kids. I nod, and he scoffs as he looks down at his phone. “Tell her to mind her own damn business.”

I chew on the inside of my cheek. Okay, not too sure how I’m supposed to get across to him, but I’m not giving up. “Did I tell you yet that I like your tattoos? They’re really cool. Although you're sixteen, so I’m not too sure how you got them in the first place. Did they hurt? How did you decide? What if you regret it?—”

“Can you shut up?” His gaze snaps to mine. “I don’t want to fucking talk to you.”

I narrow my eyes. “Tell me why you’re not going to school and I’ll stop.”

He thinks about it for a beat, then sighs. “Fucking fine. I just don’t get it, okay? I’m a goddamn idiot. Everyone seems to get all the stuff they’re trying to teach us, but I don’t. Then I get mad, and when I get mad, I get punchy.”

“What do you mean?” I ask. “So, you don’t get the work?”

“Didn’t I just fucking say that?”

I don’t take his tone to heart, because even though he’s a bit scary and likes getting “punchy,” he’s just a kid. A kid who needs help. I think about what to do, then end up pointing to Cassius across the room. “You see that guy there?”

Gregory raises an eyebrow, glancing over at Cassius apathetically. “He your guy?”

“My best friend,” I clarify. “He had trouble in school too, and nobody knew why his grades were so bad, even though he tried really hard.”

“So?”

“ Sooooo , we found out later that he has dyslexia.”

Gregory’s interest is piqued. He keeps looking at his phone and tries to pretend like he’s not giving me his full attention. “What’s that?”

“It just means he has trouble reading because the words and how they sound don’t match up sometimes in his brain. It doesn’t mean he can’t read; it’s just harder for him sometimes.” I scooch a bit closer. “Does that sound familiar?”

He shakes his head. “Not really. I read just fine. I just get really overwhelmed. Like there’s too much stuff going on in my brain.”

“And then you get mad and start fights?”

“Yeah,” he mutters, looking a touch remorseful. “Don’t mean to be an ass. It’s just…”

He doesn’t have to explain himself to me. Having volunteered at the shelter for years, I’ve learned a lot about different learning and emotional disorders. Some kids have a thing against authority, so they end up getting kicked out of school. Other kids have emotional-behavioral disorders, and a lot of schools don’t want to deal with it. It doesn’t make these kids evil or bad, it just means they need help.

“You know, they have programs here that could help you,” I say carefully, trying to weigh my words. “They have group therapy too?—”

“I don’t need therapy!”

“Okay, okay.” I raise my hands to placate him when his scream draws everyone’s attention our way. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just that, if you want to graduate, you have to go back to school.”

“I don’t want to go to college,” he spits, calming down a bit as he leans back in his seat. “What’s the point of it?”

“We didn’t go to college.”

Both Gregory and I turn to look at Cassius, who’s silently joined us. He’s holding the guitar he was playing for the younger kids with one hand, his other automatically finding my shoulder. He glances down at me with a furrowed brow, and I know he’s silently trying to ask me if I’m okay, which I am. Like I said, these kids don’t intimidate me when they get a bit hostile, but Cassius is overprotective.

“Why not?” Gregory asks.

Cassius shrugs as he sits beside me, setting his guitar down on the floor. “Why would we need to? You can have a successful life and not go to college, even though sometimes school makes it seem like it’s the default.”

“I’m a bartender and he’s a DJ,” I explain, smiling brightly at Cassius as I take his hand. “We have a pretty good life, no college degree required.”

“So why bother with school?”

“Because most jobs will need you to have a high school diploma, or even a GED,” Cassius says. “But it’s not just that. When I graduated, I was damn proud of myself. Like…I did something, you know? It was hard as fuck, but I stuck through and accomplished something. You only have…what? Two years to go?”

Gregory nods, snorting humorlessly. “Maybe more if I keep getting into fights.”

“Then don’t get into fights.” Cassius makes it seem like it’s so easy, which I don’t think Gregory likes. But Cassius, being the amazing, beautiful human he is, senses that. “I was always angry too. You just have to find something to look forward to, or something that makes graduating worth it.”

“You get angry?” Gregory shakes his head. “You seem pretty chill.”

Cassius’s face grows hard for a split second, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he tightens his hold on me. “I wasn’t always.”

It’s not that Cassius was a bad kid growing up, but he definitely had some anger issues. He fought a lot in middle school and high school, but got his act together around Gregory’s age. I’m not too sure what flipped the switch for him, but a lot of his anger has faded over the years, leaving only the “pretty chill” guy in front of us.

Gregory hums, sucking on his front teeth before he shrugs. “Still not going back to school.”

Sighing, I glance down at my watch to see that Cassius and I have to head out soon. I look back up at Gregory and smile. “Will you be hanging around here for a bit?”

“Yeah, it’s nice,” Gregory mutters, grabbing his headphones and popping them back in his ears. “See you.”

“I think that means the conversation is over, sunshine,” Cassius whispers, taking my wrist as we stand. “We have to get to work anyways.”

I pout the entire time we’re signing out of the shelter, my heart heavy and worried for Gregory. “I couldn’t get through to him.”

Cassius finishes clocking our times and shrugs. “You know better than anyone it doesn’t happen in one day. We’ll see him next week if he’s still around. All we can do is try.”

“And you two try so hard,” Sadie, the shelter director, says as she appears behind the counter. “Thank you again for coming in today, and thank you for speaking with Gregory.”

“No problem,” I say happily, flushing after a second. “I just wish we could help more.”

Cassius leans against the counter and raises an eyebrow at her. “Spirits still low around here, huh?”

Sadie nods somberly. “It’s that time of year, you know? Graduation, college acceptances, all those hallmarks make it tough on the kids, even if they don’t want to admit it.”

I look back through the glass doors at the main hangout area. Some of these kids are runaways, others have been kicked out by their parents, and most of them come from unfortunate situations. It makes my heart hurt to think that any of them might have gone through what Cassius and I did growing up. It’s just all so horrible and?—

A hand on my wrist stops my scratching. Cassius leans in and kisses the top of my head softly. “Stop.”

Nodding, I shake out my hands as I try and think of something we can do. “Maybe let’s have a party? These kids need a little joy in their day, even if it’s something silly.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Sadie says with a smile. “What are you thinking, Skylar?”

“You said graduation is coming up soon, so maybe a prom?” It sounds ridiculous after I say it, so I blush. “I mean, I know prom is stupid, and?—”

“Don’t discount your ideas,” Cassius says sharply. “They have value.”

“And that’s an excellent idea!” Sadie says, clapping her hands. “We can make it just for the older kids! They can bring their friends, and maybe it’ll help some of them reconnect with their families, too?”

“Need any help setting it up?” Cassius asks. “While we don’t have money, we can put in the work.”

“Money seems to always be the issue,” she groans and rubs her fingers against her temple. “Let me look at some numbers, and I’ll text you two.”

“Sounds great.” I hop onto the tips of my toes so I can hug her as best as I can with a counter between us. “We’ll be back next week! Try to convince Gregory to stay, okay?”

She returns my hug. “Sure thing, Skylar. It was good to see you too, Cassius.”

He doesn’t hug her—he’s not much of a toucher with anybody else—but he does nod as he leads us out the door and onto the busy sidewalk.

“I know you’re worried about that kid, but you’ll get through to him,” he tells me as he threads his fingers with mine. “Patience isn’t your strong suit, sunshine, but it’s going to take some time.”

“How did you get through it?” I ask him, curious as I cock my head. “You were always getting into fights. I know you said that you just didn’t want to do that anymore?—”

He steps into my space, wrapping his arms around my waist as he presses his forehead against mine. He smells just like our strawberry shampoo, all fruity and delicious. Running his nose down my cheek, he smiles. “I had a good reason to stick around.”

“Me?”

“Who else?” He chuckles, pressing a kiss to my cheek, still holding me even as he takes a step back. “I wised up because I couldn’t let anyone take me away from you.”

I don’t know what I would have done without Cassius by my side. We’ve been inseparable since we were ten and shoved into that nightmare of a home together. Through all the pain, all the… I don’t like to think about it because it makes me itchy. All I know is, I don’t think I could have survived it without him.

“We have to go if we want enough time to get ready before work.”

“Okay,” I say cheerfully, holding on to his hand as we cross the busy street. Before we can get in the car we share, I hug him tightly. “I love you, Cass.”

And the smile he gives me lights up my heart. It makes all the bad memories fade to a simmer and takes me to my happy place. “I love you too, sunshine.”