Page 24 of String Boys

Together they all hustled the two blocks to their fourplex, moving fast enough to leave them breathless. Seth was fumbling with his key as Matty pounded up the stairs, and Kelly paused long enough to put a hand on his wrist.

“Calm down,” he said softly. “Don’t worry about that guy. He doesn’t even go to school, okay?”

Seth nodded, then took a deep breath and smiled shakily. “I don’t like that word,” he said, and the expression on his face told Kelly that it had just occurred to him thatthatword actually applied to both him and Kelly.

Well, welcome to Kelly’s big gay world. He’d been living with this knowledge for a year.

“Not my favorite either,” he admitted. “But….” He bit his lip and winked. “It might have its perks.”

Seth smiled shyly, and Kelly pulled away. “Start practicing your music,” he instructed, backing toward the stairs. “I’ll be down after I do the family thing.”

Kelly ran upstairs, crashing in through the front door like always, only to practically run over a guy wearing a pastor’s coat in their front room.

The guy—Mexican like Kelly’s grandma, but leaner, like a basketball coach, and with white mixed in his hair—was standing next to his daughter, a pretty, sloe-eyed girl with a coal black ponytail that had a big curl in the back and a face like a porcelain oval, with an impish twist to her lips.

Matty was standing next to her, a stiff smile on his face, and Kelly groaned inwardly.

“You must be Kelly,” Isela’s father said, smiling with too many white teeth. “So nice to meet you. I’m sorry—your father tells me that your family was about to leave. I won’t take much of your time.”

“Yes,” Mom said, her eyes squashed flat and her mouth pursed. “We are busy—Matty and the girls have games, and Kelly and the neighbor boy do their homework. What can we do for you?”

Kelly kept his face bland, but he wanted to raise his eyebrows. Do their homework? His mother knew very well that it was his drawing time, but she wasn’t telling this asshole nothing!

“I was just coming to extend an invitation,” he said congenially. “You called because you seemed to have concerns with the church and—”

“Our son has learned some very peculiar things from your church,” Dad said, his eyes as narrow as Mom’s.

“Well, yes, if you don’t understand our beliefs—”

“I believe people who hate other people need to go,” Mom said distinctly, and Matty let out a whine.

“Mom!”

She took a deep breath. “Your stand on the gay population is crystal clear,” she said, pulling back her teeth.

“We don’t evenknowany gay people—”

But Kelly’s mom wasn’t having any of that. “How do you know? You don’t know that. I know people are all worked up about not liking gay people or not liking brown people—how much fun is not liking brown people, Matty? Are you excited about going to a church that says brown people aren’t welcome?”

They’d all watched the news in horror over the last couple of years, waiting for the men in the big uniforms to come and drag them out of school because they looked like someone who shouldn’t be there.

“No,” Matty said, his defiance melting. “That sucks.”

“Yeah, well, this is the same thing—”

“Except Leviticus said—” Matty protested.

“Yeah, well, Leviticus said it was okay to sell your daughter into slavery. You try to touch my daughters, and I will cut your balls off.”

The family stared at Linda Cruz, mouths open.

“Mom?” Kelly squeaked.

“I’m sorry,” Isela’s father said, drawing himself up like he’d have magic powers if he was taller. “I thought you were people of good character—”

“My sons are of the best character,” Dad interjected. “And Matty is free to go to your church with your daughter because that’s his decision. But I’d rather my kids not be exposed to that sort of hate, frankly.”

Isela’s dad cast a not-too-subtle look at Kelly, and Kelly wondered if he hadtwinkwritten on his ass or if the guy was just guessing. He didn’t care. Good for Mom and Dad for not putting up with this asshole.