Page 18 of Tell Me Softly

Chapter Eleven

Kami

In the parking lot after the blood drive, as I dug through my purse for my keys, I was surprised when someone jumped out from behind my convertible, and I thought my heart was going to stop.

“Jesus!” I shouted when I saw Danny. “You scared the shit out of me!” I rested my hands on my knees and tried to catch my breath.

“Where are you going?” he asked, ignoring my complaints. I noticed his eyes were red and swollen, and as he came closer, he swayed from side to side. I could smell the alcohol seeping from his pores.

“Are you drunk?” I asked. I couldn’t believe it. But then I remembered he hadn’t been at practice.

“I’m fucked,” he said. He walked close to me and, without warning, shoved me into the car, pressing his body against mine. “You have no idea what you’ve done to me, do you?” In his face was hatred. I tried to push him away, but he grabbed my hand.

“Let me go,” I said, controlling my voice, but I felt scared as I looked into his dilated pupils.

I’d seen him that way before, although not often, and it had always scared me.

He always said drugs weren’t his thing, that he cared too much about basketball to do them.

But I’d seen him smoking weed at the party, and God knew what he was on now.

“It’s all over,” he said. “The team, everything.” He grabbed my wrist and squeezed it until it started to throb.

“You’re hurting me, Danny,” I said, trying to get away from him. But he was too strong, too heavy.

“I can’t do it. I can’t keep coming here.

All I can do is think about you. So I guess that’s it, right?

No more team, no more school, no more playing ball at college.

All because of you, Kami. You’ve fucked my head up real good.

I can’t even think about anything but you and your goddamn promises of us being together forever and all the times you lied to me and said I love you … ”

“I do love you, Danny, but I’m not in love with you.

” He was a wreck. And even though he was hurting me, I felt sorry for him…

Should I have? Maybe not, but we had shared so much.

Too many things to pretend it had been nothing, and too many for me not to worry about what the hell was going on with him.

He pushed his hips into mine grotesquely and pushed my wrist behind my head.

“I’ll make you be in love with me again,” he said. “You can’t just throw our relationship overboard… You’re not leaving me, Kami. I’m not going to allow it…”

He tried to kiss me, tried to force me to kiss him, but I looked away.

It was like I was with another person.

The Danny I had loved was gone… There was nothing left of him.

“Hey!” someone yelled from the other end of the lot, by the back doors to the school.

It was Taylor, who apparently hadn’t left yet, and he came running toward me with Julian, Kate’s brother.

“What the hell are you doing?” Taylor shouted, grabbing Danny’s shirt and pulling him away.

But he could see clearly what was going on.

I held my wrist to my chest and started crying, and Taylor’s eyes darkened with rage just before he turned and punched Danny in the face.

Danny didn’t even need a second to react.

Soon the two of them were rolling on the ground and fighting.

“Stop, Taylor!” I shouted. “Stop fighting!”

I looked over at Julian, hoping he’d do something, but instead he joined in. It was two against one, and with Danny in the state he was in, you can imagine how it turned out.

“Stop!” I screamed.

Then I heard another person—a deeper voice, louder—and footsteps thundered toward us.

Thiago stopped in front of them, with Coach Klebb not far behind him.

Within minutes, all the athletes had left practice and were standing around them as Thiago pulled Taylor away and Klebb pinned Julian’s arms behind him.

Down on the ground, Danny was bleeding from the mouth and holding his ribs in pain.

“Calm down,” Thiago told his brother between gritted teeth as Danny stood and stumbled away.

“Walker, get back here right now!” Klebb shouted, but Danny got into his Land Rover and sped off without a response.

I wondered how he would avoid getting expelled, but then, with parents as rich as his were, I knew he wouldn’t have any difficulties whatsoever. As for how the team would react, that was a different story.

The principal was the last to arrive. There was fury on his face as he asked, “What on earth is happening here?” He stared at each and every one of the students, then ordered us sternly, “Hamilton, Di Bianco, Murphy, in my office immediately!”

I narrowed my eyes at him. I hadn’t done anything! But I knew I had to do as he said.

Thiago whispered something to Taylor, who walked beside me and asked, “What the hell did he do to you?” He was legitimately worried.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” I was angry; I’d just wanted to go home. It seemed like the day would never end.

The three of us walked to the office, and the few teachers still in their rooms, along with the janitors, stared at us.

How had word of the fight spread so fast?

It wasn’t my fault, I kept telling myself.

I stared down anyone who caught my eye as I wondered what was about to happen to me.

We stood in a line as Thiago and Coach Klebb came in behind us, walking around to the other side of the principal’s desk.

“You can go ahead and tell me what happened,” Harrison said, looking at me first. No one uttered a word, myself included.

“Fine, then,” he said, standing up and pouring himself a cup of coffee from the small pot on his shelf. “That’ll be a week’s detention. And if you don’t pipe up now, we can go ahead and make it two.”

I stepped forward. It wasn’t those guys’ fault, and they didn’t deserve the punishment. But I didn’t want Danny to get in trouble, either. So I made the decision then to protect all of them.

“Sir…there was a misunderstanding,” I lied as convincingly as I could. “My ex-boyfriend and I were in a fight and the guys thought Danny was trying to hurt me. I know they thought they were doing the right thing, but they didn’t need to. It was just an argument, that’s all.”

“No, it wasn’t! He was trying to force himself on her!” Taylor shouted.

I looked at my wrist, saw where it was red and bruised, and hid it behind my back. But Thiago grabbed it from behind me and brought it forward for the principal to see.

“He hurt her, sir. I saw it,” he said.

The principal examined my arms, then looked me straight in the eye.

“Miss Hamilton, is this true?” he asked.

Thiago gave me a soft squeeze, encouraging me to tell the truth, but I shook my head.

“No, my little brother did that to me yesterday when we were playing at home. Danny Walker’s never laid a hand on me.”

“What the hell…!” Taylor exclaimed.

“Why did Mr. Di Bianco get involved, then?” the principal asked.

“We were fighting, that’s true. But he never hurt or threatened me. I promise, sir.”

Why was I covering up for him? Because I knew they might expel him, and if that happened, he’d make life impossible for me.

The principal didn’t seem convinced, but he also wasn’t going to blame the captain of the basketball team if the victim––aka me––didn’t confess.

“We have a zero-tolerance policy for fighting at this school, no exceptions. Even if Miss Hamilton was in danger, there were better solutions than taking it into your own hands. All three of you will be punished with two weeks of after-school detention. Since you already have after-school activities, that means you’ll all have to serve it once practice is over, from six to eight every day. ”

I couldn’t believe it. That meant I would basically spend my entire day at the damn school!

“Sir,” Thiago said, “I’m sorry for interrupting, but shouldn’t they just not practice for two weeks? Eight o’ clock is really late…” He was clearly upset.

The principal lowered his glasses. “Mr. Di Bianco, I’m the one who decides these things here. This is how we’ve always done it, and I’m going to need you to be a team player about this.”

Thiago looked humiliated. Now I remembered: he was the one in charge of detention.

How the tables had turned: back when he was in school, he was always getting into trouble and had to stay late himself.

Respect for authority had never been his strong point—not when we were younger, anyway.

Having to shut his mouth and nod clearly got to him, and for some reason, I found that amusing.

We didn’t have the chance to say much else before Principal Hamilton waved his hand and motioned for us to leave his office. When we were outside, Taylor asked me, “Why the hell did you have to lie?”

Thiago’s expression was cruel and full of resentment as he walked off down the hall. Julian was the only one who didn’t seem furious. He just looked at his wounded knuckles, which were already scabbing over, with something like curiosity.

“Would you mind leaving us alone for a moment?” Taylor asked.

Julian nodded his head. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” he said, turning on his heels. But I stopped him and said, “Wait a second. Thanks for defending me, Julian. You didn’t have to, and I’m sorry it got you in trouble.”

“It was worth it,” he said with a timid smile.

As soon as he’d walked off, Taylor came around in front of me, brought his face within an inch of mine, and told me angrily, sternly, “Kami, answer me.” I noticed the soft blue of his eyes, noticed the swollen tissue of his hands, worse than Julian’s, and I felt twice as guilty.

Of all the people at that school, Taylor was the last person I’d have wanted to hurt.

“I’m not an idiot,” he went on. “I could tell something was wrong when I saw you with that asshole on game day when the two of you were sitting in his stupid car. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened, is it? ”