Page 20 of Tell Me Softly

Chapter Twelve

Thiago

It sucked being there, and I couldn’t help feeling this was Harrison trying to stick it to me somehow.

He’d said he only took me on as a favor to my mother.

I didn’t know what that meant, really, but what I did know was that no one else in town was jumping at the chance to take me on.

People here gossiped; some of them knew what had happened between Kami’s family and mine, and since her mother was rich and influential, naturally people had taken her side.

Whatever. Keep your head down and focus on your work, I told myself.

So I turned to a clean sheet of paper on my clipboard and drew up potential plays.

I’d been working on them for a long time, and I hoped they’d work when we had our next exhibition game against Falls Church.

They’d been our rivals since before I left town, and last year, they’d knocked our team out of semifinals for the state championship.

When I left, I tried to forget everything about Carsville, but I could never stop rooting for the home team.

Next week’s game was away. I knew that would add to the pressure on my guys.

We needed to be prepared—that was the only sure way to win.

I didn’t have a lot motivating me in my life, but one thing that did matter to me was making it to number one.

And with this team, I was pretty sure I could do it.

I heard footsteps and looked up to see her walking through the door.

She met eyes with me briefly, then looked away.

She took the last desk in the back to the right.

She was still in her gym clothes—I guess she meant to shower when she got home?

The thought of that excited me, and I tried to shove it away.

When I saw her in her cheerleading skirt, that made it even worse.

Those legs of hers, they were giving me headaches, especially when I imagined them wrapped around my waist…

Stop it! I told myself.

“You’re late,” I barked, trying to get a hold of myself.

Kam looked up from the notebook she’d just taken out, then over at the clock on the wall.

“It’s 6:01,” she murmured.

“If you’re late again, I’ll have to talk to the principal.”

I knew I was being a jerk, but I just didn’t care. Julian looked shocked. To hell with him, then. Kam pressed her lips together, clearly trying to stop herself from talking back. Smart move, I thought.

Eventually my brother strolled in, meeting eyes with no one. He dropped his gym bag and took out his phone. Kam crossed her arms and sat back, challenging me to say something to him too.

“Taylor, you’re late,” I said, tapping my pen on my paper.

My brother looked at the clock, just as Kam had, and said, “It’s only ten minutes.”

“Show up on time from now on,” I said, turning back to my work. I could feel the bad vibes coming from the back of the class, and Kam couldn’t keep her frustration in for long before busting out, “So when it’s me, you threaten to go to the principal, and when it’s him, you just shrug it off?”

My brother turned in his seat.

“Are you serious? After what I did for you, you want him to tell on me to the principal because I was ten minutes late?” He was angry enough that I wondered whether he’d finally come to the same conclusion as me: that it was best to stay as far as possible from Kam.

“All I want is fairness. If I’m a minute late and he chews me out, then he should at least…”

“He’s my brother, do you get it?” I asked.

“So f-ing what?!” Her ears turned red with rage.

“So if I feel like giving him special treatment, I will.”

“But that’s not…”

“Fair?” I interrupted her. “Come down off your cloud, precious. Life isn’t fair. Now if you don’t want more days of detention, you’ll quiet down.”

“Hey, now, that’s a little bit much…” I looked to the source of those words: Julian, who was smiling at me, unlike Kam, and didn’t seem in the least intimidated.

I’d have liked to smack that smirk off his face, but instead I just said, “That’s enough talk for today.

If you open your mouth again, I’ll keep you all here till nine.

Trust me, I’ve got way better things to do, but if that’s what it takes, so be it. ”

I looked down at my work, not caring how my brother, Kam, or Julian reacted. Fortunately, I was able to get some things done; they kept quiet until eight, when I let them go. Taylor waited for me to gather my things, and we walked together down the hall.

When we opened the door and walked outside, we saw Kam talking with Julian.

“I don’t like that dude,” Tay said as he came up beside me. I was glad to know I wasn’t the only one.

“I think I’ve seen him somewhere before, but I don’t remember where,” I said, taking out a cigarette and lighting it as we walked over to the car.

My bike’s motor had started making weird noises, so I had left it in the garage.

Once we were home, I’d figure out what was going on with it.

I loved taking it out on the open road, but fixing it was a major pain in the neck.

“Are you sure?” Taylor asked, looking a little longer at Kam than he should have.

“Sure? No. But I’ve got a feeling…”

We passed just in front of them, and Kam tensed up. There was something strange in her eyes and my brother’s as they glanced at each other. What the hell was going on with them? Whatever it was, I didn’t like it, and I definitely didn’t like this new BFF routine they had going on.

When I got in the car, I pretended to be looking at my phone, but I was actually watching what was going on in the rearview mirror. As I did so, I got angrier and angrier, and after maybe a minute, I realized my brother felt the same way—except he wasn’t even trying to cover it up.

“Why can’t you stop staring at her, Tay?” I turned the key and sped out of the lot.

I needed to control my temper. I couldn’t just take everything out on my brother.

“I’m worried about her, Thiago.” WTF?

“You shouldn’t be worried. She didn’t worry about us when she tore apart our family.

” I turned the wheel into our development.

It was almost dark out, but there were still a few bands of pink, orange, even purple on the edge of the sky.

I just knew Mom would be on the porch staring at the sunset, the way she loved to, when we got there.

“Bro, I know Danny hurt her. And I don’t think it’s the first time.”

So I have to worry about another asshole now? My pulse sped up, and I responded, “I don’t think Kam’s the kind of girl to let anyone put his hands on her.”

“I saw almost the same thing happen the other day. And when I brought it up, something in her eyes told me I wasn’t on the wrong track…”

I hadn’t been wrong about Mom. There she was, mug in hand, the late September sun reflected in her eyes. I wish I could look into those clouds and feel the same peace in my soul that she did. Instead, it was just that constant frustration and anger that never left me.

“You honestly think he hits her?” My voice sounded sarcastic, but I think that was a reaction to what was going on inside me. I didn’t want to believe what I was feeling; I didn’t want to imagine someone could hurt Kam, and I didn’t want to admit to myself how much I cared.

Taylor took a deep breath before getting out.

“I don’t know, man,” he said, “but even the thought of it makes me want to go to his house right now and whup his ass.”

We turned just as Kam pulled onto our street and into her driveway. She got out and looked at us, then over at my mother, who had just stepped out to greet us.

“Why don’t you boys tell Kam to come over for dinner,” my mother said when we met her on the porch. Kam waved at my mother, and I clenched my fists as Mom waved back. I didn’t mean for anyone to notice, but Kam looked crushed. That image of her, so sad, remained burnt on the back of my retinas.

“If she sets one foot in this house,” I said, “I’m grabbing my things and going.”

I walked past Mom and Taylor and strode up to my room.

I’d had all the bullshit I could take for one day.