“Everyone in school knows that you’re my guard dog, Knox. No boy in the junior or senior class will touch me with a ten-foot pole. You’re ruining my life.”
“You think I enjoy saving you from your damn self all the time?”
Actually, I kind of enjoyed giving Mario that can of whoop ass today.
“Then stop doing it.”
Gigi is sixteen-years-old and as far as I know, hasn’t had a boyfriend yet. She’s definitely a virgin and may not have even had a first kiss. So, while I can understand her frustration with me, the truth is that I haven’t met a kid yet at school who would treat her the way she deserves. They’re all shitheads that make choices led by the obvious parts of their anatomy. I should know, I’m one of them. And in our small world, that could mean the kiss of death for Gigi’s reputation.
“You know I can’t do that.”
She sighs then stands up, brushing a few dead leaves off of the back of her dress. She stares pensively at me for a moment, like there’s something she wants to say but decides against it.
“Go home, Knox.”
I look around for her bike but don’t see it. Then I surmise that Mario probably picked her up in his car, so now she doesn’t have a ride home.
“Call an Uber first, then I’ll leave.”
“I’m going to walk.”
“All the way to your house? Your dad will kill me and you too.”
“Stop with the fake concern.” She hands me a tissue out of the small black purse that’s flanked across her body. “And wipe your face. You’re bleeding.”
As she turns around, my eyes can’t help but be drawn to her ass as it pokes through her dress. Gigi’s ass is my enemy and my nemesis. More boys at school have been looking at her ass over the last year than they ever have before. It’s probably the only reason why Mario was dumb enough to take her out today. Clearly, her butt has the power to make boys do crazy shit.
“Ugh, you got blood splatter all over my sneakers,” she laments.
“Why are you even wearing them? You were sitting in grass by the water. They were bound to get dirty.”
“Because they’re my favorite sneakers.”
She walks away.
“Did you wear them for him?” I call out. Regretting the question as soon as it slips from my mouth. It sounds dumb, and it’s none of my business, but I wait for her answer, anyway. I picked those sneakers out for her when my mom took us Christmas shopping last year. Mom wanted to get Gigi a gift that she would actually like, and I knew she’d love them.
She turns around and stares a hole right through me.
“No.”
I’m frozen to my spot and cannot move. There’s deep meaning behind her simple one-word answer, but I don’t know exactly what, and it’s probably best I don’t find out.
Gigi is not my friend.
She is simply my responsibility.
I’ve just got to protect her through one more year of high school, and then we’ll both be free from this unholy alliance of our parents making.
And for me, that day can’t come soon enough.
Before, I really do something stupid.
Two
Knox
Seven Years Later
