Well, for about two seconds before I snapped at him for being an asshole jock.
I was responsible for perpetuating this whole thing. The fight between the two teams might’ve died out once soccer camp was over and our field was finished, but we’d never know now.
“Detention all week?” Ty asked.
I ground my teeth at the reminder and punched open the door into the bright afternoon sun. “Yeah.”
“I’m thinking about organizing a retribution prank.”
“Don’t. They don’t care who’s behind it. They’ll still say we organized it, and next time, it’ll be suspension or worse. I can’t have that on my record.”
Ty turned to walk backward and yelled, “Such bullshit,” at the school while giving the building the finger.
I snickered in spite of it all.
Ty grinned at me, then bumped his shoulder into mine. “You going to be okay? A week with Cal will suck.”
And not in the way my mind would prefer either, but I only shrugged.
We reached the BMW X5 we shared, Mom’s hand-me-down when she got a new Lexus, just as Cal opened the door to his truck to my left.
He lifted his head and paused for a second, watching me watch him. We were probably thirty yards from each other. The details of his expression were lost to the distance, but the weight of his gaze bored into me. Did he really hate me? I sort of hated him, but only because it was easier, safer.
“Jack,” Ty yelled from inside the SUV.
I opened my door, eyes still on Cal, then lowered them and jumped in. I supposed our hatred was all for the best. Cal had given no indication he was into guys; not like I had either. My life and what I did with it was just that: mine. No one here needed to know shit about me when I’d be nothing more than a picture in a yearbook come summer.
Ty sped out of the student parking lot, then screeched to a halt when Cal tried to make the turn onto the street at the same time. He graciously waved Ty ahead of him, to which Ty gave Cal the finger.
“Ty, come on, man. Don’t be a dick. He’s in trouble just like I am for something we didn’t do.” And here was a great example of my self-made drama. No matter how much I hated him,wantedto hate him, I couldn’t stand it when anyone so much as thought about being mean to Cal or disrespected him. Logically, yes, Ty was only supporting me in his actions, but my heart was a stubborn ass.
“How do you know he didn’t do it?” Ty asked.
“Because he said he didn’t.”
“And he’s the pillar of truthfulness?”
“Why would he lie? We’ve both owned up to the shit we’ve done. If he said he didn’t ruin our kits, then he didn’t. The whole school is in on this now. It could’ve been anyone.”
Ty laughed. “Yeah.”
“Don’t be so happy about it, Captain Chaos.”
“I most certainly will. It’s fucking funny as shit.”
“Why don’t you spread the word to end this fight? That’s whatyoucan do as your own penance in all this,” I said.
Cal lived a few streets over and made every turn we did. I couldn’t see him, only the passenger side of his black Raptor in the side mirror, but I stared the entire way home.
Ty turned onto our driveway, and Cal disappeared. I lowered my eyes to my lap, to the strap of my backpack I’d twisted tightly. As much as I’d hated the extra time with him today, I wasn’t ready for it to be over.
I slowly followed Ty inside. With my homework completed in detention and nothing else to do, I went to the kitchen, where Mom was prepping dinner.
She glanced at me as I took a seat on a barstool, then retrieved a tray of snacks from the refrigerator and slid it along with a Gatorade across the kitchen island toward me.
“Why don’t you tell me what’s been going on? There has to be some reason the school singled you out over your brother, or half the school, for that matter.”
“It’s this guy, Cal.” I picked a celery stick off the tray but only twisted it round and round, then dropped it.
