She stared at me and then her eyes shifted from side to side, as though she was thinking or recalling something.
“I went there too,” she admitted.
“You did?” I asked. There were lots of kids at the school, but I didn’t remember seeing or hearing of her.
“How old are you now?” she asked.
“Twenty-one.” My stomach dropped as I recalled how Garrett was the one who told me that I was actually twenty-one while in the hospital. I had lost track of time while with Sebastian.
“I’m nineteen. So I was two years behind you.” She narrowed her eyes at me and then asked, “What was your last name at school? Because you do kind of look familiar.”
“Cooper.”
A smile spread across her face, and as she chewed her sandwich, she nodded.
“Brandon Cooper, or ‘Anchor Bran.’ You ran for the track team. I knew you looked familiar, but I couldn’t place it exactly.”
Quickly the air between the four of us grew deathly silent as I was sure all of us thought about how she could’ve just said that I looked familiar because of the shitty place we were kept. Though, maybe she went there voluntarily as the others had. I kept my head down while I ate a few spoonfuls of soup. When I looked at Salem, she looked upset and like she was about to cry.
Had I caused that reaction?
“Um,” I started to say, but wasn’t sure where to go with it. I looked at Garrett, hoping that he’d jump in.
Garrett wrapped his arm around Salem and pulled her close. He looked up at James with a tight smile on his face. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or what. Maybe he was just frustrated. Maybe Salem cried a lot for what appeared to be no reason at all, like me.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized. I thought maybe something I did or said had upset her.
“No,” Salem quickly said and waved her hand in the air. “It’s not you; it’s me.”
I had said that exact line so many times to James when I randomly cried over nothing. Garrett kissed her forehead and then glanced between James and me.
“Sometimes the emotions tumble out of her,” Garrett explained. “Her counselor said it’s to be expected from time to time.”
I knew how she felt. I’d experienced it a lot and still did. And I still got as frustrated with myself over it. James had also told me it was to be expected.
“It happens to me too,” I told her. “James says the same, that it’s expected.” I shrugged when she peeked at me. “Sometimes it happens to me when we’re out. Something will affect me, and then the next thing I know the tears won’t stop. I get so angry at myself because I don’t always understand what causes the tears, but it frustrates the hell out of me.”
“Yeah, it’s weird, but I’m the same way,” she murmured and reached for her soda. “Anyhow, I was surprised that you and I went to the same school. I’m sorry for bringing up old stuff,” she said.
“It’s okay. High school was part of my good past,” I said as James’ hand gently squeezed my shoulder. I felt like that comment could have probably derailed her again, so I tried to recover some. “So were you involved in any clubs or sports in high school?”
“The genealogy club,” Salem shrugged and smiled. “I know, I know. It wasn’t really cool, but it was very interesting. I’d always been curious about my heritage. My mom—” Salem rolled her eyes, “She didn’t approve of it, though. She wanted me to be on the cheer squad. I despised that kind of stuff.”
I took the last spoonful of my soup and then looked up at her when she posed the same question to me.
“What about you? Aside from track, were you involved in anything?”
“Mainly track. In the fall I did cross country, and for a few years, I played soccer. My mom wasn’t a big supporter of any of it, though.” I took a long sip of my Coke and set the glass down.
“Your mom is Haley Cooper. I imagine she was super busy.”
I nodded and thought back to the last time I had spoken to her. We argued over Eli and what kind of an influence I was having over her ability to get modeling jobs.
“Do you see her, or have you spoken to her since… I’m sorry, Brandon. I don’t know why I keep bringing it up.”
“It’s okay,” I assured her. “I don’t see my mom. She died while I was withthem.”
“I’m sorry.” Salem shook her head and looked down at her plate that was nearly empty.
