“I will not ‘drop it.’ You want to waste your life? Finish high school first. That’s not too much to ask.”
Cameron stares down at his dish, a pink flush rising on his cheeks. His father is embarrassing him in front of me, and it sparks a bit of anger in my chest.
“I’m out of here,” Cameron mumbles, pushing his chair back with a loud screech. He grabs his plate, carries it to the sink, and drops it in. We all jump at the clatter.
Cameron leaves the room and I hear the front door open and close. I’m not sure what to do. Am I supposed to chase after him? Have more juice?
“Savannah,” Kendra says, startling me. “Can you make sure he gets to school okay for me?”
“Yeah,” I say. But before I leave, I look at Marcel. “You shouldn’t have done that when I was here. You embarrassed him.” Marcel seems stunned and lowers his eyes.
Kendra walks over to take my plate and looks down at me. “Have a great day,” she says. Her voice is kind, and she reaches to sweep some hair away from my face.
For a moment I want to hug her. Adults don’t usually talk to me like this—act so maternal. I thank her and walk out to find Cameron.
Cameron’s in his car as it idles in the driveway. I get in the passenger side, glad that it’s warmed up, at least. I turn to him.
“So that was a fun family breakfast,” I say. “Why’s your dad so pissed?”
“Sorry about that,” he says in a low voice.
“Don’t be sorry. My dad pawned your Xbox, so . . .”
Cameron looks sideways at me. “Let’s just say my father hasn’t been as forgiving as my mother. You know, the whole hundred thousand.”
“Right.”
“It’ll be fine. He had to pay the money, so he deserves to be angry. But if he would have just let me drop out of school, none of it would have happened.”
“I don’t understand,” I say. “I’ve never wanted to drop out of school, and I stabbed somebody in math class. So why do you want to quit so badly?”
He smiles. “I want to waste my life.”
“You can just leave,” I suggest. “Although I’m not really sure why you’d want to.”
“What. Like run away?”
“Yeah.”
“No, not my style.”
“Fair enough. So what’s the deal your dad’s talking about? What happens if you don’t go to school?”
“You’re awfully curious today, Sutton.”
“You must be rubbing off on me. Now what kind of deal?” In truth I’m fascinated. The more I know about Cameron and how unperfect he is, the more perfect he becomes.
“My dad told me that if I didn’t graduate from Brooks Academy I’d have to pay for the damages myself. I’d have to sell my car, my stuff. Then any money I have in my savings accounts. All of it gone. After that he said he’d let the state go after the rest. They’d garnish my wages. You know, if I ever got a job. But . . . I really like my car. So I agreed.”
“I really like your car too,” I say. “Would your dad really do that, though?”
“He would.” Cameron exhales. “He definitely would.”
“Then you’d better not let him find out how much school you miss.”
“It’ll be our secret,” he whispers.
I lean my head back on the seat, watching him. “And it’s not weird?” I ask. “Like, every day, it’s not weird for you guys to be around each other?”
