I grabbed a whisk and playfully jabbed it at her. “Take that back.”
Dani burst out into laughter. “Promise me you’ll help me interfere with Rooster and Katie if the moment calls for it.”
I twirled the whisk and rolled my eyes. “Of course I will. I’m not an animal.”
“Right answer, first lady.”
“Right, what are we feeding these jackals?” I asked.
“Burgers and dogs?”
“For the kids, yes.” I raised an eyebrow. “Steaks for us.”
“Love it,” Dani said, and we got down to work.
* * *
Rooster
High School – Freshman Year…
“Yo, man, what’s up with all these nerd classes?” Gus asked, reading from the schedule he’djust snatched from my hands. “You’re supposed be in shop with us.”
“Ihaveshop, dumbass. Sixth period,” I said.
Fred groaned. “But we all have shop first period.”
“You need to drop Geometry, so you can hang with us,” Fred said. “Besides what are you gonna need to know about shapes and shit anyway. We learned all that in kindergarten.”
“Why the hell did they sign you up for all those smart kid classes anyway?” Gus piled on. “Must have been some kind of mistake, right?”
I shrugged.
The truth of the matter was, Iwassmart like all the other smart kids, I just didn’t show it to anyone, because if I did, I got shit for it. Either by my friends or my dad.
“You gotta go into that class and tell Ms. Hamon you’re dropping it,” Fred demanded. “Then go to the office during break and move shop to first period.”
I nodded. “Yeah, okay, I will.”
“Geometry.” Gus laughed. “Fuck, these teachers don’t know nothin’.”
The next morning, I’d planned on doing exactly that. I’d been pissed off because my dad had decided to work on his boxing moves, using my face as the bag which had made me nearly miss the bus, so I was amped up and ready for a fight as I stormed into my first class of the day.
But as I approached Ms. Hamon, the prettiest girl I’d ever seen walked into class and sat down, and I lost my ability to speak.
“Mr. Cahill?” Ms. Hamon prodded. “Did you have a question?”
“Ah, um, no.”
“Okay, then, take your seat, please.”
Before Doug Walker could beat me to it, I sat beside the pretty girl and gave her a giant smile, regretting it immediately as my split lip stung, reminding me of my morning beating.
“Hey, I’m Kam.”
She frowned. “What happened to your eye?”
“Got hit by a door.”
