“Maybe.”
Chip got quiet again as I packed my dirty kit into its mesh bag.
And then he said, “What you said in Circle?”
“Yeah?”
“Was that about Trent?”
“Oh. Yeah.” I slung my messenger bag over one shoulder and my soccer bag over the other and stepped around the partition.
“Well. Sorry about that.”
“You don’t need to be,” I said.
And I meant it.
Really.
I didn’t expect Chip to apologize for the things Trent did.
I just wished I knew why the two of them were friends in the first place.
I didn’t know quite what to make of Cyprian Cusumano.
I tossed my bags into the trunk of Dad’s car and then opened the passenger-side door.
“Sorry for the wait.”
Dad shook his head. “No worries.”
But as soon as I closed the door, I felt trapped.
No one said anything, but I could feel it: an invisible particle field of frustration or anger, I wasn’t sure which. It pressed against my ears and thrummed in my chest.
I rolled down my window a bit. “Is this okay?”
“Laleh’s got an earache,” Mom said from the back, where she sat with Laleh to give me more leg room up front.
“Oh.” I rolled the window back up and turned the air on low instead. “This better?”
“Thanks, sweetie.”
As Dad pulled out of the parking lot, I saw Chip emerge from the locker room, headed toward his bike. I waved, but I don’t think he saw me, because he didn’t wave back or anything.
With no music playing, and no one talking, the vibration in my chest started getting worse.
I didn’t know what was going on with my family, but I didn’t like it.
So I said, “Thanks for coming. It means a lot.”
“Of course we came,” Mom said.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” Dad glanced a smile my way and then looked back to the road. Behind me, Mom ran her fingers through Laleh’s hair while she slept against the window. Quiet crept back over the car. I pulled out my phone to text Landon about the game and tried to ignore the prickly feeling in my stomach.
What was going on?
When we got home, Mom got Laleh ready for an early bedtime, while I warmed up some of the leftovers from Landon’s soup. Once the adrenaline of the game had drained out of me, I was starving.
