Skylar doesn’t push it.
“Is he playing today?” I ask, trying to change the subject.
“I don’t think he’s cut out for this kind of thing.”
“But he’s on the team, isn’t he?”
“And I don’t really know why.”
“Maybe he was trying to impress someone.”
She looks at me. “I don’t need that kind of bullshit.”
“No?”
She shrugs and turns her gaze back to the field. “I don’t like sporty guys.”
“Whatdoyou like?”
She considers this for a moment, then looks at me again.
“Real people. People who stick around.”
I smile at her honesty, and the way she’s trying to keep up her stony exterior. In reality, she could burst into tears at any second.
“He’s a good kid, Carter. Not just because he’s responsible, or because he has the best grades in the school. It’s because he’s a good person. He has a big heart.”
“How do you know him so well?”
“I know all my students well. I know their stories.”
“Did his mother leave?” she asks me, brazenly.
“Yes.”
“But his dad stayed?”
I smile at her, nodding slowly.
“Why did you tell him about my graphic novels?”
“I just told him that there was this bright, clever girl with a limitless imagination, but that she’d lost her way a little. I told him she needed a hand finding the right path.”
“Did you really say that?”
“Yes.”
“So, you’ve read them, too?”
“Yes.”
“Did you like them?”
“I did. I think you’re extremely talented.”
“You’re not just saying that because you like my dad?”
I take a deep breath. “No.”
