Chapter ElevenKami
My mother took my brother and me to school. After what had happened with Momo and Julian and Cam’s classmates, he was no longer the same kid. He still ran around the house dressed up as a caterpillar, a spider, or some monster, holding his iguana Juana in one hand and his laser pistol in the other, but something about him had changed. He was more skittish, more dependent, and way more insecure than he’d been before they’d bullied him.
Kids can be cruel, and I knew firsthand how bad the consequences of someone mistreating you could be.
“Should I pick you up, or is Taylor coming to get you?” my mother asked as we pulled up to school and got out. I was buttoning my brother’s coat and pushing a wool hat down onto his head.
“Taylor told me he’d take me to the go-cart track this weekend,” my brother said with excitement in his little blue eyes.
It had been a miracle getting my mother to accept my relationship with the son of the woman whose marriage she had destroyed, but she’d gone beyond that, and it was proof that she’d really changed. How, then, could I turn around and tell her Taylor and I had broken up? And how would she react when I started going outwith Thiago? Even I couldn’t admit to myself what was going on with Thiago. I knew it would be a long time before either of our families would accept that we loved each other.
How naive I was then, worrying about that, with no idea of what lay in store.
“Why don’t you pick me up?” I said, focusing my eyes on my brother. I didn’t want her to suspect anything, to get nosy and start asking questions.
“OK, see you guys later,” she said, kissing my brother and giving me an inquisitive glance.
I grabbed Cameron’s hand and started walking him toward the building.
“Hey, Kami,” he said, scratching his forehead and all but removing his hat, “is it true that Momo was just your friend in disguise?”
I wondered where that question was coming from. We had talked a long time about how Momo didn’t exist and no one was going to hurt him.
“He’s not my friend anymore, Cameron,” I answered, looking around. The thought of seeing Taylor or Thiago made me nervous. I didn’t know what Taylor would do or say after what had happened the day before, and I didn’t know how I’d resist throwing myself into Thiago’s arms to be enveloped by his scent.
I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him, going back over the night we’d spent together. His hands, his mouth, his body against mine, our passion, comfort, and pleasure. I’d never known anything like it.
What would he do when he saw me?
I knew we needed to keep what we’d done secret, at least for a while, but what I hadn’t expected was that he would pass me by without so much as a glance. I was left staring at him as he continued down the hall. I told myself this was part of the plan. That thiswas how we would keep it secret from the students, the teachers, the principal, and the rumor mill.
But when Taylor saw me, it was totally different. He didn’t duck me, didn’t avoid my gaze, he just stopped to say hi to my brother.
“What’s up, champ?” he said as Cam looked at him, bright-eyed. “You ready for our big hang tomorrow night?”
I could tell that, though he was trying to hide it, pain was consuming him from within. So why was he trying to pretend otherwise?
“Listen, Taylor,” I began, but Cam screamed over me: “Yessss!!”
“Cool, see you later, kid,” he said, pulling off his hat and giving his hair a tussle. Then, when I thought he would leave without uttering a word to me, he asked, “Can we talk at lunchtime?”
“Sure,” I responded, a little confused, and he bent down and gave me a peck on the cheek.
What the hell was going on?
“Come on, Cam,” I said.
I had to leave my phone in a plastic bag as I walked in the building, same as every day. After what had happened with Julian, they were taking their anti-bullying measures seriously, and there was a zero-tolerance policy for phones during school hours. When I was done, I walked Cam to his classroom. “See you later, OK, buddy?” I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey, Kami? What if we just went back home?” he called out as I turned to walk away.
I couldn’t help but grin. “You in the mood to play hooky?”
Cam didn’t smile back. “I don’t want to be here,” he said.
When I saw the look on his face, I had to walk back. I kneeled down beside him. “Why not? You used to love school.”
He shrugged, tightening the straps of his backpack, which wasalmost as big as he was. “I’d rather be home with you and Mom. Maybe we can give Dad a call. We should see how he’s doing…”
