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I stare at the chipped yellow lockers, number one-six-two-two on the left.
“How do you know that’s the one?” she asks.
I don’t blink, and I don’t look at her. “Hawke hacked some old school records when I asked.”
The metal corners are rusted where the paint has worn away, and dents and scratches are scattered across every square inch from the vents to below the handle.
More than twenty years ago, my parents lifted that handle to discover my dad’s stolen cell phone that Nate Dietrich used to make my mother believe my dad had posted a video of them having sex.
That was the locker of his partner in crime, Piper Burke, and it didn’t register with the administration when they decided to install new ones last year and save a few of the old for a nostalgic showcasing of the school’s history, but it did with my step-cousin, Kade. He didn’t want this locker trashed, so he made sure it was one of the artifacts preserved in this long glass case I have to walk past several times every day.
A lot of people saw that video all those years ago, and they had kids who are here now. It hasn’t been forgotten, and while no one would dare say a word to my parents, the secret that’s not really a secret still slowly fills any space I walk into like a ship filling with water.
I doubt Kade thought of that, though. All he cares about is that Nate and Piper had a kid, and that kid just started high school here this year. The sins of the father and all that…
And I know the video wasn’t my parents’ fault, but their shadow falls everywhere.
I glance at Aro and then walk over, pushing open the women’s locker room door. “This entire town revolves around my family, this school orbiting them the most.” I drop my jacket on a bench and kick off my boots. “My fatherthinks I’ll be a target as a motorbike racer. Not just because I’m a girl, but also because I’m his daughter. He doesn’t want me to be taunted like I still am at this school from time to time over my parents’ bullshit back in the day.”
Make no mistake. My dad knows and regrets the reputation he made for himself when he was my age.
But his mistake is thinking it’smyburden to bear.
I turn to her, whipping off my shirt and opening my jeans. “You know why my dad thinks it’s my responsibility to lay low and not invite scrutiny because I already get so much for his life?” I ask her. “Because I’m a girl.” I turn away and head for the showers in my bra and underwear, grabbing a towel off the rack. “When the time comes, he won’t tell my brother he can’t race motorcycles if he wants to.”
He’d love for James to share his interests, but I’m the one who needs to be shielded.
Whipping open the shower curtain, I step inside and start the water. I hold my hand under, checking the temperature as I hang my towel on a hook.
Aro leans in, pressing both hands on each side of the stall. “I’m going to tell you a secret.”
I cast my eyes up to her.
“Parents have far less control than you think they do, Dylan.” She smiles a little. “There’s a limit to how much and how hard they’ll fight you before they just give up. If that’s what you want.”
No.I don’t want them to give up. That’s not…
But she pulls the curtain closed and leaves me to clean up.
I tear off the rest of my clothes, hearing the locker room door echo shut as she leaves. I pull my hair out of my ponytail, wetting it under the spray.
She’s right. I know she is. I learned a long time ago that my parents would fold pretty easily on a lot of things with just a little resistance from me.
My father does not want me racing motorcycles, though. It’s the one hill he won’t descend.
I smooth my hand over the top of my head, seeing mud drip off my body, down to a pool around my feet as I quickly wash and shampoo.
However, I don’t want to go as far as Aro’s telling me I can.
Yeah, I can race, and he’ll scream or try to put me behind lock and key, but eventually I’ll find a way around him until he just gives up, both of us destroying our relationship—the respect and the trust—in all of the turmoil. I’ll tear my house apart, distress my mom and my brother… I don’t want my dad to just give in.
I want him to train me.
My head pounds, and I growl under my breath, shaking off all the noise in my brain.
I slam down the lever, shutting off the water, and grab my towel. I wrap it around me and exit the stall, finding clean clothes from the gym locker that I share with Aro.
The dull vibration of the music outside stops, but the walls are too thick to hear if an announcer is speaking or if the crowd is cheering.
