“No, I only heard about him. Fi didn’t talk a lot about her family. I knew that he was a tool to her mom, but no real details.”
“Do you think he’s dangerous?”
“You saw the video footage. You tell me.”
“I think he is. That’s why I agreed to come here. I couldn’t leave her after that.”
“I don’t think she’s telling us everything.”
“Me either,” he agrees.
Heactuallyagreed with me on something.
I clear my throat, trying not to make the next words out of my mouth awkward. “Were you and Fi—I mean, I can tell something was clearly going on earlier.”
“Nothing happened.” His voice is a quiet rumble in the dark. “Nothing will ever happen.”
“Is that what she wants?”
“I don’t know what she wants.” He turns onto his back again. “It’s what I want, I guess. It’s the right thing to do.”
“I’m not condoning you two being together, but sometimesthe right thing and the thing you need aren’t the same.” I take a breath and glance at him. “I’ve watched you for months—coming into the pub, I mean—and I’ve never seen your eyes light up the way they do when you look at her. That’s important. Happiness is important.”
Bastian turns his head toward me, then rolls over, and I lie back with a sigh.
After a few moments of silence, he speaks again. “I never thought of you as depressed. I’m sorry that you’re going through that. I know from experience that it’s rough.”
“Yeah,” I acknowledge softly.
Then we sleep.
I stareat my feet while swinging my black and white Nikes back and forth anxiously. I’ve never been to the principal’s office before. My dad’s on his way, and I’m sick to my stomach. He’s going to be so angry.
I dab at my nose with a Kleenex, but the bleeding has mostly stopped. I jump when the office door slams open, and my father sweeps inside like a villain in a business suit. I look up at him, tears pricking the backs of my eyes. His lips are so pinched that they’re white.
He gives me a withering glare and then walks past me into the principal’s office.
I keep my eyes downcast as I listen to him shouting.
I’m in trouble because I got into a fight with a teammate. But he called my friend Aiden a bad name and tried to choke him with a hot dog at lunch. It was cruel, and I couldn’t just stand there.
The yelling stops, and my dad storms out, grabs my elbow, and yanks me from the chair.
“Dad, I’m sorry,” I croak, a tear slipping from the corner of my eye as I stumble in his grip.
“Don’t you fucking cry,” he growls as he hauls me down thehallway and out the double doors to the car. He opens the passenger side and practically throws me into the seat. Then, he storms around and gets in on the other side.
I put my seatbelt on and twist my fingers together. He doesn’t say anything the entire ride home, and I try to calm down, but my thoughts keep returning to earlier in the cafeteria. I can still hear Aiden gagging on the hot dog, his skinny legs kicking as he fought for air. And so many people werelaughing.
The car stops in the driveway. By the time I get out, my father is already there, blocking my path. I swallow at the anger that flashes in his hazel eyes. I hate that we have the same eyes.
“Explain to me why you punched Maverick Jones—your fucking teammate.”He knows exactly why I did it, but he wants to hear me say it.
“He was bullying Aiden,” I say, lowering my eyes.
“The faggot kid from down the street?”
I clench my fists, rage filling my whole chest. “Don’t call him that!” I scream, my voice cracking. I want to hit him like I hit Maverick, but I’m scared of him, and he’s my dad.
