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I looked over at her warily before I cleared my throat.
“Hey, Mike. I just wanna—”
He cut me off. “It’s Michael, thanks.”
I nodded slowly. “Michael. I’m sorry, you know, for the whole fight and everything. It happened at a time where I was angry at shit in my house, and I took it out on you.”
He nodded. “Anything else?”
I paused. “Well, thank you for jumping in yesterday, too. You’ve got some serious fight, and I was impressed.”
“Well, I didn’t do it for you. I did it for Rae. But you’re welcome. For not letting you get killed out there.”
Allison swatted at his arm and I looked slowly over at Rae. But again, all she did was squeeze my hand. Like that was supposed to reassure me things would be all right. She stepped closer to me, leaning her cheek against my arm. And as I turned my head back to her two friends, I saw Michael’s eyes ignite with anger.
While Allison’s eyes filled with happiness.
Michael rolled his eyes. “Will he be walking with us every morning?”
Rae shrugged. “I don’t know. Part of that is up to him. But I’d really like it if you two gave him a chance.”
Michael scoffed. “He attacked me, Rae.”
I nodded. “And I apologized for that. I got some shit going on at home and—”
He cut me off again. “We’ve all got shit going on at home.”
Rae stepped in. “He’s got my kinda shit going on, Michael.”
And that quickly shut down the conversation. Though I wasn’t completely happy with Rae blurting that out. Or equating my home situation to hers. Or talking about my home situation in general, like I was some fucking charity rehab project.
Rae sighed. “Anyway, please give him a chance. For my sake. I’ll be spending more time with Clint now, and I’d like there to not always be this fighting and tension.”
Michael grumbled. “Of course.”
Allison linked her arm with his. “What he means is that of course, we’ll give him a chance. For both of your sakes.”
As the four of us walked to school, it was quiet. Rae didn’t speak with them, and they didn’t speak with us. Lines had been drawn in the sand, and we had our respective corners to stand in. And I didn’t want it to be like this for Rae. She deserved better.
So I cleared my throat.
“Looks like you got out better from that fight yesterday than I did, Michael.”
I looked over at him, but all he did was nod.
“Guess that’s what happens when you don’t run into a gaggle of guys without a plan.”
I nodded. “Gaggle of guys. I like that. Especially since that one looked like a goose.”
Allison giggled. “That’s bad, Clint.”
I shrugged. “Well, he did! And the way he announced his charges every time with that yell of his. I was waiting for him to fluff his feathers out and start chomping at me with his beak.”
Rae laughed. “Have you ever been attacked by a goose? There’s one that roams our neighborhood. I swear, it’s hellbent on terrorizing every little kid in that cul-de-sac of ours.”
Allison rolled her eyes. “I wake up to the honking of geese every morning, courtesy of the stupid pond Dad wanted to live beside when we first moved.”
Michael chuckled. “Harsh words coming from you, Ali.”
