I look him up and down. “Are you jealous?”
His hands plant on his hips. “I want to be the one who’s that close to you.”
“Awe.” I pull my arms around his middle and plant my forehead against his chest. “Don’t be jealous. I was just talking with Kai.”
“And I can’t know what about?”
An exhausted sigh pours out of me. “It’s a lot of backstory. Believe me, it’s painful to get into.”
“Oh. Kai’s just easier to talk to?”
I lift my head and lock onto his eyes. “Don’t be jealous. It’s just that, if I talk about it with you, I think I’ll throw up.”
He grimaces. “Eww.”
I giggle. “See. I’m saving you from more hurt.”
“Maybe you’ll tell me another time?”
I nod. “I’m hoping it gets easier to deal with. Right now, I want to forget about it and just bask in the wonderful news of Alfie being home.”
Milo grins and we move over to the bed to pat the sleeping cat.
“Oh my gosh,” Milo whispers. “I’m so happy he’s home.”
I brush my fingers over Milo’s hand. “Me too.”
Twenty-Nine
Dinnerwasfilledwithcelebratory remarks from the whole family. I even video chatted with Aunt Maddy to relay my heroics. The cherry on top was making Milo smile at me again. It was only twenty-four hours that we were on radio silence, but it hurt so much, it may as well have been twenty-four years.
I spent last night anguishing over hurting Milo and the revelations I found in Mom’s diary. Thankfully, with all the talk about Alfie and my crawl through the mud, Coach is the last thought on my mind.
“Oh, thank God,” Mrs. Nelson says, reading through her emails at the table. “Kai, you’d better thank your lucky stars.”
Kai screws his face up. “Huh? What are you talking about?”
“After Jamie’s trouble with her school grades, I suspected you were flunking some classes too,” Mrs. Nelson says, turning her laptop. “I asked Ms. Thornesmith in the administration office to send over your school report. She finally got back to me and looks like you’re doing very well.”
Kai rolls his eyes. “Oh, is that all?”
“Wait a minute,” I say, getting up to view the laptop screen. “Kai’s doing well in classes?”
Mrs. Nelson nods proudly. “Seems that way.”
“What the hell?” I blurt at Kai.
He shrugs, indifferently. “What?”
“What about all your speeches about not being a mindless drone and sticking it to the man? All the while, you’re getting As and Bs?”
“I can’t help it’s easy to remember the crap they teach,” Kai says, scraping a fork along his plate. “That’s why I don’t get why you need so much time to study. I just ask Milo what part is needed for the test, and I skim over it.”
“You never told me you study before a test,” I say, feeling the betrayal run deep. “I ignored everything because I thought that’s what you were doing. Then I find out you’re acing your tests.”
“It wasn’t that hard to figure out,” Kai says matter-of-factly. “Ever see me in detention? No, because I have better things to do with my time.”
I slam a fist on the table. “You’re a fraud!”
