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There was a sniff. “I called in sick at SLCCC.”
Instant concern filled TJ’s chest. “Are you okay?”
“No.” Her voice wobbled.
“I’m coming over,” he said tightly, reaching for his coat.
“TJ, don’t—”
He hung up to block out her protests. Ten minutes later he was knocking on her door, and her weak voice called out, “I can’t get up.”
“I’ll use my spare,” he said through the seam in the door, then let himself in for the second time. His heart nearly cracked in two at the sight of her in the fetal position on the couch, a bucket beside her. When his eyes settled on the hands clasped tightly across her lower belly, he knew what was wrong.
“Cramps?”
Her head bobbed, the picture of misery. “Just go. I’ll be fine. I’ve lived with this a long time.”
He didn’t know much about the menstrual cycle—thank goodness—but he knew Melody randomly got slammed with excruciating cramps when it was her time of the month. So bad they made her vomit and rendered her incapacitated. It wasn’t the first time she was missing work for the simple fact of being a woman. She was usually able to hide it from him. But there had been other times she couldn’t no matter how hard she tried.
Like the day he met her at age fourteen.
TJ jogged through the deserted halls of Silver Lake Middle School. He better hustle or he’d get an earful from his mom. She had only reminded him five times she was picking him up early from school today for a dental checkup.
Turning a corner in the hallway, he saw the main door ahead. Almost there. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of brown under the staircase. Was that a person hiding there?
His sneakers squeaked on the floor, he stopped so suddenly and turned around. Curious, he bent his head to see into the small space between the floor and the stairs. A girl was huddled there, crying. Wait, he recognized her! That girl from choir. She sang like an angel.
“Hey, there. Are you okay?”
Her head snapped up, her face flooding with the hue of embarrassment. “Yeah.”
“Then why are you under the stairs?”
“Doyoulike crying in class?” Her voice was sarcastic, and he narrowed his eyes.
“If you’re fine, why are you crying?”
Jaw clenched in obvious pain, she spat out, “Just leave me alone.”
He couldn’t do that. Instead, TJ began to list all the possible ailments. “Is it a headache? Fever? Stomachache? Sore throat?”
She shook her head at every option.
“Is it a horrifying contagion I never heard of? And now I’ll die because I talked to you?”
Her lips threatened to betray her with a smile. “Nothing like that, I assure you. Trust me, you don’t want to know.”
He gritted his teeth, his eyes flitting toward the door. “Is it cramps?”
Her eyes, a lovely shade of dark brown, bulged, her cheeks blossoming with even more color. Wow, she was super pretty. It was tempting to smile at the way she haughtily lifted her chin and asked, “What doyouknow about cramps?”
More than he ever wanted to, thanks to his pubescent sister. “I have a twin sister. I know more than you’d think.”
Her laughter spilled into the hallway, a wonderful sound, and he was powerless to stop his smile this time.
“All right, then yes. It’s cramps. I get really painful ones sometimes. Be glad you’re a guy.”
He ignored her grumpy tone and extended a hand, his mom and the dentist and anything else save this girl forgotten. “I’m TJ. Have you been to the nurse’s clinic? They can give you a heat pack, maybe some pain medication, and a pad or tampon if you need.”
