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Stop it.He’s changed.
“Whatever,” I said loudly, and by that time Soren and Felix had left the booster club table and were standing next tome. Didn’t they realize it wasn’t me who needed help?
“Ignore him,” I told Jonah and pushed the noodle bowl out of the way. “Let’s go.” We both stood, the four of us heading to the door, but then, Jonah stepped back, and it startled me. I realized it wasn’t him moving away from us, but Miles dragging at his shirt. I spun to face Miles, but he was already up in Jonah’s face, muttering something awful by Jonah’s expression, and now it was my turn to get between Miles and Jonah. Only Soren and Felix got there first and backed me and Jonah out of the door into the fresh air. Miles followed us, but I’d reached my limit on the hate he was dishing out to the world. I shoved past Soren, stepped right into Miles’s space, toe to toe, waiting for him to hit me this time.
Ready for it.
“Fuck off!” I shouted in the asshole’s face.
“Oh, look at the little boy getting all up in my face,” he taunted, before it turned evil. “It was yourboyfriendwho locked the door,” Miles said with what looked like glee. “Locked you in there, and then laughed at you, said you were pathetic, called you a waste of air.” He snarled the last part. I was aware that Felix and Soren were on my right. I couldn’t sense Jonah, but there was no way I was letting Jonah take another punch for me.
“He didn’t!”
“Ask him,” Miles sneered and snorted a laugh. “And you think he wants to kiss you? He’s not a fucking fag!”
Tension snapped, and I moved my body weight, winding up into throwing a punch, but someone caught my arm, and flanked by Soren and Felix, it was Jonah who stepped between me and Miles.
“You’re being recorded,” Jonah said clearly, then indicated the entire booster club with their phones out. “I’d like you to leave us alone now.” Jonah wasn’t losing his cool. He wasn’t defending with fists and fury. He was icy calm, and I peered around him.
Miles laughed again—there was nothing but darkness in that sound.
“Pretend all you like, loser,” Miles poked at Jonah’s chest. “But you’re the same as me.” Then, he turned to go back into Hot Pot.
In the chaos that came next, with the entire booster club surrounding us, talking over each other, swapping recordings and numbers, I lost sight of Jonah, and when everyone walked away, leaving me with Soren and Felix, I couldn’t see Jonah at all. He’d gone.
“Jonah said we should make sure you get home okay,” Felix explained, but wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“Where did he go?”
Soren shrugged. “He… I don’t know.”
Fear gripped me. “Is he inside?” I yanked Soren out of the way. “Did he go back in?”
Soren took my arm and tugged me back from the door to where a car waited, his grandpa in the driving seat. “Let’s get you home.”
“No.” I pulled my arm free. “I need to find Jonah.”
Felix crowded me with Soren, then sighed. “He said he was going home; he said we should make sure you got back to your place okay. That’s it.”
“Coming boys?” Soren’s grandpa called, and I was torn. What did I do now? Jonah had gone home, left the scene once he knew I was okay, and the last expression I’d seen on his face was misery. Abject desolation and guilt consuming him. What had Miles whispered to him?
“No. I need to… he probably thinks I believe what Miles said.” I faced Felix head-on. “It’s not true, because that’s not him; that’s not the Jonah that I…”
That I what?
My cell vibrated, and I juggled it to read the screen. The message was from Jonah, short and to the point.
“Gone home,” I read out. “Talk tomorrow.” Another message came through as I read the first. “If you want to.” He’d added that last bit, and I could feel his regret in those few words. Of course, I wanted to talk to him—I refused to believe this was anything other than Miles stirring things up.
I wasn’t wrong about Jonah. I wasn’t stupid. I knew Jonah had found his way now, and I trusted him.
When Soren’s grandpa dropped me at my door, I thanked him, said my goodbyes, and headed in to find Mom curled on the sofa with a book, music playing softly in the background. She’d made a haven for us, a protective space where we could restart our family, but even that didn’t calm my worries as I sank onto the sofa next to her, my phone in my hand.
“Good game tonight,” she said and nudged my arm. “That goal was amazing. I’m so proud.”
I leaned on her, then she tucked me into her side. How many times had we sat here, hugging each other, and making everything right because of another bully? Because of Dad? So many in the times he’d been here, and so many since he’d left. We’d found a new peace, of sorts, both craving something in our lives that was happier. She’d found it with Felix’s dad, I think, and I was on my way to finding a new me in the mess of school and love of hockey.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asked after a while.
