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He grunts. “I’m sleeping. Out!”
I turn on his light, just to piss him off and shut the door. I can hear him yelling as I make my way back to my bedroom. I grab my phone to call them and see the text on my screen that had woken me up. I had forgotten about that. It’s a message from Ethan.
I lost u last night.
2nite. Pizza & Netflix.
Wanna come?
Another group of people I may or may not know, oh goody. I sigh and stare at his words on the screen. I did have a good time with Ethan last night. Maybe it wouldn’t be all bad, as long as I’m with him the whole time. Why is he asking me though? It’s like I got nominated prom queen and it suddenly elevated my status. I think about what Jaron said last night. Getting nominated made me more approachable. Did Ethan think I was too good for him or stuck up too? I typesureand send it back to him. He sends an excited gif that makes me laugh, followed by a text.
pick u up @6.
I close my messages and open my contacts. Selecting Dad’s name under favorites, I hit send. The phone rings several times before Dad answers. It’s loud and I can barely hear him.
“Hello?”
“Dad, where are you?”
“Your mom had a cheer competition today, remember? I came with her.”
Oh yeah. The cheer thing does sound familiar now that he mentioned it. “What happened with Jaron last night?” I ask.
I can hear Dad sigh. “We just talked through it. I have pressure coming down on me from Brody’s parents and the principal to cut him from the team.”
“But he was protecting me. Brody started it. Plus, Brody is the one who brought the alcohol in the first place!” I say. “Jaron didn’t even have any.”
“Are you sure about that?” Dad’s voice is softer than his usual booming tone. “Brody is making accusations that Jaron brought the alcohol to the party. Then he assaulted him.”
“But he didn’t!” I say, a little less sure. Do I know that Jaron didn’t drink last night? Or that he didn’t provide the alcohol in the first place? When I first went downstairs, Jaron wasn’t anywhere to be seen. But I don’t actually know what he did at the party before I got to the basement.
“The reality of the situation is Jaron has some pretty big accusations against him. As his coach, I have to take those things seriously. He punched another teammate in the face and broke his nose.”
“He broke his nose?” I want to be happy, but there’s a pit in my stomach.
“Even though Brody was harassing you, he did not physically attack you or Jaron. Jaron started getting physical first, and that’s where the problem is. He can’t go around punching people. The school wants me to make an example of him, that violence is not the answer. Then you add the fact that alcohol was involved and, well, my hands are tied sweetie.”
“It’s not fair,” I say.
“Life isn’t fair, kid. I better get going. Your mom’s team is up next.
He hangs up before I can argue more. I try and call him back but it goes straight to voicemail.
I want to scream! I pick up my pillow and chuck it across the room. It hits my blinds, but doesn’t help with my feelings of rage and injustice. I push my hair out of my face and wipe the makeup from beneath my eyes. I feel like I’m teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown again. Which makes me think of my time in Mrs. Reyes’ office. I pull out my phone.
“Hey Steve.” I’m so angry, my hands are shaking. I set my phone on the dresser and let a stream of profanities spew from my lips as I begin describing the events from last night.
There’s a knock on my door and Stephanie’s head pokes in. “Hey babe,” she says. “Tessa text me and told me you might be in need of a friend.”
I can’t believe I had Tessa so wrong. She is genuinely one of the kindest people I know. I rush to Stephanie and fall into her arms. She hugs me tightly, then we sit on the edge of my bed and I spill the whole story to her.
“First of all, I’m offended you didn’t invite me,” she says. “But I’ll give you a pass this time because it sounds like it turned into a terrible night.”
“It was the worst!” I say. “But then my stupid dad won’t even help! What kind of coach let’s his best player go? Especially when all Jaron was doing was protecting me from the rest of the team. I mean, I knew he sucked as a dad, but now I know he sucks as a coach just as much. He should be standing up for Jaron and me. Not bending over to the principal and Brody’s parents. I never knew my dad was such a coward.”
Stephanie just sits back and listens to my rant. She swears at all the right people, calling them words I know she’d never repeat in front of her mother. I don’t know what I’d do without her.
I stand up and walk over to my dresser. “Oops, it looks like I just recorded our whole conversation.”
