ready to call the cops.”
“Sorry,” I said again.
“Where were you?”
“I was at a friend’s house, studying.”
That made her relax a little. She didn’t know everything about what happened in my life, because there were details that would just upset her and she couldn’t do anything about, but she knew that I was short on friends.
“Does this friend not own a phone?”
Her stern look had lost the fear-driven anger of before, but it didn’t leave any doubt that I was still in trouble.
“He does and I should have used it.”
My mom nodded and let it drop—she would save this infraction as something to guilt me with later on, I was sure. I slipped past her and went to my room, dropping my backpack with a thud. As bad as I felt for worrying her, I just couldn’t stop smiling.
It had been a really good day.
Chapter 6
L IAM CONTINUED HIS CAMPAIGN OF taunting the next morning. In fact, he was so obvious about showing off his floppy bits while we changed that Tam, the guy on the other side of him, told us to get a room. I threw Liam a murderous look, which only made him grin more brightly.
Apparently, he had no shame. It was annoying—and kind of cute, too. Now that I was seeing past his juvenile delinquent appearance, I was finding this playful, funny guy with the cutest smile in the world.
Not that that last fact is important in any way. I wasn’t stupid enough to start crushing on him. I mean, even my patheticness has its limits.
“Next week is going to be diving and then we’re done with the pool,” Coach Lancaster told us as we gathered outside. “Then we’re onto flag football, so you’ll need to bring in jocks and cups.”
I felt like he had just stabbed me in the gut. If there was anything I was worse at than basketball, it was any variety of football. I can’t catch, I can’t throw and I can’t block anyone bigger than a fourth-grader.
Why couldn’t we just swim for the whole semester? The pool was heated, and the weather in Southern California usually stayed pretty warm until late December at least.
“You look like you’re gonna puke.”
I gave Liam a miserable look. “I might.”
“That bad?”
“You have no idea.”
Well, I’d known it was only a matter of time before P.E. went back to being the worst part of my day. There was just no way around it, I decided. Two weeks of being in the pool had been a blessing I just had to be grateful for. And there was always the chance I would be hit by a meteor between now and then. I shuffled over to the bleachers and sat, glaring at the coach.
Liam nudged me in the ribs and gave me a sympathetic look. “I don’t like football either.”
“Maybe I should join the swim team.”
“Huh?”
“Lancaster asked me to go out for the team.”
“Dude! That’s huge! You should totally do it.”
“I’m not really a joiner.”
“Dude, remember what we talked about? You and what people think about you?”
He had a point, though I didn’t like it much. I didn’t want people thinking I was stuck-up or that I went around feeling I was better than them. That was somehow even worse than people just writing me off as the school weirdo. I could handle being strange. I didn’t want to be seen as arrogant.
“I just can’t see it going well,” I told him. “I’ll fuck up somehow and then I’ll be even worse off.”
“You can’t live your life always expecting the worst.”
“Who died and made you Dr. Phil?”
He laughed. “Good one.”
I warmed at the praise. “Thanks.”
I considered the idea. It terrified me, to be honest. It would destroy any hope of remaining invisible. I didn’t need or want people to notice me. I knew where that led. The only way it could even possibly not go sour would be if I was actually good. The chances of that were about the same as the chances of Zach asking me to Prom.
“Go for it,” Liam urged.
“Maybe.”
“I’ll kick your ass if you don’t.”
I snorted out laughter to
“Sorry,” I said again.
“Where were you?”
“I was at a friend’s house, studying.”
That made her relax a little. She didn’t know everything about what happened in my life, because there were details that would just upset her and she couldn’t do anything about, but she knew that I was short on friends.
“Does this friend not own a phone?”
Her stern look had lost the fear-driven anger of before, but it didn’t leave any doubt that I was still in trouble.
“He does and I should have used it.”
My mom nodded and let it drop—she would save this infraction as something to guilt me with later on, I was sure. I slipped past her and went to my room, dropping my backpack with a thud. As bad as I felt for worrying her, I just couldn’t stop smiling.
It had been a really good day.
Chapter 6
L IAM CONTINUED HIS CAMPAIGN OF taunting the next morning. In fact, he was so obvious about showing off his floppy bits while we changed that Tam, the guy on the other side of him, told us to get a room. I threw Liam a murderous look, which only made him grin more brightly.
Apparently, he had no shame. It was annoying—and kind of cute, too. Now that I was seeing past his juvenile delinquent appearance, I was finding this playful, funny guy with the cutest smile in the world.
Not that that last fact is important in any way. I wasn’t stupid enough to start crushing on him. I mean, even my patheticness has its limits.
“Next week is going to be diving and then we’re done with the pool,” Coach Lancaster told us as we gathered outside. “Then we’re onto flag football, so you’ll need to bring in jocks and cups.”
I felt like he had just stabbed me in the gut. If there was anything I was worse at than basketball, it was any variety of football. I can’t catch, I can’t throw and I can’t block anyone bigger than a fourth-grader.
Why couldn’t we just swim for the whole semester? The pool was heated, and the weather in Southern California usually stayed pretty warm until late December at least.
“You look like you’re gonna puke.”
I gave Liam a miserable look. “I might.”
“That bad?”
“You have no idea.”
Well, I’d known it was only a matter of time before P.E. went back to being the worst part of my day. There was just no way around it, I decided. Two weeks of being in the pool had been a blessing I just had to be grateful for. And there was always the chance I would be hit by a meteor between now and then. I shuffled over to the bleachers and sat, glaring at the coach.
Liam nudged me in the ribs and gave me a sympathetic look. “I don’t like football either.”
“Maybe I should join the swim team.”
“Huh?”
“Lancaster asked me to go out for the team.”
“Dude! That’s huge! You should totally do it.”
“I’m not really a joiner.”
“Dude, remember what we talked about? You and what people think about you?”
He had a point, though I didn’t like it much. I didn’t want people thinking I was stuck-up or that I went around feeling I was better than them. That was somehow even worse than people just writing me off as the school weirdo. I could handle being strange. I didn’t want to be seen as arrogant.
“I just can’t see it going well,” I told him. “I’ll fuck up somehow and then I’ll be even worse off.”
“You can’t live your life always expecting the worst.”
“Who died and made you Dr. Phil?”
He laughed. “Good one.”
I warmed at the praise. “Thanks.”
I considered the idea. It terrified me, to be honest. It would destroy any hope of remaining invisible. I didn’t need or want people to notice me. I knew where that led. The only way it could even possibly not go sour would be if I was actually good. The chances of that were about the same as the chances of Zach asking me to Prom.
“Go for it,” Liam urged.
“Maybe.”
“I’ll kick your ass if you don’t.”
I snorted out laughter to
Similar Books
