“Huh?”
“Tonight?” I said. She looked at me blankly. “You have some
plans, so you can’t stay for dinner.” I decided to poke her playful y at 182
her side, but she jumped. I wasn’t used to her being this nervous around me. Something had to be going on.
Her eyes lit up. “Yes. Of course. It’s a . . . a family thing I have with Uncle Adam.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Uh, yeah, it’s real y not a big deal. I promised I’d go see a movie with him tonight.” She wouldn’t even look me in the eye.
“Oh, yeah, what movie?”
“Movie? Um, I forgot which one he wanted to see.”
Okay, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that something was
going on with Macal an. She clearly had plans tonight that she didn’t want me to know about. I wondered if she was already dating someone. She hadn’t even been back that long. But what else could it have been? She was disappearing and making excuses to not hang
out as much. She hadn’t even met Stacey. I knew that she knew who she was from school, but this was different.
Whatever it was, she didn’t want me to know, and I had to respect her privacy. The last thing I wanted to do was make it worse.
I used to complain about the cold weather in Wisconsin when I first moved here. But little did I realize that the August heat waves would become the bane of my existence.
Keith walked out of practice with me. “This has never happened
before, California.”
“You’ve never had a practice canceled?”
He shook his head. “Nah, this heat wave is brutal.”
We walked up to his truck and he unlocked the door. “Thanks for
the ride, man.”
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“No problem.” He smirked at me. “I’m sorry I didn’t bring a car
seat for you.”
Ugh. I couldn’t wait to get my driver’s license. I hated having
to rely on my parents or friends to get me around, especial y to practice.
“Listen, if practice doesn’t work out tomorrow, you should come
over and run a few plays with me. My backyard gets pretty shady in the afternoon.”
“Sounds good.” I paused for a second. I know guys are supposed
to be chil , but I real y appreciated everything Keith had done to help me with the team. “And thanks, man, for everything. I don’t think I would’ve made varsity without you.”
“Yeah, wel , you’re fast. We need a fast guy. But don’t start writing me love letters yet.” He laughed. “You’ve still got to get in the game and catch the bal .”
“Got it. Get in the game, catch the bal , then write you love letters.”
He pul ed up outside my house. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t want
Macal an to get jealous. She’s a tough one. If only chicks could play footbal .”
I hopped out of the car and noticed Mr. Dietz’s car parked out
front. I rushed inside, cal ing out, “Is everything okay with Macal an?”
I stopped suddenly when I saw Mom and Mr. Dietz leaning closely
together at the kitchen table. They were looking at a piece of paper.
“Oh.” Mom jumped up. “What are you doing home so early?”
I looked between them. Something was off.
“Is Macal an okay?”
Mom shot Mr. Dietz a nervous glance. He stood up. “Yes, yes,
she’s fine. I was just in the neighborhood. . . .” He tried to grab the 184
paper off the table nonchalantly, but it was so obvious what he was doing.
“What’s that?” I motioned at the paper in his hand.
“Oh, wel . . .” They exchanged another nervous look. “I was asking your mother for her opinion on some cooking stuff I was going to get Macal an for her birthday.”
For some reason, I didn’t buy it. “Real y? Can I see it?”
“Mr. Dietz was on his way out,” Mom said right as the coffee—
maker went off. Mom never made coffee only for herself. She did it when we had company.
“Yes.” He excused himself. “I was taking a quick break from work.
You know, Levi, I was hoping to surprise Macal an with this, so if you could not tell her I was here.”
I didn’t like deceiving Macal an, not when our relationship was in such a fragile place. But between Macal an’s behavior and our parents’ secretive meeting, I couldn’t help but think there was something going on that I wasn’t being told.
It was all very mysterious. And I wasn’t in the mood for mysterious.
In the next week, Mom and Mr. Dietz seemed to be talking on the
phone a lot. Not that Mom told me it was Mr. Dietz. I had to sneak a look at her phone.
I figured Macal an might know what was going on. I headed over
there the Saturday before school started. Normal y, I’d just walk in, but since Macal an had been so uneasy around me lately, I knocked on the door.
“Oh, hey.” I could instantly tell that Macal an didn’t want to see me. She definitely knew what was going on. And I wasn’t going to leave until she came clean.
185
We walked into the kitchen, where she had all this dough and
flour on the counter.