Delvin and I drove around the neighborhood and found him after school, and I told the guy to leave Delvin alone or he was going to be dealing with me. He didn’t believe me, so I had to show him. One punch and he was out like Sleeping Beauty. That was the end of that. And once word got around school that I had his back, Delvin stopped having trouble with the roughnecks.
It made me smile to think about the old days. I’d actually been a pretty good student. I couldn’t count how many teachers had tried to convince me to go to college, spouting off about my high test scores and my natural aptitude. But my family had no money and besides, I didn’t want to be in a classroom for hours every day.
Fighting was what I loved, and it’s what I was born to do.
I wondered again if I could ever hope to explain to Lindsay that fighting for a living was a sport, not a crime. But why should she care? I asked myself. Especially now that she’d seen my idiot friends and I’d allowed her to leave and go back to Cambridge by herself.
Delvin finally stopped talking long enough to notice I was lost in my own world.
“Something wrong, JB?”
“No,” I lied.
He glanced uneasily at me. “I heard Gil got out of lockup.”
“It’s not about Gil,” I replied. Although, now that he’d mentioned it, I had that to worry about as well. Gilbert was free and on the street, and I’d given him money. I needed to check in on him soon and make sure he was doing okay.
“So what’s wrong, man? You’re not yourself.”
I sighed. “You better not bust my balls if I tell you.”
“You’d kick my teeth in if I did, and why would I want to lose me beautiful smile?”
“Good point.” I gave him a warning glare, just in case he got any ideas. But then I decided to tell him about Lindsay, how I’d met her, our date last night, the way things had ended.
When I was done, Delvin exhaled. “I’m kind of scared of you right now.”
“Don’t be scared. Just tell me what you think.”
“The truth?”
“No, lie to me, asshole. Of course the truth.”
He glanced at me with a hangdog expression. “I don’t see how it can work, JB.
This girl can’t handle our world. She’s going to hate that you fight, and she’s going to always pressure you to get a real job to impress her friends and family. You might like each other, but it can’t last. I’m sorry, man, that’s just my opinion.”
I almost felt a sickening sense of relief. But that was followed by a black wave of depression. “I guess I knew that already,” I admitted. “But maybe I just needed to hear you say it.”
He shrugged. “Let’s get an early drink, huh?”
“Absolutely,” I agreed.
LINDSAY
I spent the rest of the day in my remaining two classes – psychology and calculus.
Both of them were great classes, but I found myself getting distracted. One, by my research paper, and two, by Justin.
Every time there was a lull in my day – waiting in line for lunch, walking across campus between classes, exchanging one of my textbooks – I found myself thinking of him. It was infuriating.
The only thing that kept my mind focused was my work. And even though it was the first day of school, I already had a ton of it. After my classes, I spent most of the afternoon at my desk, doing my reading and then working on my essay for Dr. Klaxton.
At around seven, there was a knock on my door.
I opened it to find Adam standing in the hall.
“Hey,” he said. “Just wanted to make sure we were on for tonight.”
The thing at that bar, Frog – I had completely forgotten about it. “Yeah, definitely.” I was reluctant to leave my work, but my eyes were starting to blur from staring at the tiny type in my books. I needed a break.
“We’re meeting in front of the dining hall at eight,” he said. “We’re going to take the T over.”
“Okay, I’ll see you then.”
He grinned. “See you at eight.”
Even though I had just showered that morning, it was so hot and humid out that my hair had turned into a frizzy mess. I took another quick shower, then dried my hair straight and dressed in floaty pink top and jeans.
When I got outside to the dining hall, Adam was there with a couple of other people, including Michelle, the girl I’d met yesterday.
“Hi!” she said when she saw me. She was acting like we were old friends, which was a little bizarre. She kept up a string of chatter the whole way to the bar, prattling on about her classes, her off campus apartment, her new workout pants. It was oddly comforting, only having to add the occasional nod or say “cool” at semi-random points in the conversation.
The bar, Frog, was dark, and smelled of beer and fried food. But the cool air-conditioning felt nice after being out in the humid night, and our group found seats right away not too far from the stage. The band hadn’t started playing yet, so we ordered plates of potato skins and baskets of chicken wings to eat while we waited.
I chatted with one of the girls sitting next to me, another freshman named Alicia who was a sociology major. She was perfectly nice, but for some reason, I was having a hard time relaxing. My whole body felt jittery. It was probably just the anxiety of being out with new people, in a new situation, away from home.