I gave him a playful shove. “Vince did get a bloody lip, but it wasn’t from me. He mouthed off to Reece Whelan. Reece got one good shot in.” I wouldn’t begrudge myself a little smug satisfaction, even if Reece’s parting words had cut deeper than anything Vince said about my mother.
“I know. It’s all over school, how Prince Pierced-A-Lot came to your rescue.” Jeremy put his hand to his head and went limp against my shoulder, a mock swoon. “How’d it feel to be the damsel in distress?”
“Shut up.” I knocked his knee with my own. “What else did you hear?”
“Just that Vince got off with a warning. He didn’t throw a punch and administration doesn’t want to screw up his spotless athletic record . . .”
I threw my bag lunch into the dirt. In the school’s eyes, as long as Vince DiMorello scored goals, he could do no wrong. No one cared that he was showing naked pictures of my mother or picking fights in the hall. They refused to see him as a criminal, but I knew better. Vince DiMorello was as evil as his twisted bloody smile.
“Whelan got a week of suspension and a one-strikeyou’re-out warning.”
I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the bark, letting that bombshell sink in. A week of suspension. I should have been happy, thrilled even, to have Reece off my back for an entire week. But I couldn’t shake off a sense of guilt.
We sprung him . . . for good behavior . . . cut him a deal . . . stays in school and keeps his nose clean . . .
I felt sick. If Reece had been expelled, he’d end up back in jail. And—underlying motives or not—he’d fought Vince because of me.
I hope you’re worth it.
Jeremy’s elbow knocked mine, drawing my attention as he drew up his sleeve. He flexed a wiry bicep.
“You know, if I had been there, I would have taken care of Vince for you.”
I arched a weary eye. If Jeremy had been there, we’d have suffered the verbal smack-down together. Vince was an equalopportunity destroyer.
“Seriously,” he insisted, holstering his pathetic guns. “I’d have challenged him to a spelling bee. Total jock obliteration. I’d have been ruthless in defense of your honor.” He pressed a fist over his heart and tipped his head to mine.
A laugh bubbled over the lump in my throat. I leaned on him, resting my head between his chin and shoulder. He felt warm and familiar, and surprisingly serene. He tasted like chamomile and honey. I soaked up his feelings for me, letting them radiate through me like the sun.
“You seem . . . better than you did last week.” It was easier to say, when neither of was looking right at the other. I felt him shrug. Felt the deep breath he took before speaking.
“Yeah, about that,” he exhaled. “I just wasn’t myself.”
“Don’t apologize. I never should have called you a shitty reporter—”
“Oh, so now I’m a ‘shitty’ reporter?” My head bobbed on his shoulder.
“You know that’s not what I meant.” I tipped my chin up to make sure he was laughing. He was. He gave me a peck on the forehead, then looked away, before either of us could second-guess his reasons.
At least Jeremy was honest with himself. He never tried to be anyone he wasn’t, accepting each of us for who we were, flaws and all. He was a real friend, not a paid one. I knew he wouldn’t mind when I asked him to skip lunch to drive me home so I could pretend to be sick for the rest of the day.
I knew he’d share half of his sandwich with me on the way.
And we both knew I wouldn’t have anything to give in return.
16
That night, I pulled back the sheet, a makeshift curtain tacked to the paneling over my window, while I balanced the phone under my chin. I was only half listening to Anh while she bitched about her brother. “. . . so he refused to sign the permission slip. He says it’s a waste of time to spend an entire school day at an amusement park. Instead, he’s making me go on a bunch of college tours out of town all weekend. I’m so pissed!”
Mona disappeared beyond the circle of the neighbor’s security lights. They flickered on and off in succession, the dark snapping at her heels as she stepped in and out of each one, and approached the traffic light at the end of the street.
From the point where she disappeared, a single headlight turned, blinding me as it drew closer.
“I think he just has something against Jeremy . . .”
Reece. He cruised under the same security light Mona had just tripped. My stomach twisted in a tight knot. Was he here to blame me, to tell me it was my fault he got suspended? Or was he here to pick up our conversation where we left off, before his fight with Vince, when he’d asked me what I’d really thought had happened to Emily and Marcia?
“Leigh, are you even listening?”