“They treating you right?” he asks me. “You still got that Bowser T-shirt?”
He gives my shoulder another slight shake before letting me go.
“Grew out of it,” I say calmly. Ever since this summer, he’s been asking me about that Super Mario shirt. It’s weird because the shirt is years and years old. I’ve grown a foot since I wore it, and I think Diamond knows that. I have to assume he’s just making sure I know the pecking order.
“Too bad. That was a cool shirt.”
“Yeah, love some Bowser.”
He looks down at what I’m holding. “Whacha got there?”
There’s a moment where I have a choice. I could try to extricate myself from this shit with him, but I don’t—because I know Diamond. Dude is fucking weird now. If I try to keep the bear away from him, I think he’ll grab it and look for himself. Better in the end to be direct.
“I’ve got a bear to dry clean.”
I unwrap the shirt, show him the panda.
He laughs, but it’s not a happy sound. “What the fuck?”
“My girlfriend’s.”
I’m shocked that I said it, but I keep my face on lockdown.
“That right?”
“Yeah.”
He takes the bear from me, and I let him. “He does look dirty.”
“I need it cleaned today. So I can get it back to her. It’s actually her sister’s, and her sister’s sick.”
“Oh, so like…a little kid.”
“Yep.” I don’t know how old her sister actually is. I forgot to ask..
“So you expect some charity?”
“What?”
His bushy eyebrows waggle. “Gonna pay me?”
“I can pay.”
“Nah, you’re good for it.” He smirks. “Or maybe I’ll take it outta your old man this month, yeah? He’s still got that debt.”
“I think you’ll do what you want to.”
Our eyes catch, and his are hard. I make mine harder. For the longest moment, he holds my gaze. I know the script here: It’s my role to back down. When I don’t, he laughs. “You’ve got some weird eyes, Bowsie.”
Yeah, yeah. Blue eyes. Super crazy shit. Clean the damn bear.
“I’ll clean the bear for you.” He pulls the glass door open and tosses the panda toward Zoe, one of the assistant managers. Then he turns to me with a hard grin. “I’ve got something you can do for me, too.”
Twelve and a half hours later, Tony’s girlfriend LeighAnn slams the brakes on her Porsche so hard the tires squeal, and I swing the passenger door open and hop out.
Fuck!
I run like the wind and lunge into the train car just before the doors shut. Jane in Pink has her head bowed; she’s chewing. She lifts her chin, and her eyes swing to my face. I swipe a hand back through my hair, realizing I don’t have my backpack.
Fuck!
I give her falafel a long, hungry look, then exhale and sit down. What I do have is a clean bear wrapped in my sweatshirt from yesterday. I give the bear a stupid little grin and then I flex my legs. Same boxers, same jeans, same shoes from yesterday, but I’ve got on a fresh shirt.
Diamond’s favor involved getting dye off stolen Benjis. I spent the entire night rubbing my hands raw on some chemical-soaked sponges and ended up back at the dry cleaners. I got Pandy back, plus some undershirt someone had left in their clothes. My shirt had been stained.
Without a book to read as we ride underneath Brooklyn, I think about my brother, Soren. He answered the phone when I called last night around eight. Told me Mom and Dad were sleeping.
“You mean Dad is passed out?” I asked.
“Well, yes.”
Sometimes my younger brother’s not so good at subtext, but he knew what I was thinking.
“Everything is fine here, Luca.”
I look down at the bear again, sending up a prayer to the patron saint of misunderstood sixth graders. My little bro is super smart, but he’s got what my mom calls peculiarities. He gets these mood swings sometimes. If he’s pissed off enough, he’ll just bolt from school. For some reason, Dad’s been more tolerant of that stuff lately. He even lets Soren come to the shop and help him with stocking and sweeping.
I tell myself they had an okay night despite my absence, and everyone will have an okay day today. Diamond wouldn’t approach my dad for money on behalf of the Arnoldis. Not now that he’s hitting me up for these “favors”—and maybe not at all.
I didn’t get a second of shut-eye last night, so I’m yawning by the time I have to transfer from the F to the C. There I fall asleep, waking with the train’s vibrations and the mechanized voice over the speaker system as we pull into Chambers. I smirk, realizing I’m clutching Pandy to my chest like he’s mine.
My girlfriend. I snort as I step off the train, but I head toward the tennis courts with a bounce in my stride. I end up arriving early, and I sit under one of the trees and watch the curb. But Elise never shows.
I’m ten minutes late to homeroom.
Elise
I find him at the center of the track at lunchtime. I’m not sure how, but when I couldn’t find him in the cafeteria, I knew he would be here.
I can tell before I’m even close—he’s sleeping. He’s got Pandy in the crook of one arm; his other rests palm up in the grass. His long legs, clad in black jeans, are relaxed, his dark sneakers tilted slightly outward in sleep. His cheek rests against his shoulder.
He looks like the patron saint of high school athletes. Something about his messy black hair and those gemstone blue eyes, the hard jawline and strong nose…that creamy skin. He’s always stood out to me. His name sounds Italian, but I think he looks Irish.
I stand over him with my arms folded, wondering which of my besties squealed. Not that many people know I run at lunch on Thursdays.
I look from him to myself. I’m not wearing running clothes because today I’d planned to find him in the lunchroom. I’ve got on a comfy pair of skinny jeans, my favorite ankle boots, and a flowy, paisley scarf-necked blouse. I dressed carefully for him before the morning went to shit.
Wake up, I tell him—with the powers of my mind.
His lashes flutter, and I can’t help grinning.
Sit up, Galante. Your eye still looks horrific, and it makes you even more attractive. That should be a crime.
He opens his eyes. A gentle smile flirts with the corners of his lips, and then he’s doing what I asked. He pushes up on one elbow, clutching Pandy in the corner of his other arm.
I laugh. “You brought him.”
He smiles. “I did.”
I sink down into the grass beside him, sitting cross-legged, and he passes me the bear.
I thumb one of Pandy’s ears. “Wow, this is crazy. He looks almost new again.” His white spots look beige now instead of faintly brown.
My mother and I had an ugly fight this morning about Pandy and a lot more. But I won. I’m bringing Pandy home, and she said Becca could keep him.
I lay the bear on his back in the grass and trace my fingertip over his fine hairs. I feel Luca’s eyes on me, can sense that he’s still lying partway down, which feels too intimate. My neck and cheeks burn from the proximity.