“Football’s over,” he replies, glancing at George.
My brother shrugs. “We have clubs and stuff.”
“You may want to cut those out for right now. You need to ride the bus home and get busy on your homework.” He shifts his eyes to me. “Charlie, there’s a job opening at the resort office. Part-time tech. I figured you could apply.”
I had no problem getting a job, but the last thing I wanted was to fill my afternoons with work. It’s already obvious that the only gaming time I’m going to get in is before my dad gets home.
“Uh, well a few of these clubs are academically related. I tutor and then there’s the service club. Those look good on college applications.”
Dad grunts, knowing he’s caught in a hard place. College is important to him, although so is work. George eats his breakfast quietly, not wanting the attention on him. I know he’s focused on getting his portfolio in for the art school applications. They’re already late, due to the drama from being removed from Sierra’s house.
I look at my watch. “The bus is here in five minutes. We should go.”
“Okay,” he concedes. “We’ll talk about this more later.”
George and I gather our backpacks and head to the door. It’s not until we’re in the breezeway that my brother exhales, releasing the tension from the past fifteen minutes—if not longer. We’re out by the main road when he finally speaks, “You know, if it weren’t for Starlee, I’d leave now.”
I nod, seeing the bus coming our way. I feel the same, but at least we’ll get to see her at school. Talk about what happened and figure out how to see her. We both know she’s the only thing keeping us here. The only thing keeping us afloat.
3
Starlee
The combination of living in a small town and going to a small public school makes the concept of “living in a bubble” a harsh reality.
By Monday, the whole population of Lee Vines and Sierra Academy seem to know that George and Charlie were no longer living at the Wayward Sun. Less know the actual truth, but the stares and whispers I’d finally freed myself from after my arrival in town follow me down the hallways. Standing here, alone, avoiding the curious looks is worse than the first day of school.
“You may want to keep your distance. There may be spies in the school,” I warn, when Dexter and Jake finally appear at my locker. The ride on the bus had taken twice as long as driving with all the stops along the way. “I think everyone knows about George and Charlie.”
Jake narrows his eyes at the kids passing by. “Yeah, I wonder why.”
We all suspect that Christina is behind the call to the police, which resulted in our cases being flagged and Sierra’s foster home being under investigation.
“Do you think they’ll really come today?” I ask. I don’t need to say their names. There’s only two people we’re concerned with these days.
“They should. The last thing Mr. Evans needs is the guys to have attendance issues when he’s been fighting to get back custody.”
I focus on my locker, more specifically getting my math book out of my locker, which has wedged itself under a thick binder. I drop my backpack and grab the book with both hands, struggling against it.
“Babe,” Jake whispers, gently pushing me asid
e. He gets the book free easily, using his height and upper body strength. “What’s wrong?”
“Besides the obvious,” Dexter adds. His gray eyes, barely visible under his thick black cap, are filled with worry. Mr. Wolf, his biology teacher, will make him take the cap off before class, yet he wears it until the last minute.
“Do you think they hate me?”
Dex’s eyebrows furrow. “Hate you? Why?”
“I’m the reason they got sent back to their dad. If I’d never run away from home, the police wouldn’t have had me on file. I wouldn’t be listed as an 'at risk' kid or possible bad influence. If it weren’t for me, they’d still be at home with you two and Sierra.”
I can tell they’re not into my explanation, but that’s how I feel. It’s what I know.
“Don’t blame yourself for this. Sierra warned all of us and we ignored her. We knew we were pushing the lines with a few things,” Jake says. He’d been caught coming out of my room more than once. And Sierra knew Dexter and I had sex at the cabin over the summer. It’s not like her concerns aren’t without cause.
I slam my locker shut. “You really think they won’t be mad?”
Jake moves as if to throw his arm around me but I slide back, knowing contact is off limits—even if the whole school thought we were dating at homecoming. Any progress we’d made on that front is now dashed. He pins me with a look instead. “If I know one thing for certain in all of this, it’s that George and Charlie are pissed, but definitely not at you.”