Dream Keeper (Dream Team 4)

And part of feeling that way was because he was right. I didn’t buckle under pressure. I might bend, but then I got on with it. And that was something to be proud of.

Also, because his mother did buckle. She didn’t stand up for herself and make positive changes in her life. She didn’t stand up for her son and do everything she could so he’d have positive things in his life. She hit adversity and fell into a cycle of negativity and toxic behavior.

So the other part of that was that I was pretty proud, when we were hitting crisis after crisis, that I could give that to Auggie.

“It’s hella attractive how you dealt with Birch, and last week, Corbin too,” I returned.

He shook his head. “I lost my temper with your ex, and I almost lost it with your brother, and you felt that. That isn’t cool.”

“It is to me.”

“Pepper—”

I rested my fingers on his lips. “It is to me, Auggie. You had chaos all your life, I had no one shielding me from anything all of mine. I’m not sure you understand how much it meant to me when I shared it earlier, having someone in my corner. But I’ll repeat, it means a lot.”

He held my gaze.

Then he curled his fingers around my wrist, pulled my hand away, and asked, “Are you sure we can’t make out?”

I shot him a smug grin because he liked me a lot and he wanted my mouth so I felt all kinds of smug. “Sadly, I am, and we cannot.”

“Bummed, sweetheart,” he muttered, his lips twitching.

“You missed Thanksgiving play duty at school tonight,” I noted.

“I called the teacher. I got a pass,” he joked.

“Can Juno and I come with you sometime this week when you do that? I don’t want it to be all Auggie all the time for her, or all Juno all the time for you, but—”

“How about Thursday?”

That was when I shot him a big smile.

He dipped in and kissed it off my mouth.

When he lifted his head, he muttered, “Just a little making out.”

“Never hurt anybody,” I replied.

“You wanna watch something on Netflix?” he asked.

He was staying longer.

Yippee!

“Yes,” I answered.

“Where do you keep your remote?”

I got up and got it.

Aug flipped off his boots while I did.

Then I got back down and snuggled in with him, both of us stretched out on my pink couch.

He commandeered the remote from me and flicked the TV on, immediately adjusting the volume low for Juno.

Aug found something we both wanted to watch (Teenage Bounty Hunters).

And we kicked back and chilled out in front of the TV.

So, again…

Yeah.

That right there…

Was what happiness is.

Chapter Twenty-One

Thanks to Mr. Cisco

Juno

Juno was worried.

Because Auggie was there and Auggie seemed to notice things that her mom didn’t.

And that was big…

Because her mom was a mom!

But still.

Even if Auggie might hear her and her mom might not, Juno had to.

She had to call him.

If she didn’t talk to someone, she didn’t know what she’d do.

She felt funny and gross inside and she knew, whenever she felt like that, she had to share it.

That was what Mom taught her.

Let out the gross.

Just let it go.

But she couldn’t let this out with Mom, or her dad, or even Auggie (though, maybe him, but maybe not, which was part of the gross!).

That meant she had to risk it.

So she called him.

He picked up as usual, right away.

“Juno, everything okay?” Mr. Cisco answered her call.

She was under her covers, her eyes peeking over the top of them, aimed to her closed door.

“I did something bad,” she whispered.

“Okay, honey, tell me,” Mr. Cisco said gently.

Man, she really liked Mr. Cisco.

“Okay, see, my dad gave me a phone. And I knew he was being…well, not cool when he did because Mom doesn’t like phones. She doesn’t even like her own phone. And I wasn’t supposed to get one for years and years.”

His voice was different, it seemed stiff or tough, when he said, “Yes, I understand.”

“So, I knew that’d make her mad. And my friend Nicole has a phone, so I…I…”

She couldn’t even say it.

“You what?” he asked, and when she didn’t say anything, he encouraged. “You can tell me. What’d you do, Juno?”

Her breathing was weird and inside felt so gross and she just had to let it out.

“I told Nicole to call me when I knew Mom would hear and I left the phone somewhere close and turned the ringer up real high to make sure she did. I did that so when Nic called, Mom would hear it and she’d get mad at Dad. And I did all this knowing Auggie was gonna be here.”

Mr. Cisco didn’t say anything.

Yes, this was bad.

He always said stuff that made her feel better right away.

Him not saying anything meant this was bad.

“It was sneaky and wrong, I know it,” she admitted. “I mean, Dad giving me a phone wasn’t right. He did it to be mean to Mom. But I could have just told her I had it instead of—”