Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens by Tanya Boteju

Author:Tanya Boteju [Boteju, Tanya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781534430679
Google: ro2RDwAAQBAJ
Amazon: B07M5V9ZK6
Goodreads: 42202063
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2019-05-06T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 10

By the time I got home, I’d had plenty of time to replay the events of the previous night over and over again. Each time, I was able to remember some detail that made the whole situation even more horrifying. Winnow’s twisted mouth when she realized I’d barfed right next to her. Boyd slipping one of the two guys who ran the place an extra twenty bucks for the trouble of cleaning up. The piece of chicken I found perched in my bra strap as Winnow hosed me off. As I walked in the patio door around noon, I’d compiled a lengthy laundry list of dirty items to wallow in.

Dad wasn’t home, which was perfect. I didn’t feel like facing questions about my big night out.

I left a note on the kitchen counter saying I wasn’t feeling well, and that I’d be upstairs, napping. And then that was exactly where I went to sleep the day away.

The next morning, to add to my misery, I got a curt text from Charles saying, I need my chem notes back for my online course. When I texted him to ask if he wanted to meet up for some ice cream or something, he never responded. So there was that.

Things just escalated from there.

Dad kept trying to get some dirt on my night at Winnow’s, and even though I kept giving him my very best don’t bother me face, he’d ask something every time we crossed paths.

“So . . . where’d y’all go?”

“Did Deidre go too?”

“What’d you do?”

“Forgot to ask—how old are these folks, anyway?”

It got to the point that I just stopped crossing paths with him—I stayed away from the house almost all day Sunday, and by the time he got home from work Monday and Tuesday, I’d already left to strategically wander around town until he’d gone to bed.

Unfortunately, nowhere was safe. I had another choice run-in with Gordon midweek. This time I’d walked over to the Fast Pick to grab a few items, and he was outside smoking, one indolent arm hanging around Tessa’s neck.

It’s not like I expected him to bring up Davis’s asshole performance at Tessa’s house, but I don’t think I expected him to be even more of an asshole either. Yet after our run-in at the art room, I guess he’d decided that the best defense was a nasty offense, because he stared right at me, like a dare, and said, “Well, well. Check this out, Tessa—ever seen a queer before?”

Tessa’s eyes registered something between confusion and surprise before she aimed them at her feet.

Still reeling from my horrifying night with Winnow, unsure of what to do about Charles or my mom’s letter, and exhausted from the lack of sleep all these things caused, I had very little energy left for Gordon Grant, even if I was still curious (and maybe even a little concerned) about him.

But that didn’t stop my cheeks from instantly lighting on fire at the word “queer.” “Dyke” and “queer” just hadn’t been words I’d grown accustomed to yet—maybe I would eventually.

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