More Than We Can Tell by Brigid Kemmerer

Author:Brigid Kemmerer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

A parent has to pick me up.

That means I have to wait.

It’ll probably be Kristin, since she works from home, but I’ve been sitting in the front office for an hour. Rain whips against the windowpanes. People have come and gone, attending to their business, but my head is down, the hood low. My hand hurts, but I don’t want to ask for ice.

Declan is fine.

I don’t know if our friendship is fine.

When I was young, when I failed a test, my father would make me wait, much like this, to see how I could earn a way back into his good graces. You’d think the abuse would be the worst part, but it wasn’t.

It was this. The waiting.

Mr. Diviglio, the vice principal, told me that because this was a first offense, I won’t be suspended longer than the rest of the afternoon. A letter will be sent to Geoff and Kristin. I have to attend a class on peaceful resolution of conflict.

What a joke. I didn’t hit the kids who deserved it. I hit my best friend.

I think about the moments before I punched him. My thoughts were almost those of another person. I can’t re-create my mental state. I don’t even know why I lashed out.

A part of me wishes they’d called the cops, so I could be locked in a cell, away from my phone and my father and all the conflict that’s keeping my brain tied up in knots.

My phone chimes. An e-mail.

My stomach twists. I can’t make myself pull it out of my backpack. No message would be good right now.

“Rev?”

I look up. Geoff stands at the desk. I expected him to look angry. He doesn’t. He looks confused.

That’s worse.

I have no idea what to say to him. Apologize? Explain? My feet seem rooted to the floor.

“I’ve signed you out,” he says. “Come on.”

I’ve never been defiant, but as I stand and throw my backpack over my shoulder, I wonder what would happen if I walked past him, out of this building, and just kept right on walking.

I don’t.

Geoff is silent as we climb into the car. Rain clings to everything. The doors close, turning the car into a cage, the seat belt into a noose.

My phone chimes again. My breathing goes quick and shallow. I leave it in my backpack.

“Did you and Declan have a fight?” Geoff says.

“No.”

“Do you want to tell me why you hit him?”

I swallow and pick at the line of stitching on the door handle. My eyes are locked on the silver strip along the window. “It was an accident.”

“An accident?”

I nod. I don’t want to elaborate.

“Mr. Diviglio told me that you were involved in some kind of altercation with other students. Do you want to tell me what happened there?”

Confusion still colors his voice. He sounds like he’s trying to decide whether to be empathetic or stern.

I get it. This is not the type of conversation we’ve ever had. I have never been involved in an “altercation.” I’ve never even had a detention.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.