On the Line by Eric Walters & Eric Walters

Author:Eric Walters & Eric Walters [Coccia, Paul & Walters, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2022-01-28T20:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

Mom was a different type of driver than my dad. She didn’t run stop signs or sit on other cars’ bumpers. She rarely even honked. But she stepped on the gas and took off pretty fast from a stop, and sometimes she mumbled under her breath at other drivers. I often wondered what she would do with the Camaro, but my father never let anybody else drive it.

“It’s been a relief,” she said as she drove me to school on Monday, “not working in Franklin. I can go in and do my job and just be Amanda. Nobody except my closest friends know anything, and even they don’t know everything.”

I understood what she meant by everything. Yesterday I had texted my dad and told him I didn’t want to hang out yet. I’d spent most of the day shooting hoops and texting Tammy. A lot of the texts were smiley faces and LOLs. There wasn’t a good time to slip in anything about my dad. I waited between replies to Junior and sent him mainly one-word responses when he texted me in the afternoon. As a churchgoer, Junior had to know Sundays were supposed to be a day of rest, and I needed a break.

We pulled up to the school. “Have a good day,” said Mom. She leaned across the cab of her truck and kissed me on the cheek before I had a chance to stop her. She reached into the back seat. “I made you lunch. It’s nothing fancy. Plain old ham and cheese.”

I took the brown paper bag. “Thanks. See you tonight.” I slipped out of the car, thinking that plain old nothing fancy wasn’t so terrible sometimes.

Tammy wasn’t anywhere I looked before class. I wasn’t sure what I was going to tell her or how, if I even worked up the nerve. Junior was right. Secrets didn’t keep, especially ones that were juicy and ripe.

Minutes before homeroom, I went to my locker.

“Hey, J.R.,” a girl named Angelique said. She leaned against the locker beside me.

“Hey,” I answered.

“The girls’ basketball team tryouts have started, and I’m going out for captain,” she said. “Maybe you’d be willing to show me a few techniques sometime. Help me the way you helped Tammy.”

“Sure. I guess. Sometime.”

“What are you doing after practice today?”

“Heading home probably.”

“You could come over to my place if you’re free. We’ve got a hoop on the driveway.”

My mouth went dry. “We can play ball, but, uh, I’m probably going to go over to Tammy’s place.”

Angelique laughed. Nothing was even remotely funny.

“Maybe tomorrow. Considering everything,” she said, “it might be nice to hang out with a girl that’s less Tammy.”

“What?”

“Like, why does she think she’s too good to be on the girls’ team? What is she trying to prove?” Angelique smoothed her ponytail over her shoulder. “Why can’t she just be a regular girl?”

I didn’t answer.

Angelique giggled. “Think about it. Tomorrow is good if you haven’t got anything planned.” She tossed her hair and walked past me into homeroom.

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