Sidetracked by Deb Loughead

Author:Deb Loughead
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV032050, JUV039060, JUV039230
ISBN: 9781459802520
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2012-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

chapter thirteen

“Shh!” Matt pulls me into his room and shuts the door. “How did you find out, Maddy?”

“Oh, I have my sources,” I say and sit on his bed.

“Who ratted me out? Oh. Wait. Shauna, right?” When I nod, he sighs and sinks onto the bed beside me. “She didn’t know that I hadn’t told you guys about my job.”

“No kidding. I was totally shocked when she told me. So where do you stash your uniform anyway?”

“I just leave it at work. Someone takes it home and washes it for me. They’re really nice and understanding there.” He shrugs and sighs. “So are you going to blab it to Mom and Abuelo, or what?”

“Blab? I don’t get it, Matt. Why don’t you just tell them yourself? Why don’t you want them to find out? What’s the big secret?”

“Got any more questions?” He raises his eyebrows at me. “Don’t you get how complicated this is, Maddy? You know what Abuelo is like, how proud he is. He hates to feel that we’re taking care of him, so he tries to take care of us.”

“Yeah, so why would it matter if you have a job?”

Matt sighs again and scrubs his fingers through his thick dark hair. “Because I don’t want Mom and Abuelo to think I need more than they can give me. Don’t you see? I like having stuff. Like the iPod I bought off Craigslist. I don’t want to bother them for money I know they probably don’t have. I want to pay for stuff myself. I also don’t want them to worry that I might be sacrificing my schoolwork because of a job. You get it now?”

Oh yeah, I get it all right. Finally. “So is that why you missed track practice on Friday? And why you’ve been keeping such weird hours all the time?”

Matt nods slowly. “I can’t pick and choose all my shifts. Sometimes I have to work lousy ones. They know I have school and track, and they try to do the best they can with that. Sometimes I have to cover for people. Like last Friday, I worked two shifts and booked it home on my bike in between. It’s tough squeezing everything in. But I’m saving for a car. Might actually be able to buy one in a couple of years. Something I can fix up. God, I did so not want to have this conversation.”

He stops babbling and looks straight into my eyes. I reach out and give him a quick hug.

“You rock, Mateo,” I say, and he smiles.

I ask him about Shauna and find out he likes her, but he says he can’t really give her much of his time. So they’re just friends for now. He says that could change. He never told us when he was going over to Shauna and Justin’s place because he doesn’t want Abuelo to know about him having a sort-of girlfriend. It would only make him worry about Matt losing focus at school and track. And if Mom found out, she’d never be able to not tell Abuelo.

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