G-157 (18 page)

“Yes.” Aire’s smile dampened, her eyes dropping to her plate.

“And?”

She picked up her fork and poked at the zucchinis on her plate. Melissa’s dark face and biting words from yesterday afternoon came rushing back, stinging just as much now as they had then.
You knew this wouldn’t be easy
, she told herself.
You knew they wouldn’t understand
. “She didn’t take it very well, to say the least.”

“What exactly did she say?”

“She said she thought it was a dumb idea and I was stupid to do something like that.” Melissa had said so much more, but she couldn’t bring herself to repeat it.

“Hmm.” Troy looked down at his plate. He took another bite of his hamburger and chewed slowly. She could feel the pinpricks beginning to stab at her skin when she noticed he was now looking everywhere except at her.

“What do you think?
”

“I think,” he said, pausing for a moment to take another drink. Every part of his mind thought it was a terrible thing that she was doing, terrible not just because it was dangerous out there, but terrible because she would be
leaving
him.
That
was the most terrible part of it all.
Don’t tell her that
, a voice deep inside of him whispered.
If you tell her that, she’ll
really
leave you.
“I think you should do what makes you happy. I don’t understand why you would want to do that and I honestly don’t agree with your decision. But, anything
that makes you smile like that?
I think you should go for it no matter what anyone
else
says. It makes me happy to see you smile, and if going to college gets that excited look on your face, then I want you to go to college.”

Aire reached out and grabbed his hand across the table. “Thank you.”

“Anything for you.” He squeezed her hand.
There you go
, the voice from the recesses of his mind whispered.
If you make her happy, she will stay here with you forever
.

“Oh
,
how cute are you two?”

Aire jumped when she heard Melissa’s voice. A smile was painted on Melissa’s face, but in her eyes Aire saw the darkness still storming behind the façade as she and Gary leaned over the railing by their table.

“Hi.” She blushed, and snatched her hand back from Troy’s. He winked at her from the corner of his eye, and she had to pretend to take a drink from her soda so her hair would hide her ever reddening face.

“You guys want to join us?
” Troy asked.

“Sure,” Gary said. Instead of hopping over the wrought iron railing like every young person did they went around to the small gate leading to the patio. Aire stared at the boy as they made their way
towards the entrance of the terrace
. She could no longer see any signs of a limp, but noticed his gait was a staccato pace rather than the smooth, fluid motion of an athlete like it had been before the accident. “There’s a pickup basketball game between the hockey and soccer team tonight down at the park. You guys want to go?”

“I’d like to go,” Troy said. “Aire, you down for it?”

“Yeah,” she said, brushing her hair back. “Sounds fun.”

“Cool,” Gary said as he flagged down the waitress.
She
had just left with their orders when Melissa seized the moment of quiet.

“So
,
Troy, did Aire tell you about her test?”

Aire
’s eyes narrowed, her brow scrunching in anger
. Troy smiled and nodded his head.

“She sure did, and I think she should go for it. I don’t get it, but you should support the people you care about in what they do as long as they’re not hurting anyone. Don’t you agree
,
Gary?”

The boy frowned and glanced at Melissa as she folded her arms, debating his response before answering.

“I agree. I don’t think it’s a good idea, but it’s something Aire has wanted to do since we were kids, and I just don’t see how getting more education is a bad thing.”

Melissa folded her arms across her chest. “Well I think it’s a terrible idea, but I won’t say anymore about it.”

“Good,” Aire snorted.

“I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I do. I’m smart, remember?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Ladies,” Troy said. He
let out a nervous laugh
and put his arm around Aire to hug her close. “Come on now. We’re all friends here. This is a beautiful Friday night and we’re on our way to a great ball game, so let’s all remember to be nice.”

Aire sighed. “I’m sorry.”

Melissa gave a brief hesitation before answering. “I’m sorry too,” she said as she uncrossed her arms.  “Friends?”

“Duh,” she smiled back.

That delicious feeling of euphoria that only an early spring night shared with friends could bring washed over Aire. Her fight with Melissa was quickly forgotten, and soon the four left Maggie’s for Duck Park. The excitement of the game distracted her from the numbness creeping up her backside from sitting on the hard metal bleachers, and she laughed at the banter and
threats to “annihilate you”
between the teams. Troy’s warm arm wrapped her in a blanket of comfort as the chil
l crept into the night air
, and her cheeks flushed every time he snuck them a quick kiss.

At least thirty kids filled the two sets of bleachers on either side of the basketball court. Most of them she knew, but some were only acquaintances. A skinny blond girl whose name she couldn’t recall was giving erratic cheers to the soccer team. Twice Aire caught her in a moment of pause before her left arm twitched and her body froze before resuming its animation. Doug Stevens and Josh
Walls
did the same, though
their twitches originated in their necks and tremored down their shoulders. She averted her eyes from them, a futile attempt to make them vanish from her world for the night. Tonight was a wondrous dream, and she was determined to not let anything distract her from her happy moment. The pressure of the SATs, the new development of twitching, and the strange silver rice grain would not distract her from the clean scent of Troy or his strong arms holding her close. Tonight she was fifteen and carefree.

“It’s a really close game.”

Her skin pulsed as Troy whispered in her ear. The fourth quarter was nearly over, and Aire wished they would play again.
“I know. Seventeen to nineteen and it’s down to the wire,” she smiled.

“Who do you want to win?”

“I don’t care.” Aire leaned in to meet Troy’s lips, and the world vanished as they did. Nothing existed but the smell of soap on his cheeks and the taste of milkshake on his tongue. His rough hand softened as it reached up to brush her neck. She let out an inaudible groan above the sudden roar of the crowd
,
and hoped for just a few seconds more in the moment.

Her seconds were not given. Melissa slapped her leg and laughe
d. “Did you see that?
” she yelled above the cheering. “Berry made a shot from the half court line. His three pointer brought up the score twenty to nineteen. The hockey team won!”

“That’s awesome,” Aire said, sneaking a glance at Troy. “I wanted them to win.”

“I didn’t care who won,” Melissa laughed. “I just wanted an awesome game, and that’s what we got.”

“We sure did,” Troy smiled. “Well, it’s almost nine. We should probably get going so we can make curfew.”

“Ugh,” Aire groaned. “I think we should start a petition to extend curfew another hour. This whole
‘
be in at nine
’
thing isn’t working for me.”

Troy laughed as he helped her up. “Well
,
aren’t you the little activist lately?” Aire shrugged and smiled back.

The bleachers jarred under the weight of young bodies rushing down them to make it home on time. There was jostling and amicable shoving as the crowd playfully encouraged the slow movers in front of them to pick up the pace. The quartet made if off the bleachers and came to a stop on the concrete as they waited for the line to move forward through the opening in the chain link fence. Mick Hatfield and his brother Frank were making their last steps off the bleachers when Frank lost his balance and landed
in an unbalanced, awkward position
on the pavement, his left foot coming down hard onto Gary’s.

Gary had grabbed the younger boy by the back of the neck and slammed him down onto the c
ourt
. “Why don’t you watch where you’re going,” he spat as Frank looked up at him
with stunned eyes
.

The crowd fell silent and turned to stare in shock at the sight. Jaws dropped as Gary landed a hard kick to the boy’s ribs. His foot began to line up with
Frank’s
face, a sinister sneer parting his lips as the terrified boy threw his hands up to protect himself. Troy shoved Gary back before his coiled leg could release in a full blown kick to Frank’s face.

“Gary what’s your problem?”

“My problem is that punk thinks he can push me around.”

Troy looked down at Frank curled in the fetal position, holding his ribs and coughing. He turned back to Gary and lowered his voice.

“Dude, it was an accident. Frank didn’t mean anything by it. Come on, man, this is the Frank whose tree house you helped build two summers ago. Do you really think he’d push you around on purpose?”

All held their breath as they watched Gary fall silent and become so still not even his chest moved
in respiration
. Several moments passed before Gary’s entire upper body
spasmed, and his blank eyes became enlivened. He looked down at Frank with the shock of realization of what he’d done.

“Oh man, I am so sorry, Frank,” he said as he reached down to help the boy up. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I’m so sorry.”

Frank smiled and kept a hand on his throbbing side as Gary took the other to help him up. “It’s okay, man. I know you didn’t mean it. It’s probably just a side effect from your concussion.”

“Yeah,” Laurie Evans chimed in. “It’s probably from the concussion.”
A harmony of
agreements erupted from the crowd. They all knew the answer. The reaction was definitely a side effect from the concussion. No one would ever do anything like that
on purpose
. They were all happy with the answer, and even let out a small applause as Frank and Gary hugged.

Aire was the only member of the crowd dissatisfied as she watched Doug Stevens give his third twitch of the night.

Chapter Twenty-One