Page 88 of Scoring Chance
I grab him by the collar, yank him off the car and throw him to the ground. I squat down to his eye level. Panic sets in for him, the scared boy shining through his wannabe bad boy facade.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
“Tyler.”
“Tyler, here’s the deal: if you so much as talk to Lena again, I will find out.” I inch closer, my jaw tighter than a steel blade. “And I won’t be happy. I play hockey, which means I have no problem beating the shit of people.”
I stand up. I might be a quarter-century out of high school, but I’ve still got it.
Lena keeps her distance but starts walking with me toward the edge of the lot, away from the cluster of headlights and smoke. I don’t push; I just walk beside her until we’re far enough that no one can hear.
She shakes her head. “I’m going to kill Matthias.”
“In his defense, I didn’t give him much of a chance to cover for you.”
“You embarrassed me.”
“Believe me, suffering a little embarrassment is worth avoiding whatever path you were headed down back there.” I stop, trying to remember what it felt like when I was her age, when I so desperately wanted to experience all the world had to offer. “Look, I’m still new at this dad stuff. But even you know those kids are trouble considering you enlisted a fake boyfriend to hide them.”
“You know all about fake boyfriend shit.”
“Watch your language.” Words I never thought I’d ever utter. I think I just aged myself a decade.
She crosses her arms. “It’s not what you think.”
I cock an eyebrow. “Really? Because what I think is that you’re fourteen and hanging out in a parking lot with kids who all look like they failed out of a CW casting call for bad decisions.”
She groans, tilting her head back. “God, you sound like such a dad.”
“Yeah, well, fake stepdad duties apparently come with the lectures.”
Lena scuffs her shoe against the pavement. The streetlight overhead flickers. She looks small again, the hard edges falling off her.
“What are you doing here with these idiots? You know better.”
“You never went to parties?” She cocks an eyebrow, thinking she’s got me.
And she kind of does.
“It was different,” is all I can manage. They seemed a lot less shady than whatever was going on in this parking lot. Though maybe that’s just my recollection.
“Let me guess. Because you’re a guy, they were fine. But because I’m a girl, I have to be saved.”
“I…I know what those guys are like. I wouldn’t want Davy here either. One of the benefits of being older is seeing what happens to these types of ‘friends.’ Spoiler alert: it’s not anything good. You don’t want to end up like them.”
“You don’t know anything about them.”
“That’s because you never brought them around the house, which means you don’t even think they’re good people.” Internally, I pump my fist. Point Des. “Why did you lie? The vape pen. Using Matthias as your shield. Sneaking out to secluded parking lots with a bunch of sketchballs. This isn’t you, Lena.”
“Why can’t it be?” she yells back, her voice breaking. Her cool, detached teenage facade drops, revealing primal emotions.
“Hey, talk to me.”
“I’m supposed to be the responsible daughter, and that’s all I am to him.” She sucks in a shaky breath, shoulders hunched. “Dad treats me like I’m the built-in babysitter. Like I’m always fine and I have it all together. He doesn’t really care how I’m doing, just so long as I don’t give him another thing to worry about. But I’m not fine.”
The crack in her voice hits me square in the chest.
“I…I miss my mom,” Lena adds, quieter now. “I miss her so much. Every day, I wake up and have this thought that maybe the last two years were a dream, and she’s going to come into my room. It lasts for a second or two before my brain kicks on, and I have to remember that she’s gone all over again.” Tears roll down her face.
