Page 45 of Always a Roommate
“Trevor, I can’t—”
“If you don’t, I’ll disappear. You and Mr. Kelly won’t ever see me again.”
I thought of how smart Shane said he was, how bright a future he could have. But if he left, who knew where he’d end up or with whom? At least here I could find him, watch out for him.
“Fine. But you have to do one thing for me.”
“What is it?”
I lifted a brow. “Go to school. That’s the only way you’ll get out of this life.”
His eyes flicked to the dog. “What about Cane?”
I was going to regret this, but I was already in deep. “He can stay with me while you’re there.”
Trevor jumped to his feet. “Deal.” A smile spread across his face. “Just uh… watch out for the pee.” He dropped his skateboard to the ground and started off down the sidewalk.
“The what? Wait, Trevor, the school is too far to skateboard.” He only waved, continuing on his way.
I had to hold Cane back to keep him from following, and his whining nearly broke my heart. When I looked down, though, he stopped whining, lifted his leg, and peed right on my shoes.
18
SHANE
In between each class of the day, I managed to snag a few blissful minutes of peace before teenage chatter once again invaded the room.
Though, I did love that chatter. There was something about these kids. Everything made them excited. Friday night football, school dances that consisted of a punch bowl in the gymnasium, nights without homework.
And they had sass, comebacks for everything.
There was life in them that had yet to be snuffed out by the trauma of becoming an adult. I called it trauma because that was what it amounted to. Going from a coddled existence to one where suddenly the bills were due, the relationships were harder to nurture, and age made parts of our bodies ache we didn’t even know we had.
“No homework tonight,” I said, switching off the Smartboard.
My last class of the day cheered at the news, and I shook my head with a laugh. The final bell rang. “All right, ya heathens, get out of my classroom.”
I plunked myself down at my desk, planning to get some papers graded before I left for the evening. A presence loomed in front of me, and I looked up, meeting the flirty gaze of Riley Adams. I knew it was flirty because she had a tendency to corner me at school.
The girl was sixteen.
Trying to be nice, I set my pen down. “Hey, Riley, what can I help you with?”
She fluttered false eyelashes at me. “I didn’t really understand today’s lesson and was wondering if I could get some tutoring.”
Today had been a fluff lesson. Stuff I had to cover but nothing of real consequence. When someone dropped something at the back of the room, I realized Riley wasn’t the only student still here.
“I think it’s wonderful you want some extra help, Riley, and I’d love to provide it. Trevor!”
He jerked his head up. “Yeah, Mr. K?”
“Riley here needs a bit of help. You aced the last test. Want to lend a hand?”
“Sure thing. Rae has my dog anyway. I’m sure she won’t mind an extra hour or so. He’s really a lot of fun.”
“Did you say Rae has your dog? My Rae?”
“Who is Rae?” Riley asked, her voice half curious and half angry.
