Page 8 of Tell Me Softly
“What?! We need details!”
“Details about what?” I responded irritably. I just couldn’t manage being nice. I wanted to go home and not think about anything else.
“I don’t know. Wait, here’s an idea: how about you play the nice neighbor and bake one of those delicious cakes of yours. That can be your in.”
I imagined myself doing it: spending the afternoon measuring ingredients, mixing batter, creating the perfect icing for the perfect cake. I could walk to their house and the past would be the past. We’d eat cake together, and they wouldn’t stop talking about how delicious it was because––and I’m not just saying this because it’s mine––my carrot cake is the best in town. And everything would be the way it had been before they left.
The thought that this would never happen made me so sad, I didn’t even realize I’d stood up.
“Where are you going?” Kate asked. “Class doesn’t start for half an hour.”
“I need to take some papers to the principal’s office. I’ll see you in math.”
I nearly ran out of the lunchroom, and I spent the rest of the period hiding under the bleachers outside and drawing.
Luckily, Taylor wasn’t in my math class––he was in calculus with the rest of the nerds who wanted to study medicine or engineering. Me, I was more of an art person: film, music, all that.
My last two classes passed quickly, and since cheerleading practice didn’t start till the next day, I was able to go home early. But I remembered on my way to the car that Mom had wanted me to stop by the club for some BS. I took out my phone and saw a message from her.
Change of plans. I’m picking up your brother, but you need to stay home and watch him. We’ll talk later.
Relieved, I sighed and put the car in gear, backing out of the parking space and heading for home. On my way, I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw a motorcycle catching up to me. I knew who it was as soon as I saw him. Thiago cut right and wedged himself between me and the car next to me, not even slowing down as he passed us both.
Startled, I hit the brakes. I could see the guy in the car behind me cursing and waving his hands. But I ignored him and drove on, trying to relax. As I parked my car in my driveway, I looked over. Thiago was walking into his house as if nothing had happened.
No one was home but my brother, our cook, and me. Through the window, I could see Cameron playing in the backyard, so I went straight to my room. All I wanted was to take off my dress and get comfortable. Mom wouldn’t be back till late––when she canceled our plans, she always came home late. So did Dad. So I put on gym shorts and a T-shirt and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. The day had been exhausting.
I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep until the doorbell startled meawake. When I opened my eyes, I saw it was dark out. Shit! Prue went home at seven, so who was with Cameron?
I didn’t hear the sound of video games or anything else upstairs, so I ran down the stairs.
When I threw open the front door, I was paralyzed. I found Thiago there with my little brother.
“Kami, this is our new neighbor!” Cameron shouted. “He plays basketball!”
I didn’t know what to say. Thiago seemed to be staring through me. Coldly, he examined my legs, my hips, my torso, and finally looked me in the eyes.
He was intimidating, so I turned to Cameron, feeling the anger bubble up. Both Thiago and Taylor had given me the brush-off at school, scowling and ignoring my attempts to talk to them. These were the people I’d supposedly missed so much? The ones who had been my only real friends?
“Cameron, who told you that you could go outside on your own?” I hissed.
His eyes opened wide. “I just wanted to meet the new neighbors…”
“Go to your room,” I said, taking out on him what I should really have taken out on the boy next to him.
My brother ran past me like a bullet but looked back to shout to his new friend, “Let’s do it again, man!” I looked back at him with a scowl that made him take off again, not stopping till he made it upstairs.
The most galling thing of all was that when I looked back at Thiago, he was smiling.
“What the hell’s so funny?” I asked, shutting the door behind me so my brother wouldn’t hear us. I took a step toward him.
“You,” he responded. “I didn’t even know you had a brother.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” I said, almostcutting him off. My mother had Cameron almost a year after they left, so of course they knew nothing about him.
I’d have preferred our first conversation in years not to be like this. In another world, I’d have been nice to him, and he’d have been warm with me. But unfortunately, life doesn’t work out the way you wish it did.
“I know enough to tell you I don’t want to have shit to do with you and your family,” he blurted out. It was my fault––I should have expected that reaction.
