Page 95 of Barre Fight
“He did,” Justin said. “We just met him and he said you wouldn’t sign the form.”
“He plays footy,” Kavanaugh said flatly, all contrition gone now.
“But he wants to dance,” Ivy said.
Kavanaugh shoved his hands further into his pockets and widened his stance a little. “AndIknow what’s good for him. He doesn’t need to be going to Sydney to watch any ballet and he isn’t learning to dance.”
“Why, because dancing’s for girls?” Ivy asked.
Kavanaugh shrugged. “Don’t see any boys in those classes. Most of the parents who let their kids go to Sydney just wanted a day to themselves after everything we just went through. They wanted their kids to have a treat to distract them from all this.” He gestured behind them, out to the street, where only a handful of storefronts remained standing, all of them smoke-stained and wearing a thick coat of ash and soot.
“Mr. Kavanaugh,” Ivy said, “we just met your son, and he seems genuinely interested in dancing. He had so many questions for Justin, and maybe if you just let him try a few classes?—”
“Not happening,” Kavanaugh said firmly.
“What the hell was that apology for, then?” Justin asked, his lip curling.
“I don’t follow.”
“You’re sorry you made my life hell because I danced, butyou’re going to keep your kid away from dancing anyway, because you still think it’s for girls, and god forbid your boy be interested in something girly. No, he’s got to play footy even if he hates it, and you’re going to lie to him and tell him that boys don’t dance, even though they obviously do, because he just met one who does.”
“That’s different,” Kyle gritted out.
“How is it different?”
“Because he’s my son.”
“Well, nowIdon’t follow.”
“He’s my son, and I’m going to keep him safe.”
Ivy scoffed, and was about to speak, but Justin beat her to it. “Safe from what? Expressing himself? Making friends with girls? He’s safer in ballet class than he is on the footy field. No one’s getting a concussion in ballet.”
Exactly, Ivy thought. What was Kavanaugh’s apology to Justin worth if he still couldn’t see the value in what Justin had done with his life? If he couldn’t stomach the idea of his own son venturing even a few steps down the same path?
“You better drop this,” Kavanaugh warned, and for the first time, Ivy heard the bully’s threat in his voice. But Justin seemed too angry to notice it. His cheeks were pink, his legs locked and spine rigid. She edged closer to him, wondering if there was a way to deescalate the situation. None of this had gone the way they had planned, and now she just wanted to get Justin out of here because someone threw another punch.
“Or what? You’re gonna beat me up? I’d like to see you try. You might think ballet’s just for girls, but the girls and me, we’re strong and we’re fast, so go right ahead and?—”
“Justin,” Ivy cut in, alarmed. She grabbed his forearm and tugged. “We’re leaving, right now.” For a moment she thought he might refuse, and she held onto his arm as tightly as she could in case he tried to pull it free. But he looked down at herhand, then up to her face, and she watched as gritted his teeth and seemed to master himself. “Let’s go,” she said, and she could hear the relief in her own voice.
Justin turned to face Kavanaugh. “We’re going. And you can keep your worthless apology, okay? I don’t want it, because you’re still the same close-minded, little shit who made my life hell, and I feel sorry for that kid. He deserves better than?—”
“I don’t want him to get the crap kicked out of him, okay?” Kyle shouted, and Justin fell silent. Kyle was breathing hard, his chest rising rapidly under his stained T-shirt.
Ivy and Justin stared at him, and Ivy swore she could hear Justin’s heart pounding.
When Kyle spoke, it was at a normal volume, but Ivy heard the slight tremor in his voice. “No one’s touching my son. If I go and sign him up for fucking ballet classes, how long do you think it’ll be before some kid at school starts in on him like…. Like I did to you?”
Justin looked at Kyle, whose face had barely changed since the last time Justin had seen him. Still angular and tanned, still boyish and charming when he smiled. Now, though, it was twisted in anguish, and Kyle Kavanaugh, who Justin had never seen looking anything but utterly sure of himself, looked at a loss.
“I’m trying to keep him safe,” he said, and it almost sounded like he was pleading with Justin to understand. “I really am sorry for what I did to you, Winters, I mean it. But you know better than anyone what happens to boys who are different in this town.”
You happen to them, Justin almost said.You happen to them, and no one does a damn thing to stop it, and they spend their livesfeeling alone and ashamed and so, so angry.God, Justin was so angry it was eating him alive, and he didn’t want to feel like this anymore. He didn’t want anyone, especially not a kid like Kieran, to ever feel like this.
He took a deep breath and tried to keep his voice steady as he spoke to Kyle.
“You won’t keep him safe by keeping him away from ballet. You’ll just make him feel ashamed. You’ll make him feel like he doesn’t belong in this town, and he’ll leave and never come back, just like I did. Is that what you want?”
