by Natasja Eby
“Why do you not sound confident in that belief?” he asks me.
“I don’t know.” I decide to go for full honesty. “It was kind of the highlight of his life, but I get the feeling that he’d rather leave it in the past. Still, we can ask him.”
“Right,” Julian says. He’s still not convinced. “And how long ago was this?”
“Oh, I don’t know…eighteen years or so?” I answer.
Julian groans. “I had no idea you were this impulsive.”
I need to interject here and say that I am not impulsive and never have been. The craziest thing I’ve ever done is kiss a boy before leaving the country. Oh, and one time I did a cliff dive, but that was for a dare, and it was very carefully planned out.
But I don’t tell Julian that. Instead, I say, “See? We’re already getting to know each other better. I had no idea you were capable of getting so angry.”
“I’m not angry,” he mutters.
“But you were,” I remind him. He doesn’t answer, so I change the subject. “If you come home with me after school, we can talk to my uncle right away.”
“Might as well,” he mumbles. “Since I have to get started today, as you say.”
He’s not happy. And why should he be? His life has just been totally turned upside down and he knows exactly what he’s in for, and he doesn’t like it or want it. I want to make that better for him, but I’m not sure how I can.
“I’m sorry,” I say after several minutes. “I should have just left it alone like you told me.”
He shakes his head and looks down at me, his gaze softening a bit. “I’m sorry, too,” he says. “For not being able to just take him out right on the spot.”
I smile. “You’ll have your chance.”
***
Later on, I’m surprised to see my uncle has come to the school to pick me up. I never asked him to and I can’t imagine my parents asking him to do that. He must have come of his own volition. What luck I’m having today.
“Hey, kid,” he says out the passenger side window. “Get in.”
“Hi, Unc—Dan. Hi, Dan,” I say as I open the door. “My friend Julian is coming over to do some homework.” I can make that the truth later.
Dan takes a quick peek at Julian and motions him into the backseat. “That’s almost believable,” he says under his breath.
“Dan, come on,” I whisper back, even as I feel myself blushing.
Dan laughs. “Sorry. And you are?” he asks Julian through the rear-view mirror.
“Julian,” he answers. “Or just Jules, most people call me.”
“How come you came today?” I ask Dan.
He shrugs. “I know you hate the cold. Truth is, though, you’re starting to grow on me. I think you’re a good influence.”
I laugh because everything my uncle says to me is funny. I love it. “Isn’t it supposed to be the other way?”
“Not when you’re so much more grown up than I am,” he answers. And of course, the grilling starts. “So, are you Elli’s boyfriend? Because she told me she didn’t have one.”
“I’m not,” Julian answers at the same time I say, “He’s not.”
“Actually,” Julian continues. Actually what? “I’m pretty sure she’s crushing on someone else, so that takes care of that.”
I nearly choke.
“Well, that’s news to me,” Uncle Dan says. “Were you just lying to me or something, Elli?”
“Of course not,” I answer him. I think. “Julian just has a very strong imagination.”
In the backseat I hear Julian scoff at me.
“Look, Uncle Dan,” I start slowly, “the real reason I’m bringing Julian home with me is because we wanted to talk to you.”
Dan is silent for a moment, then he says in a confused voice, “About…?”
I look at Julian for a second and he nods, which is all the encouragement I need. “We want you to teach us to box. Or more specifically, Julian needs to learn to do it.”
Dan doesn’t say anything. Not a single word. But his driving is getting that edge again. I know what that means. Finally, when I think I’ve broken his brain, he screeches to a halt at the side of the road by our house.
“Um, that’s a no in case you couldn’t guess,” he says. Then he gets out of his car, slams the door shut, and stalks to the house.
“So…is this why you got the feeling he’d rather not bring up his golden years?” Julian asks. He sounds a little angry, but I haven’t given up yet.
“Come on,” I say, leading him into my house. “Dan!” I call. “Where are you?”
“In the kitchen, ignoring you,” he answers. At least he’s sort of back to joking.
I find him in the kitchen, rummaging around in the fridge. “Was that a final no, or will this just take a little convincing?”
“Yeah, my answer’s final, Regis,” he says, not bothering to look up at me.
Julian is standing awkwardly behind me, like he’s not sure what to do with himself. I am also not sure what to do with myself. Finally, Dan stretches back up with food stuffed into his hands.
“Uh, don’t you guys have homework to do?” he says dismissively. He sits down at the table and starts fixing what looks like the grossest ham and herring sandwich ever. “Or whatever that’s a euphemism for.”
Okay, now I’m starting to get fed up. “But Dan—”
“No’s a no, Elli,” Dan says.
“Excuse me,” Julian says as he moves me gently out of the way and goes to sit across from Dan at the table. “Look, man, I know you don’t know me from a hole in the ground, but I could really, really use your help. See, I just signed up for the boxing tournament at school which is in like three months, and believe me—I’m surprised I’m doing it, too. But I need to do this, so is there any way I can get you to agree?”
“No,” Dan says before shoving a huge bite of his sandwich into his mouth. Julian just stares at him until he swallows down his food. “Why do you think this is my problem, anyway?”
Julian glances at me, gives me a kind of half smile, then looks back at Dan. “Today, Elli got shoved by this guy that normally just picks on me. She was standing up for me, and he didn’t like it. I called him out on it and somehow ended up agreeing to go up against him in the boxing tournament. He’s won the tournament three years in a row, and I haven’t done anything in sports since track and field in grade six.”
Dan has stopped eating and is staring at me like I have two heads. It’s disconcerting, but then I see his expression start to change to something new that I don’t recognize.
“And why do you need to learn to box?” he asks me.
“Because I promised I’d help Julian in any way I can,” I answer. “I did sort of get him into this mess.”
“You guys are doing this just to take down some stupid bully?” he asks. I can’t tell if he believes us or not, so I nod vigorously. “Why didn’t you just say so in the first place?”
“You’ll do it?” I squeal.
“I guess so,” he answers. I rush over to him and hug him so hard he has to push me away a little. “But it won’t be easy, especially since no one in this room is in any shape whatsoever.”
I look over at Julian and he actually looks sort of okay. He smiles at me and at Uncle Dan, then he claps his hands together.
“Let’s do it,” Julian says.
CHAPTER Eleven
I’m starting to doubt what my uncle said about being a great boxer. I mean, he was drunk after all, and I just totally fell for it. Yesterday, when Julian and I told Dan we wanted to start right away, he was suspiciously compliant. And then we...didn’t really do anything. Well no, that’s not true. We worked on our “stances” for two hours.
Jules—who is giving me the silent treatment right now, but still eating lunch with me—was ready to give up about eleven times. On the twelfth time, Dan slapped him—yes, literally—and told him to “grow a pair.” His words, not mine. After that, Jules stopped complaining, b
ut he’s certainly not happy.
“Jules?” I say timidly.
“Mmhmm.”
I know how interesting a social science textbook can be, but this is ridiculous. He won’t even look at me, so why is he bothering to sit with me?
“I’m sorry,” I say.
He shrugs and asks, “For what?” He’s still not looking at me.
“For my uncle,” I answer. Okay, it’s not the whole truth. “And for the whole boxing and Red thing. And...” I’ve lost him. “And I’m sorry you think social science is so cool.”
Finally he looks up at me with a confused look. “What?”
I smile now that he’s looking at me. “I really am sorry, okay? I should have just kept my mouth shut.”
Julian’s shoulders lose their tension and his expression softens. “It’s all right, Ella. You said it yourself, I didn’t back down and I could have. It’s time I faced him.”
“That’s really cool,” I tell him.
“Yeah,” he says. “Like social science.”
He smiles at me which allows me to laugh at his joke. Maybe he’s not as angry as I thought he was.
***
Amazingly, Dan keeps his word to keep training me and Jules. We work with him whenever we’re not at school or work and he’s available. Which seems to be all the time. In fact, I’m starting to wonder what Dan did with his time before we enlisted his help. It seems like every time I call or text him to say that Julian and I have free time, he’s already at home waiting for us.
It’s been a week since we started training. I told my parents about it yesterday, because it was getting too hard to come up with excuses as to why we rearranged the basement, why Jules comes over all the time, and why we hang out with my uncle in the basement. I thought my explanation would put their dear little hearts at ease, but it didn’t.
At first they didn’t believe us, but Dad had no choice but to believe his own brother. He knows all about Dan’s glory days and eventual decline. After that, Mom got mad at Dan for “being a bad influence” and making me try boxing, and Dad gave Julian the third degree. Even though he’s not my boyfriend, as I explained repeatedly.
I could tell Julian didn’t want to have to explain to the whole world the real reason he was taking up boxing. So he told them that he really wants to get in shape and that they really like boxing at our school. I told them I’m doing it because it was the only extra-curricular left. Parents like words like “extra-curricular.”
When they realized there was nothing they could do to stop us from training for our tournament, they backed off a little. A very very very little amount. Which means they’re going to keep bugging me throughout the rest of the semester. Fantastic. At least they signed the release form I was supposed to bring back to Ms. Robertson two days ago. I hope I’m not too late for that.
Julian had his form in two days after we got it. When I asked him how his parents felt about it, he just kind of shrugged nonchalantly.
“My dad thinks I’m fat anyway, so he was more than happy to sign,” he told me.
For the record, Julian’s not fat. Just out of shape. “What about your mom?” There’s probably some handbook somewhere that says you shouldn’t ask people about their parents, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t apply to friends.
“My stepmom didn’t really like the idea,” he answered. “She’s more into the softer side of protesting things.” I must have given him some sort of look because he adds, “I know, it’s weird. Sometimes I think I actually take after her much more than my dad.”
Okay, I obviously wasn’t going to ask him about his real mom, but his stepmom sounds decent.
“Elli!” Dan snaps his fingers in front of my face.
I really need to stop the whole introverted retrospection thing.
“Your turn,” Dan says.
Julian gives me an amused smile because he knows how I zone out. I stand in front of them on some seriously old floor mats that Dan has appropriated from who knows where and try to mimic what I saw Julian doing a minute ago. I feel stupid, because all I’m doing is standing there and then throwing a couple of punches. Dan bursts out laughing and I stop to glare at him.
“What’s so funny?” I ask him. I can tell Julian is trying hard to cover up his own laughter.
“You look like you’re surfing,” Dan answers with more mirth in his voice.
I sigh in annoyance and drop my arms. “What do you expect? It’s the only sport I’ve ever done.”
“Really?” Julian asks in an awed voice. “That’s cool.”
I shrug. When you’ve lived on a beach your whole life, it kind of becomes your whole life.
“Well, your whole life is boxing now if you want to be remotely close to good at it,” my uncle says, surprising me. Did I speak out loud? And when did he get so bossy?
I frown at him and vow to do better, because I hate when I don’t meet expectations. Actually, usually I prefer to exceed them. Yeah, that’ll show him.
Uncle Dan stands next to me and attempts to help me adjust my posture. “Just…be normal. No, why are you doing that with your feet? Stand normal.”
“I am standing normal!” I snip. “Ugh.”
Julian gets up too and I have to consciously keep from rolling my eyes. Now he’s on the other side of me in a stance that I swear looks exactly like mine. He puts up his fists and gives me an expectant look and I want to punch him.
“Like this,” he says gently.
I suddenly hate how natural he looks, even though I can’t help but feel a tiny bit of admiration for him. Still, it annoys me that I feel wrong when he looks so…right.
“I am like that,” I say to him, my eyes undoubtedly shooting daggers at him. “Exactly like that.”
“No, it’s—” Jules tries to explain.
I cut him off. “It’s not like I have to fight Red, so can’t we just focus on you?” Jules and Dan exchange a look. “What am I doing wrong?” I finally ask since neither guy is saying anything.
“Stop standing like you’re on a surfboard,” Dan says. “Just keep your feet pointed forward and your legs shoulder-width apart.”
I look down and realize what it is now. “Oh!” My feet are sideways just like they would be on—you guessed it—a surfboard.
“Much better,” Dan and Jules say at the same time. Pride swells inside me but I try not to let it show.
After a while, they give me a little reprieve while Jules works on his punching technique with Dan. Anyway, while they do that I work on my homework, because despite my promise to Jules, I’m not going to let my grades suffer just for boxing.
When I’m not expecting it, they both sit back down and Dan starts speaking. “You guys need to find a way to work on your stamina. I can teach you all the technique in the world, but it won’t do any good if you can’t last in the ring.”
Julian’s face, which looked confident a few minutes ago, now looks nervous. I nod noncommittally, because truthfully I’m not that committed. I’m really just here for Julian, but I think it’s starting to dawn on him what a huge undertaking he’s chosen.
“Like what?” he asks. “You’re gonna help us with that too, right?”
Dan puts his palms up. “Hey, you’re on your own with that. I can’t be with you guys all the time. My recommendation though? Lots of cardiovascular. Anyway guys, I think we’re done for today.”
Dan’s right of course; it is getting late and I’m sure Julian’s got some homework he needs to do. And he’s right about the fact that we need to take some initiative on our own time. As it is, he’s being pretty good about all the free lessons and stuff.
Dan takes off after that, and I sincerely hope he’s not going to a bar or something tonight. Just because he told me he would lay off the drinking doesn’t mean he actually will, right? Anyway, that leaves Julian and I awkwardly staring at each other in my basement.
In my basement! Alone. I have to get him out. “I’ll walk you to the door,” I say, which is the
politest way of kicking him out.
Julian nods and on the way up, he asks, “What does he mean about cardiovascular?”
I stop dead in my tracks. Julian is probably the smartest kid I know, and I have no doubt that he knows what that specific term means. “You don’t know what cardiovascular means?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“I know what it means,” he says indignantly, his eyes flashing. Defiance is an increasingly good look for him. “I just don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it.”
“Oh, sorry,” I mumble as I start walking again. “Lots of exercise, I guess. I mean, outside of boxing.”
“There’s more?” he asks, as if he’d never thought of it.
I give him a sympathetic look. He’s not the only one who’ll have to work hard. “Sorry,” I repeat.
He shakes his head, but the fire is gone from his eyes. “You’re becoming more and more Canadian every day,” he says to me.
It takes me a while after he’s gone to realize that he was referring to me apologizing. But I don’t think any amount of apologizing will fix this situation I got us into.
***
For the last half hour of my shift, Cherry’s been hanging out by the sidelines, looking anxious and like she wants to come over to me, but she doesn’t. Instead she’s ruining her beautiful, sparkly, midnight blue nail polish by chewing on her nails, and darting glances at me then looking away quickly when I meet her eyes. At first I thought she was just being Cherry, but now I’m seriously starting to get worried.
When there’s finally a lull in the traffic of people coming to the snack booth, I call her name. She looks at me, startled, and then stalks over. Uh oh. What did I do?
“How are you?” I ask cautiously. I’ve only spoken to her once since she took me skating, a quick hello between classes. I wonder if she’s mad at me because I don’t really spend time with her or seek her out.
“Is it true?” she asks, her bright green eyes piercing holes into mine.
“Is what true?” I ask back.
