Someone I Used to Know

by Patty Blount

  Derek’s jaw drops. “But, Dad!”

  “No, Derek. This”—he waves the phone—“is not right, and you know it. You want to keep playing football?”

  “Yeah. Absolutely.”

  “Then no more hunt. You apologize to Dakota first thing in the morning, or I will drive you straight to her house, and you can apologize to her parents after we tell your coach you’re finished with football. And you tell every player on that team that Ashley is off-limits to them.”

  Derek’s eyes swing to mine. They were not filled with apology.

  “Yeah. Okay. Fine.”

  Dad stands up and tosses Derek’s phone to the bed.

  “If I hear one more thing about points for sex, one more thing about somebody cornering Ashley in a stairwell, I’m holding you responsible. Got it?”

  “Yeah.”

  “What?”

  “Yes. I got it. You won’t. I promise.”

  Mom and Dad exchange a long look and head for the door. As they walk downstairs, I hang back, watching Derek. He just stares at his phone.

  “Derek, I’m—”

  He leaps up so fast, he blurs. He pushes me out of his room and shuts the door in my face.

  • • •

  At school the next day, when I tell Candace what happened, her dark eyes pop, and she shakes her head slowly. “Damn, Ash. Your brother really is an ass.”

  “I know, right?”

  “Do you think he’ll go through with it? Tell the guys you’re off-limits?”

  I nod. “Definitely. He always obeys Dad.”

  Only, he doesn’t obey. Not this time.

  I knew this because throughout the day, the guys on the football team grow increasingly obnoxious. One has his phone in his palm throughout math class, aiming up girls’ skirts every time the teacher turns away. Doug, the same moron I tripped yesterday, asks Mia, the girl who sits next to him, if he can borrow a pen. She searches through her bag for one, and as soon as she looks up, he plants a kiss on her. The whole class goes wild as Doug high-fives all the guys sitting around him. Mia keeps scrubbing at her lips, looking like she’d just been tricked into kissing a fairy-tale toad.

  The worst part? The teacher yells at her.

  My blood starts to boil.

  10

  Derek

  TWO YEARS AGO

  BELLFORD, OHIO

  I walk into the locker room with my temper hitting red-line levels. “I’m out.” I drop a printout of my scavenger hunt score to the bench littered with jerseys, shoes, and a couple of cups.

  “Dude, are you insane?” Brayden looks horrified as he grabs the score sheet. “You have a hundred and sixty points already!”

  My stomach cramps. The last thing I want to do is let down my teammates. But Dad threatened to pull me off the team if I don’t, and he doesn’t make empty threats.

  “What are you, gay or something?” Doug calls out, drawing laughs from everyone who hears it. The only one who doesn’t laugh is Sebastian Valenti, a sophomore.

  I pull out my phone. “Look. Thanks to you two and your big fucking mouths, my parents heard all about the scavenger hunt. They know about Dakota’s meltdown in the cafeteria. And they know about you cornering my sister in the stairwell. They went practically thermonuclear and plan to talk to your parents. Worse, they said if I don’t quit the hunt, I have to quit the team.”

  “Quit the team? Shit, man,” Brayden echoes.

  I’m still pissed off at Ashley for tattling, but now that I’ve thought it over, I can see why Dakota’s mad. She’s actually amazing, and I’d love to see her again. Maybe take her somewhere nicer than the homecoming dance. But after that big scene in the cafeteria, I don’t know if she’ll give me a third chance. I guess I have to find a way to deserve one.

  “Hey. Let it go, guys. Can’t you see Derek’s upset about this?” Sebastian steps up.

  I will myself to remain calm and try to get Brayden to understand. “Listen to me. I’m telling you, straight up, my dad’s pissed. So pissed, he threatened to go to the coach and to Dakota’s parents. So I’m out. And if you all have brains under your helmets, you’ll stay the hell away from my sister during the hunt. Got it? You put the word out. Ashley is off-limits.”

  Brayden smirks but nods. “Yeah. Sure. I got it. Ashley’s off-limits. Hear that, guys? Ashley Lawrence gets a free pass.”

  “Yeah. I heard it,” Doug says, choking back laughter. I don’t like the tone I hear in his voice one bit.

  I step up into his face and speak slowly and succinctly. “You seem to think this is a joke. I’m not laughing. If I find out anybody gets points off my sister, I will make you bleed. Got it?”

  The smirk slides off Doug’s face, and he nods. “Sure.”

  I back off, eyeballing the other guys, but they each break eye contact first. Damn straight.

  Once I’m suited up, I grab my helmet and head out to the field. It’s miserable out today. Cloudy and so humid, the air falls on you the second you step outside. Coach Rafferty and his assistant, Mr. DeMaio, are starting drills, so I jog over to take my place. I can see the warning I gave Doug and Brayden ripple across the field as the rest of the guys elbow each other, whisper in ears, and shoot astonished looks my way.

  “Yo, Lawrence.”

  I turn and see Sebastian fall into step next to me.

  “Way to take a stand, man.” He holds out a hand, and I study him closely, looking for any hint of sarcasm, but his eyes are clear. I shake the hand he offers.

  “Thanks, bro.”

  He jerks his chin toward Brayden, who’s busy doing some stretches. “This scavenger hunt is stupid. Half the stuff on those cards creeps out girls, and I’m glad I’m not the only one who sees it.”

  “Right. You wouldn’t play.”

  “It’s not cool, but every time I say that, somebody calls me a pussy or something.” He shrugs, but he also clenches his teeth so I know that bugs him.

  I think about what he just said. It’s pretty much what Mom and Dad said. I just didn’t realize any of the guys on the team saw it the same way. I thought the hunt was fun. I’d heard about it since freshman year and was psyched to finally make varsity so I could participate this year.

  Mr. DeMaio waves us over. Sebastian and I start stretching out.

  “Hey, your sister’s a really nice girl, so I think you should know that, well—” He breaks off, shooting another glance over his shoulder as we hit the ground to stretch hamstrings and calf muscles. “Vic’s got her in his sights.”

  The blood in my veins turns to ice. “What?”

  “I heard him tell Doug that, um, well, he drove her home—”

  “When the hell did Victor Patton drive my sister home?” And why haven’t I heard about it?

  “Uh, a couple of times, since the first day of school or something? Not sure. Anyway, he said she was all flustered and figures she really likes him, and if he—” He breaks off again, looking miserable. “Uh, if he shows her a little interest, he’ll score a hundred points, no problem.”

  A hundred points. And suddenly, I know exactly what’s on Vic’s hunt list. My hands curl into fists.

  Coach Rafferty blows the whistle, and we run around cones, him shouting out orders, us sweating through our uniforms. And through it all, I keep one eye stuck to Vic.

  “Lawrence!” Mr. DeMaio barks. “Any time you plan on getting your head in this practice would be helpful.”

  “Yes, sir,” I say, but don’t take my eyes off Vic.

  Vic catches me staring at him and steps up. “Problem, Lawrence?”

  “Maybe. Depends.”

  “On what?”

  “On whether or not you stay away from my sister.”

  Mr. DeMaio blows his whistle. “Tackle drills. Form up.”

  I take my position, crouching low and fa
ce off against Vic.

  “Your sister has great tits,” he mutters so only I could hear him, grinning behind his mouth guard. “They feel so good.”

  I explode before the whistle even blows, sending him sailing. I wrestle off his helmet and land a solid punch, but then we get separated.

  “Lawrence! What’s wrong with you?” Coach Rafferty shouts.

  “Ask him,” I answer, not taking my eyes from Victor, but he just smiles and holds up his hands when the coach turns to him.

  “Okay, Lawrence, you’re done for the day. Hit the showers.” Coach Rafferty jerks a thumb over his shoulder.

  I tell Vic straight up, “Stay away from my sister.”

  Again, he throws up his hands, but he never loses that stupid smile.

  “I said, hit the showers!” Coach roars.

  I stare down with Vic for another minute and then take off, unfastening my helmet in disgust.

  “Hey, Derek. Hey! Derek!”

  The soft voice finally penetrates my rage as I walk into the building. I look around and find Brittany Meyers near the stairs, just inside the door on the ground-floor corridor.

  “Hey, Brittany,” I give her a halfhearted wave and put one foot on the staircase that leads up to the locker room.

  “Derek, wait. Listen. Ashley’s really upset. She’s going to the principal’s office to complain.”

  “Aw, hell.” I take off in that direction. If I don’t get to her before she gets to the principal, I’ll be watching football instead of playing it.

  FIVE YEARS AGO

  BELLFORD, OHIO

  “Derek, I can’t do this.” Ashley shoves aside her fourth-grade math homework, her lower lip sticking out about a mile.

  I close my textbook and take a peek at her worksheet. Reducing fractions…everybody’s favorite lesson. “Fractions, huh?”

  “Fractions. Ick.”

  I laugh. Pretty sure I said the same thing in fourth grade. “Okay. I can help. Be right back.” I head upstairs to my room and come back with a bag of Lego blocks.

  “Hey, hey, what’s this? Playtime after homework time. Dad’s picking Justin up, and as soon as they get home, it’s time for dinner, so get moving.” Mom waves a finger from the kitchen where something cooking is making me seriously hungry.

  “This is homework, Mom. Ashley’s got fraction distraction.”

  Mom laughs, and Ashley frowns. “I do?”

  “Yeah, you do. Come on. Look.” I dump the blocks out on the table. “See this one? How many pegs does it have?”

  She counts the pegs and grins. “Eight!”

  I write an eight on a piece of loose leaf from my binder and put the brick above it.

  “Great. That means we need eight of these tiny red ones to totally cover that brick.” While she carefully counts out eight single-peg blocks, I write a dash with an eight under it. “Each one of these blocks has only one peg, right?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  I write a one over the dash. “So this block is one-eighth the size of that one.”

  She shrugs, and I can tell she’s not getting it. I keep going, first with four-peg blocks, then with two-peg blocks, writing the corresponding fractions above them. “Remember, this brick has eight pegs, and this brick has four.” I snap them together and ask, “How much is covered?”

  “Um, half.”

  “Yeah. Half. Here’s how you know it’s half.” I write four over eight and then show her how to divide to get one over two.

  “Oh!” She takes another brick with four pegs and covers half of it with a two-peg block. “This one is two over four.”

  “Yeah. And it’s also one-half. Do you understand now? If we had a Lego block with a hundred pegs on it and another block with fifty, it would still be—”

  “Half!”

  “Right.” I grin at her.

  I show her a few more combinations of blocks, impressing her when she realizes any number over any same number always equals one and totally blowing her mind when she discovers that two pizza pies of the same size are always the same size no matter how many slices they’re cut into. When she was little, she used to think eating four small slices was better than eating one larger one.

  “Mommy, Derek told me how to do fractions, and now they’re so easy,” she informs Mom. And then she gasps. “You could be a teacher when you grow up.”

  Uh, yeah. So not gonna happen.

  “Good job, Derek. You guys done now? Set the table.”

  “I’ll put the Legos away,” Ashley announces.

  “What do you say to Derek, Ashley?” Mom prods.

  “Thank you, Leo!”

  “No problem, April.” I grab all my books and stuff them into my backpack.

  When Dad and Justin get home, Ashley shows them her math worksheet and announces she’s over her fraction distraction. Justin rolls his eyes, and Dad laughs, messes up my hair, and says how lucky Ashley is to have a brother like me.

  TWO YEARS AGO

  BELLFORD, OHIO

  I jog down the corridor to the principal’s office still wearing my gear, cleats making a racket on the floor. Ashley walks smack into me as she comes out the door.

  I grab her shoulders, and she recoils, wrinkling her nose. Yeah, yeah, I need a shower. But this can’t wait. “What the hell are you doing, Ash Tray?” I use the nickname she despises so much because she despises it. I want her to hear me this time. “Bad enough you narc’d to Mom and Dad. You go to the principal, and they’ll punish everybody on the team.”

  “Stop calling me that,” she snaps, wrestling out of my grip. “Yes, I reported Doug. What he did was wrong.”

  She’s right, but that’s not the point.

  “Look. You have to see the bigger picture here. Just quit the dance team and you’ll be fine. You’ll be on the first bus out of here every afternoon, and the football team can’t bug you.”

  Her dark eyes pop wide. “But Daddy said—”

  And my temper erupts with maximum velocity. “Oh, will you just grow up? Daddy said, Mommy said,” I mimic in a high-pitched voice. “This is high school, not kindergarten. And for what it’s worth, I did what Daddy said. I told the guys you’re off-limits, and you know what they said? Nothing. In fact, half of them laughed.”

  “Then say it again,” she snaps back with a crack in her voice, and I know I hurt her feelings. “Say it like you really mean it. I know you don’t care what happens to me, but what about all the other girls in this school? It’s okay for them to get cornered in a stairwell?”

  “I do care what happens to you. That’s why I want you to go home.” I care. I really do. Okay, I’ve been a real dick to her, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care. “And all the other girls can take care of themselves. You, on the other hand, can’t, and I’m getting sick of you always needing my help.”

  “Wow, Derek. Just wow. You are seriously delusional. I haven’t needed your help since fractions in fourth grade! You said you didn’t want me around, and I listened. I found my own friends. I like dancing. But that’s not good enough for you. You don’t even want me in the same zip code as you. Why? Huh, Derek? Why do you hate me so much?” she demands.

  “I don’t hate you. I’m just, you know. Kind of sick of you,” I fire back and then shut up. Jeez, that was mean, even for me. But it’s also true. I just want some drama-free time with guys like me. I cross my arms, sighing loudly. “Ash, just forget about you and me and think of the Bengals. The hunt is a tradition that goes back years. It’s nothing that ever hurt anybody. Except for you tripping Doug.”

  She rolls her eyes. “I still don’t understand why that’s such a flippin’ federal case, but when he corners me on the stairs, you just shrug.”

  “First, you’re not hurt, okay? I told the guys everything Dad said last night and threatened to bloody up anybody who puts a hand on you.
And second, you could have ended his football career forever. How do you not get that? You ever seen what a tib-fib fracture does to an athlete?”

  Ashley shoots out a hip and folds her arms. “Derek, I’m telling you it’s not cool for guys to demand we show them body parts. It’s even illegal. And it’s really not cool for you to get back with an ex-girlfriend just because you need sex with an ex to get some stupid points. You have absolutely no idea what it’s like to be a girl. None.” She sneers at me, a twist of her lips and narrowing of her eyes that shrivels me up to something on the level of pond scum.

  I pace away and fling up my arms. “Are you even serious right now? It’s a game, a dumb game I already said I’m not playing anymore. What else do you want from me?”

  “I want you to be my brother!” she shouts. “My Leo.”

  Her Leo. “For God’s sake, Ashley! Will you just open your eyes and realize I’m not that goofy little boy who thought it was cool to push some other kid around for hurting your feelings? I’m seventeen years old, and I’m over it, and I’m done playing with you. This team has a real good shot at state this year. Stop trying to ruin that just because you’re pissed off at me.”

  A tear slips down her cheek, but I refuse to cave in.

  “We’re kind of scared, Derek. The girls in this school really hate this hunt,” she says, wiping the tear away.

  I look up and down the corridor. It’s deserted except for us. “Then why are you the only one here?”

  She only shakes her head. “You really are a lost cause.” She turns and runs to the main exit while I sag against a locker and rake both hands through my sweaty hair. I know I should probably feel guilty. But all I feel is relief.

  11

  Ashley