The Bad Boy and the Tomboy

by Nicole Nwosu

  “Better opportunity for Dad’s business since we’re close to Toronto,” he explained. “He handles an office there while my uncle James handles the office in England. We visit when we can. We have a lot of family there and around here too.”

  “There are more Cahills?”

  Cedric shot me a look, finishing his drink and bagel in record time as he got up. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  Standing on my porch minutes later, Cedric and I were talking as he waited until it was time to pick up Sam from school. The only thing on my mind was what I had learned about Sam.

  Cedric was showing me a funny video he had saved on his phone when it hit me: Cedric Cahill was my boyfriend. When he made another joke about me not swearing, I playfully prodded him in the stomach with my hand and he winced. “Shit, you got a hand on you.”

  He brushed it off, and the two of us had begun kissing when suddenly the front door flew open and I pulled away fast, expecting to see my brother. Jasmine had a hand in my secret box of Pop-Tarts, and was currently chewing the last of the previous one. “Hello, lovebirds. Thought I heard you out here.”

  “What are you doing here?” She didn’t answer my question, heading inside the house. After saying good-bye to Cedric, I followed her inside, closing the door behind me.

  She was placing the Pop-Tart box back in the cabinet. “I needed to get out of the house. They’re fighting again. I texted you and showed up here. Your dad said I could stay for dinner. Did you do number five in the physics homework? I can’t get it.”

  She headed up to my room as my worry for her only grew. I knew Jasmine. I wasn’t going to press it. “Yeah, I got it. I’ll show you.”

  “How is she?” Drake asked through the speaker of my phone as I moved around my kitchen the next evening.

  Jasmine was in my room doing homework. “I have no idea. She’s not talking.”

  “She’s hiding out,” he said. “Has she been sleeping over often?”

  “Not so much—she comes over after school or after one of her club meetings for a while to do homework or other things, mostly to tell me about things happening at school.”

  Drake didn’t say anything for a moment, coughing uncomfortably, and the sound made me raise my eyebrows. “Speaking of things happening at school, I hear you have a boyfriend.”

  “Who has a boyfriend?” My dad entered the kitchen.

  “Your daughter!” Drake cackled. Even over a distance, Dad and Drake’s dynamic never changed.

  My dad took off his jacket and set his briefcase on the counter. “The Cedric kid? Drake, do you know anything about him?”

  I thought Drake didn’t hear him but moments later he answered. “I remember him. He’s a decent guy. He’ll treat our Macy fine.”

  “Is it serious or not?” Dad continued with the questions and I sat down at the counter, surveying the pasta on the stove.

  “I’m not talking to you both about this,” I mumbled.

  “Get the pasta, Mace.” I did as Dad said, grabbing the strainer from the cabinet as Drake continued talking.

  “Mr. Anderson?” Drake asked. “Do you mind if Jasmine is around a lot more often? I can’t be there for her with university and stuff.”

  “She’s always welcome here.” My dad kept his eyes fixed on my phone and his voice went quieter—the tone he used with me, Justin, and even Andrew whenever we had a problem. “Is everything okay at home?”

  “Things are a little rough between our parents right now. It’ll get better soon.”

  “All right.” Soon after I had drained the pasta, Drake excused himself to go study, and my dad took over the pot. “I’ll set the plates. Go get Jasmine and Justin.”

  “She won’t talk to me,” I said. “About what’s going on at home or even at school. And when Andrew tries to talk to her about anything, she snaps and they end up fighting with each other.”

  “She’ll talk to you eventually,” he promised, unaware of my doubt.

  We had finished dinner and were sitting around the table talking. My brother had cleared the plates before helping himself to some dessert when my dad asked Jasmine and me about our classes.

  “Sam can give me notes,” Jasmine said, after stating that she had been having some trouble with biology. “He took biology last semester. He mentioned it today at lunch and Caleb said he did really well.”

  “Sam?” Justin spoke up. “The rude guy?”

  “Who’s Sam?” Dad’s eyebrows furrowed.

  “Sam’s our . . . friend,” I explained.

  “He’s kind of a recent addition to the gang,” Jasmine added.

  “He said rude things to you?” Dad asked me.

  “At first. He’s not as bad as I thought.” With everything Cedric said earlier today, Sam wasn’t what I initially thought, or a reckless person.

  “Of course you would say that,” Jasmine mumbled. “You spend so much time with him.”

  “Was he the curly haired guy I saw when I picked you up at the rec center that one time?” my dad asked.

  “Yes, Sam Cahill.”

  Realization shone in his eyes. He probably knew him the same way most people knew the Cahill name. By their wealth. “Is he Vince Cahill’s son?”

  “His nephew. Cedric is his son,” I corrected. “Wait, how do you know Vince Cahill?”

  “I settled something for his company years ago,” Dad explained. “Plus, he and his brother are big names in the media with their company.”

  “Damn, you might as well insert yourself into their family now,” Justin muttered, and I kicked him under the table. “Anyway, onto a more relevant topic: When we see Grandma during spring break, what do we call her?”

  “Nonna,” Dad answered.

  Jasmine looked confused. “Don’t you see your grandparents all the time? Those few weeks every summer?”

  “We’re going to see our other grandmother. Our mom’s mom. She lives in Redmond, and we haven’t seen her in a long time,” I said.

  “Oh.” Jasmine turned to me, knowing how much it meant to reconnect with my mom by going to the place she had grown up. “Why haven’t you guys visited her?”

  “She was living abroad for years, and any other time she was back home, the kids were in school,” my dad explained. “She’s recently moved back for good.”

  There was excitement every time our visit was brought up, but I was nervous about the actual day to come. Even when I was texting Cedric while walking the halls of the school with Andrew the following day, spring break was the only thing on my mind.

  “I got the beta version,” Andrew said, talking about a new video game that wasn’t out yet. I turned to him with excitement when he asked, “My house after school?”

  Suddenly I frowned, recalling the plans I had later today. “Can’t. Cedric and I are going out after school.”

  “You’re ditching me for your boyfriend?”

  “I don’t mean to.”

  “I’m kidding.” He showed me a video game that appeared on his feed. “Aren’t you and Justin also waiting for the newest edition of this to come out?”

  “We’ve been talking about it for weeks. It comes out next Sunday.”

  “If only I could play video games with my sister.” Andrew chuckled, probably at the thought of his three-year-old sister handling a controller. “Bring Cedric to my place. We can all play there.”

  Andrew and I were rowdy whenever we played video games—it was worse when the boys and I were together. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “What?”

  Jasmine ran down the hall toward us then linked her arms with both of ours. “I have news!”

  “Is this your way of telling us that you want us to come over and watch Star Wars again or something? Not going to happen,” Andrew said abruptly.

  Jasmine ignored him. “Bea
trice was turned down by Sam yesterday and she thinks you have something to do with it.”

  “We’re only friends,” I muttered. “Is it my fault he’s the only guy who doesn’t want her?” I didn’t care what Beatrice did, and did not need to be involved. “I’m with Cedric.”

  “But you and Sam are friends,” Jasmine breathed.

  Caleb walked toward us, reading over something in one of his notebooks. He wore a large plaid button-up over a white tank top and held a sweater in his hand. As he approached us, he snapped his book closed, puzzled by our expressions. “Why do we look like someone pissed in our cereal?”

  “Beatrice,” I answered, no longer surprised by his random analogies. “What’s going on with you?”

  “I had an awesome idea for a story.” He took off his plaid button-up and tied it at his waist.

  Spotting Jasmine’s puzzled expression, I explained, “He wrote the school play and some short stories.”

  “I should’ve known you were involved in the play,” Jasmine said to Caleb. “You’re so dramatic.”

  “In other words, the boy version of you,” Andrew joked.

  Jasmine frowned. “What’s your problem?”

  “Nothing?” Andrew shrugged.

  “Doesn’t sound like it.”

  “Can we not do this here? It’s not my fault you’re so confusing.” He walked away saying, “By the way, I’m not involved with anyone anymore.”

  “What is he talking about?”

  Jasmine dismissed my question. “Nothing. He’s talking about nothing. I’m going to go to class.”

  She stomped off in the opposite direction. Caleb, like the dramatic person Jasmine claimed he was, pointed in both directions at my best friends. “Which one are you going after?”

  “They need a moment to themselves.”

  “You have no idea what’s going on?”

  “No idea,” I admitted. “I thought it had something to do with her breakup.”

  “No, it definitely has something to do with their breakup, Mace.” Caleb put his hands through the sleeves of the sweater he was holding. I stilled, surprised at what he was implying. Something was happening or had happened between Jasmine and Andrew? “I’ll see you at lunch. I brought cards to play Crazy Eights—get ready to lose.”

  As Caleb walked down the hall pulling on his sweater, my eyes caught the exposed ink on his left shoulder blade: Curiosity can be a risk you sometimes don’t want to take. —B. C.

  Cedric approached me, leaning next to my locker. “Phillip wanted me to give you this for his party next Saturday.”

  The envelope he handed me was covered with Ninja Turtle stickers, and when I opened it up, the card had the blue Ninja Turtle on the cover and Phillip’s big writing filled the inside. “Um, gifts ‘manatry’?”

  My boyfriend chuckled. “He meant mandatory, he loves gifts. And girls are required to wear dresses and guys tuxes.”

  I held in a sigh at having to wear a dress. “It’s an eight-year-old’s party, not prom.”

  “My parents are all about making an impression and they thought ‘What better idea than to do it at my son’s birthday party?’ So, how would you like to meet the parents? Beforehand.”

  What? There was no Jasmine to consult. If Andrew was next to me even he would be surprised. It felt too soon and yet the way Cedric was looking at me made me blurt, “Sure!” as if everything inside me was fine.

  “Hazel.” Sam’s voice behind me crackled and his cousin huffed, pressing his lips together in irritation. Sam stood behind me in a white shirt, a noticeable necklace tucked under it.

  “Hey.” This was the first I had seen him since finding out about his sister. He hadn’t been at lunch yesterday. There was no need to bring it up. When my mom had died, I didn’t want anyone to mention it.

  “Where were you yesterday?” Cedric asked him. “He’s back.”

  Any evidence of Sam previously smiling was wiped away and I got the feeling they were talking about his uncle. “Why do you think I wasn’t home?”

  “Mum’s back too.”

  “I spent the night at Caleb’s. Your mum and Ivan knew.” Sam’s voice dropped to a whisper. “You don’t have to act like you care.”

  Cedric frowned. The first warning bell rang and Sam turned without another word, heading down the hallway. Cedric pressed a kiss to my cheek, swiftly heading to his class as Sam’s retreating figure disappeared.

  8

  You’re the Relationship Expert

  Cedric lifted his arms up in victory as the bowling pins fell, turning to me and pointing up at the scoreboard. After school, we had headed to a bowling alley and he was currently winning. “Babe, you need lessons.”

  “I’m perfectly good at bowling.”

  “Want me to teach you how it’s done?” he teased.

  “Don’t pull a cliché.” I grabbed a bowling ball and slid around in my bowling shoes. I anchored my arm back and let the ball go, watching it roll down the lane and hit the bowling pins. All of them went down.

  “I forgot I was dating one of the most competitive girls in the world,” he remarked. My phone rang in my pocket.

  Andrew’s picture flashed on the screen and I was quick to pick it up. He had been ignoring my calls since he’d stormed off earlier today. “Drew?”

  “H-e-y, M-a-c-y.” Two words in and I knew something was wrong.

  “Are you drunk?”

  “A lil’ bit.” It was five thirty. On a Tuesday. Of all the things Andrew could’ve done, day drinking would never have crossed my mind.

  “Where are you? Are you alone?”

  “Stop asking so many questions,” he drawled. “It’s not that serious.”

  Not that serious? “Are you home alone?”

  “Yup.”

  “Stay put.” I hung up then took off my bowling shoes. “I’m sorry, I gotta go. Andrew’s drunk.”

  “What? Why?”

  “I have no idea. He doesn’t act like this. I’m really sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” Cedric assured me. “I’ll drop you off at his place.”

  Cedric drove me to Andrew’s. As I walked up front steps, my hand slipped under one of the many potted plants Andrew’s mom had in front of their door. Finding the spare key, I used it to open the door. “Anyone home?”

  Silence filled the house. Drunk Andrew was usually chatty.

  Heading over to the kitchen, I got a glass of water before walking up the stairs to his room. He was lying on his bed looking up at the ceiling, playing with a football. His dog, Freddy, a big golden retriever, was on the ground, and perked his head up at my entrance.

  Andrew’s eyes slid over to me as he dropped the ball next to his head. Closing the door behind me, I couldn’t miss the aroma of alcohol he had been drinking filling the air, and took in the bottle on his nightstand. “Getting drunk in the afternoon wasn’t on your bucket list,” I said, taking a seat next to him.

  He snorted and struggled to sit up, and I took notice of the red splotches on his face. I handed him the water and he chugged it down. “Whoa. Small sips, dude.”

  He curled his knees up, his face nudging the camera where it hung around my neck. My fingers moved along his blond hair and he sighed contentedly, closing his eyes. “Andrew? What’s up? You can tell me anything.”

  “Yeah,” he agreed with a hiccup, looking like the six-year-old I remembered watching Mighty Morphin Power Rangers with. “We don’t really have secrets.”

  “No, we usually don’t.”

  “I know everything about you,” Andrew said. “When we were ten, you stole Jacob’s ruler because he got mud on your new shoes and then you guys fought the day after and you both ended up covered in mud, but he still doesn’t know about that ruler.”

  Jacob will probably never know about the ruler. “What’s going on?”
>
  “At the party we all went to, where Cedric asked you out a while ago? I met a girl.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t feeling it. I could only think about one girl that night.” He turned to me with wild eyes, leaning back to lay his head in my lap, lips parted in realization. “I love her, don’t I?”

  I wasn’t sure if he was asking me or convincing himself.

  “But I messed up and said it was a mistake,” he said. “I knew I was lying but she just confused me so many times because it happened so many times. Imagine being in love with one of your best friends.”

  Andrew confessing he had feelings for Jasmine made a lot of sense—it explained the constant tension between them since she got out of her last relationship. “I’ve had a thing for her since, like, seventh grade.”

  “Seventh grade?” I exclaimed.

  “Remember when she came to us in grade nine, had her first kiss, and was telling us all about it? I couldn’t stand the idea of her being with someone else. But she’s Jasmine. She’s weird, funny, and people like her, she’s going to date other guys. Last summer, you were at your grandparents’ and I was over at her place. We were talking, I don’t even remember what we were talking about and”—he opened his eyes, holding his tongue between his teeth—“I kissed her.”

  His boldness made me pause. “Was this before she was dating Sean?”

  “Yup.” Andrew sighed. “She said we shouldn’t have kissed. It got awkward for a couple of weeks until we went to a party. And we were talking and then all of a sudden we were kissing, and the kissing led to . . .” My eyebrows raised. “Yeah, we did. We promised to never bring it up again after that. Then she started dating Sean and I barely hung around with her unless you were with us. Then one day, we were waiting for you and I confessed everything to her. But she was saying how it would affect our friendship. Even when the two of them broke up, a part of me was hopeful, yet she repeated what she said before, that if we ever dated, then broke up, it would ruin everything. How I probably don’t even like her and I’m messing around with her. She knows I’m not. And I was a little mad and with everything happening we just keep—”