Yell Out / Do You

by Stephanie Perry Moore

  Eva squinted at me. I knew she wanted to ask me if I liked her sister, but she did not say anything. Then she rolled her eyes. I did not care. I was already a little salty with her for leaving Ella out to dry with the whole cheating thing.

  Actually, I dared anyone to say Ella was bothering them by snoring. It was the least I could do, sticking up for her when she stuck up for me. When we got to the school, she was drooling a bit. I could tell she was a little embarrassed. I wanted to wipe her mouth, tell her it was okay, and give her a hug or a kiss or something, but I chickened out. Besides, I did not have any time to think when Coach Strong made sure Blake and I got in his car so we could head home.

  I wanted him to stop bragging on me and saying I had such a good defensive game because I could tell it was getting under Blake’s skin. It was night time, but it was light enough for me to tell that my brother was turning red. His father kept on pushing the issue. Blake was huffing.

  To make matters worse, as soon as we got inside the house, Mrs. Strong rushed up to me and said, “I’m missing some money, Leo. It was just forty dollars, but now it’s gone. I know you might need it for something, and you might have already spent it, but I would at least like you to admit you took it.”

  I looked over at Blake. He was snickering. He was enjoying that I was getting accused of something I did not do. This was a bunch of crap.

  Coach Strong defended and said, “Why are you accusing him? There are other kids in this house, and you know I always need cash.”

  “Blake and Lola don’t have to steal. So, Bradley, did you take it?” Mrs. Strong interrogated. “I didn’t think so.”

  The two of them argued. Lola came out of her room, tearing up. Blake looked like he wanted to sock me.

  So she would not stress herself out and get the cancer going in the wrong direction, I said, “I took it. I’m sorry.”

  I made my move. At that point I knew I had to accept the consequences. The two of them just kept on looking at each other not knowing what to do. I could tell Coach Strong really did not believe I had done it. The way I said it, his wife did not know if I was telling the truth. Not knowing what to do, I realized I’d better be still.

  CHAPTER 4

  Too Much

  The entire weekend at the Strong’s house was excruciating. Friday night after I confessed to taking the money, the Strongs didn’t reprimand me. They just went their separate ways and practically avoided each other and me. As much as I could, I stayed in the guest room. I was still a little weak from my injuries. Plus with the intensity I gave on the football field, I needed to have some quiet.

  Though Mrs. Strong’s food was not as good as the baskets Ella brought, everything was pretty good. I was just thankful to be eating. I did not have to worry where my next meal was coming from.

  Coach Strong wasn’t even speaking to me. I knew that was bad, not so much because he thought I was trouble, but he was on eggshells because I was causing him trouble. Not wanting to be a bother, I got on the Internet and looked up rooms I could rent. Quickly, I got depressed because even though I found some in our district, I still didn’t have a job.

  Searching other places online, I ended up checking my grades. They were horrendous. I knew that something needed to be done about them before I got kicked off the team.

  I called up Landon and said, “Wassup, guy? You going to that tutoring thing at the school?”

  “I wasn’t, but, uh, I could. I need to go to the mall, though, and pick up a few things. You ain’t hanging with your other brother?” Landon teased.

  “You know Blake and I are not cool. Don’t even go there.”

  I agreed to go with him to the mall. He agreed to go study with me at the library first. Of course staying at Coach Strong’s house, I couldn’t just come and go as I pleased, but when I told Coach what I was planning on doing, he was with it. He did give me a time to be back home though. That was fine with me because it gave me a reason to make sure Landon did not have me out all night.

  Amir was one of the tutors. When I got there, he was not helping anyone. We had some of the same classes. We were just sort of getting to know each other really well. He was new to the football team, but the boy could ball. He was a free safety who could play his side, the strong safety position, and clear cross on the other side too. For depth purposes, if we needed him to play wide receiver, he was capable of that. Coach Strong said he was going to look at putting him in to catch the deep ball on special teams. The little joker had speed.

  When I saw Amir sitting there ready to help others, something inside of me kicked in and I thought, “Dang, Leo, you got to get yourself together so that you won’t be so dumb.” There was no way I could afford to repeat a grade. I had already been there and done that. My dad passed when I was in the third grade. I was out of school for a long time because of our accident. I was already older than most, and I knew to be able to play at D1 schools I was going to need better grades than I had. So I was ready for Amir to teach me.

  “All right, so talk to me about which part you are missing,” Amir said when we opened up the math book.

  I looked at him like, All of this doesn’t make any sense. I don’t get why you asking me specific questions. Aren’t you the tutor? Give me some problems. Let me try and answer ’em. If I can’t, help out.

  I do not know if I was too prideful or if I was too slow in the subject, but I really could not tell him what I did not understand. I was real frustrated. Thankfully, somebody sat on the other side, and he started helping that person.

  “Look, man, I’m trying to help you,” Amir turned and said once the other girl was working on some problems. “Take a break or something. Come back with the right attitude. You can get this. No need for drama.”

  “Aight, man,” I said, really mad at myself because I did not understand it.

  When I got up to get some water, Ella came rushing past me. She went in the back of the library. I had never seen her so upset. She was shaking and crying. Instantly, I knew I had to be with her and calm her down.

  Then I hesitated. It had been a week, and I had not told her how much I appreciated her. I had to open up. I had to be transparent. I had to be there for her because clearly she was going through something deep.

  It took me a while to find her. I saw her on the ground with her knees to her face and her arms wrapped around them. She was crying hard. I bent down and hugged her.

  “What’s wrong? Talk to me, Ella.”

  “Oh, Leo,” she cried, hugging me real tight.

  I was way taller than her, so I leaned down and put my face to hers. Even though her face was wet from the tears, it felt nice rubbing up against her. I did not know what she was saying as she rambled. Trying to calm her down, somehow our lips connected. There in the library we ended up on top of each other. I actually wanted time to stand still. Ella felt so good in my arms.

  “You don’t have to take pity on me,” she said, thinking I was not feelin’ her.

  “Pity on you? What are you talking about?”

  She wanted to get up, so I moved off of her. “I’m a basket case right now, Leo, okay?”

  “I’m here because I wanna be. I kissed you because I wanted too. If you trust me, talk to me.”

  “I’ll run you away. My life is so crazy right now.”

  “Join the club,” I said, letting her know I understood.

  “It’s my dad. He’s getting married, and my stepmother-to-be hates me. Maybe she’s jealous of me. I don’t know, but she doesn’t want me in her house. All I wanted to do was just spend time getting to know my dad, you know? It seems like I’m in the way.”

  “How do you know this?” I asked, wanting to make sure she wasn’t stressing unnecessarily.

  Not that I did not believe her, but sometimes girls had the tendency to exaggerate. I wanted to make sure what she thought was going on was really that. So maybe if she told me everything that happened, I could confirm her suspicions or let her know she was overreacting.<
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  “I walked in on their conversation,” Ella blurted out as evidence to support her theory.

  She and I really did have a lot in common. I knew exactly how it felt to walk in on adults talking about you—and not in a comforting way. She was right to be feeling uncomfortable.

  “I just don’t feel loved. I just feel like it would have been much better if I didn’t even try to get to know him. But he’s my dad, right? He should care about me. He should wanna be there for me. He should wanna love me.”

  All of a sudden, when she said she did not feel loved, I wanted to let her know that there was somebody standing right in front of her who cared. I felt something really deep. I picked her up and put her against some books in that library. Our tongues collided and all was right with our world.

  Until we heard Dr. Sapp. “What in the world?”

  Trouble found me, and it was becoming more than I could bear. I certainly did not want to go back to ISS or worse. I definitely did not want to get Ella back in trouble. I guess he knew that Ella and I needed the moment and needed more of his grace because he gave us another stern lecture instead of tougher consequences.

  After the “Don’t let me catch you again” speech, he sent her on her way and grabbed my arm. “All right, Steele, you are pushing my patience. You fight in my school. Squat in my school. Bring the police to my school. Now you are trying to get busy in my school.”

  “Nah, nah, Doc, it wasn’t like that,” I blushed and said.

  “Whatever. Again you can’t be doing all that. What you were doing was over-the-top. Both of you are too vulnerable right now. Chill out, dang,” he muttered, hitting me on the back of my head.

  He loved doing that. Was I being a knuckle-head? Was I letting my desires lead Ella down the wrong path? I wanted to be good for her. Maybe I did need to slow my roll.

  “I got you, Dr. Sapp.”

  “You got me?” he questioned. He stood there with his hands folded.

  I knew Dr. Sapp was disappointed in me. Everywhere he went the last couple of weeks, he found me in a tough predicament. However, because he got in the mud with me, sort of understood where I was coming from, and did not chastise me for my unfortunate circumstances, I wanted to do right by him. I wanted to do much better for myself too, of course, but I just did not want to let him down anymore. Seriously, I was sick of being a magnet for trouble.

  I could still feel Ella’s lips on mine, and I wanted to say something sweet to her. But she was already gone. The tutoring session was over, and I couldn’t get outside quickly because everyone was exiting the building.

  But then I spotted the prettiest sight I had ever seen: Ella waiting on a ride. I eased up behind her and put my hands around her waist. I whispered in her ear.

  “I really liked that. Hope you’re not mad. I hope you don’t regret it,” I said.

  “Darn,” she said.

  I wondered, why the “darn”? I was a little confused. Then I saw she was frowning at the car that was pulling up to get her.

  She turned around toward me and said, “Out of all the things going wrong in my life, you are what’s right.”

  Then the smile vanished. She huffed before getting into the car with a lady. Before the car pulled off, a little boy in the back was waving at me. I noticed it was her little brother, Evan. I waved back. Now I knew why Ella had such a long face. She had to ride with the soon-to-be stepmom that she heard lobbying for her to leave.

  Landon patted my back real hard and pushed me toward his ride. “To the mall we go,” he said.

  I was so tired, and I did not get much studying done. I knew exams were going to be next week in some of my classes. I was not prepared. The mall was the last place I needed to be. A deal is a deal though. I told him I would go with him to the mall, so hopefully, we could swoop up something quickly, and then he could drop me off at the Strong’s house.

  “So wassup? You like Eva’s sister?” Landon asked. I shrugged my shoulders. “Puleeze,” Landon teased, “don’t even give me that.”

  “Then why you asking me?” I asked.

  “ ’Cause I thought you and I were gonna be playas for life, that’s all. Now you trying to settle down on me and stuff, getting all serious with one girl. I ain’t gonna have my road dog no more. Amir and Brenton already tripping. Can’t go five seconds without being henpecked. Hallie wants me to do that, and Charli wants to do this,” he teased, mocking our boys.

  I had to laugh though. “I ain’t gonna be like that.”

  Landon replied, “Yeah, right.” When we got to the mall, he slapped two twenties in my hand. “My dad wanted me to give you this.”

  “Man, I can’t take this, and your dad didn’t want you to give it to me.”

  “You know Pastor King can shell out some loot to the needy,” Landon kidded. “He heard about your story, and there’s more coming. You know our church has got plenty of resources. So take it before I go buy me a new shirt with it.”

  Actually, that was a good idea. Having Ella in my life, I wanted to look nice for her. Also, I was hungry.

  “I really appreciate it, Landon. You keep showing me that you’re my brother. You aight,” I said to him. I gave him a cool hug.

  “You know I know that,” he teased back with his arrogant self.

  He loved talking about Blake having a big head, but his head was just as inflated. Who could blame him? His dad had one of the biggest Baptist churches in the South. I knew it was hard not having a dad in your life anymore, but I also saw firsthand being with Landon that it was no picnic having a dad who was rarely around either.

  We agreed we would meet up in the food court in an hour. As soon as we got inside, I wanted to call him and tell him to make sure he only spent an hour shopping and doing his thing because Coach gave me a curfew. However, I realized I left my cell phone in his car, which I did not feel like going to get. If it were any other person, it would not have been worth going back because for sure the car would have been locked. Landon was such a scatter brain. He got so excited about hanging out that he sometimes did not lock his car.

  Continuing in the mall, I went shopping. I found a shirt that would show off my muscles. I figured Ella would like that.

  I was on my way to the food court. Passing by the toy store, I saw little Evan. I did a double take when I saw him standing there crying his eyes out.

  I bent down and said, “Evan, it’s your buddy Leo.”

  “Leo. Football. Yeah,” he replied, settling down a little.

  “Where’s your mom and sister?”

  “Football,” Evan responded. He seemed happy to see me and wiped his eyes.

  He took my hand and dragged me inside the toy store. I hoped Ella was in there. I saw the lady she was with, but I didn’t think I’d remember her. Certainly Evan would know his mom, so we searched.

  He wanted a football. I found a Nerf one for three dollars. I purchased it.

  Seeing him smile, I took his hand and said, “Let’s go find Ella.”

  After searching for a while, I got real nervous. She had to be going out of her mind wondering where her little brother was. I was determined to find her right away.

  “Let’s play football,” Evan said.

  “Okay, let’s try to find Ella. Then we can play football. All right, lil’ man?”

  The only thing I could think of to do was to get my cell phone from the car. I was hoping Landon had not locked it. I wished I knew Ella’s number by heart. I would have used the phone in the store, but I didn’t. I did not know any of the people in the mall to trust leaving Evan with until I got the phone. We weren’t parked that far from the door, so we walked outside.

  I did not get five feet when I heard some cop say, “Put your hands up. Step away from the boy.”

  Another cop grabbed Evan. He started crying. I was really irritated.

  “Put him down,” I screamed.

  The officer snarled and said, “You, put your hands behind your head. You’re under arrest.”

/>   “What for?” I questioned.

  “For kidnapping,” the cop said to me, getting a little rough and wanting to show that the law was bigger and stronger.

  That was a joke because if I wanted to flex my muscle, I could have gotten away easily. However, I had not done anything wrong—and they had guns.

  “This is all a misunderstanding,” I said.

  “The mother of this boy has reported him missing. You’re taking him out of the mall, which is illegal,” the officer said to me.

  I tried to explain what was going on, but I was being jerked all around. Cops were manhandling me like I was a sexual predator. I was actually glad they turned me around and took me back in the mall instead of to the police car that was out front.

  When little Evan saw his mom, he rushed to her. I felt horrible seeing his mother’s devastated face. I knew she was sick with worry. I looked for Ella. I did not want any of this to blow up and be a big deal. However, I could not find her. At least now Evan was okay. Ella’s dad was there too. Once I spotted Ella, I could see that she was mortified when she saw me in handcuffs. Trust me, that was not the way I wanted her or her father to see me.

  I finally tried to explain that I was just going to get my cell phone. They told me that I should have gone to mall security with Evan. When they asked Ella why she was so sure I was not trying to kidnap the boy, her answer surprised me.

  “Because he’s my boyfriend. I trust him completely,” Ella said boldly.

  “And, sir, you’re okay with her boyfriend having your son?” the officer asked Ella’s dad.

  Her father said, “Yes, Leo is a fine young man.”

  Immediately, they took off the cuffs. I so wanted to pull Ella into my arms and hug her. I was her boyfriend? Though I wasn’t complaining, I was shocked. She was serious enough with her feelings that she said them out loud. I was overwhelmed. I hoped I would not let her down, because to disappoint her would be more than she deserved.

  “Dang, man. Handcuffs? What just happened to you?” Landon said after everything was over.

  “C’mon, guy, let’s get out of here,” I said to my partner.