When we entered my room, I was grateful I’d cleaned it this weekend. I’d even swiped an air freshener from Mom’s car and hung it behind my blinds. “Your room smells good,” Jayden said, evaluating my personal space. “Like soap or laundry detergent.”
“I’m just a naturally good-smelling guy.” I shrugged, mentally patting myself on the back for my brilliant air freshener idea.
“Right.” Jayden laughed, looking around. “Where do you want me?”
My mind instantly thought something dirty, until I realized she was looking for a place to sit. I tried to shove all inappropriate thoughts from my head. She’s just a friend, I reminded myself. “You can sit at my desk or on my bed,” I offered. She took the bed, so I grabbed my desk chair and pulled it across from her. “What do you want to work on?”
“I need help knowing when to use formal or familiar. It doesn’t make any sense to have two different ways of saying things.”
“We finally agree on something.” I grinned. “I knew if we spent enough time together, it was bound to happen. Don’t get used to it, though.”
“I’ll try not to get my hopes up,” Jayden said sarcastically. I launched into an explanation, followed by lots of practice. She hated it when I made her give her answers in Spanish, but that was the only way she’d ever get better. As with anything else, practice made perfect.
Before I knew it, an hour had flown by and my mom poked her head in to check on us. “I’m starting dinner. Would you like to join us, Jayden?”
Jayden looked at the clock on her phone. “Thanks for the offer, but I probably need to get going. I never know if my dad will be home for dinner. When he is, it’s expected that I am, too.”
“Does he work late hours?” Mom asked.
“Late and long,” Jayden answered. “He’s a lawyer, and he’s got some pretty heavy cases right now. But he’s also a workaholic.”
Mom nodded. “Well, you’re welcome to stay anytime.”
“Thanks.”
“Are you going to eat with us, Mike?”
“I don’t think so. I was going to walk Jayden home, then go running since I had to miss practice. Coach made me promise to do eight miles each day I was gone.”
“You don’t have to walk me home,” Jayden insisted. I kind of wanted to, but I wasn’t about to say so. Luckily, Mom had my back. She was awesome like that.
“He most certainly does need to walk you home,” she insisted. “I raised a gentleman.” Then she looked at me and spoke in mild outrage. “Eight miles? Isn’t that a bit excessive? Even the state meet is only a 5K.”
I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I can’t afford not to run this week, and Coach was unexpectedly cool about me being gone. If he wants eight a day, I’ll do eight a day.”
“I don’t want you out alone after dark.” Mom frowned.
“I’m not a baby. I’ll be fine. But if it makes you feel better, we’ll leave as soon as I get changed. Jayden lives close, so it’ll probably only take fifteen minutes to get there and another hour or so for my run. I should be back before it’s completely dark.”
Jayden gasped. “It only takes you an hour to run eight miles?”
My pride puffed up because she was totally astonished. I’d even dare say she looked impressed. “Yeah, around there, if I’m having a really bad day,” I answered coolly.
“That’s, like, a seven-and-a-half-minute mile! Eight times in a row!”
“My average is eight miles in about fifty-two minutes, but I’ve done it as fast as forty-nine. I can usually do the first six miles consistently, but I always drop off over the last two. I’m not sure how to fix that, but it’s aggravating.”
“Holy crap,” Jayden breathed. “I can barely run one or two miles…period.”
I laughed. “So, you don’t want to go running with me, then?”
“Uh, no thanks. I’d like to live through the night.”
Now my mom was laughing. “Running isn’t for everyone. I’m horrible at it. I’ll save you some dinner, and you can heat it up when you get back.”
“Thanks, Mom,” I replied, and she left. “Do you want to go say good-bye to Joy and Jackson while I get changed? I have a feeling it’ll take a minute to peel them away from you.”
“Sure.” Jayden grinned as she gathered up her stuff and left my room.
I threw on some of my longer running shorts and a tightly fitted T-shirt. Running shorts looked dorky on dudes, but there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t run in my basketball shorts. They were so heavy, they’d probably add a minute to my time. I also put on some extra deodorant and sprayed myself with cologne before heading to the living room with my socks and shoes in hand.
I sat down to put them on when Jayden looked down in horror. “You are not running eight miles in those.”
I peered at the runners, duct tape now securing the sole to the front of the left one and sighed. “Unfortunately, I am.”
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Mom exclaimed, rushing in from the kitchen. She grabbed her purse off the floor, dug out her wallet, and handed me a stack of cash. “Is two hundred enough? I wish I had more to give you.”
“I’m sure I can find something.” I smiled and walked it back to my bedroom. When I returned, Joy was clinging to Jayden’s waist.
“Do you have to go?” Joy pleaded.
“Sorry, kiddo. But I’m sure I’ll be back. Maybe even tomorrow.” Jayden looked to me for confirmation.
“If you can handle another day of these two.”
“I think I’ll manage.”
“Yay!” Joy and Jackson shouted in unison.
“All right, you guys, leave Jayden alone and go sit down for dinner,” my mom ordered as she pushed them toward the kitchen.
“But we can’t hang out with you guys all afternoon again,” I called after them. “We actually have to study tomorrow.”
“Thanks for being patient,” Mom said to Jayden. “They can be overbearing.”
“It’s not a big deal, honestly. I’m an only child, so it was kind of fun to hang out.”
“I’m sure you’ll change your mind.” She grinned. “Have a good night.”
“Thanks, Mrs…” Jayden stopped, looking at me. I realized I’d only introduced her as Mom.
“Rodriguez,” she supplied, and Jayden nodded. Then Mom disappeared into the kitchen.
“Shall we?” I asked, opening the door for her.
“Yep.”
The walk to Jayden’s place started off comfortably quiet, but that didn’t last long. When we reached the end of the street, she cleared her throat. “Can I ask you something? If it’s too personal, you don’t have to answer.”
“That sounds ominous, but shoot.”
“You said your mom is still married to your stepdad…so how come he isn’t home taking care of your brother and sister instead of you?”
I could tell she was trying not to sound judgmental, but I knew her well enough to know that she assumed he was a slacker. “Don’t worry, Fernando’s not a bum. He’s in the army and has been deployed overseas for the last ten months.”
“Oh.” Jayden’s mouth formed a circle in surprise. “That must be hard on your mom.”
“Not as hard as it is on me,” I replied dramatically, and she frowned. “Lighten up, I’m kidding—kind of. Yes, it’s hard on my mom and the twins. They really miss him. I miss him, too, though. He’s the only dad I’ve ever had, and I’ve been his kid for longer than the twins. But we Facetime with him regularly, and that helps. What’s hardest for me is having to juggle schedules and pick up the slack. It’s exhausting to be a parent. Not to mention that it’s killed my social life.”
“But you’re really good at it,” Jayden said. It was the sincerest she’d ever been.
“Thanks.” I shrugged. “You gotta do what you gotta do.”
“I mean it, Mike. I don’t know a lot of teenage guys that would accept that kind of responsibility. Especially not with a good attitude.”
�
��I have more common sense than the average teenage guy. It wouldn’t help me to complain. I’d still have to do everything, but my Mom would be angry at me all the time.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, I’m impressed.” Jayden smiled, then bumped my arm with her shoulder. We were having a moment. It was strange but nice. We walked in silence for a few more minutes, before I felt the urge to come clean.
“I was bullied when I was younger,” I blurted out.
“What? Where did that come from?”
“You keep asking why I act the way I do at school. It’s because I was bullied for being smart. Not just teased, like physically beaten up.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. There was one kid who was incredibly mean. He’d steal my homework and tear it up or take my projects and break them. Sometimes he’d wait for me after school, and his friends would hold me down while he kicked me and punched me.”
Jayden looked mortified. “Mike, that’s horrible! How long did it go on for?”
“All of fourth grade and most of fifth.”
“Over a year? And nobody did anything about it?”
“I never told anyone. He promised that he’d hurt me worse if I ratted on him, and I believed it. Usually, I could convince my mom that I’d tripped at recess or gotten a bruise playing games. But one day, I was stupid enough to stand up for myself. I’d spent weeks on a project for the science fair. He cornered me on the way into school and told me to hand it over because he hadn’t done one. I said no, he took it, destroyed it, then hit me hard enough to break my nose.”
Jayden gasped. “Oh my gosh. What did you do?”
“There wasn’t much I could do. My nose was gushing blood, so I went to the nurse’s office, and they called my mom. I told the principle what had happened, and the other kid denied it. His friends corroborated his lie, so it was my word against his. My mom was beyond angry and fought to get the kid expelled, but there was no proof of anything.
“We lived in Ft. Lauderdale at the time, but my brother Josh’s dad had been offered a good job up here in Orlando. They had fifty-fifty custody and had been arguing about whether Hector could take Josh with him. My mom pulled me out of school and decided that we’d all move to Orlando.”
“I’d have done the same thing…after I kidnapped the kid’s dog or something.” Jayden looked furious, and it made me feel kind of warm and fuzzy.
“I don’t believe you, but remind me not to piss you off, just in case.” I chuckled.
“Consider yourself warned.” She smirked and got sassy. “So, you moved here for a new life, and the life you picked was acting dumb, so you wouldn’t be bullied for being smart?” When she said it like that, the idea sounded ridiculous.
“I was ten, cut me some slack. Besides, it was Josh’s idea. He was popular at the middle school. I believed him when he said if I didn’t want to get picked on, I needed to hide that I had brains. He told me to fail tests every now and then and quit all the math clubs and science fairs. Then he said it would help if I was good at sports.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Maybe, but it worked. I took Josh’s advice a bit too literally at first, failing all my tests on purpose and not turning in my homework. But when my grades tanked, my mom got stressed and sent me to therapy. That sucked, so, I figured out how to hide my brain without failing classes.”
“Is that when all the idiot talk started?”
“Homegirl, puh-leaz. Don’t be a hater cuz you jealous. That’s wack.”
“You’re wack.” Jayden rolled her eyes, then slugged me in the side. I faked agonizing pain, and she stopped walking so she could cross her arms over her chest and glare at me.
“Jay-dawg, it’s too easy to screw with you.” I laughed and threw my arm casually around her shoulder without thinking. But she didn’t shrug it off, so I left it there as we continued.
“We’re almost to my house. You better finish your story, or I won’t leave you alone until I get it out of you. What was your grand plan to avoid therapy?”
“I tried out for the middle school basketball team. Turns out I was pretty good. I was the only sixth grader to make it, and I started. It was then that I realized two things. First, that I liked sports as much as I liked science and math. So, making the switch to a less dorky hobby wasn’t a total waste. And second, if you did something cool, like becoming an athletic superstar, people stopped recognizing you for anything else. I didn’t have to get bad grades, I just had to not mention that I got good ones.”
“That’s ridiculous and totally lame. It’s exactly what’s wrong with kids today.”
“Okay, Grandma,” I answered sarcastically, and she threw my arm off her shoulder.
“At what point did you make the switch from Mike the jock to Mike the dumb jock?” Jayden asked in exasperation as she stepped off a sidewalk and cut across a yard. I assumed it was her house and followed. The yard was pristine, and the house was much bigger and nicer than mine. This neighborhood had a lot of variation between homes, whereas all the ones in my neighborhood looked the same. There were a few other houses that were bigger than Jayden’s, but hers was easily the nicest on the block.
“That didn’t happen until high school. I didn’t have a problem during cross-country because I was faster than everyone, even back then. But basketball was a different story. I went from being a big fish in a little pond to a little fish in a shark tank. I made JV as a freshman, but that wasn’t as prestigious as making varsity. Brady and Cam made the JV team that year, too, but they were tall and better looking than I was. I wasn’t cool, and I wasn’t popular with the ladies, and I wasn’t the best anymore.
“The first day of practice, some of the older guys were making fun of the nerds in their math class. They hadn’t been threatening, just rude, but I freaked out anyway. So, I went straight home and asked my brother to make me cool, because his advice had already worked for me once. To this day, I’ve never been picked on for being smart.” I grinned as I went in for the kill. “And the only person who’s ever bullied me for being dumb is you.”
“I don’t bully you!” She screeched and brought her fist up to hit me again. But when I jumped back to avoid being punched, she looked guilty and dropped her hand. “I don’t bully you,” she repeated more calmly.
“It’s okay.” I winked. “I like it when you bully me.”
She narrowed her eyes as she opened the door. “We still good to study tomorrow?”
“I am if you are.”
“Yep. Unless you don’t show up at school. Then I’ll assume you died of exhaustion on your insanely long run.”
“Woman, the only thing that exhausts me is dealing with you.”
Jayden stuck out her tongue and walked inside. I turned and started back toward the street when she called out. “Mike?”
“Yeah?” I glanced back at her.
“I’m sorry you went through all that. Nobody deserves to be treated that way. Even dumb jocks like you.” Her joke wasn’t very effective, because her tone was soft and remorseful.
“Hey, if it doesn’t kill you, it’ll only make you stronger. And that’s worked in my favor, because now I have abs of steel.” I flexed and lifted my shirt to show off my stomach. I might have been skinny, but I wasn’t lacking in the muscle department. You couldn’t run eight miles in an hour if you were busy holding up your gut.
Jayden’s eyes widened in surprise, then squinted in disgust. At least, that’s what she wanted me to think. But I was pretty sure by the color of her cheeks the disgusted look was just an act. “You’re such a pig,” she scoffed, trying to suppress her grin. But she couldn’t fool me.
“And you’re still a brat,” I replied as I dropped my shirt and jogged toward the street.
“Hasta mañana,” Jayden said, then shut the door. See you tomorrow.
“Estaré esperando ansiosamente,” I answered under my breath. I’ll be anxiously waiting.
JAYDEN
&n
bsp; “You survived another study sesh?” Becca asked first thing when we met at my locker before lunch.
“Oh my gosh, Becca. You have got to meet his little brother and sister. They’re a stinking hoot. And they’re super cute. They look nothing like Mike.”
“That’s not nice,” Becca admonished me.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Then you agree that Mike’s cute?”
“That’s not what I said, either. I meant that they literally look nothing like him. Their dad is Mexican, and they have darker coloring, so they look more like my siblings than his. His little sister Joy basically asked if she could adopt me.”
“How old is she?” Becca raised one eyebrow.
“Six, I think. Mike said first grade.”
Her face softened. “Aww, how sweet. I hope I get to meet them.”
“Be prepared for crazy, that’s all I can say.” I chuckled as I grabbed my lunch and shut my locker. We walked into the cafeteria and got settled at our usual seat. I was about to bite into my chicken salad sandwich, when Becca kicked my foot.
“Am I seeing things, or is Mike waving us over to his table?”
I looked up, and sure enough, he was motioning for us to join him. “Looks like it,” I said, but remained seated and started on my sandwich.
“Should we go over?” Becca asked.
“Eh, if he wants to talk to us, he can come here.”
“Jayden, that’s rude. Besides, how often do you get invited to the popular table?”
“I’m probably not getting invited to the popular table. It’s you he wants to talk to, being his homecoming date and all.”
“Well, I can’t go over there by myself,” she whined.
“Sure you can.”
“Jayden!”
“Fine.” I shoved my sandwich back in my lunch sack. “But you owe me.”
“Eeek! I can’t believe I’m going to sit at Brady’s lunch table.”
“And the truth comes out. Don’t tell Mike why you’re really going over.”
Perfectly Misunderstood (The Perfect Series Book 4) Page 10
