Bending Under Pressure

by Lindsay Paige

  “No, I just know my mom will ground me for the rest of my life, and I am a little worried about that.” Although, with what Keelan is getting me into, if we’re caught, I’ll have more than my mom’s fury to worry about.

  His parents return, so we stop talking about it. Instead, he asks what I’m doing this weekend.

  “I’m not sure yet. I might call my dad.”

  “How are you doing with that?” Octavia asks.

  “Okay. He wants me to officially meet his new family, and I am going to tell him not yet. He seems like he wants to be there for me again.”

  “That’s great,” she says and I nod.

  “What are you doing?” I ask Keelan.

  “Meeting Natalie and Keira. Keira’s been texting me all week. She’s a little annoying, but not too bad.”

  “She’s annoying because she’s eager to learn about her big brother,” John interjects.

  “I get that, but dang, she texts me more than all y’all combined.”

  Octavia leans over and whispers, “He’s trying not to be too curious about his family.”

  “I can hear you, Mom, and they aren’t my family.” He sounds annoyed with her and the last thing I want is for Keelan to go into one of his quiet moods and overthinking things. Before I can say anything, he stands. “We’re going to walk around for a bit.”

  Wordlessly, I stand and lead the way until we’re off the bleachers and on the grass. Keelan takes my hand. We walk to the wall behind the end zone, stopping once we’ve found a spot where we’re about ten feet from the nearest spectators. We lean against the wall.

  “Sorry,” he mumbles, his eyes on the field. “It irritates me that she insists on calling them my family. I’m tired of her pushing them on me.”

  “But they are your family,” I say quietly.

  He looks down at me. “No, they aren’t, Hales. By blood, yeah, but not in the way that matters. I didn’t even know I had a sister and after a week or so of texting her, I’m supposed to claim her as family?” He scoffs, shaking his head. “Do I want to get to know them? Sure. Do I like being in the situation to start with? No. Mom knows I’m struggling with balancing that and she won’t stop with the stupid family comments. Dad’s probably going to get on me for walking away like that, too.”

  I squeeze his hand. “Sorry.”

  Keelan releases my hand to lay an arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer. “Not your fault.”

  “So, what do you really think about your sister?” I’m curious and this is the most he’s talked about it.

  “I don’t know. I don’t feel like I really know her. She sends question after question for me to answer. I figured I would learn more about her this weekend.”

  Not sure what else to say, I stay quiet. We’re silent as we watch the rest of the game. We don’t say much when we meet back up with his parents either, but I can tell by his dad’s stern look, he is going to hear about walking away earlier. Back at my house, Keelan walks me to the door. He finally smiles.

  “Midnight,” he reminds me.

  “Like I could forget about it,” I tease with a roll of my eyes.

  “Just checking” he chuckles. Keelan leans forward to kiss my cheek. “I’ll see you later, Hales,” he whispers.

  Mom and Walter are cuddled together on the couch in the living room.

  “How was the game?” Mom asks.

  “We lost. It’s been a long day. I’m going to bed.”

  “Night.”

  “Night,” Walter adds.

  It has been a long, tiring day. First, hours of school, a three-hour practice, and then the game. After lying down on top of my covers, I set my alarm to go off ten minutes before Keelan is supposed to be here. That will give me enough time to freshen up. Right now, I just really need a nap.

  My phone is vibrating like crazy on my bed from the alarm. Crap! It’s a little after midnight. I turn it off, see texts from Keelan and a missed call, but then I hear a tapping noise. I glance toward the sound and see Keelan standing outside my window. Scrambling off my bed, I rush over to open the window.

  “Sorry. I fell asleep,” I whisper. “Two seconds.”

  “Do you still want to go?” he whispers as I slip on my shoes. I throw him a look over my shoulder. Is he crazy? “Sorry,” he laughs softly. “Dumb question.”

  “Very dumb,” I reply, climbing out. Keelan helps, even though I don’t really need it. I lower the screen and then we’re jogging to his car.

  Once we’re safely inside, Keelan says, “Sorry about coming to your window. I could tell a light was on, but you weren’t answering my call or my texts, so I came to check on you.”

  “It’s okay. I was tired, but I set my alarm on vibrate, so my mom wouldn’t hear it.” I want to ask him how things were once he got home, but he’s in a good mood, and I don’t want to ruin it.

  “Yeah, I was kind of tired too. I’m too addicted to racing to fall asleep though. If I win, do I get a celebratory kiss?”

  “Hmm.” I pretend to think about it. “Maybe.”

  He grins. “I’ll take a maybe.”

  We pull onto Dead Man’s Curve. There’s fewer people here than last time, but not too bad of a turn out. Cameron seems to be at the end already.

  “Finn wants to do the best three out of five, so we’ll go ahead and start,” Keelan tells me.

  You won’t hear me complaining about that! The same guy as last time motions for Keelan to come a little closer. Finn is driving a newer model car, a Charger, I think. Old versus new, I guess. My heartbeat speeds up as we’re counted down. Finn punches it and gets an initial lead. Keelan shifts effortlessly, and I wonder how long it’ll be before I can take off as smoothly as he can. Probably a long time.

  Keelan is next to Finn after the first hill. My eyes have been glued to Finn’s car and the road ahead of us. Nerves hold my heart captive as I wonder who will end up on top. But then my heart thunders in my chest.

  “Keelan, he’s getting too close.” Finn’s side mirror is within inches of mine. Finn doesn’t seem to notice. “Keelan!” I shriek when he gets even closer.

  “Don’t freak,” he tells me just before our ride turns bumpy as Keelan moves toward the left as part of those tires hit grass.

  “He’s still too close!” I shout, his mirror bumping ours. Oh, God. This is how I die. Some guy is going to run us off the road while we’re going way too fast. My chest heaves as my breathing increases. I grab the door handle as if it’ll somehow help to clutch something and hold onto it.

  Keelan hits his brakes before Finn can continue to run us off the road. “What is he doing?” he mutters.

  We quickly fall behind Finn, his car definitely coming into our lane before jerking back into his. He would have hit us. I fall back into the seat, the tension in my muscles lessening only a little as we slow to a stop behind Finn’s car. My hands are trembling with fear. I can’t make them stop. We would have crashed. We could have hit someone watching. Why did he come so close to us?

  Before I can gather my senses, Keelan has parked, unbuckled himself, and has gotten out of the car, heading straight to where Finn looks to be slowly getting out of his. I’m frozen in place. Nothing has ever scared me as much as seeing that mirror touch ours and feeling the bumpy terrain under half the tires. I swear I can hear my heartbeat in my ears and feel the familiar rhythm in my head.

  “What the hell was that?” Keelan yells, shoving him. My eyes widen with shock. I’ve never seen him mad, and he is seriously pissed. With his headlights shining on them, I see Keelan’s body go rigid. He shakes his head. “Good God, Finn, are you high?” He pushes him again.

  “Take it easy, man,” he laughs.

  “Take it easy? You could have killed us!” Keelan shoves him hard, causing me to wince for Finn as his back hits his car. “You’re an idiot!”

  Cameron seems to appear out of nowhere. He grabs Keelan’s shirt and pulls him backward. His voice is too low for me to hear, but Keelan glances back at me. Whi
le he walks my way, I hear Cam say something about someone getting Finn home. Keelan opens my door, crouches, and takes my still shaking hand in his.

  “You okay, Hales?” he asks, his voice soft and gentle.

  “He’s high?” I whisper.

  Keelan’s lips flatten, his eyes narrows with his fury, and he nods sharply once.

  “Can we leave?”

  “Yeah.” He stands, closes my door, says something to Cameron, and then finally gets back into the car.

  Who gets into a car high? Who thinks they are able to race that way? Keelan was right. He’s an idiot.

  “I’m sorry, Haley. That’s never happened before. We all know Finn likes to light one up, but he’s never come to a race high.” I don’t reply because I don’t know what am I supposed to say. “I don’t feel right about taking you home after that. Want to lie in the hammock with me?”

  I don’t feel like going home yet either, but I’m ready to get out of the car. “Yeah.”

  Keelan drives past my house and straight to his. We quietly exit the car, he tells me to go on back to the hammock, and he disappears inside. What seems like forever passes before he returns with blankets and a pillow. Keelan tosses the pillow where our heads will go and climbs on with the other blanket in his arms. Without thinking too much about it, I get on, turn toward him, lie an arm over his stomach, and rest my head on his shoulder. I need something stable and rock-like to calm me down. Keelan is definitely that something. He covers us with the blanket to turn make us perfectly cozy and warm.

  “Are you okay, Hales? You haven’t said much.”

  “That was terrifying,” I whisper. “He touched the mirror and would have kept coming.” I keep replaying it in my head over and over, imagining us crashing.

  Keelan’s chest rises and falls with his heavy sigh. “I know. It never should have happened, but Finn is adamant that no one talks to him beforehand. He’s superstitious or something. He takes it way too seriously. Otherwise, someone would have found out before the race. He won’t be doing it anymore though. I still wish Cameron hadn’t pulled me away.” Keelan breathes hard again. “I’ve never wanted to punch someone in the throat as much as I did him.”

  “Let’s just stop talking about it.”

  We don’t say anything else. There’s a soft breeze in the air. Millions, well, a lot of insects are chirping, buzzing, and singing their songs. Frogs are ribbiting their hearts out. It would be rather dark out here, but there’s a light attached to their building allowing us to see. Even with the breeze, the air is warm. It’s perfect and with Keelan, it’s cozy out here.

  So much so that our breathing evens out, and our eyes drift closed.

  A clearing of a throat sounds far away. I snuggle closer into the warmth and the body next to me. A flag in my head waves like crazy when that body tenses. My eyes fly open the moment I hear John’s voice. Luckily, my face is nuzzled into Keelan’s neck. I can’t see him, and he can’t see I’m awake.

  “You might want to get her home, son. Then you can explain this situation to your mother and me.”

  “Yes, sir,” Keelan replies. I hear feet shuffling away, but before I can lift my head, Keelan says, “Let’s get you home, Hales.”

  “How did you know I was awake?” I ask, lifting my head.

  “Your eyelashes tickled my neck when you opened your eyes.”

  “Oh. Do you think you’ll get in trouble?”

  “I don’t know. Probably. Come on.” He starts pulling the covers off us. “We can probably get you home before your parents wake up. If Dad is up, then it’s around six or six-thirty.”

  We get out of the hammock, bypass the house, and walk straight to his car. I feel kind of bad for getting him in trouble. It’s both our faults, but I feel like it’s more mine than his. I was the one who freaked out a little after the racing incident and didn’t want to go home, which is why he invited me over to his house.

  “Tell them it was my fault,” I blurt out when he pulls into the end of my driveway. “I got into an argument with my mom or a meltdown over my dad or something. You could tell them it was my fault and you were being a good guy. I don’t want you to get grounded either.”

  He grins. “I’ll be fine either way. You should go before you get caught too.” He leans over to kiss my cheek, and I get out and sneak back into my bedroom.

  No one knew I was gone all night at my house. The moment I get to school, I search the parking lot for Keelan, but only find his car.

  “Haley!”

  I turn to see Jess jogging toward me, a wide smile on her face. Her parents left this morning and I think the plan is for Cameron to go over tomorrow.

  “One more day,” she shrieks with excitement. Honestly, I thought she would be more nervous by now. I know I would be. I’m nervous just thinking about it. It’s odd, too, because Jess is obvious with her excitement, although not many know why, but Cameron is acting no different. Almost indifferent. I guess I was expecting him to be more handsy than usual, but he hasn’t at all.

  “Congrats?” I’m not sure what I’m supposed to say.

  She loops her arm through mine once we walk inside the building. “It’s going to be amazing,” she dreamily sighs. “Ugh.” I follow her narrowed eyes to see her glaring at Finn. “Cam told me what happened. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I reply as we turn down another hallway for my first class. There, leaning against the wall, is Keelan. This time, I want to sigh all dreamily. He’s in jeans and his jersey, which is tucked in as per school rules, and he looks good. It’s easily to see he’s lean, defined, and like a high school God. Those full lips stretch upward when he sees me. “Well?” I ask as I stop before him, holding my breath.

  “I got a warning and a promise that next time, the punishment will be severe.”

  “Oh, good.”

  He wraps an arm around my shoulders. “Worried you wouldn’t be able to see me whenever you wanted?”

  I roll my eyes and laugh. “Nope, I was worried you would miss me too much if you were grounded.”

  The warning bell rings.

  “Oh, I would’ve missed you.” He surprises me when he quickly kisses me on the lips. “We need to get to class.”

  School is boring as usual. Mostly. There seems to be a hushed conversation about what almost happened last night. For fewer people having been there, the news sure has traveled fast. At lunch, Keelan tells me Finn apologized. He’s still angry, and he shrugged off his apology. I can’t say I blame him. What we’re doing isn’t exactly safe to start with. The last thing anyone needs is for someone to be stupid about it.

  Other than that, the day is uneventful. Keelan and the football players get to leave a few minutes early for their away game. Jess hurries home to prepare for tomorrow. I’m not sure what she is doing to prepare and honestly, I am afraid to ask, so I don’t.

  No one else is home when I get there. Keelan will be hanging out with Natalie and Keira this weekend. He’s pushing forward even though he feels nervous and unsure about it. Mom thinks I should give Dad one more chance, if it’s what I want. I do. Desperately. Dad used to coach me in tennis. He would play with me. Every so often, he would bring home a gift for me. When I needed help with homework, he was there. When I wanted to talk about something, he would listen. I just want my dad back, and I’m terrified that it’ll be impossible after everything that’s happened.

  With a deep breath, I call him. Time seems to slow with each long ring, each longer pause, and still no answer. I’m convinced I’ll have to leave a voicemail when he does pick up finally.

  “Haley, hey. How are you? I’m so glad you called.”

  “I’m well. I’ve been thinking about what you said, and I really want things to be back to normal.”

  “Me too. I’m so sorry, Haley. I really truly am, and I’m so happy you’re going to let me fix it. You’ll love Tonya and Carly. They’re excited about meeting you and—”

  “Dad,” I interrupt. “I don’t want to m
eet them.” When he doesn’t automatically tell me it’s okay, I begin to worry. He’s going to abandon me all over again. “I’m not ready for that yet,” I hurriedly add to salvage this.

  “Okay,” he finally says. “I understand.” Somehow, I don’t think he does. “I’d really love to see you play a game. When is your next one? I’ll try to get off work to come watch.”

  “Monday at four o’clock.”

  “I think I can do that. I need to go, but I’ll see you soon, okay?”

  “Okay.” I won’t be holding my breath because I don’t want to get my hopes up.

  “Thank you for this, Haley. I love you.”

  “Love you too, Dad.”

  “There’s been a change of plans,” Mom says when I crawl out of bed and amble into the kitchen around ten Saturday morning.

  I frown. “What are you talking about? We don’t have plans. I’m supposed to go with Natalie and Keira today.”

  “They are coming here for dinner instead.”

  “What are you talking about, Mom?” The plan was for Natalie and Keira to meet me in the next town over where there are more places to eat. Natalie wanted me to meet my aunt, but I told her I wasn’t ready for that.

  “You’re still going to meet them, but you’ll come back here for dinner. She called me while you were sleeping to ask if it was okay. She wants to see how you live.” Mom places a plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in front of me.

  “Then why am I meeting them? What if I don’t want her in my house?” I ask around the food I’m shoveling in my mouth. I’m starved. Last night’s game was tough, but we won. I was worn out by the time I got home, so I went straight to bed instead of eating the snack I planned on devouring.

  “You’re going to the mall; and Keelan, it is our house and I told her she could come. She just wants to see you’re well taken care of. She might want to see what your room looks like. There’s nothing wrong or intrusive about that.” Mom takes a seat next to me.