What Lies Beyond the Veil(Of Flesh & Bone #1)(69)

“Give it back,” she repeats, even louder now. I look at Charlotte’s bike, then look at Charlotte.

“I’m here to bring Charlotte’s bike back,” I whisper, not sure what’s going on. I meet Charlotte’s momma in the middle of the driveway and pass the handlebars over to her.

“You better bring it back,” Charlotte’s momma screams, snatching the bike so hard it falls to the ground. Out the corner of my eye, I can see Charlotte cringe at the noise. “Don’t you ever steal from us again!”

“Steal?” I ask, even more confused than before. I pull my fingers, one by one.

“Yes, steal!” She shoots fire at me with her eyes. I look back at Granddaddy’s house, where him and Nia probably still on the couch planning her birthday. Somehow, I’m alone again, in another bad place.

But then Bobby comes racing out the front door, and I’m saved. He’s gon’ stand up for me, even though Charlotte can’t. I know she’s just too scared to tell her momma the truth, that she gave me the bike to borrow.

“I ain’t steal nothin’,” I whisper, scared. “Charlotte told me I could use her bike if I brought it back this morning.” I try to look at Charlotte and then Bobby, but they both staring at the ground.

“Liar,” they momma screams. “She said no such thing!” She picks up the bike and holds it between me and her like a shield. “Right, Charlotte?” She turns to Charlotte, still on the porch with Bobby beside her. Charlotte hears her name and her whole face turns pale as a ghost. “Right, Charlotte?”

I see her watery eyes and I already know what she’s gon’ say before she says it. “Yes, Mama. That’s right.” Charlotte looks at the ground, then at her fingers, then at nothin’ but air. Anything but me. My eyes rush to Bobby, cause I know he’s gon’ say something. He’s gon’ tell they momma that Charlotte is lying, that I’m their friend, that he knows I ain’t steal that bike.

“Mom, this isn’t—” Bobby starts, and a satisfied look creeps onto my face.

“Robert Brian,” his mother responds with lips in a tight, straight line.

I look away from her and back to Bobby. Wait for him to say something else. But he don’t. With his face turning bright red, he goes to stand beside Charlotte like a statue, not moving or speaking even once she starts to cry.

“I’m their friend,” I say weakly, not even sure why I’m trying anymore. I think I want one of ’em to make my words true. Even though I’m starting to realize they won’t.

“You’re not their friend! You’re a thief! My kids might be na?ve, but I know your type. Dad on drugs, family loses their house, so now you come over here and steal from us?”

Before I can stop them, tears pour from my eyes. I look over at Charlotte, who finally looks back at me. I say to her with my eyes, I can’t believe you told. But she don’t respond.

“We don’t want people like you around here!” Bobby and Charlotte’s momma continues, screaming so loud she’s turned red all over. I hear her last words repeat in my head over and over. People like you. I think bout what Granddaddy said, how they didn’t like people like us, and how I ain’t believe him. But now, with me standing stuck in the driveway and Bobby and Charlotte up on the porch, I see everything different. They been wearing masks all this time, so that they looked like my friends. But now they momma ripped the masks off, so all three of ’em are exactly who they are, plain. I start to back out the driveway, slow.

“What’s the problem here?” Granddaddy’s voice comes up behind me, strong and firm. I don’t know how he got over here so quick, and without his cane. He stands in front of Bobby and Charlotte’s momma, taller than I ever seen.

“What’s the problem?” The momma moves toward Granddaddy as she yells, and I move to him, too, stand behind his legs. “I’ll tell you what the problem is! Your granddaughter stole my daughter’s bike.” She lifts the bike up like proof. Her tone is so convincing that I half expect the bike to be covered in my fingerprints as she shakes it in the air.

“You need to keep her away from my children! She stole from them, and with her family background, it’s no surprise.” She says family background like they bad words, almost like the police officers on the day Daddy died, when they called him a fiend. All these words that other people use to label us, to decide who we are, who we gon’ be.

I choke back the giant lump in my throat. “I ain’t steal that bike, Granddaddy! I promise! Charlotte told me I could borrow it and I brought it right back.” I look at Granddaddy when I talk but sneak a quick peek over at Charlotte when I say her name. Her face is still wet, but she’s stopped crying. I can’t tell if she feels bad for lying or if she’s just scared of being in trouble with her momma. Either way, she told her momma my secrets. She betrayed me. I thought she cared bout me, but really, she ain’t no better than Rondell.

“I know,” Granddaddy says to me, then turns to the angry momma. “Don’t you ever talk bout my granddaughter like that again,” he says with an even voice. “She been playing over here with your kids all summer. They done all got to be friends, whether you like it or not.” I’m surprised to hear this. If he knew all this time, why he ain’t tell me to stop coming over, since he had already told me not to?