Point of Retreat (Slammed #2)(14)

Neither of them says anything.

“Good. Go to your room, Kel. No hanging out with Caulder or Kiersten while you’re grounded. Caulder, same goes for you. Go to your house and go to your room.”

The boys get up from the bar and go to their respective bedrooms. When Kel disappears down the hallway and Caulder disappears out the front door, I give Lake a high five.

“Well played,” I tell her. “You almost had me convinced.”

“You too. You really seemed pissed!” she says. She walks to the living room and starts folding laundry. “So? How were your classes?”

“Good,” I reply. I spare her the details of first period. “I do have a lot of homework I need to get started on, though. Are we eating together tonight?”

She shakes her head. “I promised Eddie we could have some girl time tonight. Gavin started his job at Getty’s. But tomorrow I’m all yours.”

When I walk through the living room toward the front door, I stop and kiss her on top of the head. “You two have fun. Text me goodnight,” I say. “You do know where your phone is, right?”

She nods and pulls it out of her pocket to show me. “Love you,” she says.

“Love you, too,” I say as I leave.

When I shut the door behind me, it feels like I left a moment too soon. I walk back in and she’s facing the other way, folding a towel. I turn her around and take the towel out of her hands. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her again, but better this time. “I love you,” I say again.

She sighs and leans into me. “I can’t wait until next weekend, Will. I wish it would just hurry up and get here.”

“You and me both.”

Tuesday, January 10th, 2012

If I were a carpenter, I would build you a window to my soul.

But I would leave that window shut and locked,

so that every time you tried to look through it…all you would see is your own reflection.

You would see that my soul

is a reflection of you…

Chapter Four

Lake has already left for school by the time I wake up the next morning. Kel is asleep on the couch. She must have sent him over before she left. It’s trash day, so I slip my shoes on and head outside to take the can to the curb. I have to knock almost a foot of snow off the lid before I can get it to budge. Lake forgot, so I walk to her house and pull hers to the curb as well.

“Hey, Will,” Sherry says. She and Kiersten are making their way outside.

“Morning,” I say to them.

“What happened with Kel and Caulder yesterday? Are they in lots of trouble?” Kiersten asks.

“Suspended. They can’t go back until Monday.”

“Suspended for what?” Sherry asks. I can tell by the tone in her voice Kiersten must not have told her.

Kiersten turns toward her mother. “They threatened those boys I was telling you about. They wrote them a note, threatening their life. Called them asswipes,” Kiersten says, matter-of-factly.

“Awe, how sweet,” Sherry says. “They defended you.” Sherry turns to me before she gets in her car. “Will, tell them thank you. That’s too sweet, defending my baby girl like that.”

I laugh and shake my head as I watch them drive away. When I get back inside, Kel and Caulder are both sitting on the couch watching TV. “Morning,” I say to them.

“Are we allowed to watch TV, at least?” Caulder asks.

I shrug. “Whatever. Do what you want. Just don’t threaten to kill anyone today.” I know I should probably be stricter, but it’s too early in the morning to care.

“They were really mean to her, Will,” Kel says. “They’ve been being mean to her since she moved here. She hasn’t done anything to them.”

I sit down on the other couch and kick my shoes off. “Not everyone is gonna be nice, Kel. There are a lot of cruel people in the world, unfortunately,” I say. “What kinds of things are they doing to her?”

Caulder turns to me and answers. “One of the sixth grade boys asked her to be his girlfriend about a week after she moved here but she told him no. He's kind of a bully. She said she was a vegetarian and couldn’t date meatheads. It made him really mad, so he’s been spreading rumors about her since then,” Caulder says. “A lot of kids are scared of him because he’s a dickhead, so now others are being mean to her, too.”

“Don’t say dickhead, Caulder. And I think you guys are doing the right thing by defending her. Lake and I aren’t mad about that, we’re actually a little proud. We just wish you would use your heads before you make some of the choices you do. This is two weeks in a row you guys have done something stupid at school. This time, you got suspended because of it. We all have enough on our plates as it is…we don’t need the added stress.”

“Sorry,” Kel says.

“Yeah. Sorry, Will,” Caulder says.

“As for Kiersten, you two keep doing what you’re doing, sticking by her. She’s a nice kid and doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. Is anyone being nice to her other than you two? She doesn’t have any other friends?”

“She’s got Abby,” Caulder says.

Kel smiles. “She’s not the only one who has Abby.”

“Shut up, Kel!” Caulder hits him in the arm.