Most Likely (Most Likely #1) - Sarah Watson Page 0,57
two wheelchairs in the trunk, she backed out of the driveway. “Where am I going?”
“Wherever the road takes us,” said Wyatt.
CJ looked over at him. “I’m driving this car to Baskin-Robbins unless someone has a better idea.”
“I hate ice cream,” said Dakota.
CJ glanced in the rearview mirror and met Dakota’s eye. “I bet that’s not true.”
Dakota folded her arms. “It is true. I’m lactose intolerant.”
Wyatt turned around to face her. “Jeez, kiddo. The chair and no dairy? You got dealt a rough deck.”
“Hey, Dakota,” CJ said. “I was wondering. Why are you in the chair? If it bothers you to talk about it, we don’t have to.”
Wyatt touched CJ’s knee. She knew what the touch meant. He approved of the question. But she didn’t know what it meant that she wished he’d keep his hand there.
Dakota uncrossed her arms. “I assumed my mom told you,” she said quietly.
“No,” CJ said.
Dakota looked out the window. It seemed like she didn’t want to talk about it. It also seemed like she needed to talk about it. “I was born with something. Do you know what spina bifida is?”
“I’ve heard of it,” CJ said. “But I don’t know much. Can you tell me?”
“My spinal cord didn’t form the way it’s supposed to. It never hurt me, though, and I didn’t have any problems. Then last year I grew a lot. I guess that does something or whatever. I was in PE and we were playing volleyball. All of a sudden, my legs felt weird and I looked down and… um… I’d peed. Everyone laughed. Everyone. My best friend laughed. But it wasn’t funny and it wasn’t my fault.”
“Of course it wasn’t your fault,” CJ said.
“I had to have surgery, and they told me that it would fix everything and that I’d be fine. But it didn’t. It made it worse. Like a freak, terrible outcome. And it happened to me. It’s not fair.” CJ glanced into the rearview mirror. Dakota looked down and wouldn’t make eye contact. “Sometimes I still pee when I don’t mean to.” Her voice got soft and timid. “I don’t want everyone at Sensational Recreational to laugh at me.”
CJ and Wyatt traded a look of deep empathy. They’d unlocked it. The reason Dakota wouldn’t set foot, or chair, onto the court.
Wyatt turned around. “They won’t laugh at you, Dakota. I’ll make sure of it. Nobody will laugh at you.”
But they might. CJ couldn’t imagine what it was like to go through everything that Dakota had experienced, but she absolutely knew what it was like to be laughed at. She folded an arm over her stomach in a defensive reflex, a physical guard against a memory that would never go away.
“My best friend laughed,” Dakota said. “She never even came to see me in the hospital. She hasn’t said anything to me since I’ve been back at school.”
CJ glanced into the back seat. “That’s awful.” CJ’s friends never laughed. Ever. When Grayson said that she was so big that she must be a man, Jordan got in his face and whispered, “Jealous much?” The next time he said something like that, Martha punched him. And Ava, sweet, wonderful Ava, was always at CJ’s side to tell her she was beautiful.
Dakota shrugged. “So are we going to do anything or are we just going to drive around like losers?”
“I really am sorry, Dakota,” said CJ. “I’m not excusing it, but I bet your friend is probably really scared and really embarrassed. She doesn’t know what to say or how to act, so she’s on eggshells.”
“And speaking of eggshells…” said Wyatt. “Let’s egg her house.”
“Yes!” Dakota shouted from the back seat.
“No.” CJ looked at Wyatt. “Wyatt, no.”
“Please, CJ.” Dakota sounded more excited than CJ had ever heard her. “Please, please, pleeeeeease.”
Wyatt joined in with her chorus. “Pleeeeease. There’s a CVS right at the corner. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.”
“Wyatt… I’m not really a rule breaker. And this is… It’s destruction of property… It’s egging a kid. This is a terrible idea.” But when she saw Dakota’s hopeful face in the mirror, it broke her heart just enough that she put on her blinker and pulled into the parking lot.
“Yes!” shrieked Dakota.
Ten minutes later, CJ was alone in the CVS bathroom filling up water balloons. At least she’d managed to talk them out of eggs. There was a knock on the door of the bathroom, and Wyatt peeked his head in. “How’s it going?”