him.
“We’ll just have to prove to your uncle that he’s all wrong about you.” Bryan had been leaning forward, but he scooted back in his seat as the waitress returned with the breakfast special—two eggs over easy, hash browns, toast, and bacon, a large platter-sized plate for each of us.
“He’s not wrong. I totally bombed the test today, Bry.”
He went completely still. I realized what I done, what I’d said. And he didn’t miss it. “It’s been a long time since you called me that.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s been a while since I felt like you were in my corner.”
“I’m sorry for that. It’s been difficult balancing my loyalty between two people I care about. But the truth is, I’ve never left your corner. I’ll always be there for you if you need me.”
My eyes burned, stinging with emotion. I’d been with War nearly a year and hadn’t received that kind of declaration from him.
“So, you bombed the test today. You can retake it, can’t you?”
My chest tightened. “One more time before the scholarship deadline.”
“One time is all you need. You’re gonna kick SAT ass. We’ll do it together this time. Me helping you.”
Bryan blew out a breath and took in another that expanded his muscular chest distractingly. But his words and his sincerity distracted me more.
“I know today was important for you,” he said, sincerity ringing in his tone. “You’ve told me about your goals outside the band. But I’m not here to tear you down or try to talk you into a different goal. I’m here to support you, to show you I care, to help however I can.”
Lace
After Bryan walked me home, I went to my room and crashed. When I woke from my nap, the rain had stopped and the sun was shining. Was it going to turn out to be a decent day?
My cell pinged as if to answer my question. Reaching for it, I detached it from the charging cord and scraped my hair out of my eyes to read the message.
Bryan: You up?
His was the most recent message. That was promising, but there were others.
Dizzy: We need to talk. Come to my room when you wake up.
Chad: Call me. I want to know what happened with Bryan.
Janet: I need you to work a shift tomorrow. Call me.
Although I pretended it wasn’t, it was disheartening that none of the messages were from War.
I called Janet first.
“Hi, honey,” she said in her sweet but age-warbled voice. “How did the test go?”
“Not well.” I sighed.
“Oh no. You studied so hard.”
“I know.” Even with Bryan helping me, even renewing my efforts, was it realistic to believe that I could do better?
“Maybe you should take one of those prep courses.”
“I’ll look into it,” I said, but truthfully, I already had.
The decent ones were expensive as hell. I couldn’t afford it, but I didn’t tell Janet. She would want to help, and would feel bad that she couldn’t. Her profit margin was so low at the shop that she could barely pay me.
“You need me to work tomorrow?” I asked, forcing enthusiasm into my tone.
“Yes, I’m going to hit the yard sales in the afternoon. If you could work from lunch to closing, that would be great.”
“Absolutely.” I could bring my homework with me. Sundays were slow at the shop, but good days for her to pick up bargains when the yard sales shut down.
“Thank you, honey. Sorry about your test.”
“It’s okay. See you tomorrow. ’Bye.” I hung up, pocketed my cell, and opened my door.
The hallway was quiet. Uncle Bruce’s door was closed, which meant he was either sleeping or at his girlfriend’s house.
Dizzy’s door was ajar. I knocked softly and pushed it the rest of the way open. He was on his bed, headphones on, a steno pad with crumpled pieces of yellow notebook paper all around him. Seeing me, he lowered the headphones to his neck.
“How are you doing?” he asked, his eyes searching mine.
“Better now that I rested.”
“How’d the test go?”
“I didn’t even finish the math section.”
“Oh, Lace.” His expression fell. “You can retake it, can’t you?”
“Once more.” I swallowed with difficulty. I was scared. My grades were good, but I wouldn’t even qualify to apply for a scholarship if my test scores didn’t reach the minimum requirement. “But I don’t really want to think about it right now.”
“You have to think about it,” he said gently. “You can’t stay here. If you don’t get the scholarship money, what are you going to do?”
“Work, I