days, but Jordan and his friends got a week.”
I frowned. “What’s ‘spended’ mean?” I asked, my head tilting to the side.
Kale laughed and slung his arm over my shoulder. He leaned down and whispered, “It means I get to stay in bed all day while you have to go to school.”
What?
I gasped. “No fair! I want to be spended too!”
Kale’s rich laughter filled the corridor we walked down, but he stopped when a door further down opened up and out stepped Drew with her stupid pretty red hair. Kale’s arm tensed around me, but he grinned when Drew’s gaze fell on him.
“Kale!” Drew squeaked when she spotted him, and she ran all the way down the corridor to reach him.
She really ran all the way.
I stepped to the side when she crashed into him and gave him a big hug. I glared hard at her and stepped back until my back pressed against my daddy’s legs. I looked up at him and noticed he was sharing a grin with Kale’s daddy and shaking his head. Our mummies were also smiling and shaking their heads as they observed Drew and Kale.
I don’t get it, I thought. Why are they happy?
“Hey, Drew,” Kale murmured into her hair as he inhaled.
I was disgusted. He sniffed her hair. I saw him sniff it!
Drew pulled back from the hug. “I’m so happy you’re okay, I was worried about you.”
“You were worried about me?” Kale asked, his voice disbelieving.
“Of course,” Drew said, nodding. “Are you suspended?”
Kale shrugged, seemingly not caring. “Two days.”
I frowned. He was acting like it was no big deal.
Drew’s mouth formed into the shape of an O. “For defending your sister? That’s so stupid.”
“Tell me about it,” Kale chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.
Drew blushed then when she noticed my parents and Kale’s were watching the exchange. “Well, I’ll be in every day. I can get notes for you and mark chapters you will miss,” she said, and flushed so much her entire head turned the colour of a tomato. “I can bring them to you after school every day so you don’t fall behind.”
Kale’s face was red too, but he remained silent. I wanted to kick him and say no to Drew for him, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t do a thing. I was so angry, but I had no idea why.
“That’d be great . . . Drew, is it?” Kale’s mummy said after Kale still hadn’t replied to her.
Drew looked at Kale’s mummy and nodded, smiling shyly. “Yes, my name is Drew.”
“Pretty name.” Kale’s mummy smiled.
Drew’s face flushed some more, and she murmured, “Thank you.”
She then cleared her throat and looked down to her hands. I only then noticed she was carrying a sheet of paper with a bunch of different words on it.
“I’ve got to get this photocopied for my teacher, so I better go, but I’ll keep one for you, Kale, and make extra notes. I’ll bring them to you today after school – is that okay?” Drew asked, her eyes hopeful.
“Yes,” Kale instantly replied, then cleared his throat. “I mean, yeah, sure, that’d be cool. Whatever.”
Kale’s daddy and mine began to snort, and it caused Kale to tense up.
“Okay, great. I know where you live, so I’ll see you later.” She leaned in and kissed Kale’s cheek.
She kissed it!
She flicked her eyes to me then and said, “I hope you’re okay too, Lane.”
She said bye to us all then and, walking around us, went on her way down the hallway. Kale didn’t move, so his daddy shoved him forward and laughed. “Smooth, son. Real smooth.”
Kale was still red in the face but playfully shoved his daddy back.
“Shut up,” he mumbled, a smile tugging at his lips.
I glowered at the exchange, and my mummy noticed. She nudged Kale’s mummy, and both of them looked at me and smiled. They were weird like that, always smiling at me when I was looking at Kale. It freaked me out, but I never said anything because they were old, and I wanted them to be happy.
“Kale,” Kale’s mummy murmured, and jerked her head in my direction.
Kale looked at me and blinked when he saw my expression.
“Why’re you angry?” he asked, frowning.
I didn’t know why I was angry other than that Drew annoyed me, but I didn’t want to tell him that.
“My head hurts,” I replied.
I wasn’t lying; it did hurt, just not as much as my chest suddenly did.
Kale walked over to me and slung his arm back around my shoulder.