home, like you do every single day after school. And when you walk past that alley, you know the one that looks dark even in the daytime, you’ll know you’re not alone. When you’re lying on your face in that alley with no one around to help you, you’ll know it’s because you started calling Alannah that stupid name. It’ll be your own fault, and nobody will see anything happen. So, how would you be able to tell Mr. Bishop then? How will you be able to tell anybody if I make it to where you can’t fucking talk anymore?”
The two of them look like their stuck in a block of ice together. They’re both frozen in time—barely blinking, barely breathing, unmoving.
I turn to the guy who was laughing earlier, because I’m sure he could hear what I was saying.
“What? You don’t think I’m funny? Or, do you only laugh when you know it’s hurting a defenseless person’s feelings?”
He doesn’t say anything, but I see him swallow hard. I don’t even know who he is, but I chuckle at him as I climb back up the jungle gym and take my place next to Alannah. She isn’t crying now, and that makes me feel better. The two of us watch Maggie and Lisa slowly step away from the jungle gym, and they keep walking until they’re on the other side of the playground, like they’re trying to get as far away from me as possible.
“Are you okay?” I ask Alannah.
She smiles. “I’m fine. What’d you say to them?”
“Just not to mess with you like that,” I reply. “I told them I’m not gonna put up with that crap anymore. You don’t deserve it.”
“Thank you, Dominic,” she says behind her beautiful smile. “You didn’t have to do that, though.”
“Yeah, I did,” I interrupt. “Look, I don’t like many people in this stupid school, but you’re the only one who has been nice to me. And you don’t do it because you’re scared, you do it because you want to. You’re a nice person, Alannah, and you don’t deserve to have people talking crap to you like that. Nobody’s gonna mess with you now—not while I’m around. Okay?”
She seems to take a second to think about it, then she smiles from ear to ear, and my heart does the same.
“Okay, Dominic.”
Dominic
“Do me a favor, remind me again, because maybe I have a bad fucking memory. Maybe I’m old and I have fucking amnesia or something. Remind me again; what’s today’s date?”
He knows what the date is. He didn’t forget, but I’ve been here enough times now to know how this is about to go down.
Lorenzo Solento, owner of Solento Deli, seems to have forgotten that he has to pay tax to my father. He didn’t have to be in this positon, he put himself here. It’s simple; the first of every month you pay the ten percent you owe just like everybody else, and as long as you do that, nothing bad will ever happen to you. Nobody can touch you, or they’ll have to explain to Donnie Collazo why they took money out of his pocket. Nobody wants to do that, so all you have to do is pay the tax. If Lorenzo would’ve paid his tax when he was supposed to, my father and I wouldn’t be here right now. But he didn’t, so it is what it is.
“Today’s the third,” I reply, but my father’s not really listening anyway. He’s just staring at Lorenzo.
“I gave you two extra fucking days to pay, and you want to stand there and expect me to accept your pitiful fucking apology,” my father snarls. “How long you known me, Lorenzo?”
“A long time, Donnie. Me and yous go way back,” Lorenzo pleads. I can see beads of sweat on his forehead, and he’s fidgeting with nerves. “You’ve always been real good to me, too. I’m really sorry about the inconvenience. Really, I am.”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” my father interrupts. He knows he can’t let Lorenzo get away with this. I know he can’t. I know he won’t. “You make me have to come down here on the weekend with my thirteen year old son to collect from you. I’d rather be at my fucking house getting my dick sucked in the bedroom while my son plays PS2, but instead we’re both here, and you’re apologizing. I’m not getting my dick sucked, my son’s not playing fucking PS2, and you’re apologizing.” My father glances