Period 8 - By Chris Crutcher Page 0,2
I thought I got away with it. I mean, back of a car, no witnesses.”
“You tell on yourself?” Paulie asks. DNA couldn’t be that strong.
His dad frowns. “Hell no, I didn’t tell on myself. Charlotte went public. Sneaky. Told one of her friends she knew couldn’t keep her mouth shut. That was the whole point of snagging me. I was just a dumb jock who didn’t see it coming. Sex gives girls power sometimes. You have to watch out for that.”
“Sex gives boys power sometimes too, Dad.” Paulie takes a big bite of his omelet. “So after that Mom didn’t see the writing on the wall? How’d you guys get back together?”
“Man, I begged. I crawled. It was the last time it would ever happen. If she’d give me one more chance I’d make it up to her. Now I knew what I had to lose.”
“How’d that go?”
“Pretty well, actually. We were married ten years before it happened again.”
“Then the stress and boredom?” A hint of sarcasm. “Okay, okay, no judgment.”
Paulie’s dad pours them each a refill. “Naw, Paulie, you’re right, stress and boredom is bullshit. Like I said, I was twenty-three and I made a promise in front of a preacher and your grandparents and a whole bunch of our friends that I had no idea I couldn’t keep. In my defense, I shouldn’t have had to make that promise; nobody should. Nobody tells you when you’re your age that you’ll likely be a different guy when you’re thirty and a different guy from that when you’re forty-five. I’m not just talking about sex. I’m talking worldview. I’m talking experience.”
“One thing I wish,” Paulie says.
“What’s that?”
“That next time you’ll just go.”
“And stay gone?”
“There wouldn’t be any ‘child of divorce’ BS or anything close. I love both you guys. But I hate you when you come back and I hate her for letting you back, just because I don’t want to relive it the next time. Maybe it’s selfish, but you guys just end up looking weak, and I gotta tell you, I’d a lot rather have divorced parents than weak parents.”
“I didn’t know you felt that way.”
“’Cause I’ve been too chicken to tell you,” Paulie says. “Did you know last year when I was running for student body president, Arney used your and Mom’s relationship against me?”
“What?”
“Yeah. You know, could people trust me. All that bullshit about how far the apple falls from the tree.”
“That son of a bitch,” his dad says. “Why didn’t you kick his ass?”
“I mentioned that possibility to him. He claimed one of his ‘strategists’ made the signs without telling him.”
“God, Paulie, I’m sorry . . .”
“Actually,” Paulie says, “it’s about the only time it worked in my favor. Last thing in the world I needed was to be student body president. I was just showing off.”
“I never liked that kid. He’s such a—”
“He’s just Arney,” Paulie says. “Wants to grow up to be a politician. He was doing what the big boys do. C’mon, let’s get out of here. Gotta at least make an appearance at school.”
His father grabs the tab. “You do know,” he says, “that you look like shit.”
“What are you doing here?” Logs stands in his classroom doorway and pinches the back of Paulie’s neck.
“Bathroom break.”
“Does my classroom look like the can?”
Paulie frowns and smiles. “Don’t make it so easy, man.”
Logs glances at his watch. “Ten minutes to Period 8. What class are you scamming?”
“Calc.”
“Unless you drop your pants and squat, or otherwise prove you think my classroom is the crapper, you’re gonna get me in trouble standing here in the hall.”
“No trouble,” Paulie says. “Jus and I know that stuff better than Mr. Ridge. When I asked to go to the can I thought he was going to send Justin with me.” He nods toward the door. “We can go in if it makes you feel better.”
Logs laughs. “You’re right,” he says, “no trouble. My last year. They threaten to fire me, I take the rest of it in sick time. I’ve got more than three years’ worth stacked up.”
Paulie stares down the deserted hall. “Man, why aren’t you taking it?”
“And miss the opportunity to harass you and your posse right up to the last day? I think not.” Logs motions him inside the classroom. “Hey, you don’t know anything about Mary Wells, do you? She hasn’t been in P-8 for nearly a week.”
Paulie looks out the window, focuses on a tree squirrel. “She hasn’t been in government either,” he