If you want to make something happen, you have to make it happen. Call him and see if he’s free.”
“But I don’t know if he’s home yet.”
“Only one way to find out.” His father gestured at the house again, and David felt angry.
“Dad, we never go to games.”
“So? We can’t now?”
“Why do I have to ask Julian? Why don’t we just go? With Jason.”
David nodded toward Jason, who was heading away, retreating to the shallow end of the pool.
“What’s the matter with you?” His father looked at him hard, eye to eye, and David realized that he was taller than his father. He could take him. Suddenly he was tired of making his father happy or making sure he didn’t piss him off, especially since the first time his father had ever asked him to go to a Phillies game was after he had borrowed money from his best friend’s father.
“I don’t want Julian to go,” David said firmly. “I want Jason to go.”
His father snorted, recoiling. “What is this bullshit?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” David said, speaking his mind without thinking twice, for the first time. “I’m trying to figure out why, all of a sudden, you want to be best buddies with Julian when you hate him.”
“What are you talking about?” His father scowled, and David felt resentment bubble up inside him, because he’d been keeping it down for so long. It sucked if Hybrinski Optical was in bad shape, but his father made it hard to feel sorry for him.
“You know what I’m talking about.”
“Why don’t you tell me, big guy?”
“Julian told me that you asked his dad to let you off the hook for the rent, for the store.”
“What did you say?” His father’s dark eyes flared.
“You never liked Julian before. But his dad gave you money and all of a sudden, you screw Jason for Julian?” David saw the pain flicker across his father’s face, and the guilt came back. “Dad, listen, I get it, if you’re having money trouble—”
“I’m not having money trouble!”
“You must if you’re asking Julian’s father for money.”
“I didn’t ask him for money!” his father shouted.
“Then for a loan—”
“I didn’t ask him for a loan!”
“Then whatever you asked for, to cut you a break on the rent, whatever, and that’s what I mean, I didn’t know it was that bad—”
“That’s none of your business, faggot!” David’s father pushed him so hard that he lost his balance, his arms pinwheeled, and he fell backward into the pool. Cold water buried him. Air bubbles slipped from between his lips. His sneakers hit the bottom of the pool, and he pushed off, kicked to the surface, and gulped air, his hair plastered to his forehead.
Jason’s mouth had formed a grim line, and his father stalked to the house.
The word filled David’s ears, flooding them.
Faggot.
CHAPTER 24
Kyle Gallagher
Kyle took a shot, letting the basketball fly. He knew it was a swish as soon as it left his fingertips. The ball arced through the air and dropped through the hoop, and he felt a surge of good feeling, for the first time in a long time. He’d decided to shoot hoops since it was nice out and his only other choice was food-shopping with his mother. There were six courts in the development, surrounded by a green cyclone fence and set off by evergreens to minimize the wind. Kyle couldn’t believe how nicely they were kept.
Kyle chased his ball down, dribbled, and shot a layup. He was feeling great since he’d met Sasha Barrow, the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. He hadn’t believed it when she’d opened the front door and was so excited to see the cat that she’d given them both a big hug. It had been so long since he’d hugged a girl that all his senses exploded, and she smelled like vanilla, and her bare arms felt soft, and she had the most beautiful smile, crazy white like in a toothpaste commercial.
He went after the ball, dribbled it, and took another shot. The ball circled the rim and went in. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed basketball, his shoulders and upper arms aching, but in a good way. He loved the slap of the basketball against the court, and the feeling of the pebbled grain on his fingertips. He was relieved to find that he hadn’t lost his mojo completely.
Kyle took another shot, swish, thinking of Sasha, who had offered him a Coke and popcorn from the microwave. They’d talked in