for being each other’s best friend. But the bond you have with your dad means he’s a lot easier for you to hurt.”
“Do you think he’ll get over it?”
“Eventually,” she said. “Though he thinks you did it to punish him for not being around enough.”
“It wasn’t that.”
Mom was nodding like she’d already figured that part out. “Make sure you tell him that.”
“I will.” I waited for my mom to say something else, but it seemed like she’d run out of things to say. “Am I still grounded?”
Mom laughed. “Oh, absolutely.”
“Do I really have to go back to school?”
“We’re not sure,” she said. “We both think it might be for the best, but we’d have to find someone to stay with you since you obviously can’t be trusted alone.” The look on her face dared me to argue with her. I didn’t. “So, we’ll see.”
“What about the debate tomorrow?”
Mom held up her hands. “You’re coming to that, but you had better be on your best behavior, understand?”
“I do,” I said. “I will.”
“Good.” Mom finally got up to leave, but she stopped at the door. “So you’re really not going to tell me who the boy is?”
“There’s no boy, Mom!”
“If you say so,” she said. “But I’m not your grandma, Dre. Whoever this boy is, I’m sure we’ll like him.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if you like him enough that you’d cross state lines and risk my wrath to see him, he must be pretty special.”
I wanted to tell her he was. I wanted to tell her everything. Instead, I just said, “Good to know.”
Dean
TAMAL AND MINDY hadn’t stopped arguing since we’d gotten on the plane, and I was beginning to think it had been a bad idea to invite them. Judging by the look my mother had been giving the pair, I assumed she would have agreed. She had, however, taken Tamal’s addition to the group in stride, though I wouldn’t have wanted to be in my father’s position the next time he and my mother were alone. After the plane landed and we were driven to the stadium where the debate was being held, my father found himself talking to the veterans that my mother had invited to sit with us in the front row, while my mother was huddled with Nora and her staff going over last-minute debate prep. That left Mindy, Tamal, and me alone in our greenroom.
“Dude,” Tamal said. “Your girlfriend’s got issues.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” I said at the same time as Mindy said, “Definitely not his girlfriend.”
Tamal turned back to Mindy. “You really think basketball should get rid of the three-pointer?”
“That’s not even close to what I said.” Mindy was right when she’d said she didn’t think she and Tamal would get along. Except, their arguing at least meant I didn’t have to keep them entertained. “I said teams that build their entire offenses around three-point shooters make the game boring, and that they should move the line back or find some other way to fix it.”
“Which is bananas!”
I tuned them out and unlocked my phone again, hoping to see a message on Promethean from Dre. I had sent him a couple of messages asking if there was a way we could meet up before or after the debate, but he hadn’t replied and I was beginning to worry.
“Dean,” Tamal said. “Gimme your phone.”
“Why?”
“I promise I won’t swipe through your pictures. Just hand it over.”
“That’s not . . . whatever.” I handed Tamal my phone, curious what he was doing.
Tamal flipped through my apps before holding it out to show Mindy. “See, like, most of these are free apps.” I didn’t know when they’d moved off basketball, and I had no idea what they were discussing now.
Mindy was scowling at Tamal like she wanted to stab him repeatedly with a fork. “What’s wrong with free?”
“Uh, if an app’s not serving you ads and they’re not selling you access, then they’re just selling you.”
Oh. I’d heard this particular rant from Tamal before. All about personal privacy and how we were the product and tech companies were selling all of our data. He could get pretty worked up about it. He also made a lot of excellent points.
“Dude,” Tamal said, turning my phone’s screen to me. “Promethean?”
“It’s just—”
“Doesn’t Jackson McMann own the company that created it?” Mindy asked.
Tamal nodded. “Yeah. So I wouldn’t let your mom catch you using it if I were you.”
“I don’t really use it,” I said. But, of course, Dre chose that moment to