Not wanting to be rude, I took the note. “Okay. I’ve gotta go, though.”
“Oh yeah, of course. Thanks. Thanks a lot.” Tarah flashed me a grateful smile as she squeezed her binder against her chest, and then brushed past me and ran up the stairs.
Shaking my head, I trudged up the same stairs, wondering if I should trash the note or actually give it to Jack. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d had to act like his personal assistant.
Curious, I unfolded the paper, which smelled like bubblegum for some reason, and saw a phone number written in black Sharpie. Underneath the number was her name surrounded by a bunch of red hearts and hand-drawn swirly things. I felt like I was looking at a note written by a twelve-year-old.
I belted out a laugh. Oh yeah, I was definitely delivering this to Jack.
I walked into the student union and headed down the stairs to the pizza joint. Once inside, I scanned the room, searching for my brother’s table. It usually wasn’t very hard to find considering he sat surrounded by a bunch of girls acting like fools.
They pawed at him, each trying to get a hand or two on some part of his body like he was a rock star. I would say it was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever seen, but since this had been a regular occurrence since we were in high school, I’d be lying.
“Make room for Dean,” Jack demanded as I neared, and the girl closest to him begrudgingly moved her things out of the seat so I could sit down.
After tossing my backpack onto the floor, I sat, my stomach grumbling.
“Here, bro, eat.” Jack shoved some pizza toward me before tossing his arm around my neck. “You’ll never get big like me if you don’t eat,” he teased, and I wrapped my arm around his neck in return.
“I don’t wanna be big like you. I wanna be little forever,” I said, laughing since Jack and I were almost the same size and build.
“Shit, you’re already as big as I am.”
I grabbed a slice of pizza and had just taken a bite when I noticed Melissa and Cassie watching our table from a distance. Half tempted to wave at the girls, I stopped myself, not wanting Jack to notice them if he hadn’t already.
My eyes locked with Melissa’s just as I was about to look away. I sent a small smile her way before I focused on filling my stomach with food.
“Oh, I almost forgot. I have a present for you,” I said as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the purple paper.
Jack took it out of my hand with a puzzled look on his face. “What’s this?”
“Just open it,” I mumbled, my mouth filled with food. I chewed as he carefully unfolded it, and tried to stifle a laugh.
He glanced at it and scowled. “Who the hell is Tarah?”
“Some chick in my class,” I said as the laugh I’d been trying to hold in burst free. “I figured maybe you knew her.”
“I don’t,” he said with a shrug. “Is she fourteen?”
“She might be.”
I swallowed the last bite of the slice before remembering that Melissa and Cassie were seated just a few tables away. I glanced back at their table, but they were both gone.
Jack crumpled up the note before tossing it across the table at Brett, one of his teammates.
“What’s this shit?” Brett asked as he unfolded it. “Is this for me or you, Carter?”
“You can have it,” Jack said with a sly smile.
“I just might. What’s she look like?”
I clenched my jaw. It was one thing to make fun of Tarah with my brother, but it was another to involve the damn baseball team. I knew firsthand how cruel their pranks could be, and didn’t want the poor girl to get harassed by these assholes.
“Don’t call her, Brett. Give it to me,” I said with a tight-lipped smile, and held out my hand.
Brett didn’t argue, which surprised me. I figured I’d have to battle him for the damn thing. Instead he balled up the note and chucked it at my chest.
After pulling it from my lap where it had landed, I stuffed it back into my pocket, determined to throw it out after lunch.
“Are you heading home after this?” Jack asked as I chewed my pizza.
“Yeah, why?” Where else would I go?
“Will you ask Gran to make lasagna tonight?” he said with a stupid grin, then added, “Please?”
“No way. You know how long that takes her. I can’t ask her at four in the afternoon to whip up some homemade lasagna for dinner tonight.”
Thank God for Gran and Gramps. They showed up when our parents abandoned us when we were little, and have been there for us ever since.
Our parents bailing on us the way they did affected Jack and me in different ways. I was on my best behavior from that moment on, hoping that somehow if I was extra good, maybe she’d know and come back home.
But Jack went the opposite route, determined to get into trouble whenever possible. He picked a lot of fights and kept everyone, except for the three of us, at a distance. He refused to let anyone in—not wanting to be vulnerable, I guessed—and started treating girls like crap pretty early on. Truth be told, the girls allowed it and almost encouraged it, so I wasn’t sure if it was all our mom’s fault.
Baseball was the only thing that saved my brother from completely going off the deep end. He wasn’t allowed to fight on the field, and once he started pitching, he was like a whole other person on that mound. It was the only place he felt like he had any control, and he was always something to watch.