Sunshine & City Lights | Cameron Boyce Story

Chapter 4 ~ The Tag-Along

Kai texts me just after school ends and I head out with Cameron. Kai bunked off today, told the teachers he was sick but Kyla told me it was because he had an assignment due that he didn't finish.
"I'm not looking forward to this." Cam tells me as we drive out of the school parking lot.
I sigh, "Neither am I."
The rest of the drive is pretty much silent, awkward silence too. It only takes us a couple minutes to get to Blendi's and we find that Kai is already sitting at a table waiting for us to join him.
"Hey, cutie! How was your day?" Kai asks me, smiling.
I give him a quick hug from the side and then sit in the seat next to him, "It was okay. Miss Jackson pissed everyone off, Kyla fell asleep in geometry; the usual, pretty much."
"Cool. And this is your cousin, huh?" He clenches his jaw and flashes a fake smile at Cameron. Cam smiles back and sits opposite me.
I nod unsurely, "Uh, yeah, Kai, this is Cameron. Cameron, this is Kai."
"Yeah, we've met before." Kai half-mumbles but then completely returns to his fake smile. Weird.
"So what do you guys want to drink?" Cam asks us as he stands up.
"I'll have a mango smoothie," I say.
"Make that two," Kai adds. Cameron goes to order our drinks and Kai looks over at me, "Why did he have to come?"
I can't tell him that none of my family trust me with him, so I make up an excuse on the spot, "His parents weren't home and we, um, were gonna hang out anyways. I figured you wouldn't mind having him here."
He runs his fingers through his hair and mumbles again, "It's fine, I'm down with him being here."
Cameron comes back to the table with our smoothies a minute or two later. He sits back down in his seat and the interrogation begins. "So, Kai," He says, "What do you like to outside of school?"
"I play football for the Tigers, and I go to parties and stuff." He sips his drink. I mentally pray for him to not make himself look stupid.
Cameron already didn't look greatly pleased, he would definitely not want me to go to a party.
"Cool. What about girls? You finally settled on one?" Cam glances over at me and we make eye contact.
Kai flips his hair and stares at my cousin, "I don't want to find one girl yet. I'm young, bro, I gotta experiment, right?''
I put my head in my hands when I see the expression on Cameron's face; its then that I realize my chances of ever dating a Colburn are blown into a thousand tiny pieces.
"Right," he nods, clearly knowing that his work is done, "That's all for now. But, out of curiosity, how're your grades doing?"
I roll my eyes, "You can't just ask people-"
"Great, actually. Thank you." Kai says stiffly.
I shrug it off but everything is so tense after that.
"Okay, this was fun, but I think we should head off. I have a project to finish." I lie, hoping I could get out of the awkwardness.
Kai grabs his smoothie and gets up, "Sure. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye."
He leaves so quickly and I glare at Cameron, "Let's go."
We walk away to the car and I get in without making any eye contact with him. We're almost home when he turns to me and sighs, "You know that didn't go well, and you know exactly what he wants."
He pulls onto the driveway and I try to change his mind, "Yeah but he-"
"Carsen, listen to me: I'm not your dad, but I can tell you now, he will never be a good boyfriend. And you will never, ever date him."

"So, how'd it go?" Maya asks me. Cameron throws his backpack and keys on the floor and runs up to his room.
I sit on the couch next to her, "Awful. They literally hate each other's guts. For no reason either! Cam wasn't scared to go right on ahead and tell me that I'll never date Kai and how much of a terrible person he is. Ugh! He doesn't get it, Kai is different with me. Honestly."
She stays quiet for a while and then nods gently, "I get it. He's just being Cameron. Remember that he's always been like that with you."
"You're right, Maya. God, I wish I wasn't so hard on him the other day."
"I'll talk to him later," she smiles, "By the way, we need to get his birthday together this week. Two weeks to go and all I've done are the invites."
"Yeah, I'm free Friday. We can get all the decorations and stuff then. What does he want?" I ask. Probably a basketball jersey, Lakers tickets, etcetera.
Maya tilts her head and thinks, "You know, I'm not even sure. We can find out tomorrow. Let's get some food."

Cameron never came down for dinner. I take a plate with me as I head upstairs to see if he's alright.
"Cameron?" I knock on the door with my free hand. I open the door when I hear him mumble something. He's lying face-down on his bed and he looks half asleep. "I brought you some pasta." I place the plate on his desk and sit on his bed.
"Go away." He says in a muffled voice. His throats sounds croaky and tired.
"I came to see if you were okay. You just ran away as soon as we got in."
He rolls on his side and looks up at me, "Please just leave me alone, Carsen. I'm not in the mood to talk right now."
I get up and leave him alone, "Asshole, I just wanted to know what you want for your birthday."
When I lay down in bed, I check my phone for any texts. There's one from Paige (the pushy 'friend' from Phoenix), two from Kyla, a picture from Avery, but none from my father. As usual.
I curl up into a ball and try to forget about everything. I can't clear my mind. The one question I can't stop asking myself, it's not to do with my family, it's a pretty dumb question, too.
Why did Cameron ask about Kai's grades when they're in none of the same classes as each other?