A Love Hate Thing (Summer Knights)

02

NANDY

I told myself I didn't care about the juvenile delinquent my parents were moving into our home. I told myself it was no big deal an ex­-con would be sleeping right next door to me. I told myself that my parents hadn't made the worst decision in everdom.

         It was just an everyday occurrence in the Smith household.

         Still, it wasn't fair.

         As I paced around the pool in my backyard and complained to my best friend, Erica Yee, over the phone, I expected her to be on my side and console me.

         "This was supposed to be a great summer and they pull this?" I whined.

         "You can still have a good summer," Erica responded. "This doesn't have to be the end."

         But it was the end. My parents hadn't gone into detail about the boy's situation, just that he was in a "rough spot" and would be living with us for now. And that he was from Lindenwood, otherwise known as the ghetto.

         I'd never gone there, but I'd heard enough stories to know to be cautious. When my parents watched the news, there was always a segment on some tragedy that had happened in Linden wood. Some high­-speed chase, or little kids killed during a drive­by, or a robbery gone wrong among the usual clutter of crime that kept the LPD busy. Lindenwood was notorious for its drugs, thefts, assaults, and murders.

         I shivered.

         It probably hadn't been the best idea to stay up lurking on the local news feeds right before the delinquent moved in.

         Everything would be ruined.

         "It is the end," I insisted. "I mean, they spent all this time whispering and having these hushed conversations behind closed doors, and they barely revealed last night that he's from Lindenwood!"

         Maybe I was acting childishly, but I felt like a kid with the way my parents had shut me out on the biggest detail of all when it came to the boy coming to stay with us out of nowhere. For two weeks, they'd been scarce on the topic and evaded any and all questions. Now it felt like they'd dropped a bomb on me.

         For all I knew, this kid was a total ex­gangbanger and my parents were intent on opening our home to wayward souls.

         Dramatic? Sure.

         Precautions? I was definitely taking them.

         "Right now, you're probably pacing around your pool in a Gucci bikini while your happily­-in-­love parents are inside preparing dinner together. God, Nan, your life is incredibly boring. You could use this delinquent to spice things up."

         Well, it was a Sunday evening, and the sun was beginning to set. My parents always made dinner together on Sundays, because they were both off work and able to do so.

         I stopped pacing and glanced down at my white Gucci bikini. "Yee, you try new hobbies to spice things up, not invite ex-­cons to move in with you. Look, whatever, let's just get away for a few hours. The longer I put a halt on this, the better."

         "When is he supposed to show up?"

         "Sometime today. I just wanna blow it off. Maybe you, me, and Chad could grab a bite at the club or something."

         My boyfriend's family had a reserved table at the local country club. Anything would be better than dinner with the delinquent. I wasn't 100 percent sure he was a criminal, but I wasn't taking any chances. When it came to Lindenwood, you couldn't be too sure.