When You Know

24 - Chicken, rooster... either way he has no balls.

Jet was now picking me up from school every day except for the days when he worked with Ruben. Mum told him she was happy to continue paying for me to be in after-school care until she finished work and could pick me up, but he insisted. "I'd just be at home wasting time on the Playstation. I mean . . . doing all my homework, of course." Mum had laughed at him, called him a goof, and finally agreed when he refused to back down.

Today was one of his days to pick me up, and he was waiting for me again by the school gate when I walked out of my class. It was hot as hell today, and I hadn't realised how hard the air conditioners must have been working inside until I stepped out into the burning air outside. Today would be a great day for a surf, and I looked down at my sweaty, plastered arm, and I resented concrete and the frailty of the human body more than ever.

"Hey, little dude. How was school?" said Jet cheerily, as if the burning of his body by the sun didn't affect him at all like it affected me. He was wearing shorts and his school shirt was rolled all the way up to his shoulders. He was wearing sunglasses and a backwards cap on his head, and his long almost-black hair seemed to be dripping with sweat as it poked out underneath.

I reached into my bag with my non-broken hand and pulled out my own hat, because the sun was blinding me and I could barely see. "It was good. I spoke to the counsellor today."

"No kidding. Me, too," said Jet. "How'd you go?"

"Good, I think. How did you go?" I said. I kind of wanted him to talk first. I was nervous that they would have said different things to each of us and it wouldn't help us to agree on a plan.

"It was interesting. Opened up a much bigger discussion that I wasn't prepared for, I guess." He looked down to the sidewalk instead of me as if he was replaying their conversation in his mind. I wanted to ask him what he meant, but I knew he would tell me when he was ready and if he wanted to. It made me smile when I realised he did and continued talking almost immediately.

"I explained what our plan was and all that, and asked what she thought about it. She didn't want us doing it, especially considering she knows I don't like Bree and already went off on her once, but she settled to almost being okay with it if I promised to tell Ruben and made him come, too. Then it turned into a discussion about legal rights and shit, and she suggested that Sade and he talk to a lawyer to try to figure something out. And then it turned into a discussion about my potentially talking to a lawyer to see what rights I have to maybe escape from my own family."

Firstly, I found it interesting and maybe a little strange that both my counsellor and Jet's counsellor had the same thoughts on making Ruben a part of our plan. Maybe it's a standard response or something—if you want to keep secrets from one parent, the other one should be there to keep an eye on things. Secondly, at least Jet and I were thinking in the right direction when we were talking about lawyers. But lastly, why would Jet want to escape our family?

"Not you guys, genius. My mum and dad and brothers. Emancipation, she said it was." I didn't have to ask before he explained what that unfamiliar word meant. The confusion on my face must have been clearly evident. "Basically, it means that I'm no longer my parents' kid, but an independent person and able to make all my own decisions about things and I'd be legally responsible for myself."

"You don't seem excited by the idea," I offered, because he didn't. He actually seemed upset by it.

"It's complicated, I guess. They're all nuts, but they're still my family and a part of me does love them." Jet stopped talking, taking a big, exaggerated breath before continuing. "I won't lie and say I don't want to be separated from them in that way because it would be nice to not be responsible to them. But ultimately it would only be for a year until I'm eighteen anyway, so what's the point, you know? Kind of just seems like a waste of time and money, really. And I'm sure it would probably upset them a lot."