"You boys disappeared! Playing the new video game?" Mrs. Kempton asks as Tank and I reappear in the kitchen.
"Sorry, mom. Aaron said you need help?" Tank asks. His cheeks burn and he looks annoyed.
"I want you to include him. Make an effort. He could use some friends," his mom says with a tone that does not sound open to debate. She nods towards the patio door and I follow Tank.
Aaron sits on the back patio under the shade. On either side of him are his siblings, one boy and one girl. I can tell they're siblings because they look like cleaned up versions of him. Where Aaron is wearing a black t-shirt with muppets dressed in gang colors, his siblings look more clean-cut and ready for a wholesome family barbecue.
Aaron pushes his blonde hair out of his eyes and I notice the blue streak through the top now has a light pink one beside it. I wonder how his family sees him. They didn't leave him at home, so that's something. It has to be hard for him to stand out so much in this peach stucco wonderland of uniformity. I wonder if other people at his school avoid him as adamantly as Tank does.
He looks up from his phone when he sees us and offers me a smile. I expect him to add a snide comment about what we must have been doing in Tank's bedroom, but he doesn't. He stands up and walks towards us then gives a nod to Tank.
"You bring a swimsuit?" Tank asks Aaron and waves at the pool with an out of place laugh.
"Nah, I'm avoiding the sun today," Aaron says but then looks down like he's insecure about it.
"It's pretty fierce today," I offer but then Tank cuts me off.
"Good. We just cleaned it yesterday," Tank says before I can finish.
"That's rude," I whisper to him and Tank's smile vanishes.
"No. It's... He threw up in our pool at my 10th birthday party. He ralphed everywhere and we had to get everyone out," Tank tries to explain but it just makes him sound like more of a dick.
Aaron looks down. He doesn't respond and it touches a nerve in me I didn't know was there.
"Why are you such a dick to him? That's embarrassing and happened years ago. I don't think he'd do that again," I say and Aaron looks up at me with thank filled eyes. My mom didn't raise me to stand by when someone gets bullied like that. It seems so weird and out of place. Tank has this irrational dislike of Aaron who mostly just seems to exist.
"I'm not... Why do you take his side?" Tank looks at me like I betrayed him. His cheeks burn red and he looks straight at me like he's staring me down.
"I'm not, but what did he even do to you? You act like he did something," I wonder if there isn't more to the story here. Tank flares his nostrils at that and turns then goes back inside the house.
"Thanks. He's fine. He just doesn't like me," Aaron says when Tank passes through the sliding doors in a huff.
"Did something happen? I don't get it," say, but Aaron just shakes his head.
"Nah. It's fine. But you should go after him. I don't want to cause problems. Our parents insist on being friends because our dads work together... but thanks. That was nice," Aaron says. He offers a genuine smile.
I stand there awkwardly, wanting to say something but not sure how to get it out.
"I think you're brave, you know?" I ask and he raises an eyebrow at me.
"I mean in SoCal you'd be totally fine, but it takes a lot to stand out here. It's got to be hard to be yourself and open in a place like this," I say.
YOU ARE READING
Hayden's Shelter
Novela Juvenil[BoyXBoy] - Not-Quite-16 year old Hayden Davis finds himself seeking shelter in the Arizona desert with his mom after his dad's deportation and the fall of the Orange County business Empire his parents had built. He's working with his mom to get th...
