Page 6 of Last Boy
Sterns already has a position waiting for him in the pros once he graduates. So, I’m sure he doesn’t want to risk getting hurt from doing something like dancing right now. But I’m also betting his girlfriend isn’t too happy with this whole dance-partner arrangement—probably because she’s not a ballerina, but a space nerd or something.
“Well, aren’t you a ray of sunshine?” Cade grins at him before pinching Link’s nipples. “Turn that frown upside down!”
Link eventually fights a chuckle but rubs his chest where Cade pinched him. “Dick,” he mutters.
As we pile into our trucks, I remind myself of the one good thing that happened today. When I first learned about this fundraiser, I was scared as fuck that there was a chance Poppy was attending Brooks and was a ballerina. I’m not ready to see her yet. I never want to see her again. Now that I know she’s not here, I can breathe easier. Because if that girl did attend Brooks, there’s no way she wouldn’t be a dancer here.
But annoyingly enough, even though I’m relieved she isn’t here, I also can’t help but wonder…Where the fuck is she?
Poppy
Bailing Van out of jail wasn’t on the list of things I planned to do today. Yet here I am, waiting outside of the jail for his dumbass to walk out of the doors.
Every time this happens, I lose all the money I’ve saved from working at the coffee shop. And that makes me only resent my brother more each time. But he’s my family. And my brothers and I need to always have each other’s back.
One good thing about the timing of his arrest is that it got me out of the mandatory pair-up between the hockey players and dancers chosen to participate in the fundraiser. Because I couldn’t be at today’s meeting, I’ll get out of the fundraiser altogether, which works out well for me because there’s a certain someone that I’d like to stay hidden from.
Walker James. My childhood best friend and first love. Someone I never really thought I’d see again because I never imagined he’d come to Brooks for college. But a few months ago, the buzz began, and I knew that I’d have to deal with sharing a campus with someone who’d exited my life and never looked back.
Walker is now the big hotshot center for the Wolves. Everywhere I go, I hear people talking about him. My teammates chat about how hot he is. And now, he will be paired with one of my fellow dancers, and I’ll have to listen to that too.
I hear the doors open, and out struts Van. Every time I see him, he gets a little skinnier, his skin looks worse, and his eyes grow darker and more sunken into his head. He loses that sparkle he always had, and that charming grin all the girls used to gush over at school while we were growing up is nowhere to be seen.
I never thought he’d follow in Ron’s footsteps and deal drugs, but I guess I was wrong.
Growing up, he loved anything to do with cooking. He was kind, and people loved him.
In fact, he and Walker could get away with being the poor kids in the ratty clothes. Me? I didn’t fare out as well. Girls thought I was a bitch. And the guys weren’t all that nice either. That was, until Walker deemed me untouchable. Threatening anyone who dared to breathe a mean word about me. But people didn’t have to say what they were thinking. When their noses turned up or they looked me up and down like I was a piece of trash, that was just as bad.
But Walker tried to protect me—really, really tried. When he left, Van stepped in and made sure the bullying was kept to a minimum. But by age sixteen, he was getting high more than he was attending school. And shortly after, he dropped out. That left Jake and me both wide open to the ugliness of the world—the ugliness that makes people say and do things to hurt people like us.
I push myself from the bench and walk toward Van. I’m fuming right now. After watching our father throw his entire life away for drugs, I thought all of us kids would know better than to go down that road. Now, here Van is, addicted to heroin, dealing drugs from our childhood home, and getting arrested for stealing. Guess I was wrong because he clearly didn’t learn from our father’s mistakes.
I’ve never been so disappointed in someone my entire life.
Okay, maybe that’s not true. But to be fair, my list of people who have disappointed me is abnormally long.
“Say what you need to say and get it over with,” Van grumbles before lighting a cigarette. “I don’t have all day.”
“Oh. Okay.” I snort out an annoyed laugh. “You don’t have all day?” I shake my head. “Why, Van? Do you have customers showing up?”
Quickly looking around, he shoots me a glare. “Shut up. You can’t just say that type of shit outside of a police station, you know. Are you trying to get me locked up?”
“Maybe.” I shrug my shoulders. “If that’ll get you clean, maybe I should let your ass sit in there next time.”
“Whatever,” he utters, taking a drag on his cigarette and blowing the thick white smoke out through his nose slowly. “You think you’re so much better than me just because you started college. Well, guess what. You forget that you came from that trailer, Poppy. You can’t erase where you’re from. The place that made you.”
He takes another long puff from the cigarette, narrowing his eyes at me. Once he starts to walk toward the bus stop, I follow close behind.
“It’s not about where we came from, asshole. It’s about where we end up.”
He looks at me before laughing. “Jesus Christ. Who are you, and where’s my sister? When you find her, tell her she’s welcome to come visit me. That is, if she’s not too good for Sunset Drive these days.”
“Don’t mock me just because I’m not doing and dealing drugs while ruining people’s lives out of a mold-infested trailer,” I hiss.
And the words that come from my mouth next are ones I know I’ll regret for the rest of my life. But I can’t stop them because I’m so tired of being everybody’s lifesaver and giving pieces of myself for the sake of everyone else.
“You’re a loser, Van. Just like Ron,” I say through gritted teeth. “Don’t call me next time to bail you out. Rot your ass behind bars, just like he did. I don’t care anymore. I’m done with you.”