Falling Harder by W. H. Vega Read Free Book Online Page A

hate
that,” I tell him, “When people say things like ‘foster siblings’ or ‘foster
parents’. Unless ‘foster’ is another word for ‘fake’, then it’s a bunch of
bullshit. The assholes I’ve been forced to call ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ my whole life
are about as far from family as you can get.”
    “What about the
other kids?” Sanders asks, “Don’t they come to feel like family after a while?”
    “No,” I tell him
frankly, “Family just lets you down, no two ways about it. But Garrick and
Conway...and yeah, Nadia too. They’re better than family. They’re my friends.
And I’m not going to let anything happen to any of them.”
    Sanders looks at
me long and hard, training his uncomfortably sensitive eyes on mine. I actually
start to squirm a little, under his watch. I can stand up to a lot, and have
been called to, but this scrutiny is a bit too personal for me.
    “OK,” the
Colonel finally says, “I get it. I really do, Trace. And I think it’s great
that you have people in your life that are so significant to you.”
    “But?” I ask.
    “But...You know
I’m going to have to give you all kinds of detention for manhandling that kid
back there.”
    “Naturally,” I
mutter, “Never mind the fact that he was groping and harassing Nadia. I’m
totally the bad guy, here.”
    “Come on,
Trace,” Sanders says, “By now, you’ve got to know that it’s hardly ever the bad
guy who gets what’s coming to him.”
    I laugh sharply.
“You can say that again, Colonel.”
    “So. This
afternoon, report to room 204 for an hour. You know the drill.”
    I raise my right
hand in a salute and shoulder my backpack once more. I’m more than used to
taking the fall for my actions by now, whether the punishment fits the crime or
not.
    The rest of the
day passes in fits and starts, just like it always does. I drag myself from
class to class with ear buds jammed in firmly. The soundtrack for my days at
school isn’t the droning of asshole teachers—it’s the Wu-Tang Clan, and Public
Enemy and anything with a good blast beat.
    They can make me
come to school, but they can’t make me give a shit about it. I pass the time in
the only bearable way I know how, riding the day until my ass is finally free.
I schlep up to detention, serve my time, and finally make my way back out into
the late afternoon.
    As I make my way
toward my car, I spot three people hovering around my parking space. My mouth
twists into a grin as I see that Garrick, Conway, and Nadia have been camped
out, waiting for me to reemerge.
    “Can’t you
assholes just find someone else to bum a ride from?” I complain, shooing Conway
off the hood of the car.
    “No, actually,”
Garrick says, “No one wants to play taxi driver for us rejects.”
    “Nadia got a few
offers,” Conway teases.
    Nadia shudders
in response. “Yeah, but for much more than a ride home, thank you very much.”
    “Jesus,” I
growl, “How many asses do I need to kick before these mouth breathers realize
you’re off limits?”
    “I didn’t
realize I was,” Nadia says pointedly. Somehow, she manages to twist the phrase
into a question, looking at me with frank curiosity.
    “I, uh...” I
stammer, “I don’t know. Whatever.”
    “What a loser,”
Conway laughs, as we all hop into the car.
    I blast the
radio, hoping to drown out any further conversation. But even through the
rearview mirror, I can feel Nadia’s big blue eyes trained on me. It’s only a
matter of time before I’ll have to explain myself to her, but I intend to put
that moment off as long as humanly possible.
    ~~~
    Paul and Nancy
grunt their greetings as the four of us kids pile into the ramshackle dump they
call a home. Most guys my age would head straight for the pantry or fridge to
rustle up some grub after a long day in the salt mines, but this isn’t an after
school snack kind of joint.
    I can’t remember
the last time that we had something other than Chinese or pizza delivery