said liars canât stare you in the face when they lie?â I said. âThat they always look away?â
âYeah.â
âSean did that. Go over to him and his new best eighth-grade friends and ask him what he did this weekend. Watch how he acts. I bet you a dollar he wonât make eye contact with you.â
Kyle looked over at Sean. âNo bet. Iâm not going over there to see if Sean is lying. If he is, he has his reason. Thatâs his business, not mine.â
âDo it for me then. Go see how Sean acts with you. For me.â
Kyle gave me a stank look and twisted his lips to the side. âFine. Be right back.â He ran over to Sean and Markâs eighth-grade crew. It took Kyle only a minute to get back. âYou right. Sean was weird. He didnât look me in the eye.â
I stood there. Confused. âSeanâs lying.â
âOkay, heâs lying,â Kyle said. âSo what?â
I had nothing to say.
âThought so,â Kyle said. âIâm out. Iâll be racing.â
I went over to the pull-up bar on the opposite side of the gym from Sean. Seanâs acting different, was all I could think. Why was he lying? Where was he going? Why at four in the morning?
Enough Is Enough
SEAN WAS TWO LUNCH TABLES DOWN FROM US. He was laughing with his cousin Mark, Junito, and some more eighth graders who were about nothing.
I checked Kyleâs face. Kyle was looking at Sean too. Analyzing him.
Vanessa, on the other hand, was eating her spaghetti and meatballs and humming a song. She was into her food. Forget her.
Now I was ready to pull Kyle to the side and tell him about Seanâs secret Saturday trip. But I couldnât do that. That would make me a snitch.
An idea popped into my head. If Sean backed out of another sleepover, Iâd get Kyle to stay over my place. Weâd bust Sean, and Kyle would get curious. That would lead to us approaching Sean. Two people saying something is different than one person snitching. Iâd feel better confronting Sean with Kyle there. Iâd be less nervous speaking up, knowing Kyle was there to back me up.
But maybe none of that would happen, I thought. Maybe Sean wouldnât even sneak out again .
Â
Over the next few weeks, me, Sean, Vanessa, and Kyle did the usuals. Hung out in our lunchroom. Gym. Met after school, did homework, and played games. But Sean wasnât always the usual Sean. Sometimes, he was mad different and took his meanness to a whole other level. When he acted that way, it was hard for me to feel normal with him.
One day at the beginning of science class, he pulled this kid Georgeâs chair from underneath him.
Our teacher didnât see Sean do it.
âIâll get you back.â George fake-laughed.
But him, me, and Sean knew he was too scared of Sean to do anything.
The next day, Sean pulled Richardâs chair as he sat in math.
âStop,â Richard said.
Sean winked and smiled at me like I was supposed to think what he just did was funny, but I didnât smile back. I was too busy wondering what was wrong with him. First, yesterday with George and now Richard? What if one of them fell and got hurt? Plus, what if a teacher busted Sean? I was more worried about Sean getting in trouble than he cared himself.
Every day, in the halls, when he walked behind boys and they didnât see him, Sean tossed the gum from his mouth into their hair or hoodies. He never used to bother kids for no reason. Now it was like every time he was around other kids, he had to be mean.
I was annoyed with Sean. Kyle was too. Before, Kyle used to laugh at all of Seanâs jokes. Not anymore.
That week me and Kyle saw him be mean and weâd just stare at each other and suck our teeth like we were saying, âHeâs bugging.â
Once the hall was mad crowded as me and Sean headed to lunch. He snuck behind this boy Kenneth and kicked him in the
Lisa Anderson, Photographs by Zac Williams