Secret Saturdays by Torrey Maldonado Read Free Book Online Page A

butt.
    â€œYo!” Kenneth swung around. “Who kicked me?”
    Sean pointed at someone else. “He did.”
    I could tell from Kenneth’s face that he guessed Sean did it, but he pretended he didn’t have a clue because he knew Sean would embarrass him if Kenneth tried to act brave.
    â€œThat was mad funny,” Sean said to me, putting his fist out for a pound. “You saw Kenneth’s face?”
    â€œNah.” I shook my head. “That wasn’t funny,” and I left Sean hanging.
    â€œYou soft,” Sean said.
    Yeah, he definitely wasn’t the old Sean.
    Â 
    Me, Sean, and Kyle kept doing our sleepovers.
    Weeks later, almost at the end of October, me and Kyle slept over Sean’s. It was late and we were bored, doing nothing. Right then, I decided to entertain myself. In elementary school he collected Yu-Gi-Oh! cards like crazy. Sean didn’t see me get out the shoe box he kept them in because he was busy playing with his new iPhone.
    Yo! More was in his shoe box than just Yu-Gi-Oh! cards. Sean had a bunch of dollar bills in there. I scooped them and counted them.
    â€œSean, where you get almost fifty dollars from?” I asked him.
    Before Sean could answer, Kyle jumped up and took the money from me. “Son!” he told Sean. “You got money like that? Give me five bucks.”
    Real fast, Sean hopped out of his desk chair and snatched his money from Kyle. “My pops sent me this,” then paused, “from Puerto Rico.” He switched the conversation quick. “Let’s go watch videos in my living room.”
    He had made his lying move. Either he didn’t get that money from his dad or something else about what he said was a lie.
    I looked at Kyle funny like “What’s up with him and this money?” but we already knew he got money from his dad, so Sean’s fifty dollars could be no big deal. Besides, right now, I got more hyped about Sean’s giant flat-screen TV. I always liked watching it because it was as big as some televisions I saw in mansions on MTV Cribs . We dragged Sean’s beanbags from his room and plopped them on his living-room floor.
    Sean flicked his remote until he found a 50 Cent video on music-on-demand. I felt like a rich kid watching this TV. Me, him, and Kyle started nodding to 50 when Sean’s mom came out her bedroom.
    â€œHey, guys,” she said all sweet to me and Kyle, but then she switched to a stank tone. “Whattup, bighead?” she said to Sean.
    Her voice and dis on Sean shocked me. I wondered if they were pissed at each other. Their faces didn’t change at all. Sean kept his eyes on the video, but then said back, “You a bighead,” with no feeling.
    Jackie wasn’t fazed. She kept walking and disappeared into the kitchen.
    Kyle didn’t pay them any mind. He was as focused as Sean on the video.
    Sean and his mom were bugged. My mom never called me names. Plus, Ma wouldn’t let me. If I dissed her, she’d smack me.
    I thought back to when Sean walked into Ms. Feeney’s Advisory and said that gang guy was a “bighead.” I wondered where he got that from. Now I knew. Sean’s mom was calling him bighead.
    Â 
    The next weekend was Halloween weekend. Sean and Kyle slept over my place, but Sean came over late.
    â€œSorry,” Sean said to us, taking his jacket off. “My dad called from Puerto Rico to wish me a happy Halloween. My mom made me stay and talk to him.”
    I felt a little jealous. Since my pops bounced, he never called me. Not on my birthday, not on holidays. I barely remembered how his voice sounded. I wondered if he’d even recognize my voice on the phone.
    â€œIt’s cool,” I said.
    â€œDon’t worry about it,” Kyle said. “You here now.”
    My mother always was a nervous wreck on Halloween. Since I was little, she’d said, “This holiday is some people’s excuse to act