Chapter 8: The Thing He Never Told Me
Two weeks later, on a Sunday afternoon, Lucas came downstairs and sat across from me at the kitchen table.
I was reading.
He sat down without saying anything, which meant he was working up to something.
I put the book down.
"There's something I didn't tell you," he said.
"About last year."
"Okay," I said.
"It wasn't just the note.
And it wasn't just Tyler."
I waited.
"There was one day in February," he said.
"I was in the bathroom between classes.
Three of them came in.
Tyler and two others." He looked at the table.
"They didn't hjt me.
I want to be clear about that.
But they stood around me and Tyler said if I ever told anyone about any of it, they'd make sure everyone knew things about me that weren't true.
That they'd make up things.
And people would believe them because there were three of them and one of me."
My hands were in my lap.
I kept them still.
"Lucas."
"I know," he said.
"I should have told you."
"Why didn't you?"
He looked up.
"Because I believed him.
I thought if I said anything it would get worse.
And I thought —" He stopped.
Looked at the table again.
"I thought maybe they were right.
That nobody would believe me over three of them."
"I would have believed you," I said.
"I know that now." His voice was quiet.
"I didn't know it then."
I stood up, walked around the table, and sat down in the chair next to him.
Not across.
Next to.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"That you carried that alone for that long."
"It wasn't your fault."
"I know.
I'm still sorry."
He nodded.
We sat there for a moment.
"Does Mr.
Okafor know about this?" I asked.
"I told Ms.
Briggs last week.
She said it changes the classification of the incident.
Something about the district's definition of intimidation." He paused.
"Tyler has to do a formal mediation program now.
Not optional."
"Good," I said.
"I'm not angry anymore," Lucas said.
"I thought I would be, telling you.
But I'm just — tired of it taking up space."
"That's allowed," I said.
He leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling.
"Derek says I should join the swim team," he said.
The shift was so sudden I almost laughed.
"What do you think?"
"I think I'm actually pretty fast now." A small smile.
"Apparently that's a thing that happened."
"Apparently," I said.
He looked at me sideways.
"Would you come to meets?"
"Lucas," I said.
"I would come to every single practice if they let me."
He laughed.
A real one.
May you like
The kind I hadn't heard in over a year — loose and easy, like it cost him nothing.
I held onto that sound.
