Page 36 of The Same Flesh
“And we’re supposed to pick up something for him to eat.”
“He gets McDonald’s if he wins,” Jem said.He tried to make his voice sound like a dad laying down family law.“Until then, he can have—uh, Burger King?”
Tean must have been tired, because he didn’t respond.
The drive back was quiet.A few times, Jem tried to bring up what they’d learned from talking to Ms.Winfield, but Tean’s responses were short, and he always went back to staring out the window.Eventually, Jem put on some music—Third Eye Blind—and drove.
By the time they got back to the valley, rush hour traffic was starting, and so they had to inch their way down I-15.A quick stop at Kneaders to pick up sandwiches meant they made it to the high school just in time.The sun was beginning to set, the sky a deep red along the horizon, and the parking lot was filling up.
“Ten minutes to spare,” Jem said, tapping the display.“Suck it!”
“I already dosuck it,” Tean said.
“Yeah, but you haven’t sucked it today.”Jem even threw in a little move he did with his eyebrows.
Tean got out of the car.
By this point, they were familiar with the school’s layout, and they made their way to the gym.Voices echoed, sneakers squeaked on the wooden floors, someone blew a whistle, and then a buzzer went off.It was a massive space, and it was already full, with wrestlers from various schools spilling out of the doors as parents tried to force their way in to find a seat.A boy in a trash bag ran past them, sweat streaming down his face.Another boy was puking into a wastebin.Daniel appeared a moment later, headgear strap swinging because the goober hadn’t bothered to fasten it.
“Thank God,” he said, reaching for the bag Tean was carrying.“I’m starving.”
Jem snatched the bag first—hewasstill faster—and made a warning noise.
“It’s fine,” Daniel said.“I already weighed in.”
“Are you sure you should be eating before you compete?”Tean said.“Won’t it make you sick?”
“You know what my dad made me eat today?Egg whites and watermelon.”
Jem made a face.
It was a mistake, because he wasn’t ready when Daniel made a second grab for the bag and, this time, got it.“Oh shit, you got me a cinnamon roll?”
“No,” Jem said, “that’s mine.”
But Daniel took the cinnamon roll out and bit into it.
“How was school today?”Tean asked.
“Awful.”Daniel took another bite.As he chewed, he said, “That’s so fucking good.”
“Hey, boner,” Jem said.“Language.”
“Are you going to beat up another old man tonight?”
“No, but Iamgoing to beatyouup if I have to.”
For whatever reason, that did it—the weird edge to the interaction, whatever had been making Daniel snarky and snappy and all the rest of it, vanished, and then it was just the fifteen-year-old goofball smirking back at him.
Tean nudged Jem.
“That was, uh, a bad thing to do,” Jem said.His face was getting hot.“So, don’t do that.You shouldn’t do that.”
Daniel inhaled the rest of the cinnamon roll.He tipped the paper it had been wrapped in towards his mouth and vacuumed up the crumbs.
“Which teams are you wrestling tonight—” Tean began.
“Did you know him?”Daniel asked.“Or did you punch him because he was hitting on me?”
