Untouchable - Chapter 27
Friday
Matt had shown up again last night. This time bearing two cups of hot chocolate.
He said even though it wasn’t snowing, he hoped it reminded me of my mom.
I was pretty sure I would have cried if he hadn’t been staring at me so seductively the whole night.
And holding me. And kissing me senseless when I told him Felix and I were just friends and that I’d asked Felix to stop selling drugs to James.
I was a pretty great girlfriend. Girlfriend?
The smile faded from my face as I knocked on the Alcaraz’s door.
Despite our wonderful night together, Matt hadn’t asked me to be his girlfriend.
But what did I expect? Sneaking around was hard enough.
Being a secret girlfriend would be even harder.
Or would it? Wouldn’t it just be the same?
I bit the inside of my cheek. Why did everyone I date never ask me to make it official? Felix did, you idiot.
Kennedy burst out of her apartment with a pancake hanging out of her mouth, hopping on one foot as she finished pulling on a shoe. And I was immediately distracted from my pesky thoughts.
“Um…I can come in if you’re not ready,” I said.
“No.” She slammed her foot on the ground, shoving the shoe on. “I have a huge update.” She pulled me away from her apartment.
“What kind of update?”
“On Project Undercover Daddy.”
Ew. “Do we have to call it that?”
“Project Who’s Your Daddy?” she said as we hurried down the stairwell and out into the blustery fall weather.
“Let’s put a pin in the name for now. What did you find out?”
“Actually…I don’t think it’s related. But did you see your uncle last night? He was in a suit!”
“Yeah, I saw him right before I went to bed.” Right before I hung out with Matt all night.
“Do you think he was on a date?” she asked.
I honestly hadn’t thought about that option. “I don’t know.”
“Well I think I know what’s going on,” Kennedy said. “It’s going to sound crazy, but just hear me out.”
“Okay…”
“Uncle Jim has always been in my life. And he’s always helped my mom out, especially after we lost my dad. And I don’t know why, but I kind of always assumed that they might end up together.”
“Your mom and my uncle?”
Kennedy nodded.
She was right, that was definitely crazy. Mrs. Alcaraz and my uncle were friends. Not lovers. “Kennedy…”
“So I think he was on a date. He even called my mom to make sure you’d have dinner with us, just so he could make sure that she knew that he was on a date.”
“Wait…what?”
“I think he was trying to make my mom jealous! Because he loves her! And when he came over last night he just wanted to show off his fancy suit and give her some papers to sign.”
“Papers?”
“Not important. Brooklyn, if they get married, we’ll be sisters!”
That wasn’t how that worked. Jim was my uncle, not my father. “Wait, how does all this relate to Project Undercover Daddy?” Oh God, why did I just call it that?
“I guess it’s more about my soon-to-be new dad.” She shrugged. “Sorry.”
“But you said there were papers he had your mom sign?”
She clapped her hands as we made it up the steps outside Empire High. “You’re right. It was probably a marriage certificate!”
I laughed. “So you think he went out with another woman to make your mom jealous. And then immediately married your mom?”
“Well when you put it like that…” Kennedy laughed too. “So scratch the marriage thing. But they really might be in love.”
Maybe. “It always just seemed like they were friends to me.”
“I don’t know…my mom was certainly agitated last night while Jim was out on his date. She kept yanking food out of my mouth and trying to change the subject.”
“That’s because you kept implying that I was down for threesomes.”
She laughed. “Maybe. Or maybe she’s been pining for Uncle Jim this whole time.
And even if they’re not already married, they still might get hitched one day.
It’s going to be weird when I have to stop calling him uncle, huh?
” She shook her head. “I’m going to go tell Cupcake all about it.
See you in English class!” She practically skipped away.
I shook my head as I stopped by my locker.
Uncle Jim and Mrs. Alcaraz? I hung up my jacket and grabbed a few books.
I wasn’t sure I could picture it as easily as Kennedy could.
Although if they did get married, I’d get to eat Mrs. Alcaraz’s delicious pancakes every morning.
And those empanadas. And even though I wasn’t my uncle’s daughter, Kennedy was right.
It would practically make us sisters. Was it possible that the conversation Kennedy had overheard the other night was about that?
That I would be related to someone at the school if Uncle Jim and Mrs. Alcaraz got married?
If that was the case, Mrs. Alcaraz didn’t know who my father was.
It also meant that the secret wouldn’t be spreading to me anytime soon either.
I sighed and closed my locker. And then I’m pretty sure I jumped out of my skin. Because James was silently leaning against the locker next to mine, his arms folded across his chest, a frown on his face.
“I thought we had an agreement,” he said.
I swallowed hard. “We do.” I looked around. There were students walking around. Unlike Matt, James didn’t seem to care if anyone saw us together.
“You don’t think I noticed you getting closer to Felix these last few weeks? And now he just randomly decides to stop selling to me? You want me to believe that’s a coincidence?”
“He stopped selling to you?” I would have smiled if James wasn’t staring daggers at me. Felix had done what I’d asked. He’d risked his whole business for me.
“Don’t play games with me, Sanders.”
He used my last name like his little brother always did. But he wasn’t joking around with me like Rob. James looked…really pissed. “I’m not.” I tried to keep my voice even. “I didn’t tell Felix to stop selling to you.”
“You did.” He dropped his voice. “And you have until lunch to fix this, or everyone in the whole school will know your secret.”
“James. I’ve been friends with Felix since almost the beginning of the school year. Way before I saw what he gave you,” I said, lowering my voice. “I didn’t get close to him to get him to stop selling to you. That’s ridiculous.”
He leaned forward. “Ridiculous? Are you calling me ridiculous, Sanders?”
“No.” My voice was small. “But maybe…maybe you have a problem, James. You can take this opportunity to get clean.”
“So that’s what this is? You care about me?” The corner of his mouth ticked up a notch. “And here I thought you were fucking Matt.”
So that was the secret he had on me? He knew I liked Matt.
But he didn’t know I could be related to Matt.
That was a relief. Besides, his intel was all wrong.
Matt and I had only kissed. “I’m not sleeping with Matt.
So if that’s the big secret you’re going to share…
go ahead. I’ll be the one laughing at you. ”
“That’s not a secret, Sanders. Matt didn’t even tell me that in confidence. He was joking around about it in front of Mason and Rob. Even Isabella. Everyone knows about it.”
“That’s a lie.” Matt said no one could know about us. He wouldn’t have told anyone that. Especially that . Especially not Isabella. Because it wasn’t even true. He hated Isabella. He wouldn’t be joking around about anything with her. I knew that, and yet, I felt my bottom lip tremble.
“No, a lie is when you stare me right in the eye and tell me I’m ridiculous. Because we both know you had Felix cut me off. Have a nice morning, Sanders. Because if you don’t fix this, your afternoon’s going to be hell.”
***
I had played it cool all morning. Even through gym. But as I made my way to lunch, I was starting to panic. I was glad that Felix had stopped selling to James. He’d even confirmed it to me while we were running earlier. And I had no intention of asking him to start selling to James again.
I didn’t know what secret James would reveal at lunch, but I figured it would be about my uncle. And I could handle that. I wasn’t embarrassed that my uncle was a janitor. If it had been up to me, I would have been honest about it from the start. It was my uncle’s idea to keep it a secret.
It was definitely going to be about that.
James had already said his piece about Matt.
And yet…I had a bad feeling. What he’d said about Matt was a lie.
A definite lie. Maybe he knew there was more to that story.
What if I was related to Matt? What if James announced it to the whole school…
which would make Isabella spill whatever she had on Matt. And I knew it was something bad.
It’ll be fine , I tried to tell myself as I took a deep breath.
But then I saw my uncle through the cafeteria doors.
He rarely had lunch duty, probably because he was trying to avoid me.
But there he was…pushing around a trashcan, waiting for students to toss their trays.
I could handle the teasing. But I wouldn’t be the only one subjected to it. They’d be making fun of him too.
Screw me. I grabbed Felix’s arm before we went into the cafeteria.
“What’s up?” he asked.
“I need you to go up to James right away and tell him you’ll sell to him again.
” I couldn’t risk it. I was banking on the fact that the secret was about Matt and me.
And I was banking even more on Matt being honest. Because if he really had told everyone we were sleeping together…
I didn’t care what Isabella had on him. As far as I was concerned, they could both go to hell.
But right now, I was believing in Matt. And if it wasn’t about him?
I didn’t want my uncle to witness the rest of the students making fun of me because of him. Or worse…making fun of him.
Felix started laughing, but he stopped when he saw my face. “What? Are you serious? I gave it up. For you. Because you asked me to.”