8. CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 8
ARI
“ W anna come over and play video games with us?” Ethan asks as the bus turns onto our street.
Fonz leans over the aisle. “Your boy here figured out how to crypto hack some shit so we can kick everyone’s asses in Call of Duty .”
Ethan rolls his eyes while I suppress a giggle. “I didn’t ‘crypto hack’ anything.” He makes air quotes. “I just figured out the coding to my advantage.”
“Whatever.” Fonz zips his backpack. “Point is, you’re a freaking computer genius.”
Ethan smiles. “I mean, you’re not wrong.”
The bus pulls up in front of our houses and the three of us stand quickly. It’s the end of the school year and we’re all just aching for the freedom of summer. Fonz starts down the aisle, and Ethan scoots out of the seat but steps back to let me go in front of him. I can see Axel’s car in the driveway. “You guys start without me,” I say. “I have to stop at my house first.”
Ethan puts a hand on my shoulder, his way of letting me know he knows I have to test the waters with Axel before coming over.
We step off the bus and the boys head toward Ethan’s house, and I march toward mine. Fonz spins and blows me a kiss while he walks backward toward Ethan’s front stoop, but Ethan jumps out and pretends to catch it, then smushes his palm in Fonz’s face. “Bahaha, you kissed yourself!”
Fonz pulls Ethan into a headlock and the two grapple for a minute before finally heading inside.
I’m laughing when I enter the house, slide my backpack off and hang it up, toeing out of my shoes—then jump with a shriek when I see Axel sitting quietly at the table. “Holy moly!” I bring a hand to my chest. “I didn’t see you sitting there.” When he doesn’t say anything, and doesn’t look up, I clear my throat. “Are you hungry? I can start making dinner. I took chicken out this morning to defrost.”
He still doesn’t answer. Shuffling a step closer to him, I freeze when he spins something on the table. Terror sends goosebumps up my spine and steals my breath.
Without looking up, Axel starts talking. “I heard this buzzing, and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where it was coming from. A little while later I heard it again. It was coming from near your bed, so I went over, pulled the sheets up, felt between the bed and the wall, and found this.”
Axel holds my phone up in front of him, arm extended between us, as a lump builds in my throat. I knew it was dangerous to be texting with Ethan late last night while in bed. I must have fallen asleep with my phone out and completely forgotten about it this morning.
“I was able to get into it because you’re stupid like your mother and you didn’t put a password on it. You know what I found?” We lock eyes for a moment, and I am frozen. “There’s only one number on here. No name.” He clears his throat before he starts reading various messages from my text thread with Ethan: “‘I’m glad you came to my window yesterday.’ ‘Even with short hair, you’re still the prettiest girl in school.’ ‘If Axel passes out early, want to go for a ride with me?’”
My breathing picks up as I try to offer up a response. “It’s not what—”
“What do you do on those car rides, Ari? What do you do with that boy—and the other one, the Spanish one—with all the time you spend together? Huh?”
I shake my head side to side, but other than that, I can’t move. “It’s not what you think. We’re just friends.”
“ FRIENDS !?” I jump when Axel slams his fist on the table so hard I can’t believe it doesn’t buckle. Still sitting, he leans over the table. His long sleeves are pushed up, exposing strong forearms beneath a white shirt that hugs his body. He has black oil stains on his calloused fingers and under his fingernails. His shop pants are faded and dirty. “ Friends don’t sneak into each other’s windows.” He drops the phone to the floor and smashes it with a heeled boot. “ Friends don’t secretly meet up. I think you’ve been acting like a little slut.”
“No.” I shake my head some more as my body finally unfreezes and I take a half a step backward. “No, that’s not it.”
Axel tilts his head and eyes me up and down, then slowly drags his tongue along his top front teeth. “I mean, you’re still a little petite, but I guess that don’t matter. Especially for a young punk like him.”
I’m backing up, still shaking my head.
“Tell me, Arlene.”
“We’re just friends.”
My back hits the door, and Axel and I have our gazes locked on one another. It’s like looking into the eyes of a snake that has uncoiled itself and is ready to strike. I know I should move, but I’m afraid to take my eyes off him for even a split second. Heart banging around erratically in my chest, lungs constricting and sweat beading up on the small of my back, I tremble.
Suddenly, Axel springs up from the table and lunges toward me as I spin, pull open the door, and jump down the few steps. I break into stride heading toward the fields, but hit a divot in the yard and go tumbling down, rolling onto my side. I scurry back to my feet but it’s too late. That was enough time to allow Axel to reach me, grab me by my hair, and tug me back.
“Ahh!” I scream out, clasping onto his wrist and forearm with my hands, afraid he’ll rip my scalp clear off my head as he drags me toward the garage. I kick my feet, trying to get traction on the ground under me, but I can’t gain purchase. “Stop! Please!” The ground changes from earth to the solid concrete of the garage floor. He drags me straight in and drops me in the middle. I try to scramble to my feet, but Axel rears back with his foot and lands a kick to my side. All the air leaves me as I curl into a ball.
“Despite everything I give you—a roof over your head, food on the table, clothes—you run around like a whore and make a fool out of me!”
“No!” The back of his hand meets the side of my face and, again, I’m knocked to the side. I get to my hands and knees and try to crawl away, but he grabs me by the hips and hauls me back toward him. Axel flips me over and places a knee on each side of my body so he’s straddling me. I try to swat his arms away as hands reach for my neck.
“Axel, don’t! Please!” His hands close around my neck and I reach up, clawing at his face, pulling some of his skin away with my fingernails.
“Shit!” he yells, jerking my head up and slamming it back onto the pavement. The pain is intense, and it stuns me. The edges of my vision go blurry and the world starts to spin, but I find my fight again. I reach my hands out to the sides, attempting to find anything to strike him with but find nothing.
Axel’s hands squeeze tightly around my neck. “You little selfish slut,” he grits out as he crushes my airway. “No one ever wanted you. Not your mother. Not your father. No one. And this is the thanks I get for taking you—”
He doesn’t finish the sentence because he’s suddenly thrown to the side, and I see Ethan land on top of him, arms swinging. “You son of a bitch!” Ethan yells, landing a left and then a right punch to Axel’s face.
Fonz kneels beside me, pulling me up. “Ari, are you OK? Can you stand?”
With Axel no longer surprised, he bucks Ethan off then rolls on top of him and lands a hard punch to the side of his head, and I scream out. “No!”
Ethan is able to block his next swing, and Fonz runs and jumps on Axel’s back, putting him in a headlock. It’s enough to distract Axel so that Ethan can crawl out from under him, but then Axel slams backward and crushes Fonz against the workbench once, then twice, and Fonz releases Axel from his grip and protects himself from a third crushing blow. Axel jumps to his feet and grabs my upper arm.
The crunch of gravel under tires registers as Axel twists my arm and tries to pull me down. He swipes a hammer off the workbench and his arm swings back. I brace for the impact. It’s going to hurt. I know it. And maybe this will be the last blow I ever take.
But Ethan moves quick, pushing me out of Axel’s reach, covering my body with his. Axel had already started his swing and it lands with a loud bang and Ethan roars out a shrill cry in my ear. I look over to see the hammer made contact with Ethan’s hand, splayed flat on the workbench.
“Hey! Get the hell off my son!” Ethan’s dad comes running into the garage and hurls himself at Axel, causing both of them to topple over the lawn mower. Fonz throws himself on top of the pile, and I hear Ethan’s mother’s voice behind me. “Send police and an ambulance! Hurry!” She looks to her husband, drops her phone, and yells, “James, look out!”
Axel is able to turn and land a kick to James’ chest, sending him flying backward, and simply shuck Fonz off of him, then he makes a beeline right for me again.
“This is all because of you, you little brat!” His hands come around my neck again, this time with me pressed up against the side of the garage. Just as he lifts me enough so my feet are no longer touching the floor, I see Ethan. With his right hand cradled to his chest, he swoops down and grabs the hammer with his left, pulls his arm back, and swings with all his might, striking a blow to the side of Axel’s head.
Axel and I both crumble to the ground, and Ethan pulls me toward him.
“Ari, are you OK?” I hear sirens in the distance. “Ari? Look at me. ARI?!”
My eyes snap to his as the first police car skids into the driveway, followed by an ambulance. An officer approaches with urgency, but also with caution. “This man,” Ethan’s mom tells the officer with a shaky voice, pointing an equally shaky finger at Axel, “he attacked them. He abuses this girl. He’s an animal. He would have killed them.”
The officer takes in the scene, then yells over his shoulder toward the ambulance. “We’re gonna need a gurney over here!”
Axel is barely moving next to us. As if he’s contagious, I push myself with my hands and feet and crawl backward. Ethan never leaves my side, taking my face in his hands and forcing me to look at him. Finally, my eyes focus on him—on his busted cheekbone that is already discolored and starting to swell. It needs stitches. I put my hand overtop his on my face and he hisses and pulls it back. His right hand is mangled from the blow of Axel’s hammer. Three of the fingers are purple, two are twisted in an unnatural direction, and at least one of his knuckles is shattered—I can tell just by looking at it.
Another vehicle pulls into the driveway and an EMT comes rushing to my side. “His hand …” I try to speak, but nothing comes out.
“Shhhh,” Ethan says from beside me. “Don’t try to talk.” Then to the paramedic, “Help her, please.” It’s then I realize I’m hardly getting any oxygen into my lungs, wheezing and sucking in mouthfuls of air that never make it down my trachea.
“You’re going to be OK, honey.” The female paramedic straps an air mask over my head. I reach out for Ethan, grabbing his injured hand and pushing it toward the woman. “Yes, we’re going to take care of him, too. Don’t you worry.”
After adjusting the strap around my head, she brings her gloved hands back to the front to adjust the mask, and stops when we all see blood on them. “He smashed her head back on the concrete,” Ethan explains from beside us.
I reach my hand back to touch my head, but the paramedic stops me. “It’s OK. You’re going to be OK.”
The clang of metal next to us causes me to turn and see two EMTs lift Axel onto a stretcher and strap him in. I know he’s alive because I can see the rise and fall of his chest and some involuntary arm movements.
It’s not long until I am also strapped to a stretcher.
A shrieking rings out and I turn to see Miss Vida running down the road. “Alfonzo? Ari!” She stumbles to a stop when she arrives and takes in the scene, her face falling as her eyes land on me, then Ethan, then they dart around until she finds Fonz. Arms spread wide, she runs to him.
“I’m OK, Mom. I’m OK,” he says as she pulls him into a hug. “I’m good, Mom. Seriously.”
She releases him and comes toward me. “Ari, what happened?” Her soft hand strokes my cheek as I continue breathing through the mask. I try to speak but she shakes her head. “No, never mind. Don’t answer. Just rest.”
I hear the static of a police radio and turn to see James put his hands in the air as an officer frisks him, then moves to do the same to Ethan. “What? Why?” I try to ask, muffled, through the mask, and sit up as far as the straps of the stretcher will allow, but the female paramedic stops me.
“The police just have to ask them some questions. I’m sure they’re not in any trouble. That man over there,” she points to the ambulance that Axel was loaded into. “Is he your dad?”
I nod, then shake my head, then nod again.
“Stepdad, sort of,” Miss Vida answers for me, holding my hand tightly. The paramedic looks between us.
“Is your mom home?” she asks me. I shake my head.
“Stepmom,” Miss Vida again answers.
The paramedic gently presses my shoulder so I lay back. “Don’t worry. We’ll take your friend to the hospital so they can look at his hand, OK? He’ll be right behind you.”
They roll the stretcher I’m strapped to onto the ambulance and shut the doors, but not before I hear Fonz tell his mother, “There goes his scholarship.”
Looking out the window as the ambulance pulls away, I take in the scene: Fonz is hugging his mother who is in tears—as is Ethan’s mom, with hands over her mouth while a police officer crouches down beside Ethan, who is now on his knees. At least his hands aren’t cuffed, I assume, due the injury.
It’s all because of me.
Ethan isn’t going to be able to play baseball this season, and he’ll probably lose his scholarship to play college ball. And he may be arrested for hurting Axel.
It’s all my fault.
Because all I do is bring disaster.
That’s why no one ever wanted me, not even my parents.
That’s why I should never have been born.