13. Lexie
Lexie
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH
M y dad is not fine and I don’t know what his deal is.
“Oh my god, Dad, what is your deal this morning?”
“Can we get through one car ride without you giving me attitude the whole drive?”
“You’re being super weird!”
“I’m not being weird! I asked what the fitness challenges are going to be so I can be ready, that’s all!”
I roll my eyes. He knows he’s being weird.
“I already told you, I don’t know. We haven’t planned everything yet. It’ll probably be normal stuff like sit-ups, push-ups, and sprints and whatever.”
His mouth does that thing it always does when he’s thinking about what to say next. “Does Miss Callie already know what the tests are?”
He sure is gripping the steering wheel tight.
Seriously, what is his deal? He is so cringe sometimes.
“I don’t know. What difference does it make?”
“It could mean the difference between winning and losing!”
“Are you still embarrassed about passing out at yoga?”
He makes a sound, like he’s grossed out—a sound I get in trouble for all the time, when I make it, by the way. “No!”
“You should be,” I mutter.
He gives me his “warning” look, so I keep my mouth shut.
“That’s not it. I just like to win, okay? Everyone likes winning, Lexie.”
“Well, duh, but not everyone clenches their butthole over a pull-up challenge.”
He’s acting the way Megan acted all last year whenever she helped Tyrell Stewart with math. All sweaty and weird.
“Oh my god!” I yell. “Do you like Miss Callie? That’s so disgusting!” It’s only a little disgusting. It mostly slays.
Dad laughs and then looks pissed, and then just says parts of words. He finally gets it together. “Why is everyone saying that?”
I raise my eyebrows. “Who else said it?”
“No one. No one said…your Aunt Delilah. She’s crazy, don’t ever listen to her.”
He has so caught feelings for Miss Callie. Even Megan could use full sentences around Tyrell, and she literally drooled on him one time.
“Is that why you bought new gym clothes? I thought it was because the sweatsuit gave you PTSD from fainting at Wingspan.”
Now he looks like he’s trying to squeeze orange juice out of the steering wheel. I should really stop talking about the fainting thing.
At some point.
“Never mind,” he says through his teeth. “Drop it.”
“I just think?—”
“I said drop it!”
The rest of the short drive to school is quiet except for when he mumbles something to himself like a psycho.
I usually try to run ahead of him in the parking lot so we don’t walk into school together…but I’m a little worried he might snap today, so I decide to hang back, just in case.
And I am rewarded for that when we walk in because who’s coming out of the front office?
“Hey, Miss Callie!” I yell.
Dad starts mumbling again.
“Hey, Lexie!” Her hair looks fire; she has blue streaks mixed in with the purple. “I like your rhinestones today,” she says. She always says that, she’s pretty dope.
“Thanks.”
“Everything okay, there, Coach?” she looks at my dad like she’s worried about him. She probably should be, I think he’s having a nervous breakdown.
“Obviously, yes, I’m fine!” he yells, then he storms off down the hall.
I walk up next to Miss Callie, who’s watching him stomp away.
“What’s going on with him?” she asks me.
I shrug.
“I bet it’s the new clothes,” she grins. “He’s just not used to wearing things that fit.”
Uh-oh.
Now she looks like Tyrell —who was crazy good at math and never needed help from Megan in the first place.
She likes…my dad .
“Ew.”
“What?” she asks.
“Oh! Just, uh, thinking about school lunch today. Macaroni and hot dogs again. Ew.”
“You’re not wrong,” she scrunches her face.
“Well, I’m off to class!” I tell her before walking away. On my way to my locker, I see Ms. Longspur and I get an idea. “Hey, Ms. Longspur, can I talk to you?”
“Sure, Lexie, what’s up?”
“So I was thinking about our challenge list for the gym battle this Saturday, and I think I have an idea for a secret challenge to put in at the very end. A surprise for my dad and Miss Callie.”
Her smile gets bigger and I know she knows I’m up to something. “Come talk to me after lunch. Whatever it is, I’m sure I’m on board.”
Ms. Longspur’s my favorite teacher.