Chapter 9
NINE
My birthday was confusing. Although I felt happy, a part of me felt dread.
I wouldn’t call it bad, but a shadow of sadness seemed to follow me around all day.
It was the first birthday I had to spend without my momma.
Although my dad and my brothers loved me and wished me a happy birthday, it wasn’t the same.
Momma would always have balloons waiting for me when I woke up. In moments when I had fun with my friends, I forgot about her being gone, but then, other times, her absence would scream at me. There were things that only she knew how to do.
The backyard had been decorated for my birthday. It was a superhero theme, and I knew it was thanks to Mrs. Hart. Astrid and her parents arrived at our house really early. Mrs. Hart kept yelling at her husband and my dad so they could hurry up and do what needed to be done.
She had done the same for my brother EZ’s birthday. We had cake and friends over because she cared about us and wanted to make our days a bit more special.
Astrid wore a pink cape while I donned a blue one. While the adults set up, the two of us ran around while the rest of our classmates showed up.
“Hey, Ass-trid.”
As soon as Adam opened his big fat mouth, Astrid’s smile faded. Now that he was about to be ten he thought he was so much cooler than us.
“I’m telling Dad!”
“You’re such a tattletale,” he shot back.
I started to chase after him. I was going to hit my brother, knowing full well he was going to beat me up after.
“Tyler!” Astrid yelled after me. “It’s okay. Adam is dumb.”
I didn’t listen to her and kept running after Adam. He didn’t get to say mean things about Astrid. I’d never been as mad at my brother as I was at this moment.
He was bigger than me, so it was hard to catch up to him. But because he was looking back to see how far I was from him, he didn’t see the broomstick on the floor, and it tripped him. I took this opportunity to throw myself.
He was ready for me, and we started to wrestle on the floor. Adam was kicking my butt, and normally I would have been in tears already, but this wasn’t about me—this was about Astrid. I hated to see her upset.
“Get off me,” Adam bit out as he tried to push my body off his.
Neither one of us was letting go. We kept rolling around on the floor.
“Kids,” my father yelled. “Stop this now.”
We ignored him and kept moving around, each one trying to get the upper hand. It wasn’t until we were pulled away from each other that we stopped. Mr. Hart had Adam, and I assumed my dad had me.
“What happened?” my dad demanded to know.
Adam paled, and with his eyes he pleaded at me not to rat him out.
A few moments ago, I wanted to go tell my father to get him in trouble, but now I was stuck between trying to have my brother’s back and protecting Astrid.
“He was making fun of Astrid,” I told Dad without explaining what Adam said.
It would be something I could hold over him.
To my surprise, Astrid’s father started to laugh. I dared to look up at my dad, and he smiled. He carried me away until he sat me down on one of the benches.
“What happened?” he asked.
Instead of answering right away, I couldn’t help but focus on all the white that now streaked through his hair and the lines around his eyes.
Before Mom left us, he used to laugh all the time. Now, he smiles, but it isn’t the same.
“Adam said something mean to Astrid,” I told my dad.
“I gathered that,” my dad said. “But we can’t hit people just because they are mean.”
“But I don’t like to see Astrid sad.”
My father smiled again, and then he looked at Astrid, who now stood watching my dad and me. Adam went up to her, and I got up, but my dad held on to my arm, stopping me from running over there.
Astrid was looking up at my brother, and I really wanted to go over there to be a mediator.
“Just watch,” my father said, but I didn’t even turn to look at him.
We were too far away from them to hear what they were saying, but then Astrid beamed, threw her arms around Adam, and hugged him.
When I scrunched my nose in disgust, my father started to laugh. My head turned toward him, making me smile at how light he looked in that moment.
“Astrid is very lucky to have you protecting her,” he stated as he ruffled my hair. He walked away without saying more.
What if I couldn’t always protect her? What if one day I lost her like I lost my mom?
Those thoughts scared me, so I ran toward Astrid instead of focusing on them. Adam wasn’t by her anymore, and since I didn’t tell Dad, he would not hit me again since he knew I could still tell on him.
“Why did you hug Adam?” I asked Astrid as soon as I caught my breath.
“He said he was sorry.”
“But why did you hug him?”
“He apologized. Besides, I hug you all the time.” She shrugged it off.
Her answer didn’t make me feel any better. Astrid was my friend, not Adam’s.
“I don’t want to lose you,” I admitted.
Her eyes got a little wide before she opened her mouth to reply.
“Don’t be silly, Ty. You’re never going to lose me. We are best friends!”
“We…we are?”
She giggled. “Of course we are!” Astrid’s face got serious, and then she took a deep breath. “Should we make it official?”
My heart thumped. I had no idea what was going on, but deep down I knew it was important.
“Official, how?”
Her nose scrunched as she thought over her plans.
“Well, we can’t cut our palms and use blood. Our parents wouldn’t like that. “
Hesitantly, I looked at my palms. I didn’t want blood on them either. Sometimes, Astrid’s mind scared me.
“Oh, I got it!” she shouted excitedly, and I braced for what would come out of her mouth. She put her palm to her lips and then licked it. “We can make a pact like this.”
Not thinking much of it, I did the same.
“Now what?” I asked.
“We shake on it,” she said, like I was supposed to know that already.
Our combined hands were slimy and sticky.
“Now repeat after me…” she said authoritatively. “I, Tyler Kane, promise always to be Astrid’s best friend and have her back.”
I quickly said the words.
“I, Astrid Hart, promise always to be Tyler’s best friend and have his back.”
“Best friends,” I repeated softly.
She smiled at me and then looked at our joint hands. As we unclasped, her nose scrunched once more. “I’m going to wash my hands because germs are bad.”
She took off running, and I was about to do the same thing when I heard one of my brothers snickering.
I followed the sound, and Ezekiel was lying on one of the branches. My cheeks heated when I realized he had heard the whole thing.
“You just kissed Astrid,” he taunted.
“N-no, I d-didn’t!”
He laughed at me.
“You swapped spit and it mixed. It is the same as kissing!”
“No, it’s not!”
“Tyler and Astrid sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I?—”
I didn’t hear the end of his mocking because I ran after Astrid so I could also wash my hands.
Somehow, I still knew some damage had been done, and Ezekiel’s and Adam’s words still lingered in my mind.