“So why haven’t I seen you in the t

“So why haven’t I seen you in the two weeks I’ve been home?” I asked Katherine after we’d discussed my trip and plans for senior year.

She poured more coffee for herself. “Well, I met someone a few months ago, and I stay with him a lot.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise, and she must’ve seen it. She shook her head and gave me a contrite smile.

“I guess it sounds bad,” she offered. “Me leaving Jared alone so much. Between my job, his school and job, and then all of the things he’s involved in, we just don’t run into each other a lot. I figure he’s happier on his own more and well…”

Her over-explanation and inability to finish her thought said more about her disappointment over her relationship with her son than anything else.

And why was he so busy that her being home was unecessary?

“What do mean ‘all the things he’s involved in’?” I asked.

She knitted her brows. “Well, he works at the garage a few days a week, races, and then has other obligations. He’s hardly ever home, and when he is, it’s just to sleep usually. But, I do keep tabs on him. When I bought us both new phones for Christmas last year, I installed a GPS app on his so I always know where he is.”

Okay, that’s not weird.

“What other obligations did you mean?” I asked.

“Oh,” she said with a nervous smile, “around the time you left last year, things got pretty bad here. Jared was out at all hours. Sometimes, he didn’t even come home. My…drinking…got worse with the stress of Jared’s behavior.” She paused and shrugged her shoulders. “Or maybe his behavior got worse with my drinking. I don’t know. But I entered rehab for about a month and got detoxed.”

Since I’d lived on this street, eight years now, Jared’s mom had had a drinking problem. Most of the time she’d been functional, able to go to work and handle Jared. After he came back from visiting his dad that summer three years ago, he’d changed, and Jared’s mom had sought escape in the bottle more often.

“He got into some trouble, and then he got it together. But steps needed to be taken, for both of us.”

I continued to listen, unfortunately too interested into this rare peek of Jared’s life. She still hadn’t explained the “other obligations”, but I wasn’t going to pry further.

“Anyway, a few months ago I started seeing someone, and I’ve been staying with him on the weekends in Chicago. Jared has a lot going on, and I just don’t feel like he needs me. I stay here most school nights, but he knows to stay out of trouble on the weekends.”

Yeah, instead of taking his debauchery elsewhere, he brought it home with him.

Some people might see her reasoning as logical, since Jared was almost an adult, but I let my judgment form. As much as I liked her, I blamed her for a lot of Jared’s unhappiness growing up.

I didn’t know the whole story, but I’d heard enough to figure out that Jared’s father wasn’t a good man. He had left when Jared was two, before I even lived in the neighborhood. Katherine raised her son almost completely alone, but she had developed a drinking problem during her marriage. When Jared was fourteen, his father called and asked if Jared could come and visit him for the summer. Happily, Jared agreed and left for eight weeks. After the visit, though, he returned cold and cruel. His mother’s problem got worse, and he was utterly alone.

I’d always known, deep down, that Jared’s problem with me was tied to that summer.

The truth was I resented Katherine. And even though I’d never met Jared’s father, I resented him, too. I would take responsibility if I’d hurt Jared, but I had no idea what I could’ve done to deserve his hatred. His parents, on the other hand, had clearly abandoned him.

It was one the tip of my tongue to ask her about his scars, but I knew she wouldn’t tell me.

Instead, I asked, “Does he see his father?”

She glanced at me, and I instantly felt like I’d invaded Top Secret territory. “No,” was all she said.

***

The next day in first period, I sat taking notes about linear approximations when I got a text from K.C. Covertly sliding the screen to bring up the message, I completely lost my attention to Calculus.

Jared texted me last night.

I swallowed hard. Before I had a chance to respond, she’d sent another message.

He wanted to make sure I was o.k. See? He’s not all bad.

What the hell did he want with her? K.C. was pretty. Definitely. She was also my best friend, and that had to factor in somewhere with him.

I texted back: He’s up to something!

Maybe, maybe not. was her response.

That was the last I heard from K.C. until lunch. Physics, P.E. and French passed in a blur as I fought the urge to text her again.

“Hey,” she said as we met in line to grab our lunch.

“Hey, so talk to me.”

“Well, like I said, he texted to see how I was doing, and we exchanged a few more texts after that. I just thought it was nice that he checked up on me.”

She thought he was nice? We exited the line after paying and made our way outside, while I tried to sift through how the hell K.C. went from agreeing with that Jared was a dick to thinking he was “nice.”

“Well?” I was trying hard to seem like I didn’t care. “What could you two have talked about after that?”

“Oh, not much…other than you cut the electricity to his house?!” She laughed it off, but I could tell she wasn’t as amused as I thought she’d be. Maybe she was pissed that I didn’t tell her myself.

“Um, yeah.” I was fighting for words. Jared complained about me to her? “The asshole’s party was too loud, so I shut it down.” I cleared my throat. It didn’t sound as good saying it out loud.

We took our seats at a picnic table and began digging into our food. She stayed quiet, but I caught her glancing at me between bites.

“What?” I asked, annoyed. “You told me to play the game, remember?”

“Did you at least ask him to turn it down first?”

“No.” It came out more like a squeaky question. “Well, yes. On a different occasion I did.” It started to feel like I was on trial.

“And how’d that turn out?” She paused, water bottle in hand.

“Well, he wasn’t cooperating. So…I incited a panic and yelled ‘cops.’ People kind of left after that.” I tipped my head back and gulped some water to keep from meeting her eyes. I was still proud of that night, but K.C. clearly didn’t find it funny.

Instead, she rolled her eyes. “Tate, when I said to play his game I meant—”

“You meant play his game!” I blurted out. “You didn’t say to kill him with kindness. You’re defending him?” What had happened here? It was like I was in the Twilight Zone, and K.C. had been body-snatched.

“All I’m saying is that Jared has talked to you.” Her voice was calm, the opposite of mine. “That’s it. You look like the bully now. You’ve broken up two of his parties, broken his friend’s nose, and kneed that same friend in the balls.”

Great! Fucking great! He’s coming off looking like the victim?

“He’s not telling the whole story,” I sputtered. “He broke into the girls’ locker room while I was getting dressed.”

K.C. frowned, looking confused. “He just talked to you, though, right? He didn’t touch you?” Thankfully, she showed some concern for me, finally. I was ready to rip her head off.

“Well, he didn’t attack me, of course,” I snapped defensively. For a moment, I considered telling her that he’d broken into my house, but that would just send her back to him with questions that he’d answer…his way.

“He has issues,” K.C. conceded, “but I told you, there’s something going on between you two that you haven’t dealt with. I’m just not convinced that he’s such a bad guy after all.”

Sweat beaded my brow, and I took a deep breath. “K.C., Jared is bad news. You know this. I mean really, he’s a jerk, and I don’t want you making excuses for him. He’s not worth it.”

She shrugged, probably not wanting to argue but definitely not wanting to give in. The discussion was over, and for the first time, I wanted to throttle my best friend. My only friend, pretty much.

“So, have you talked to Liam at all since Saturday night?” I changed the subject before ripping a bite out of my chicken sandwich.

“No, and I couldn’t care less,” she snipped and concentrated on her phone.

“Uh huh,” I muttered, not convinced. Liam and K.C. had been together longer than any other couple I knew. I had a difficult time wrapping my head around the idea that K.C. didn’t care about his betrayal and losing him. If I were her, I probably wouldn’t be able to forgive him, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t hurt.

“Hey, Tate. How are you?” Ben Jamison plopped down on the bench next to me, looking as good as always. We had zilch in common, but he was cute and made me laugh.

“Hi. I’m good. You?” I had spoken to Ben a few times lately. He seemed not to notice the rumor about Jared and me in the locker room.

“I’m good…” He strung out the “good” like he was nervous and looking for what to say next. “There’s this Mexican restaurant, Los Aztecas, that opened up while you were away, and I was wondering if you’d let me apologize for being a dick and not asking you out a lot sooner by taking you to dinner this week?” He raised his eyebrows and waited.

A surprised laugh jumped out of my throat. Well, he was refreshingly honest.

“Um, well…” I searched for words. “How do I know you won’t be a dick on our date?” I challenged him. K.C. giggled beside me.

Ben’s eyes smiled, and he bit his bottom lip, clearly turning over something in his head. He took out a piece of paper from his notebook and started writing. After about a minute, he handed the paper to me and walked off. Looking over his shoulder just once and offering a winning smile, he turned and disappeared into the cafeteria.

“What does it say?!” K.C. peered down at the note in my hand before taking a bite of her chicken wrap.

Hasil (Bahasa Indonesia) 1:

"Jadi mengapa tidak aku melihat Anda dalam dua minggu aku sudah rumah?" Aku bertanya Katherine setelah kami telah membahas perjalanan dan rencana saya untuk tahun senior.Dia menuangkan lebih kopi untuk dirinya sendiri. "Yah, saya bertemu dengan seseorang beberapa bulan lalu, dan saya tinggal dengan dia banyak.Aku mengangkat alis di surprise, dan dia harus sudah melihatnya. Ia menggelengkan kepalanya dan memberiku senyum sesal."Saya kira itu terdengar buruk," Dia menawarkan. "Saya meninggalkan Jared sendiri begitu banyak. Antara pekerjaan saya, sekolah dan pekerjaan, dan kemudian semua hal-hal yang dia terlibat dalam, kita hanya tidak lari ke satu sama lain banyak. Aku sosok dia berada lebih bahagia di lagi sendiri dan baik... "Nya over penjelasan dan ketidakmampuan untuk menyelesaikan pemikiran mengatakan lebih tentang kekecewaan nya selama hubungannya dengan anaknya daripada apa pun.Dan mengapa ia begitu sibuk keberadaannya rumah itu tidak perlu?"Apa artinya 'semua hal dilibatkan dalam'?" Saya bertanya.Dia rajutan alis nya. "Yah, dia bekerja di garasi beberapa hari dalam seminggu, ras, dan kemudian memiliki kewajiban lainnya. Dia adalah hampir tidak pernah rumah, dan ketika dia adalah, hanya untuk tidur biasanya. Namun, aku mengawasi dirinya. Ketika saya membeli kami kedua ponsel baru untuk Natal tahun lalu, saya menginstal aplikasi GPS pada nya jadi aku selalu tahu mana ia berada."Oke, itu tidak aneh."Apa kewajiban lain Apakah maksudmu?" Saya bertanya."Oh," ia berkata dengan senyum gugup, "sekitar waktu yang Anda meninggalkan tahun lalu, hal-hal yang mendapat sangat buruk di sini. Jared adalah keluar sepanjang hari. Kadang-kadang, dia bahkan tidak datang rumah. Saya... minum... memburuk dengan stres perilaku Jared's. " Dia berhenti sejenak dan mengangkat bahu bahu. "Atau mungkin perilaku mendapat buruk dengan saya minum. Saya tidak tahu. Tapi aku masuk ke rehabilitasi untuk sekitar satu bulan dan mendapat detoxed."Karena saya telah tinggal di jalan ini, delapan tahun sekarang, Jared's ibu punya masalah minum. Sebagian besar waktu ia telah fungsional, mampu untuk pergi bekerja dan menangani Jared. Setelah ia kembali dari mengunjungi ayahnya musim panas tiga tahun yang lalu, dia telah berubah, dan Jared's ibu telah berusaha melarikan diri dalam botol lebih sering."Ia masuk ke beberapa masalah, dan kemudian ia mendapatkannya bersama-sama. "Tapi diperlukan langkah-langkah yang akan diambil, untuk kami berdua."Aku terus mendengarkan, sayangnya terlalu tertarik ke ini langka mengintip kehidupan Jared's. Dia masih tidak menjelaskan "kewajiban lain", tapi aku tidak akan membongkar lebih lanjut."Pokoknya, beberapa bulan yang lalu saya mulai melihat seseorang, dan aku sudah tinggal bersamanya pada akhir pekan di Chicago. Jared memiliki banyak hal yang terjadi, dan saya hanya tidak merasa seperti dia membutuhkan aku. Saya tinggal di sini hampir setiap malam sekolah, tapi ia tahu untuk tetap keluar dari masalah pada akhir pekan."Ya, alih-alih mengambil pesta-pora nya di tempat lain, ia membawa pulang dengannya.Beberapa orang mungkin melihat nya penalaran sebagai logis, karena Jared adalah hampir dewasa, tapi aku membiarkan saya bentuk penghakiman. Seperti halnya aku menyukainya, aku menyalahkan dia untuk banyak ketidakbahagiaan Jared's tumbuh.Aku tidak tahu keseluruhan cerita, tapi aku belum mendengar cukup untuk mengetahui bahwa ayah Jared's bukan orang baik. Dia meninggalkan ketika Jared dua, sebelum aku bahkan tinggal di lingkungan. Katherine mengangkat anaknya hampir sepenuhnya sendirian, tapi dia telah mengembangkan masalah minum selama pernikahannya. Ketika Jared berusia empat belas tahun, ayahnya disebut dan bertanya apakah Jared bisa datang dan mengunjungi dia untuk musim panas. Untungnya, Jared setuju dan meninggalkan selama delapan minggu. Setelah kunjungan, meskipun, ia kembali dingin dan kejam. Ibunya masalah semakin memburuk, dan ia benar-benar sendirian.Aku selalu tahu, jauh di dalam hati, Jared bahwa masalah dengan saya adalah terikat pada musim panas.Kebenaran adalah aku membenci Katherine. Dan meskipun aku tidak pernah bertemu Jared's Bapa, saya membenci dia, terlalu. Saya akan mengambil tanggung jawab jika aku akan menyakiti Jared, tapi aku tidak tahu apa aku bisa melakukan layak Nya kebencian. Kedua orang tuanya, di sisi lain, telah jelas meninggalkannya.Itu adalah salah satu ujung lidah saya bertanya padanya tentang bekas nya, tapi aku tahu dia tidak memberitahu saya.Sebaliknya, saya bertanya, "Apakah dia melihat ayahnya?"Dia melirik ke arahku, dan aku langsung merasa seperti saya telah menyerang wilayah Top Secret. "Tidak," adalah semua katanya.***Keesokan harinya di periode pertama, aku duduk mengambil catatan tentang pendekatan linear ketika saya mendapat sebuah teks dari K.C. diam-diam geser layar untuk membawa pesan, aku benar-benar kehilangan perhatian kalkulus.Jared texted saya tadi malam.Aku menelan keras. Sebelum aku punya kesempatan untuk menanggapi, dia telah mengirim pesan lagi.Dia ingin memastikan bahwa aku merasa OK Lihat? Dia ini tidak semuanya buruk.Apa sih Apakah dia ingin dengan dia? K.C. pada cantik. Pasti. Dia juga sahabatku, dan itu harus faktor dalam suatu tempat dengannya.Saya texted kembali: dia adalah up untuk sesuatu!Mungkin, mungkin tidak. adalah tanggapannya.Itu adalah yang terakhir yang saya dengar dari K.C. sampai makan siang. Fisika, P.E. dan Perancis berlalu dalam kabur karena aku melawan dorongan untuk teks dia lagi."Hei," Dia berkata ketika kami bertemu di baris untuk merebut kami makan siang."Hei, jadi berbicara kepadaku.""Yah, seperti saya katakan, dia texted untuk melihat bagaimana saya lakukan, dan kita ditukar beberapa teks yang lebih setelah itu. Aku hanya berpikir itu bagus bahwa dia diperiksa pada saya."Dia pikir dia bagus? Kami keluar baris setelah membayar dan membuat perjalanan di luar, sementara saya mencoba untuk menyaring bagaimana K.C. pergi dari setuju dengan bahwa Jared adalah dick berpikir ia adalah "baik.""Yah?" Aku berusaha keras untuk tampak seperti aku tidak peduli. "Apa bisa kalian berdua telah berbicara tentang setelah itu?""Oh, tidak banyak... Selain Anda memotong listrik ke rumahnya?!" Ia menertawakannya, tapi aku tahu dia tidak geli seperti yang saya pikir dia akan. Mungkin dia kesal bahwa saya tidak mengatakan kepada dirinya sendiri."Um, ya." Aku berjuang untuk kata-kata. Jared mengeluh tentang saya kepadanya? "Partai bajingan adalah terlalu keras, jadi aku menutupnya." Aku membersihkan tenggorokanku. Hal itu tidak terdengar seperti baik mengatakan itu keras.Kami mengambil kami kursi di meja piknik dan mulai menggali ke dalam makanan kami. Dia tinggal tenang, tetapi aku menangkap dia melirik saya antara gigitan."Apa?" Saya bertanya, kesal. "Anda mengatakan padaku untuk memainkan permainan, ingat?""Apakah Anda setidaknya bertanya padanya untuk menolaknya pertama?""Tidak." Keluar lebih seperti sebuah pertanyaan berderit. "Yah, ya. Pada kesempatan yang berbeda saya lakukan." Itu mulai merasa seperti berada di pengadilan."Dan bagaimana yang ternyata?" Dia berhenti, botol air di tangan."Yah, dia tidak bekerja sama. Jadi... Aku menghasut panik dan berteriak 'polisi.' Orang jenis kiri setelah itu." Saya tip kepala saya kembali dan menelan beberapa air untuk menjaga dari pertemuan matanya. Aku masih bangga malam itu, tapi K.C. jelas tidak menemukannya lucu.Sebaliknya, dia memutar matanya. "Tate, ketika saya berkata untuk bermain permainan yang dimaksud —""Anda berarti bermain permainan!" Aku berseru. "Anda tidak mengatakan untuk membunuhnya dengan kebaikan. Kau membela Dia?" Apa yang terjadi di sini? Rasanya seperti aku berada di Twilight Zone, dan K.C. telah menyambar tubuh."Yang saya katakan adalah bahwa Jared telah berbicara kepada Anda." Suaranya adalah tenang, kebalikan dari tambang. "Itu adalah ini. Anda terlihat seperti pengganggu sekarang. Anda telah patah dua pihak nya, patah hidung temannya, dan tahu bahwa teman yang sama dalam bola."Hebat! Fucking besar! Dia datang dari tampak seperti korban?"Dia tidak memberitahu seluruh cerita," Aku tergagap. "Dia masuk ke ruang ganti gadis-gadis sementara aku mendapatkan mengenakan."K.C. mengerutkan kening, tampak bingung. "Ia hanya berbicara kepada Anda, meskipun, kan? Ia tidak menyentuh Anda?" Untungnya, dia menunjukkan beberapa kekhawatiran bagi saya, akhirnya. Aku sudah siap untuk merobek kepalanya."Yah, dia tidak menyerang saya, tentu saja," aku tersentak membela diri. Sejenak, aku dianggap mengatakan kepadanya bahwa ia telah dipecah menjadi rumah saya, tapi itu hanya akan mengirim kembali kepadanya dengan pertanyaan yang ia akan menjawab... perjalanannya."Dia punya masalah," K.C. mengakui, "tapi saya bilang, ada sesuatu yang terjadi di antara Anda dua yang Anda belum ditangani. Saya tidak yakin bahwa ia adalah orang jahat seperti itu setelah semua."Manik-manik keringat alis saya, dan saya mengambil napas dalam-dalam. "K.C., Jared adalah berita buruk. Anda tahu ini. Maksudku benar-benar, dia adalah brengsek, dan aku tidak ingin kau membuat alasan baginya. Ia adalah tidak sia-sia."Dia mengangkat bahu mungkin tidak ingin berdebat tapi pasti tidak ingin menyerah. Diskusi itu atas, dan untuk pertama kalinya, aku ingin throttle sahabatku. Teman saya hanya, cukup banyak."Jadi, Apakah Anda berbicara Liam sama sekali sejak Sabtu malam?" Saya mengubah subjek sebelum merobek gigitan saya ayam sandwich."Tidak, dan aku tidak peduli," ia dipotong dan berkonsentrasi pada telepon."Eh ya," Aku bergumam, tidak yakin. Liam dan K.C. telah bersama-sama lebih dari pasangan lain yang saya tahu. Aku punya waktu yang sulit membungkus kepalaku di sekitar gagasan bahwa K.C. tidak peduli tentang pengkhianatan dirinya dan kehilangan dia. Jika saya padanya, aku mungkin tidak akan mampu mengampuni dia, tapi itu tidak berarti tidak ada ruginya.“Hey, Tate. How are you?” Ben Jamison plopped down on the bench next to me, looking as good as always. We had zilch in common, but he was cute and made me laugh.“Hi. I’m good. You?” I had spoken to Ben a few times lately. He seemed not to notice the rumor about Jared and me in the locker room.“I’m good…” He strung out the “good” like he was nervous and looking for what to say next. “There’s this Mexican restaurant, Los Aztecas, that opened up while you were away, and I was wondering if you’d let me apologize for being a dick and not asking you out a lot sooner by taking you to dinner this week?” He raised his eyebrows and waited.A surprised laugh jumped out of my throat. Well, he was refreshingly honest.“Um, well…” I searched for words. “How do I know you won’t be a dick on our date?” I challenged him. K.C. giggled beside me.Ben’s eyes smiled, and he bit his bottom lip, clearly turning over something in his head. He took out a piece of paper from his notebook and started writing. After about a minute, he handed the paper to me and walked off. Looking over his shoulder just once and offering a winning smile, he turned and disappeared into the cafeteria.“What does it say?!” K.C. peered down at the note in my hand before taking a bite of her chicken wrap.