Almost Perfect - Brian Katcher [19]
The groaning of the rusty swings stopped. Sage squinted blindly into the darkness, trying to see what her sister was doing.
“Is Rob an okay guy?” she asked, worried.
“Yeah. I don’t know him that well, but I haven’t heard anything bad about him.”
Sage was squirming in her seat. “That doesn’t mean anything.”
“You really aren’t from a small town. Trust me, if he’d done any shit, everyone would know.”
Sage giggled. “Damn, I have to get used to living in BFE. Tammi didn’t really date at her last school. She said all the boys …”
Sage suddenly stopped. I could see her braces reflect the dim moonlight as she gritted her teeth. She hadn’t meant to let that slip.
“Sage?”
She didn’t answer.
“Sage?” I insisted. “Tammi went to public school? Why didn’t you? And how come she’s allowed to go on dates?”
Sage shifted on the bench until her broad back was toward me. I think she was tired of my questioning, but I wasn’t going to let it drop. There was something weird going on at her home.
“Hey, talk to me.”
“Fine.” She swiveled and faced me. She was smiling, but it was sort of a cruel smirk. “Tim told me you just broke up with someone. Do you feel like talking about that?”
I scooted away. “No, I really don’t.” Why would she bring that up?
Sage scooted after me. We were now both scrunched on the extreme left side of the bench. I was in danger of falling off. Sage leaned over to me.
“Then you understand that there are some things I don’t want to discuss, either. Could we just leave it at that for now?” Her smile was friendly again.
“Okay.” My mind was racing. What the hell was the big deal? Why had Sage been homeschooled all those years? Maybe she’d done something bad—broken the law and wound up in juvie for half a year, so her parents kept her at home. Or what if she’d gotten pregnant when she was, like, twelve, and her parents yanked her out of school so she could have the baby … or an abortion. That would explain why she wasn’t allowed to date. Or she could be HIV positive. Or …
“Logan, whatever you’re imagining, it’s not that bad.”
“Okay, but you’ve got to admit—”
“Shut up.”
There was a pause, and then we both laughed. We hadn’t moved apart on the bench, and we were close enough that Sage’s face was clearly visible in the darkness, just a little above mine. The night was cool, and I could see our breaths mingling. I could even make out the freckles on Sage’s nose. Her bright lipstick and shiny braces. Her doubly pierced ears. And the steam from our breathing continued to get heavier and closer.
A dark figure suddenly lunged at us from the darkness. Before I could react, it had slammed between us into the bench, almost knocking me to the ground. The attacker’s hand grabbed at both of us, reaching for our necks, attempting to subdue both of us at the same time.
It was Tammi. She wedged herself in the middle of the bench, a friendly arm around each of us. Rob was approaching across the gravel playground looking rather disappointed. Maybe the moment had been ruined for him, too.
“Time to go home,” ordered Tammi. I couldn’t read Sage’s expression over her sister’s head. Not only did Sage’s parents not want her to date, but neither did her little sister. Tammi was chaperoning Sage, not the other way around.
But Sage had told me she wasn’t going to answer any questions. As curious as I was, you don’t badger your friends when they don’t want to talk. Sage hadn’t known me that long. Once she realized she could trust me, I felt sure she’d open up.
I never dreamed Sage’s secret was about to become my secret, or how desperate we’d both be to keep it.
chapter eight
IT NEVER FAILED to amaze me how the one sizable tree in our yard could produce so many leaves. Fall after fall, I’d end up raking ten bags or so. I dumped the last load into the charred oil drum at the rear of our property, squirted