As if he sensed me staring at him, Deon turned and looked over. His eyes locked on mine, and it was as if everything else going on in the lunchroom just stopped existing. Every time he’d ever looked at me like that flashed across my brain in rapid fire. Sitting on his front stoop, so close that we’re touching, but there was still that hesitation to even hold hands. Holding out a hand to pick me up after I’d taken a hard charge during a game of basketball. Standing in front of my house with an anticipatory smile after he came to ask if I could come outside on hot summer days. Whatever had happened hadn’t changed who Deon innately was, just like Nathan and The Royal Court hadn’t changed my core. Deon and I were opposing ends of a very strong magnet. The more we tried to stay away from each other, the stronger the pull was.
“Do you want me to introduce you or something?” Nathan growled.
That time, when Nathan’s voice pierced my thoughts, I jumped. “What?” I looked at Nathan. “What are you talking about?”
“If you stare too much harder, he’s going to burst into flames,” Brayden quipped.
“Will you guys relax?” Alistair jumped to my aid. “Anyone would be bothered by that guy’s appearance. Leave her alone.”
When I looked over to Alistair, he tossed me a wink, and I grinned. Avery smiled, and her promise to have my back came into my mind. She was right. I wasn’t alone in The Royal Court. Even if my life didn’t go the way I expected it to, I made a couple of really good friends, and I knew they would support and take care of me while I attempted to find out exactly what happened with my childhood crush.
9
Deon
When my mom, Ciara, set a plate of breakfast food down in front of me, it was with a sigh of disdain. Her curly red hair was pulled into a bun on top of her head, allowing her authentic Irish freckles to shine and making her disappointed expression even harsher because it was through such a beautiful lens.
“What?” I hissed.
“Nothing,” she replied. “Just, you said you were going to really try and make the most of school this year.” She sat down across from me with a plate of her own and a cup of coffee.
“How am I not?” I asked. “We’re only a few weeks in, but I’ve done all my work so far. I made a friend. What are you looking for?”
“Isn’t it Spirit Week this week?” she asked.
“Yeah? So?”
She sighed. “I just thought you might participate. Really get into the fun of it.”
“I’m not wearing pajamas to school. That’s stupid,” I grumbled back, taking a bite of my bacon.
It wasn’t just that I found something absurdly ridiculous about the idea of wearing pajama pants to school. It was also that I was trying to blend in and didn’t think that was the way to accomplish it. There had to be plenty of students who were choosing to forego the weekly traditions, and I would just be one of those students. People already watched me more than they did anyone else in the school. The last thing I needed to do was slap a brightly colored bow on myself and go walking around like I was just any other student.
I wasn’t.
“Is it just the pajama day, then? Will you do some of the other days?” she asked. “I don’t think you have any sports jerseys, but we could find one for you before Wednesday. Or you could match with your new friend for twins and triplets day on Thursday?”
I imagined myself making any valid attempt to try to match anything with Sicily. He was my exact opposite. He was short while I was tall, was lanky while I was buff, had brown hair to my red, and was hyper while I was tame. Us trying to look like twins seemed like the quickest way to make me the laughing stock of the school and extend the time people spent keeping their eyes on me.
“Look, Ma. I really hate to play the whole prison thing, but I’m just not in the same place as a lot of these guys. I spent the last two years of my life with adults. I’m going to school. I’m trying to keep myself out of trouble and in good academic standing. Honestly, I didn’t even expect to make any friends, but Sicily turned out to be an okay person to spend my time with. I just can’t promise you that I’m gonna do all of the young and naive kid stuff. That’s just not who I am anymore.”
That thought brought a visible frown to her face. “You’ve lost so much of your childhood already, Deon.”
It was like she was sawing my heart in half. It wasn’t unreasonable for a mom to want her child to seize what touch of innocence he had left, even if I didn’t really have any left. “Tell you what. I’m probably not gonna do pajama day, or crazy hair day, or twin day because Sicily looks like a dwarf compared to me, but I promise I’ll…involve myself. You know? I’ll go to football games. I’ll attend the dances.” I smirked. “I’ll even sneak out and go partying if it makes you feel better.”
Her mood lightened, but she still looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “You’re a smartass, you know that?”
“Who do you think I get it from?”
I winked at her, and she chuckled, and the rest of breakfast passed by much less tense than it began. She updated me on how things were going at work. She worked for a housekeeping business, cleaning up much nicer homes than we would ever live in. That was how she had
