J A S O N
Zoe was already sitting down with a bag of ice pressed against her bottom lip when I finally made it to the infirmary. It had taken me a while given that 1) I had only one full functioning leg and 2) the hallways were full of fucking idiots.
The nurse was nowhere to be seen. It was just Zoe, who was ignoring me, as usual.
"I'm really sorry," I started as I walked in. "I didn't meanâ"
"I know," she stopped me, finally looking up at me.
"Then why are you mad at me?" She was obviously mad at me.
"Because," she said, looking at me like I was stupid. "You did mean to hurt someone, didn't you?"
"Yeah. Luke. Because he hurt Daisy." This made no sense. "I'm confused. You should wanna hurt him too."
"Well, I actually know what happened â"
"What happened?"
"It's not my place to tell you," she said. "You're just gonna have to trust meâ"
"I don't."
She frowned, "Why not?"
"Because you get all hot and bothered with school shooters. You probably think it's so hot that Luke â"
"School shooters? What the fuck are you talking about?" Her whole face was a frown, both confused and furious.
"I'm talking about that show you and my sister watch all the time where the guy's a school shooter, but he's hot, so it's okay â"
"We just like the actor!" she stopped me.
"Sure â"
"And we've gone on a tangent," she said, shaking her head, which in turn, shook a few strands of hair down her face. I leaned against the nurse's desk.
"I don't know what that means."
"Didn't you get an A in Geometry?"
"Yeah, but I got a C in English."
"Well, it means we've gone off topic," she said.
"We haven't."
"We have," she insisted. "Look, why don't you just ask Daisy what happened?"
"I did ask. She said she got hurt playing volleyball."
"She's really shit at volleyball."
"She's also really shit at lying," I said. "I fucking know she didn't get hurt playing volleyball, but she won't tell me what really happened. She doesn't tell me anything anymore."
"I wonder why."
I frowned, "Why?"
"Because you're an asshole to her."
I frowned some more, "I'm not."
"You are," she said. "You don't even talk to her at school. Most people don't even know you're twins."
I laughed. I couldn't help myself, "That's true. Luke thinks we're dating. It's disgusting."
"And whose fault is that?"
"Hers!" She just looked at me, so I shrugged. "You're gay for her, so obviously you don't see it, but she's the one who's been ignoring me since freshman year. She never lets me sit next to her in class. She made our parents buy us textbooks each instead of just sharing with me â"
"Because you used to copy off her all the time in middle school and she knew â"
"So what?"
"So it's not â"
"And she's embarrassed of me!" I stopped her. Daisy was definitely embarrassed of me, which was ironic, seeing as she was the one with almost no friends.
But Zoe shook her head, and said, very seriously, "No, you're embarrassed of her. How many times has she had lunch all by herself because you wouldn't let her sit with you and your friends?"
"You mean the football team, the one she fucking hates?" Once, our parents forced Daisy to go watch one of my games and she brought a sign saying, Just Kiss Already! "And anyway, it's not like she wants me around either. Last time we all watched a movie together, she kept telling me to shut up."
"Because you kept making fun of everything!"
"Because what kind of loser writes letters to a girl every day for a year? What the fuck was he even writing about? And also, he had to threaten to kill himself to get her to go on a date with him. Am I supposed to take this guy seriously just because the actor who plays him is hot?"
"At least he knows how to write."
"I'm dyslexic, you bitch!"
She laughed, "I know, I'm sorry."
I nodded, "Yeah, I'm sorry too."
"For calling me a bitch?"
"No, I meant that. I'm sorry I punched you."
"Why don't you just stop going around beating people up? It's not very nice."
"It's not meant to be nice. That's like the whole point," I told her. Then Mrs. Martinez walked in, holding a box of small bandages, her jacket on, and a key dangling between her fingers.
"I knew I had some in my car," she said, right before she saw me leaning against her desk, "Is this muchacho the other guy? Because he looks fine to me."
I turned to Zoe, "Did you tell her she should see the other guy when she asked what happened?"
"I did," she said, managing a smile.
Mrs. Martinez put the box of bandages down and looked at me, "Why is it that you're always the other guy Jason?"
I wished this wasn't true, but it was. I had spent plenty of hours in this infirmary, under Mrs. Martinez scowl.
"Cause I like your company?" I tried.
"Sure," she said, rolling her eyes, "I'm gonna have to tell the principal about this."
"It was an accident." This was Zoe. I had thought of saying it myself, but was it really an accident if I had meant to throw the punch but missed the target?
Mrs. Martinez took the ice from Zoe's hands to look at the clean cut that had been swealing under it. Then, with her usual scowl on, she asked, very slowly, "Really?"
"Yes," Zoe said.
"The things these boys get away with because you girls keep your mouth shut," Mrs. Martinez said, shaking her head as she put a small bandage over Zoe's lip. "I can't force you to talk, so if you say it was an accidentâ"
"It was."
"Right, you're good to go then."
"Thank you," Zoe said as she jumped to her feet. I grabbed her backpack where she had left it on a chair by the door and handed it to her. She was still looking at Mrs. Martinez, "Have a good day."
"You too, muchacha."
I opened the door and Zoe walked out in front of me. I said goodbye to Mrs. Martinez, who said something in Spanish right before closing the door on my face. I turned around. Zoe was already on her way to the cafeteria, but the hallways had less idiots in them at this time of the day, so it was easier to catch up to her.
"Why did you lie?" I asked her.
"Cause I'm friends with your mom."
I smiled, "She's pretty cool, isn't she?"
"She is, and she gets really bad headaches whenever you get in trouble. Did you know that?"
"I did," I said. Whenever that happened, which was often, she would lay in bed for the rest of the day with a hot towel on her head. Most times I would lay down next to her, feeling guilty, and getting up every time the towel went cold to go rinse it in hot water again.
"So why do you keep getting in trouble?" Zoe asked.
"I never know it's trouble I'm getting in until it's too late."
"You just need to calm down."
"It's my biggest dream."
She smiled, "Just promise me you'll leave Luke alone."
"Fine," I said. We had reached the doors to the cafeteria, but she stopped before going in to turn to me, arm outstretched, her pinky sticking out.
"Pinky promise."
"Those are fucking ridiculous," I said, but I promised.