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.We’re leaving in a minute.I just wanted to make sure you’re still coming over today.”“Of course I’m coming over.”“Good.” He paused.“Sure wish I didn’t have to go to school…”Harley was pretty groggy, but there was no way he could miss a hint of that size.“Sorry, bud,” he said, laughing, “I can’t get you off the hook there.But all that studying’s going to come in handy later.I promise.”“And I’ll get to tell my friends about you,” Brandon added, as though doing so would make a nice consolation prize.“There you go.”“They’ll all be pretty excited.You don’t have any tattoos, do you?”“Any what?”“Tattoos.”What made Brandon think of tattoos at eight o’clock in the morning? “Just one.”“That’s awesome! Where?”“On my shoulder blade.”“Is it a heart or an animal or something?”Harley was wearing only a pair of boxers.Rolling his shoulder forward, so he could see the tattoo that had always carried such significance for him, he said, “No, it’s a name.”“Really? Whose? Whose name is it? My mother’s?”He smiled.“No.It’s yours.”“HE IS TOO my dad!” Brandon whispered harshly, growing angry when Travis Peltier and Theo Price, the two boys sitting on either side of him in English class, wouldn’t believe him.“You didn’t even know him,” Travis said.“When Mr.Haggerty pointed him out, you said you’d never seen him before.”“Mr.Haggerty thought he looked like a bad guy,” Theo added.“You’re telling us that’s your dad?”“He’s not a bad guy,” Brandon said.“He just drives a motorcycle.There’s nothing wrong with that.And I didn’t know him ’cause he’s lived in California for ten years.”“My mom says motorcycles are dangerous,” Theo said.“So?” Brandon replied.“She also says your mom was a whore and you’re a bastard who had to be taken in by family.She said you’re lucky you have grandparents who are so good to you.”Theo’s words caused Brandon’s ears to burn with embarrassment.Most of the kids at Mt.Marley treated him well and didn’t seem to care that he didn’t have the same type of family they did.But every once in a while, someone said something—though it was usually a teacher—that reminded him he was different, that he had more reason to be grateful than everyone else.Which was why he’d been so eager to tell his schoolmates that his father had appeared at last.He wasn’t going to be different anymore.He wasn’t going to be the kid who needed others to feel sorry for him.“You just want that guy to be your father because Sean said he was cool,” Travis persisted.“That’s not true!” Brandon cried.Scott was sitting a few desks away.Mr.Haggerty had moved him and Brandon apart a few weeks ago for talking, but he was still close enough to hear.He kept twisting around in his seat, frowning.“Why don’t you guys leave him alone?” he whispered at Travis and Theo while Mr.Haggerty was busy writing on the blackboard.All the students in that part of the room looked up from their work and started to stare, and Brandon felt his blush deepen.“Shut up,” Travis said.“You don’t even know what we’re talking about.”“You’re talking about his dad.”“So? We weren’t talking to you.”“I don’t care,” Scott said.“If Brandon says his dad’s in town, then his dad’s in town.”“After ten years?” Travis laughed.“He’s a little late, isn’t he?”Theo joined in the laughter and a few of the other kids snickered, too.One of them was Melissa Hayes, who Brandon thought was the most beautiful girl in the world.“I predict he’ll disappear for another ten years.What do you think, Travis?”“He’s going to stick around now,” Brandon announced, loud enough for Melissa to hear, although he had no way of knowing whether or not his father planned to stay until morning, let alone make any kind of permanent move.“He wants to be a real dad to me.”“Right.And my dad’s the president of the United States!” Travis scoffed.“Bastard, bastard, bastard,” Theo taunted.“What would a tough dude like the one we saw yesterday want with a bastard like you? Only your grandparents want you.Or maybe they’re taking you ’cause no one else will.”“Leave him alone.” This time Scott didn’t keep his voice low enough.Mr.Haggerty turned just before Brandon slugged Theo in the stomach and knocked over Travis’s desk.The three of them went down in a pile of arms and legs, groans and grunts, with a cry from Melissa when they nearly toppled her desk, too.A few seconds later, a red-faced and puffing Mr.Haggerty pulled them apart.“What’s going on here?” he asked angrily.“Who started this?”Brandon pointed at Theo.Theo and Travis pointed at him.“Tell me why you did this,” Haggerty demanded.He was looking at Brandon, but Brandon could see Melissa out of the corner of his eye and didn’t want to tell the whole class what Travis and Theo had said.He wasn’t really a bastard.Was he? At least not the kind Theo meant.His parents might never have married, but that wasn’t something he could help.And the way Theo said bastard made it sound so…awful.“It was Theo’s fault,” Scott announced, elbowing Theo in a move that was obviously meant to go unnoticed but was too blatant to avoid Mr.Haggerty’s attention.“That’s enough,” he said, giving Scott a stern look that warned him to stop immediately.“I’m asking Brandon what happened.”Brandon stared at his teacher for a few seconds, wondering what to say, but the faces of his classmates were all turned toward him, expectant, curious.What had happened didn’t bear repeating.When he said nothing, he saw Scott open his mouth, but quickly silenced him with a glare.Then Mr.Haggerty grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and hauled him out of class.“Well, if you don’t want to tell me what happened,” he said, “you can explain it to your parents—I mean your aunt—while you sit home on suspension.”CHAPTER THIRTEEN“DAD?”Harley couldn’t believe his ears.Brandon was calling him again? Already? It wasn’t quite noon.Shouldn’t he be in school? “What’s going on, buddy?”“I’m in the principal’s office.I…I got in a fight during English.”This surprised Harley.He’d gotten the impression from his son’s speech and manner, and Lauren’s attitude toward him, that Brandon was a pretty mild and obedient kid.“You did? Over what?”A weighty pause.“Nothing,” Brandon said at last
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