“Do you have any tests coming up?”
He wiped his mouth and crumpled up the napkin, slamming it onto the table. My glass of water shook and I felt like I had to hold it to stop the glass from falling over.
“Whoa,” I said.
He looked at me. “Did you tell him anything else?” he asked.
“Who?”
“The fucking Pope.”
“What does the Pope—”
“Dr. Laird. Jesus Christ.” He shook his head. “Did you tell him about the other night? When Toucan came over?”
I shook my head. “I promised you I wouldn’t and so I did not tell him anything.”
“Are you sure you didn’t, I don’t know, forget?”
“Gert, I didn’t forget. I know when I tell people things.”
He picked up his plate and brought it to the sink. I asked him what the police said to him, and if he was going to help them defeat Toucan.
“We don’t help the police,” he said, running water in the sink. Then he loudly put the plate in the rack beside the sink.
“Even if they’re on our side?”
“They’re not.” He came back to the table. “Did they talk to you?” He put his hands on the chair and made his face right in my face. I closed my eyes, because I knew that if I looked at his eyes I would not be able to lie.
And after a while there was nothing to do but look at him and take out the card that the police officer gave me and show it to Gert.
He took one look at it, then turned and punched the wall so hard it made the world shake.
“Shit,” he said, holding his hand.
“Okay,” I said, getting up. I went to the fridge to get the bag of frozen peas. “Here.”
“I don’t need that shit,” he said, but he took the bag anyway and put it on his hand.
Even though he was taller than me, I put my hand up and touched his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.
“I will put away the dishes and clean up,” I said. “Okay?”
He did not say anything. He just nodded and looked at his hand, which was already turning red.
chapter thirty-two
Before AK47 came to take me to the Community Center, I ripped up the card that the police officer gave me and threw it in the garbage to show Gert that I trusted him.
It was Friday, and the gym was open at the Community Center, which meant you could go into the equipment room and play with whatever you wanted, as long as you put it back. People were playing hockey instead of basketball, though, and I hated hockey. I took a hockey stick and went to say hello to Hamsa and Yoda, who were talking about a very powerful battle.
“I heard it was ninjas,” Hamsa was saying.
“Ninja Turtles,” Yoda said.
“They don’t attack nice people, stupid,” Hamsa said. “Only crooks and robbers and the Foot Patrol.”
I asked what they were talking about.
“It’s not the Foot Patrol, it’s the Foot Clan,” Yoda said, hitting his hockey stick against Hamsa’s. Hamsa hit it back.
I put my hockey stick on top of their sticks and asked them what they were talking about.
They looked at each other. “Nothing,” Hamsa said.
“Come on,” I said. “Who was in the battle?”
“Marxy,” Yoda said.
“Oh.” I tried to pretend that I did not care what they were saying, since it was Marxy and I was not his girlfriend anymore. I lifted up my hockey stick off of theirs.
Hamsa and Yoda looked at each other again. “He got into a fight,” Yoda said.
“A big fight,” Hamsa said. “Maybe with ninjas.”
“We don’t know if it was ninjas,” Yoda said.
They were quiet. Then Yoda looked me right in the eyes. “He’s messed up bad.”
* * *
Marxy’s gate was locked so I reached over it and opened it and walked up to the steps. I rang the doorbell. I was not sure what I was going to say to Pearl if she answered.
Nobody answered the doorbell so I rang it again.
That was when the door opened and a man answered it.
“Can I help you?” he asked me.
“Who are you?” I asked.
He stared at me. He was tall and skinny except for the belly he had. He was wearing glasses and shorts.
We had a standoff.
“Pearl?” he called over his shoulder.
“I want to see Marxy. Is he here?”
Pearl came up behind him. She saw me and said, “Oh, Zelda. Come on in.”
When the man didn’t move she said it was okay, that I was Marxy’s friend.
“Now, quit being alpha dog. She’s not going to hurt him.” Pearl bumped him out of the way and took my arm and pulled me inside the house.
The man was Marxy’s father. We shook hands and he said his name was Mark. The more I saw his face the more I saw that they had a lot of the same parts. The same nose, which was straight and got big at the end. And the same eyes, which were green. They were also both tall.
“Wait, he’s got another girlfriend?” Mark said. “What about what’s-her-name? Sarah-Beth?”
“Oh, she’s not his real girlfriend.” Pearl told him that if he was around more, he would know things like that. She asked if I wanted something to drink. “Marxy says you like grape soda. Is that right? Mark, can you—?”
Pearl pointed at the kitchen, and Mark shook his head and went to get me grape soda. We watched him and she shook her head.
“What is it you and Marxy are always saying? Fuck-dick?”
“Yeah,” I said. “And shit-heel.”
“That man is both. Always late to the party.”
* * *
She took me upstairs to see Marxy and told Mark to wait in the kitchen. “He doesn’t want to see you right now,” Pearl said.
Mark threw up his hands and asked why he was called in the first place, if all he was going to do was sit around and get people grape juice.
“Grape soda, there’s a difference. And stop being a baby.”
Pearl and I walked up the steps. She told me that Marxy had gotten into some kind of fight. “Well, I don’t think ‘fight’ is right. Someone just hit him. I know he can be a bit much sometimes, but who would do that kind of thing?”
“Shit-heels,” I said.
Pearl rubbed her face with her hands. “Goddamn it, sometimes I am just so sick of this world and the people in it.” She looked like she was ready to cry, so I put my hand on her arm. She looked down at the hand, then at me. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just hard to keep it together all the time.”
“I know the feeling,” I said, because I did know.
We got to the top of the steps. Marxy’s room was closed. We stood in front of the door. She put her hand on the doorknob at Marxy’s room.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Pearl said. “Well, actually, it probably is. We called the police and filed a report.”
Marxy did not look good. His face was purple in places. It made me very sad, seeing him hurt, but I was also very happy that Pearl had called me Marxy’s real girlfriend.
Marxy was sitting in bed and when he saw me he pulled himself up. Pearl went to move the pillow behind him.