As I Am

Chapter Eight

            Halfway through our battle, which takes longer than it should because I have to help my own mother cheat because she has no idea what thunderbolt or quick attack do, the doorbell rings and she gets up to go get the door.

            While she’s gone, I rush through our game by battling for her, then taking my own turn and then hers.

            “Oh, hello! Come on in!”

            I let my own mother win for the sake of her ego.

            “Alabama, there’s someone here to see you,” she says, walking into the room. I turn around and look over my shoulder to see her move aside to let none other than porch boy into my home. Well, Evan as his name now goes. “Bama and I were just battling.”

            Evan raises his eyebrows as he steps forward. He’s as tall as my mom and for some reason this makes me want to laugh, but I stifle it once Mom looks at the TV screen.

            “I was going to say that you can take my place but I guess I’ve…I’ve won?”

            I smile. “You’re the better Pokémon trainer.”

            Mom says a few words to Evan before leaving to go into the kitchen, now to change her pastime to eavesdropping.

            “How are you doing?” Evan asks, walking over to me. He looks awkward standing in front of the couch so I move over a bit and he sits down.

            “Fine, I guess.”

            He reaches across the space between us and when I see his hand go towards my lap, I open my mouth. His fingers land on Cat’s head instead and I close my lips, forgetting that I’ve been practically straddling a cat.

            “You guess?” He stops petting Cat and looks up at me, raising his eyebrows again. Something about the expression strikes me as cute and I look away.

            Shrugging, I turn back towards the TV. “Want to play?”

            Something about focusing on a video game is much less awkward, especially with conversation that’s distracted that not. At first I was wary about Evan coming here, especially I’ve only been around him twice, and one time I got hit by a car.

            “I came by to see how you were doing, just so you know.” He starts button mashing and I steal a glance at him. He looks ridiculously focused.

            “How did you know where I live?” I ask, sounding more patronizing than I mean to.

            “Your parents told me when we were in the waiting room.”

            “Can I ask you something?” I turn to him and he meets my eyes, but somehow we both continue the game without even looking. “What happened?”

            Evan looks confused. “You got hit by a car?”          

            I roll my eyes and give him a look. “No, I mean like, how did the person hit me? Who was the person? What happened to them? Nobody will say anything to me about it, especially not my parents. I tried to bring it up at dinner and they looked at me like I grew another head.”

            Evan pauses for a minute, looks down at his lap. I contemplate doing the same but realize that there’s still a cat there, so I wait for him to meet my eyes.