Queen of the track

XV

"Hey, you guys. There's my troublemakers." He smiles at us when he reaches the table, taking us in to see how we might have changed in the past few weeks.

"Hi dad." I smile back as best as I could. His injuries looking a lot worse up close. I try not to focus on them, for his sake and mine.

"Hey." AJ says, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

We're not allowed to hug him, so we all sit down with AJ and I on one side of the table, our father on the other, all of us placing our hands on the table. AJ's leg still bounces, and now I've started to pick at a small hangnail, nerves flooding me, though I'm not sure why.

"What happened?" AJ asks straight away, looking at the purple bruise around dad's left eye and right jaw, and the cut on his lip.

"Oh," dad waves it off his metal cuffs clanging on the table, "just a little misunderstanding. Everything's fine." Unconvinced but knowing not to push, AJ and I nod. "How're the boys?"

"They're good." I tell him. "Mason's got a soccer game today. We're missing it, but ... he understands." My voice quietens but AJ quickly steps in.

"Will did another drawing for you." He hands dad a piece of paper, watching as he unfolds it and smiles down at the new set of comic book characters Will has been obsessed with recreating.

"He's getting better each time." Dad nods sadly and folds it up again. "And you guys? How's school going? Senior year, that's a big one." He chuckles, though it sounds a little forced and awkward.

"Yeah, it's good." I smile.

"Have you started applying for colleges yet or ...?"

"Not yet." My voice is quiet and dad nods.

We're all quiet for a moment, the chatter of reunited families going on around us. We're trying not to dwell on the fact that AJ and I will have to defer for a year to any college that we get accepted to so we can still look after Will and Mason until dad gets out. It's a bridge we'll cross when we get there.

"And you guys, uhm ... you're doing okay? I mean you're-you're looking after yourselves and the boys are doing good and the house—"

"We're fine, dad." AJ tells him. "Everything's all good."

"Terra?"

"Haven't heard from her since she left." I shake my head. "But no one's really noticed, she didn't exactly go out much when she was here."

"Right." Dad looks down at the table. "Family never really was high on her agenda."

"It's fine, we can cope. We are coping."

"Well ... maybe you should look at getting a sitter or something. Or a housekeeper."

"A housekeeper?" AJ repeats with a frown. "What the hell for?"

"To look after the boys." Dad shrugs. "Relying on their friends at the weekends is fine, but what about during the week? Which one of you picks them up from school? Who does the groceries? And the way you guys are getting your money—"

God, these questions make him sound like Principle Myers, but worse.

"We're fine, dad. We don't need some stranger moving in and telling us how to look after our brothers or what's legal and what isn't."

"Besides," I lean back in my chair, "we don't exactly have the room for anyone else, much less the money to spare."

"They could have my room." Dad shrugs, looking between us.

AJ furrows his eyebrows and his voice deepens. "Why are you so determined on this?"

"I just think it'll be good to have someone help you guys out." He raises his hands in surrender, his metal cuffs clanging on the table when he lowers them again. A constant reminder.

"We'll look into it." I say after a moment, just to appease him and get rid of the tension. "But we're fine on our own."

"Yeah. Yeah, of course you are. You're my kids." He smiles. "You're strong and brave. All of you."

"Have you spoken to Harper recently?" AJ asks.

"Yeah." Dad nods and runs a hand through his shaggy, greying hair. Most of it is still dark like ours, but that only makes him look paler now that he's stuck inside for twenty-three hours of the day. "He said to just keep going with my head down. Avoid confrontation, get out on parole."

"And how's that working out?"

"AJ." I hiss.

Dad chuckles dryly and gestures to his beaten face. "Clearly not as good as I'd hoped."

"Is this gonna go against your good behaviour record?" I ask with a slight sigh.

"No." He shakes his head. "Luckily for me it happened out in the yard so I had witnesses to defend me. I didn't do anything wrong."

"Then why the hell did it happen?" AJ suddenly growls. "You don't just beat someone up for the sake of it." He starts to look around at the other inmates here, as if he can detect which one beat up our dad.

"Ironic of you to say." I raise an eyebrow at him and he glares at me.

"They were old regulars at the ring." Our dad shrugs, cutting into our glare-off. "They said they were cheated out of some money and wanted me to pay it back another way. It's nothing," he adds onto the end. "It's over."

"Just ... be careful, okay?"

He smiles at me and places his hand over mine. "I love you, kiddo, you know that right? I love you all."

I smile sadly. "We love you too, dad."