“Well, that was dramatic,” Victoria said.
There was rustling and whispering in the audience. I stayed in my seat because we were in the middle of a podcast and if I went running after Liza or Diego, that would just add to the drama. I didn’t need the whole school in on this any more than they already were.
“Is there something you’d like to share, Kat?” Victoria asked me.
“Not really,” I said. That’s when I remembered my parents were in the audience. My mom looked worried. My dad was confused. Great.
Victoria answered one more question from the box. I didn’t even hear what she said because my ears were ringing and my eyes hurt. Then, thankfully, Victoria said, “That’s all the time we have for tonight, folks. We’ll talk to you all again at our regularly scheduled time. Good night, Oak Court!” She depressed the RECORD button.
I immediately jumped to my feet. “I have to—”
“Go,” Victoria said, holding her hand out for my headphones. I handed them to her and took off.
Diego and Liza were standing together when I found them just outside the carnival in the parking lot. I had no idea what she was saying to him but it couldn’t be good. I skidded to a halt as I reached them.
“I’m sorry,” I said again. To both of them this time.
“My friends are going to think I’m delusional,” Liza told me, her cheeks bright red. “Tommy is in college! I’m a freshman in high school. I’m not an idiot. Sure, I think he’s cute, but I do not, in fact, like him. I like someone else, actually, and if you weren’t so wrapped up in your own life and fame then maybe you’d know that.”
My face burned, too. “Tommy won’t know. I’ll edit it out.”
She let out one single, ironic laugh. “People will talk. The whole school was there.”
“They won’t realize I was talking about you!” I protested.
“Even if I hadn’t reacted, which I obviously did, everyone knows we’re cousins. You used the word cousin. He will find out. Thanks a lot.”
A loud shout sounded in a darker corner of the parking lot. I squinted to see a group of guys standing there surrounding one in the middle. Was there about to be a fight?
Liza let out a long sigh and said, “I can’t do this right now.” She marched away, leaving Diego and me alone.
We stood there for several long moments. I wasn’t sure what to say. I’d screwed up. He was obviously mad.
“You knew Looking for Love was me? All this time?” Diego asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I honestly don’t know. By the time I thought to, it felt too late.”
“So you sat around, what? Mocking me after every show. Laughing at the things I shared.”
“No!”
“You kept dragging out the advice, getting me to call back in, when you could’ve told me exactly what I needed to hear the first day.” With that, he turned and left, not giving me a chance to explain that I didn’t know it was him at first. But he was right. If I had told him as soon as I discovered his identity that Alana liked him, he would have never had to call back. I wanted to chase after him, beg him to understand.
But as he walked away, I saw something that made my heart stop: the guy in the middle of the group about to fight in the parking lot had turned around, so his face was now visible. It was Max.
Instead of running after Diego, I ran toward the group of guys just in time to see Max shoved to the ground.
“Stop!” I called. “What are you doing?”
My brother picked himself up and wiped his nose with the backside of his wrist. Was he bleeding? Crying?
The boys in the circle laughed. They were bigger than my brother, and seemed older than him. I recognized one boy from the dunk tank line the other day.
“Are you proud of yourselves?” I asked them, my fury growing. “Oh, look at you, so tough that five of you can pick on one person.”
“Who’s this?” one of the boys asked Max. “Your little nerd girlfriend?”
I narrowed my eyes and faced the one who had spoken. He had a smirk on his face and he nodded at me like this was all a big game to him. “You did not just say that,” I said.
“What are you going to do about it?” he asked, his smirk turning to a scowl. He took a step toward me. I had been running on instinct until then. But now, quite suddenly, I realized we were very outnumbered.
“Don’t touch my sister,” Max said.
“Oh, your sister? I should’ve guessed she was the only girl you knew.” The guy shoved my shoulder.
I stumbled back, then took a step forward to knee him where he’d feel it, but Max beat me to it. Max punched the guy in the face, and he fell to the ground. My mouth dropped open. The other boys in the group shouted and all converged on Max at once.
I grabbed Max’s arm and pulled him to retreat when I heard a loud, deep voice call out from behind us, “Get off of them!”
I turned to see Alana and Frank running our way. Frank flung one of the guys to the ground and turned to take care of another. The group scattered, realizing it was now a more even match.
“You mess with my friends, you mess with us!” Alana called after the boys as they ran away.
“You okay?” Frank asked me.
“I’m fine.” I wasn’t worried about me. I pulled Max in front of me. He was taller than me by a couple inches now so I had to look up at him to study his face. “Did they hurt you?”
He shook out of my hold. “I’m fine, Kate.”
The range of emotions I’d experienced in the last ten minutes were catching up with me, creating a jittery mania inside my chest. “What were you thinking confronting five guys by yourself?” I demanded.
“I didn’t confront. They approached me. I was just trying to show confidence so they’d leave me alone.”
His words shook something loose in my brain. Show confidence. “You wrote the email, didn’t you?” How had I not realized that before now? That email had totally sounded like Max. Liza was right; I had been too caught up in my own issues to notice things. I was so concerned about proving a point to my parents, to my friends, that I’d lost sight of everything else. My brother was getting bullied and I had no idea. “I’m sorry, Max. I’m so sorry,” I said softly.
“Can you just take me home?” he asked, his eyes downcast.
“Where is Martinez?” Frank asked.
“He took off,” I replied, my stomach clenching. “He found out that we knew it was him calling in to the podcast.”
Alana’s mouth dropped open. “And you didn’t fix it?”
“I tried. I couldn’t.”
“So was the other thing Liza said to half the school true, too?” Alana asked me. “Are you in love with your best friend’s guy?”
She had been there listening to the podcast after all. I didn’t know what to say. My silence spoke volumes.
For the fourth time that night, I watched as someone I cared about turned away and left me behind.
I hitched a ride home with my parents since the way I’d gotten to the carnival (Frank’s Beemer) was no longer an option. After my best friend had walked away from me, Frank had followed her and they’d driven off together in his car. Apparently Frank was mad at me, too. Or maybe not mad at me, but more invested in Alana.