Chapter 2

Typical.

Leo Rivera had served his time in juvie. It was his first time there, and it was precisely as much fun as his cousins had described. They were probably eligible for some sort of frequent visitor award program.

He wondered how this would affect his academic standing. It couldn’t be good, that was for sure. Leo worked hard to get good grades, hoping to get some sort of college scholarship. That would be his ticket out of Logan. He’d probably have to work even harder to get past this.

On his release day, no one was there to pick him up. Since he was a minor, they wouldn’t release him without an adult signing him out.

Finally, by midafternoon, his sister answered the phone.

“Rachel, no one came to get me,” Leo said.

“For what?”

“I’ve been released from juvie, but they won’t let me leave without an adult to sign for me.”

“Classic. No one told us.”

“Great. That sounds about right,” Leo grumped.

“Mom and Dad are at work and don’t get off until like six.”

“They told me they’ll only release me between 9 and 5.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. They have to work. What do you want me to do? It’s not like I can come and sign you out.”

“Rachel, you’re killing me. Can you call the church? Tell them I’ll mow their lawn for a month if they send someone to pick me up,” Leo said.

In the end, Father Philips came and got him. But before the priest would take responsibility for him, Father Philips made Leo promise to do twenty hours of work a week at the church for the rest of the summer.

That was typical of what happened when you came from the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. Just like Leo’s conviction. He never touched the kid who got knocked out. The kid himself couldn’t remember who did it and hadn’t even seen Leo at the Pizza Hut parking lot. Hell, Leo couldn’t afford Pizza Hut. But two of Buck Sanders’ butt buddies fingered him, swore he’d walked up and punched the poor kid in the face. Who would ever doubt a bunch of ‘good’ kids? Not jurors when they found out Leo’s last name.

Yes, his cousins weren’t good guys. In fact, they were the primary source of drugs in and around Logan. And why wouldn’t they deal when their alternative was to work in one of the factories around town like his mother and father did? Between the two of them, just keeping the lights on each month was a struggle.

If it weren’t for the church, his sister wouldn’t attend a girls’ Catholic school the next town over. The irony was that limp-dick Buck’s sister also went, and her mom drove them each day. The same woman who said Buck and he could no longer be friends when they were younger.

When he got home, his sister had news that floored him.

“Buck Sanders called.”

“What did he want?” Leo asked.

“I guess you’ll have to call to find out.”

When did his sister get to be such a jerk? Leo had to take a deep breath to remember his sister wasn’t responsible. And what good would it do to get mad about it?

He dialed the number, and a girl answered.

“Buck’s phone.”

“Is Buck there?”

He heard a party going on in the background.

“Uhm ... hang on.”

He heard her say, “Hey! Buck has a phone call.”

“Who is it?” a guy asked.

“I don’t know.”

A moment later, Terrence Miner, one of the guys who testified against him, came on the line.

“Who’s this? Buck’s busy right now.”

“That’s okay. I was hoping to get to talk to you, anyway. Maybe my cousins can meet you in a dark alley and thank you for testifying against me. Or maybe they’ll just swing by your house and pick you up. Oh, and tell your buddy Lassater that he and I are going to have a similar talk.”

Terrance hung up the phone.

“That was rude,” Leo said as he chuckled.

He imagined that pussy Terrence was pissing himself about then. It didn’t surprise Leo when Buck called five minutes later.

“Hey, Leo.”

“What do you want?”

“I think you and I need to talk before stuff gets out of hand at school this year. I’m worried about what your cousins might do, and you’re the only one who can control them.”

Leo couldn’t help himself. He laughed.

“I want us to have a drama-free senior year. Put everything into the past,” Buck said.

“You mean I’m supposed to forget that Terrence and Clark set me up and got me sent to juvie?”

“What are you talking about? The police arrested you,” Buck said.

“Your buddies framed me. I got picked up walking my sister home. Brown people get brought in for questioning all the time for bullshit like that.”

“But they said you punched that kid,” Buck said.

“Ask yourself this: when have you ever seen me at Pizza Hut? I eat lunch in the cafeteria every day because I can’t afford stuff like that.”

“Then why didn’t someone who saw you at lunch vouch for you?” Buck asked.

“They did, but the police wouldn’t believe them because of where they live. When they tried to testify, the state’s attorney claimed they were known associates who would lie for me. Not like I have ‘associates.’ That’s my cousins, not me. Anyway, the judge rejected them out of hand,” Leo said. “And the police said no one saw me at the Pizza Hut except for your two friends.”

“This sounds like a bunch of BS. Terrence and Clark wouldn’t do something like that,” Buck said.

“Well, then, I guess you can kiss your drama-free senior year goodbye.”

“What can I do to make this all better?” Buck asked.

“Getting Terrence and Clark to go down to the police station and admit they lied under oath so my conviction is vacated would be a great start.”

“Shit, they could get into trouble for that,” Buck worried.

“Come on, Buck. Get your head out of your ass. Nothing will happen to your two golden boys because nothing ever does for your kind.”

“That’s not fair,” Buck said.

“Exactly. But that won’t be all,” Leo said. “I can do my best to keep my cousins from doing anything stupid, but they’re family. If they think I’ve been wronged, well, it’s hard to predict what they might do. They’ll insist on compensation or retribution. You and I have to figure out something that’ll happen if either side does something to violate this little peace accord. Something with real teeth.”

“Like money? I’d be willing to put up, say, ten grand.”

“Jesus, Buck! You wouldn’t miss ten grand, whereas I would have to rob a bank to find that kind of scratch,” Leo said. “Why don’t you find out the truth from your buddies, and we talk about the rest after they’ve come clean?”

“Fair enough,” Buck said. “Just so you know, if they did do you like that, I’m really sorry, and I’ll make it right.”

“We’ll see. Life has sort of sucked for me recently, and I have a hard time trusting anyone right now,” Leo said.

Over dinner, his parents admitted they’d received the notice of his release but assumed he could catch a bus home.

Then his sister shared that his girlfriend had dumped him and was now seeing some guy from the next town over.

He decided he just needed to go to bed and forget that day had ever happened.

Leo spent the morning mowing the church grounds for Father Philips. The church’s riding mower had died, so he had to hand-mow the two acres. He didn’t complain because it got him out of his head, and the physical work got his blood pumping.

When he got home for lunch, he found his sister watching a soap on TV.

He took a quick shower, then made himself a peanut butter sandwich. When he sat down, his sister told him Buck had called. After he ate, Leo called him back.

“They admitted they did it but are unwilling to come forward and make things right,” Buck shared.

“That’s a real problem for me. And that means it’ll be a problem for my cousins.”