Page 46 of Penalty Shots
“Hey, I’m sorry to wake you… have you heard from Jenny?” I ask her. She’s wiping the sleep from her eyes.
I don’t blame her. It is pretty early for a Saturday wake-up call.
“No, I figured she was with you.”
I shake my head, already reaching for my phone. “I’ll text her cheer friends. She must’ve stayed with one of them.”
Rina nods, opening the door a little more. “Do you want to wait for her here?”
“You mind?”
She shakes her head, stifling a yawn. “Just stick to her side, Landry.” She steps aside, allowing me space to enter.
“Will do, Your Majesty.”
I can hear the eye roll as she shuffles to her bathroom.The Queen Amidala outfit from last night is flung across her desk haphazardly.
I sit on Jenny’s still-made bed and text the numbers of Jenny’s friends that I have. Something is off. She never ghosts me like this. Jenny loves a good time but she’s always made it a point to check in.
I hear the faucet turn off in the bathroom and try to avert my gaze as Rina walks out in her little shorts.
“Still nothing?” she asks, sliding back into her bed and pulling the sheets over her.
“No,” I lay back on Jenny’s pillow. “Hey, what’d you do with the divider that used to be here?” I get comfortable and lay the phone in my lap.
Rina shuffles further down into her bed and turns to face me. “Jenny said it killed camaraderie. We got rid of it at the student yard sale two months ago. Some guy on the soccer team bought it.”
“Huh.”
“Yeah.”
“You miss it?” I ask her with a clear view of her from the bed for the first time. An unobstructed view of a wispy-haired Rina Lopez is a captivating sight.
“I’ve gotten used to it. Your girlfriend’s showing me how to be an ‘open book’”, she says with air quotes.
I smile. “She’s pretty good at that.”
“A little too good,” Rina says. “But some things aren’t meant for everyone to know.”
“Uh-oh,” now I turn on my side, facing her. “Looks like someone’s got some juicy secrets.”
She pulls the covers to her chin. “You wish, Landry.”
“Oh, come on. If I’m going to be your tutor, I should know a few things about you. Don’t you think?”
“No,” she says matter-of-factly. “And I never agreed to that.”
I sit up on the bed across from her. “Rina, don’t you want to see the look on your mom’s face when you suddenly ace her final exam, and she didn’t think you could?”
Rina stays silent for a moment. The air is thick with anticipation of what she’ll say next. Or maybe that’s just my overly dramatic brain.
“I think she’s pregnant,” she says out of nowhere.
I feel the air leave my lungs in one big whoosh. “Jenny?” I can hear the panic in my own voice.
“Oh… no!” Rina scrambles to sit up. “No, no, God, no! My mom, Landry. Elena.”
I instantly feel the breath return to my lungs. “Oh!”