Chapter 231 - Back to Normalcy
Roxie refused to ride in the Tesla, so she and Zac walked to school.
The car remained beneath the new charging unit beside the bungalow, clean and fully charged after sitting there all night. Roxie passed it without looking toward the driveway. Zac glanced back once before following her through the gate, but he kept whatever he wanted to say to himself.
He carried her chemistry book beneath one arm and hung her practice bag over his shoulder. Roxie told him twice that she could carry her own things. He ignored her both times and shifted the strap higher whenever it started slipping.
Their arms brushed as they followed the sidewalk. The cold made Roxie pull her old school jacket tighter around herself, but the morning felt almost normal. Zac complained about Mia calling during the movie the night before because she could not find something inside his room. He had answered two of her messages before Roxie told him to put his phone away.
Roxie looked at him. "Why did you leave after that?"
Zac’s attention moved toward the road.
"You went to bed early."
"That wasn’t my question."
"I didn’t want to wake you."
"You could’ve slept there."
"You were already asleep."
He had left before Roxie woke, and she assumed he had returned to his house.
Roxie knew he was avoiding the question now, but they had made it through breakfast and half the walk without arguing. She looked at the bruising still visible along his jaw. The cuts across his knuckles had started closing, though the skin remained red around them.
She let it go.
Zac adjusted the strap of her bag again.
"You packed bricks in here?"
"Shoes, clothes, and makeup."
"It weighs more than my football bag."
"You carry me around without complaining."
"You’re lighter."
"That isn’t a compliment."
"It was supposed to be."
Roxie bumped her shoulder against his arm. Zac caught her hand and pulled it into his coat pocket with his. His fingers closed around hers, warm against the cold air.
They walked that way until the school appeared ahead of them.
The entrance road was already crowded with cars. Students stepped out of black SUVs, sports cars, and vehicles that still had temporary plates. A girl from Roxie’s history class stood beside the curb complaining that her mother had bought the wrong color Mercedes.
Nobody paid attention to the cost of anything until someone appeared unable to pay for it.
Several students looked at Roxie and Zac as they approached the parking lot, though the attention had become less obvious since the public reveal. Zac kept her hand inside his pocket and made no attempt to separate from her.
That still felt new.
Dylan, Mason, and Kyle stood near Dylan’s car at the edge of the lot. Mason sat on the hood while Kyle tossed a football between his hands. Dylan noticed Zac first.
His eyes moved over Zac’s face, then lowered toward the bruising beneath the open collar of his shirt.
Zac slowed.
"I’ll meet you inside."
Roxie looked toward the boys. Kyle lifted one hand at them while Mason said something she could not hear. Dylan kept studying Zac.
"You’re taking my bag," Roxie said.
Zac looked at the strap over his shoulder as if he had forgotten it was there.
"I’ll bring it."
"To the locker room?"
"I know where it is."
"You’re going to walk into the girls’ locker room?"
"I’ll leave it outside."
Roxie held out her hand, but Zac shifted the bag farther behind him.
"I’ve got it."
She almost argued. Dylan had already pushed away from the car and started walking toward them.
"Fine."
Zac leaned down and kissed her forehead.
"I’ll see you inside."
Roxie nodded and pulled her hand from his pocket.
He crossed the remaining distance to Dylan, Mason, and Kyle. Mason moved from the hood without Zac asking and left him a space beside it. Kyle tossed the football toward Zac. Zac caught it against his chest and threw it back with one hand.
Dylan waited until Zac reached them before saying something. His eyes remained on the bruising across Zac’s face.
Zac answered without looking toward Roxie.
She continued toward the school alone.
The three boys had known about her and Zac long before the rest of the school. They had covered for him, kept his secrets, and accepted every excuse he gave them. Roxie understood why he stopped when he saw them.
She still felt left behind when they moved closer and closed the space around him.
Her practice bag was waiting beside her locker before first period. Zac had left it there with her chemistry book placed carefully on top.
By afternoon, the strange feeling from the parking lot should have disappeared.
It followed her into the locker room.
Roxie sat on a bench and tightened the laces of her cheer shoes while the other girls changed around her. Angela and Karen argued over a missing can of hair spray. Marissa stood near the mirror fixing her eyeliner before Coach Miller caught her wearing it during practice.
Kendall stopped directly in front of Roxie.
"You good now?"
Roxie looked up.
Kendall had already changed into practice clothes. Her hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and both hands rested on her hips.
Roxie knew she meant the routine and VCU.
The question still felt personal.
Friday had been Mr. Robinson inside the bungalow, Claire’s money, and every lie Roxie had lived inside without knowing it. Saturday, she missed practice and went to Raven’s Point with Zac while her thighs hurt beneath her jeans and the marks around her wrists remained dark enough to hide beneath long sleeves.
On Sunday, workers arrived to install the charging unit for the Tesla. Roxie stayed inside her bedroom while drills struck the outside wall and men called to one another near the driveway. Every scrape and hammer made the car harder to ignore.
Mr. Robinson had entered her life on Friday.
By Sunday, men were changing her house for something she had never agreed to keep.
She had missed three practices.
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Kendall wanted to know whether she had returned ready to perform.
Roxie pulled the second knot tighter.
"I’m here."
"That wasn’t what I asked."
Roxie stood and grabbed her water bottle.
"It’s what you’re getting."
Kendall’s mouth tightened.
Roxie moved past her before the conversation became another argument Coach Miller would hear about.
They began warming up along the edge of the mats. Roxie stretched her legs carefully and tried to ignore the soreness beneath her shorts. Foundation covered most of the fading bruises, but pressure still made parts of her thighs ache.
Coach Miller watched her from across the gym.
He had been doing that since she arrived.
Roxie raised both arms above her head and followed the warmup count while her thoughts returned to the Robinsons.
She understood why Zac believed she should accept the money. It had always been intended for her, even if Claire had taken it. Mr. Robinson could cover the bungalow taxes, utilities, groceries, school expenses, and college without Roxie calculating how many hours each one cost.
Understanding Zac did nothing to make accepting it feel better.
The larger problem was Cynthia.
Cynthia had always been kind to her. She gave Roxie food without making it feel like charity. She trusted Roxie with Jason. She listened whenever Roxie talked, even when Roxie rambled about school, cheer, or something Jason had done.
Cynthia had been there whenever Roxie needed help.
Now she knew why her husband had brought Roxie into their house.
Mr. Robinson said Cynthia needed time and refused to explain anything else. He would not say whether she cried, shouted, blamed him, or asked what would happen to Roxie.
Roxie had spent the last two days filling in the silence herself.
Maybe Cynthia looked back at every evening Roxie spent inside their home and felt sick. Maybe she wondered whether her husband had been using her and Jason as an excuse to keep Roxie close. Maybe knowing the truth ruined every memory Roxie thought they shared.
Cynthia might have cared about her before.
Roxie had no idea whether she still did.
Jason was harder.
He knew Roxie as his babysitter. She arrived in the afternoon, helped with his homework, made snacks, and listened to every story he wanted to tell until his parents came home.
A babysitter could stop coming. Jason might ask about her for several weeks, then Cynthia could hire someone else.
A sister could not disappear without becoming another person who had left him.
Roxie did not know whether Mr. Robinson had told Jason. She did not know whether Cynthia had asked him to wait or whether she wanted Roxie kept away until they decided how much of her their family could tolerate.
"Jones."
Roxie looked up.
Coach Miller stood several feet away.
"Are you stretching or staring at the floor?"
"Stretching."
"Then move."
Roxie stepped into line with the others.
During the first water break, Angela dropped onto the bench beside her.
"Mall tomorrow."
Roxie unscrewed her water bottle. "What?"
"After practice. We still need travel stuff."
Karen sat on Roxie’s other side and started counting on her fingers.
"Toiletries, extra hair products, snacks, lashes, and Angela needs a new makeup bag because hers looks like someone threw it beneath a truck."
"It opened inside my duffel."
"Because you broke the zipper."
"I didn’t break it. It gave up."
Angela looked at Roxie. "You’re coming, right?"
Roxie took a drink to give herself time.
"I’m not sure."
Karen leaned closer. "Do you already have everything?"
"Probably."
The answer sounded weak even to Roxie.
Angela raised an eyebrow. "Probably?"
"I need to check."
"Check the team chat too," Karen said. "Kendall posted the jacket."
Roxie placed the cap back on her water bottle.
"What jacket?"
"The matching one for when we arrive at VCU."
"I have a school jacket."
Angela shook her head. "Kendall picked a new one."
Roxie kept her phone inside her bag.
"How much?"
She regretted asking before Karen answered.
"I think eighty. Maybe more once they put the team name on it."
Roxie looked toward the mats.
Eighty dollars for a jacket she would wear while walking from the bus to the venue.
Coach Miller had said extra clothing was optional. Kendall had chosen something anyway, and enough girls had agreed that it became required without anyone saying the word.
"I’ll check later."
Angela watched her for a moment. "You better come tomorrow."
"I said I’ll check."
Coach Miller called them back before Angela could push further.
Roxie stood quickly.
Fiona remained near the wall, adjusting tape around one wrist. She glanced at Roxie and immediately looked away.
They had barely spoken since the last practice Roxie attended.
Roxie walked toward her before she could change her mind.
"Fiona."
Fiona looked up. "What?"
Roxie stopped beside her.
The apology had sounded easier inside her head.
"About last time."
Fiona sighed. "It’s okay."
"No, it wasn’t."
Fiona waited.
Roxie could feel Angela and Karen nearby, though neither stood close enough to hear without making it obvious.
"I went after you during practice," Roxie said. "I made everything worse."
"You were mad."
"That doesn’t make it okay."
Fiona pulled at the loose end of the tape.
"You can’t get jealous of every girl Zac dated."
"It wasn’t about that."
Fiona raised one eyebrow.
Roxie heard how quickly the denial came out. She pressed her lips together before she turned the apology into another argument.