The Geek and His Artist (29 page)

“But… aren’t you mandated reporters?” Jimmy asked, working to hold on to his annoyance.

Mr. Steel nodded. “Yes, we are. But the one time I asked Simon if he was okay, he pretty much begged me to leave it alone. I was helping him get into school.” He sighed. “And like I said, I couldn’t be sure. I never saw bruises, just knew Simon wasn’t happy, and I guessed. I didn’t want to possibly make things difficult on him if I was wrong.”

Jimmy blew out a breath. “Well… he’s good at hiding it.”

“He is, yes.” Mr. Steel seemed to squirm, then cleared his throat. “I’m glad he’s safe now, though.”

Jimmy nodded. “Yes, he is. Uh, does he have any assignments?”

“Oh, well, we were working on watercolors this week. And portraits. I was going to challenge Simon to combine them.”

“I’m sure he’ll like that,” Jimmy said, smiling.

“He said he doesn’t have the supplies, though.”

Jimmy held up a hand. “We’ll take care of that.”

Mr. Steel raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Okay, then. Tell him it’s due when he gets back. I’d like to see two of them.”

As Jimmy headed back to the office, his phone buzzed, and he saw a message from Ronnie.
You here?

Jimmy tapped out his
yes
quickly, hefting his backpack higher on his back, now full with both his
and
Simon’s books.

Where
?

Jimmy stopped outside the door and dropped the backpack.
At the office. Simon’s in the lot. Where’s Sean?

He waited for a reply, but only a minute later, what he got instead was the whole group of their friends showing up. “What happened?” Kip demanded immediately.

“Is he okay?”

“Where is he?”

“What happened to The Bastard?”

Deck, Tony, and Ronnie tried to speak all at the same time. Sean didn’t say anything, but Jimmy knew, based on his expression, he was just as worried and waiting for the news. In fact, despite the shitty situation, Jimmy was glad to see the anger on all five faces, because it told him these guys really did care about Simon.

“Simon’s outside in the car. He….” Jimmy sighed, rubbing his face, then dropped his hands and looked over their friends. There was no easy way to say this. “Simon’s father—’The Bastard’—has been beating him. For years. And Saturday after I took Simon home after dinner with my family, he beat him, worse than ever.” He had to swallow around the rage again. “And broke his leg with the aid of a bat.”

“Holy fuck!” Kip growled, one hand forming a fist. Sean reached out and took it, and Kip relaxed the fist and gripped Sean’s hand hard.

“You can say that again,” Deck muttered. “Hell, that’s not enough.” He shook his head. “Is he okay now?”

Jimmy nodded. “Yes. Well, aside from the broken leg, yes. He’s moved in with me. My parents are going to have official guardianship over him until he turns eighteen. He’s… probably doing too well, based on what he went through, truthfully.”

“And The Bastard?” Ronnie asked.

“Gone. We don’t know. He showed up at the apartment long enough to destroy pretty much everything Simon owned except a few things he hid, but… other than that, they don’t know.”

“Shit,” Sean said, shaking his head. “Are they looking for him?”

Jimmy shrugged. “I don’t know, but probably not. I don’t even know if there’s a warrant out on him or anything. The CYF people got a protection from abuse order on him, so he’s not supposed to be within fifty feet of Simon or me or my parents. But….”

Tony shook his head. “Not cool. Not cool at all. So, uh, can we go see him?”

Jimmy led the way out to car. Simon rolled the window down as they approached, and Jimmy frowned at Simon’s worried expression. “Hey, guys.” He looked over their friends. “Are you… are you pissed I didn’t tell you?”

“Aw, hell no, dude.” Deck shrugged. “I probably wouldn’t have either. Just glad you’re okay. When are you coming back to school?”

Simon shook his head. “I don’t know exactly. I have to get a regular cast first. Probably a week, at least. Jimmy’s staying with me.” He looked up and smiled at Jimmy.

“I thought you moved in with him?” Ronnie asked.

“He means I’m staying home from school to be with him. He’s got some big stuff this week.”

Tony turned to Jimmy. “Do you think your mom would mind if we stopped by after school to see Simon?”

Jimmy shrugged. “I don’t see why not. You can ask her.”

Tony leaned in to look past Simon. “Hello, Mrs. Bennet, I’m Tony. Would it be okay if we stopped by to see Simon after school?”

Simon raised an eyebrow at Tony. “Dude, I didn’t know you knew what polite was.”

Tony snorted and flipped him off where Jimmy’s mom couldn’t see.

Simon chuckled.

She nodded. “That’s fine, Tony. He’s got to be careful for a while, so no skateboarding yet.” She smirked.

Tony laughed. “I guess we can manage that. Thanks, Mrs. Bennet.” He stepped back from the car. “We’ll be over after school, ’kay?”

Simon nodded. “Cool. See you later, guys.”

“You guys too, right?” Jimmy asked Ronnie and Sean, both of whom nodded. “Good. Later.”

“Bye,” Simon said, waving, and Jimmy heard the relief in Simon’s voice.

Once Jimmy was in the car, he leaned forward and put his hand on Simon’s shoulder. “They care, they’re your friends. They aren’t going to give you shit for something like this.”

Simon shrugged the shoulder under Jimmy’s hand. “I….” He looked up and Jimmy’s heart hurt at the lost look in Simon’s eyes. “I’ve never had friends like this before. We… we didn’t stay in one place long enough, you know?”

Jimmy nodded. “Well, I’ve had Ronnie and Sean for a while, but I can get it.”

Simon sighed. “Thanks,” he murmured.

Jimmy squeezed his shoulder and sat back.

“So,” his mom said when she turned on the car again, but she was interrupted by her phone. Jimmy listened, unashamedly eavesdropping on the conversation, though all he got was “Yes, this is Wendy Bennet … Yes … Simon Williams … No, I don’t think so.” She turned to Simon. “Have you ever been to a Dr. Jameson?” When Simon shook his head, she went back to the call. “No, he hasn’t …. Anytime, yes.” She paused, made a couple of affirmative sounds, then said, “Excellent, thank you. See you then.” She touched her screen and turned to Simon. “The orthopedic doc will see you on Wednesday morning. The woman I talked to said they should be able to do the regular cast then.”

Jimmy saw Simon’s relief and grinned.

Simon smiled. “Thank you. I don’t, uh, if there’s a co-pay, I’ll do some work or—”

“You will do no such thing. It’s part of being my son.” She focused again on pulling out of the space. Jimmy couldn’t help but be a little amused at Simon’s shock. “Now.” She glanced over. “I’ve only seen you a couple of times, but I’m guessing typically jeans and T-shirts, right?”

Simon nodded, then shook his head as if to clear it. “Uh, yes. There are a couple of thrift stores I used to go to over on Route 51.”

She paused at the stop sign and looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “Thrift stores have their place. But that’s not where we’re going today.” She caught Jimmy’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “What do you think?”

“Um…. Century III would be good. Macy’s and Hot Topic,” Jimmy offered. “Maybe Target for the other stuff?”

She nodded and turned left.

S
IMON
SWALLOWED
,
trying not to freak out any more than he already was.
Macy’s? Hot Topic?
He’d never shopped at any place like that. He watched the houses pass as Mrs. Bennet drove, but didn’t pay attention to any of them. He was too lost in his own head. He’d never have considered shopping at places like that, and he was more than a little terrified. What if he looked like an idiot? What if he did the wrong thing?

He felt Jimmy’s hand on his shoulder again and forced himself to breathe slowly, working to relax just a bit. When Mrs. Bennet stopped at the Get-Go convenience store, declaring the need for more caffeine before she tackled shopping, Simon calmed down a little more. He smiled when she came out, handed cups to everyone, and he found the sweet mocha he liked.

It was so different from anything he knew in his own family.
Family
. He hadn’t had a family since his mom died. He still missed her, but he was adult enough to know she’d want him to be happy with Jimmy’s family. He really didn’t think she’d be hurt if he called Mrs. Bennet “Mom” or Mr. Bennet “Dad.” Someday, he’d have the old pictures of her enlarged and framed.

He pushed the thoughts away and turned to the woman next to him who’d so readily stepped into the mom role for him. He swallowed and took a breath. “Mom?”

“What, sweetie?” she asked, her eyes on the road. Simon appreciated her not making a big deal out of it.

“First, uh, thank you. For the coffee, for the, well, thank you for everything. You….” He took a breath. “You didn’t have to. You don’t really even know me, but….” Jimmy squeezed his shoulder and Simon felt a little steadier. “You’ve done so much. I don’t… I’m grateful to just not be with
him
anymore and, you don’t have to, I mean… I—” He closed his eyes, annoyed with himself for stumbling over his words.

She shifted into fourth gear as they passed through another light, then reached out and put a hand on his knee. “I know that. I know I don’t have to. I’ve gotten to know you well enough, both with what Jimmy’s said and the time we
have
spent. But everyone deserves a family that cares about them. Everyone should have the opportunity to have a good start in life.” She paused to shift and switch lanes. “And if I can do that for someone, especially someone my son loves, I’m going to take that opportunity.”

“But… it doesn’t… I mean, I know I need clothes and stuff.” He closed his mouth. “And now I sound ungrateful,” he muttered to himself, shaking his head.

“Stop. I know where you’re coming from, Simon, and I don’t think that’s how you sound at all. I think it sounds like you are worried about us spending so much money on you, yes?”

Simon blinked back the tears that formed. “Yes,” he said, thickly.

She smiled. “Joe and I make plenty of money. We’re not rich, but we do okay. We can afford to buy you some good clothes to get you started. We can pay co-pays for your doctor’s visits. We can buy your favorite type of cereal, pay for things like pictures and graduation fees. I promise, you won’t break us by what we’re going to buy today, okay?”

Simon took a deep breath, felt the tears recede, and said, “Okay. Thank you. I’m so—”

“Don’t apologize. It just tells me more about how good a person you really are.” She squeezed his knee, took a sip of her coffee, then went back to shifting.

Simon looked over his shoulder at Jimmy to see a bit of sadness behind the smile.

Jimmy leaned forward around the headrest, tugged Simon sideways in the seat, and kissed him on the cheek. “You’re awesome, not ungrateful. Love you.”

Simon closed his eyes. “Love you too,” he whispered, cheeks heating when he saw Jimmy’s mom smile. He reached back and, despite the awkward angle, took Jimmy’s hand and held it.

T
HEY
INSISTED
on a wheelchair, but Simon, by this time, couldn’t really argue. His armpits hurt from trying to use the crutches, so he settled in and let Jimmy push him around, smirking at the obvious joke Jimmy couldn’t seem to resist.

Despite Simon’s attempts at letting go the worry over all Jimmy’s parents were doing for him, it was still uncomfortable when they stopped at Hot Topic. They walked out with three new superhero T-shirts, a My Chemical Romance shirt, a Ramones shirt, the Harry Potter seeker shirt he’d pointed out to Jimmy, and even an X-Men hoodie when Jimmy mentioned that Simon’s flannel was also gone.

To make matters worse, they didn’t just go straight to Macy’s—or Sears, or any other general department store—from there. Instead, they stopped in Journey’s of all places and bought Simon a new pair of Converse. Jimmy’s mom had made a face at the one on Simon’s good foot, claiming she didn’t want anything that dirty in her house again. Simon knew it wasn’t an insult, knew she was trying to help him feel better, and he appreciated it enough to pick the pair he really liked—the standard high top style in black—rather than the cheaper gray pair he saw on clearance.

He’d even managed to accept and eat the soft pretzel without too much hesitation, but he balked when they stopped in the Verizon store and he realized she was picking out a phone for
him
. “Uh, Mrs.…. Uh, Mom, I don’t really need—”

“There will undoubtedly be times in the next few weeks, at least, where you will be alone at home with the cast. Since we don’t have a landline anymore, I’d feel a lot better and a lot safer leaving you if you have a way of contacting one of us if there’s an emergency.”

That efficiently shut him up. He had no argument for something like that. So he reminded himself that they weren’t poor like he’d been, that Mrs. Bennet was certainly smart enough to not cause her family problems by shopping for him, and finally fully considered the options for his phone. He’d gone with the most basic one that was still a smartphone, which seemed to make Jimmy’s mom very happy.

That had taken up a good chunk of the morning. After pizza in the food court, they finally headed into Macy’s. Simon bit back the arguments he had when Mrs. Bennet mentioned the three pair of jeans they picked out would do “for now.” He’d been living with
only
two pair at any one time for so long, he didn’t know what he’d do with more. He
didn’t
argue over the khaki pants or button-down shirt for his court appearance, knowing they were necessary, and he was grateful when Mrs. Bennet said his Converse would do for shoes. Nor did he make a fuss over the underwear, socks, sweats, sweater, shorts, or pajamas. In fact, he was pretty proud of himself for his reactions—or lack thereof—by the time they hooked all the bags to his wheelchair and headed back to the car.