Cameron and the Girls by Edward Averett Page A

meds?”
    â€œNo,” I say.
    â€œI can barely see you, Cam. Come on out of there.” He steps back as I wade through the grass. Then he whistles when he sees my clothes are soaked.
    â€œI’m just—”
    â€œDo you even care if you catch pneumonia?”
    Him too?
    â€œDad.”
    â€œCam?”
    â€œI do care and I don’t,” I say.
    Dad looks like I stepped on his last nerve. “You want my opinion? Never mind, you’re going to get it anyway. My opinion is that you don’t mess with your head. If it’s soft, you wear a helmet. It’s the most precious thing you’ve got. You take chances with it and come up wrong, it’s a permanent loss. You can’t go around as if nothing matters. That’s what I think.” He twists on his heel and takes off. Right before he turns at the barn, he stops and waves me over. “She’s a mess, Cameron. I want you to go apologize to her.”
    â€œI’m coming,” I say.
    I always feel small next to my dad, but most times it doesn’t matter. Now it does. I feel his big, looming presence as we stop under the apple tree. Dad looks up into the branches. “I want you to promise me one thing, Cam,” he says. “I want you to promise me you won’t let it get all out of control.”
    â€œI promise,” I quickly say.
    â€œNo. I mean, really promise, not just say something to get me off your back. The last thing I want is your mother to get hurt.”
    â€œYes,” I say vigorously. “I promise.”
    My dad looks like he’s about to go, but he changes his mind. “Do you think it’s possible you could be over all this soon?” he asks.
    â€œI want it to be over, Dad.”
    Dad looks to the distant field past the barn. “I don’t understand it, that’s all,” he says. “I mean, we’re good people. We try to do the right thing. That’s true, isn’t it? I mean, you haven’t been doing things in secret like killing animals and skinning them out behind the barn, have you?”
    â€œNo, Dad.”
    â€œYou’re not doing drugs, are you?”
    Might be.
    â€œDad.”
    â€œI didn’t think so.” He shakes his head. “I wish they could find the answer to this thing.”
    â€œI promise,” I say again.
    He looks at me with one eyebrow raised. “Maybe the next time I go to the gym you could tag along with me.”
    â€œI could try,” I say.
    Now Dad smiles and reaches out, rubbing the top of my head. “Get down there and apologize,” he says.
    â€œOkay,” I say.
    On my way to the house, I hear:
    One shouldn’t be so certain about a voice one doesn’t really know.
    â€œWhat do you mean by that?”
    I mean, a path that seems clear can very soon become tangled.
    â€œI’m getting kind of tired of you,” I say.
    Â 
    At school, Nina and I reach the lunch table just ahead of Griffin. He tries to sit next to us, but I block him. “Nina wants to talk to just me,” I say.
    Nina nods and Griffin sits at the next table facing us. He wears a big frown and I feel guilty.
    But Nina and I had that moment at her house, and today I want only her. “I’m glad you’re back,” I say to her. She looks different, brighter and happier somehow.
    â€œMe too,” she says. She cocks her head to one side. “You don’t look like a guy who had a shot yesterday.”
    â€œI’m not,” I say happily.
    She nods her approval. “Good one, my man. You’re actually growing a pair.”
    I bite into a pig in a blanket and then tell her how I talked Dr. Simons into doing what I wanted.
    â€œYou’re getting brave,” she says. “Forget about a pair; I think you grew three of them.”
    A piece of bread bounces off my head, and I look over to see Griffin grinning.
    â€œPlease, Griff,” Nina says without