4. Aaron

4

AARON

S unday evenings were the best. Clara's dad and Miss Patricia were always in town visiting Gran and Marta, Aaron was back in Green Valley from visiting his mom and stepdad in Madison, and Trevor was allowed to walk the three blocks to his house so the three of them could play until sunset drove them to their separate dinners.

Aaron was pretending to throw the ball for Bingo, only actually releasing it every few fakes, and Bingo would faithfully try to chase it every single time.

"My teacher says I'm a remarkable talent," Clara said, doing a dramatic stretch with her pointed foot up high on the flat seat of the swing. "I'm learning to pirouette and usually you don't get to do that you're much more advanced."

"Miss Andrea says I can't do after school sports," Trevor said with a frown.

"Why not?" Clara asked.

Trevor clearly realized he'd said too much and cast Aaron a helpless look .

Aaron knew why—it wasn't fair to kids who weren't shifters, and Trevor might hurt someone or accidentally show off his strength. His own dad had been talking to him earnestly almost every single night about how careful he needed to be when— if —he started hearing a voice and turning into a bear. Aaron didn't like this in-between wondering time. What if he didn't become a bear? Would his dad be disappointed if he was never more than a boy?

Clara was glaring at them. "Why not?" she repeated with a threatening tone. She was a little bit taller than they were and was dancer-strong. Every so often, she'd lose her temper and knock one of them down, even though she always felt bad afterwards.

"Too expensive?" Trevor squeaked, just as Aaron flailed, "His dad hates sports?"

Clara stared in disgust. "Your dad is like a gazillionaire," she reminded Trevor. She turned to Aaron. "And, he has team stickers on his car bumper. Yesterday, he was wearing a hockey jersey at the bakery."

Clara was really smart on top of being strong and weirdly flexible. Aaron and Trevor exchanged stricken looks.

"Never mind," Clara said crossly. "No, Bingo, I don't want your slobbery ball."

Aaron had neglected to take the ball back from Bingo and the dog was making the rounds, hoping someone else would throw it.

"Gross," Trevor said, when it was offered to him. "Let's go pretend the top of the slide is a Tibetan monastery and we have to climb a mountain to get there to train as ninjas!"

Clara frowned, not convinced, but she went along with the ninja-training play until her dad and Miss Patricia came to collect her.

"I have to go home, too," Trevor said reluctantly. "Bye, Bingo."

They all said their goodbyes, and Bingo attempted to give his ball to Clara's parents and finally went to the porch to try to sneak it inside.

"The ball stays outside," Aaron's dad said, as Trevor trudged away and Clara got in her car.

Bingo pretended to let go, watching hopefully to see if he was fooling anyone.

"Drop it," Aaron scolded him.

Bingo reluctantly dropped it on the porch, then wagged his tail. Was someone going to throw it again?

He scooped it back up as Aaron went inside and Aaron had to pry it from his jaws and toss it out the back door as he slammed it before Bingo could chase it.

"Did you have a good weekend with your mom and Juan?" his dad asked.

"Yeah," Aaron said, though he'd forgotten all about it. "I tried sushi."

"Did you like it?"

"Nah."

"You want a sandwich?"

"Yeah."

"Quite the conversationalist," his dad observed.

Aaron wasn't sure what saving the environment had to do with anything. He played with Bingo in the living room until dinner was ready.

His dad scolded him for not getting any piano practice in the week before and Aaron solemnly promised to do better this week, feeling wretched.

"Tawny's moving a little bit out of town," his dad pointed out. "I'd have to drive you to lessons from now on. Do you just want to stop doing them?"

Aaron opened his mouth, and then shut it, not sure. He liked Tawny. She even made jokes at lessons! And it wasn't that he disliked practicing once he sat down to do it, it just didn't seem like fun beforehand, so he tried to get out of it whenever he could.

And besides that, he knew that money was tight. His dad didn't say anything about it, but he got this squinty look on his face when Aaron asked for things at the store, and he could see that other kids at school got a lot more new clothes and backpacks and fancy water bottles than he did.

"Yeah," he finally said. He hazarded a look up over his sandwich. Was his dad going to be disappointed with him?

His dad didn't have the squinty look, but he did look a little sad.