Letters With Boys

Tally and Kai, Week 6 - October

Kai,

So much to say! Where do I start?

I guess I will start by making sure you know that I am officially your new pen pal. Bridget is technically going to be journaling while the rest of us write during class, but I’m sure she’ll still slip you a letter or two here and there, given how much she enjoys your correspondence.

Anyway, without going into detail, we told Mrs. Indigo that Ezra was a shitty, anti-feminist piece of scum, and it sounds like she’s going to report back to your teacher. I’m very curious what he will say to Ezra, so please let me know, especially if Ezra runs out crying or something. Not that I take any pleasure in others’ pain. (That’s called Schadenfreude, if you were wondering. It’s German.)

Thank you for asking around about this whole Memphis reputation thing. That’s a part of why I wouldn’t mind hearing that Ezra cried—not because of what he did to me, but because we think he started this stupid rumor about her.

She didn’t react well to the news. She got angrier than I’ve seen her in a long time, and started screaming about the injustice of it all, how men can just say and do whatever they want, and it doesn’t matter what the girl wants or what the girl says or even what the girl does, because everybody just believes the guy.

And then she went AWOL all weekend, which probably means she did something stupid. But unfortunately there’s only so much Bridge and I can do to help her when she shuts us out.

As for the Sounders and Timbers, I realize that I didn’t get back to you in time, but I would have taken you on that bet, which means you owe me something. 

Any suggestions?

Tally

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Tally,

It seems only fair given how badly I lost that I pay up in the form of a nice dinner this weekend. Don’t you think? What kind of food do you like?

On a less happy note, I’m sorry to tell you that Ezra didn’t seem to get into any trouble at all, and is still strutting around like he owns this place. I think his family’s money, combined with his really obvious brown-nosing with the faculty, prevents him from getting into too much trouble. I find this personally insulting, since the faculty seem to take every chance they get to pick on me. I’m pretty sure this has to do with skin color, but don’t want to be That Guy who goes and says something about it.

I’m sorry also about Memphis’s AWOL weekend. It seems that she has a lot of bad weekends, based on our previous letters. Sorry if this is offensive, but I feel the need to ask if she’s in any sort of therapy? My mom’s really good, for what it’s worth.

Kai  

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Hey Kai,

Normally I’d say that Italian is my favorite, but Ezra kind of ruined that for me. I think he maybe even ruined the “nice restaurants” thing for me for a while. Maybe we just go out for burgers somewhere? And possibly beers, since you now have that nice, fancy fake ID we got made for you?

I was indeed depressed to read that Ezra wasn’t held remotely accountable for his actions, but I guess it’s a lesson learned about life. I never told you this because you weren’t originally my pen pal, but if I fail at becoming a pro volleyball player (which is pretty much guaranteed, since pro volleyball pretty much doesn’t exist in the US), I want to become a lawyer. I think I’d like to be some sort of civil rights lawyer, you know? Try and make a difference in the world. I don’t really care if I make money; I would rather help people. I suppose that’s probably a privileged thing to say, since my parents already have money, but I think I mean it. I don’t need to live in Manhattan or a big city at all, really. I would be happy in a little, country house somewhere, maybe with a dog. You know?

Mem does not go to therapy. She’s in fierce denial about everything she’s going through, and always has been. She hasn’t even shared anything with her family, because she thinks they have enough to worry about, since her little brother has autism. They also can’t really afford it, I think. Does your mom ever do pro-bono work? You can answer honestly, because our problems shouldn’t be your mother’s problems. But I think she could really use the help.

Tally

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Tally,

I’m really sorry to hear that Ezra ruined both Italian and fine dining for you. I was tempted to make a reservation at a nice Italian restaurant just to spite him, but the inner gentleman in me is saying just listen to what the girl is telling you, so burgers it is. Maybe next time.

I think it’s awesome that you want to be a civil rights lawyer, and I don’t think it sounds privileged that you don’t care about money. You don’t really strike me as someone who cares a lot about shopping, or makeup, or whatever it is rich people spend their money on. So I think you would probably do fine without it.

I totally get that this is a sensitive subject if Mem hasn’t admitted that she wants therapy, but I know for a fact that my mom would be more than willing to help her free of charge. The tricky thing will be convincing Mem to meet up with her and take it seriously. I feel like I know you and Bridge pretty well at this point, especially Bridge, but not Memphis. That being said, I’d be happy to give the convincing thing a try, if you think she’d be okay with that. Since we have our thing Saturday, maybe a lunch Sunday?

Let me know.

Kai

/ / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /

Kai,

Thank you for being so great. I really mean that.

I’m enclosing my number here so we can work out date details more easily.

Also, I’ve just told Mem about lunch Sunday. She asked if she could invite Gray, which I thought was sweet. But I told her no. The last thing she needs is us discussing her need to go to therapy in front of her new love interest.

It’s a date. Actually, it’s two.

Tally