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Introductions, Page 6

C. L. Stone
I trembled as I followed Kota through his house. Nathan closed the door behind us and fell in behind me. I could only catch a glance, but there were a ton of family photos on the walls, decorations in displays, rugs spread across the floor, and knickknacks on tables through the foyer. Compared to my own empty house, it felt almost cluttered, but I loved it. It felt so full and lived in. The living room had a blue carpet that was similar to the one in Kota’s room. There was a beige sofa with plump embroidered pillows. A wide screen TV sat inside an entertainment center. There were a couple of plants sitting on top of side tables and a bookshelf along one wall filled with novels.

  “Where’s your mom?” I asked in my cracking voice, trying to pull the conversation away from me.

  “She’s at work.” He looked at the sofa as if considering it. “We should head up to my room. But keep an ear out. Victor and Gabriel should be here in a minute.”

  I looked at Nathan, wanting to ask who Gabriel was, but he wasn’t looking at me and instead headed off after Kota past the dining room, toward the start of the stairs.

  I slowly followed them, trying to come up with something to tell them that wasn’t the truth, or to make it lighter than what was going on. Only, my mind went blank. I’d already been not fully honest about other things. Did I really want to make some of my first friends here hate me because I lied to them? How would I ever explain my mom?

  At the top of the stairs in his room, Kota started to drag his computer chair across the floor. He opened a side drawer at his desk, picking up a flash light. He positioned the chair in the middle of the room and then pointed at it. “Sit.”

  The command and power in his voice caused a knee-jerk reaction. I sank into the chair, unsure of what else I could do.

  Kota stood in front of me, with Nathan beside him. They bent over me. Kota held the flashlight toward my face, flicking the light on. “Open up,” he said.

  I swallowed, opening at his request. Kota squinted through his glasses as he looked into my throat. He studied my mouth. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do. My heart was pounding.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Nathan asked next to him. He was trying to glance around Kota’s head to look inside my throat, too.

  “It’s... burned,” he said. He flicked the light off. With his free hand he tugged at my chin, making me look at his eyes. “What happened yesterday when you got home?”

  I moved my lips as the power in his voice lured me to, but I couldn’t find the words. I was unable to lie to him. Was it his devouring green eyes, or the way his concern for me was apparent on his face?

  Kota frowned. He knelt in front of me, wrapping his warm fingers around mine. “Sang, I’m going to assume if you’re not telling me, it’s something bad. I’m going to ask you some questions. Just nod if I’m right. Did you get into trouble yesterday with your parents?”

  I sighed, nodding.

  “Was it because you left with us?”

  I shook my head. Nope.

  Nathan sat on Kota’s bed. I felt him looking at me, but I couldn’t make myself face him.

  Kota grasped my hand a little tighter. “Did they have you drink something?”

  I bit my lip, closed my eyes and nodded. I swallowed hard. This was it, I thought. They would send me home now and I’d never see them again. Who wants to deal with a girl with crazy parents?

  “What was it?” Kota asked softly. When I didn’t respond, he squeezed my hand again. “Sang? Tell me. What was it?”

  I peeled my lips apart to whisper. “Lemon juice... and vinegar.”

  “Fucking shit,” Nathan bellowed. “What the hell did they do that for?” His eyes were so cold. He turned to Kota. “We have to do something. They can’t do that.”

  “I know,” Kota started. His eyes were fixed on me and his face was as serious as Nathan’s. “Has this happened before?”

  I shook my head.

  “Why did they do it this time?”

  I glanced at Nathan to divert my eyes somewhere besides Kota’s face but Nathan was making me tremble just as badly. “Silas called,” I whispered. “A boy’s never called before. Please don’t tell him. He’ll feel bad. It’s not his fault.”

  Nathan grunted. “Start at the top. Are you telling me I can’t come for you if you’re at your house? I can’t call you? How bad are we talking?”

  The sound of a car driving up and a short car honk cut through. Ugh, more people, I thought. Victor and Gabriel. This was way too complicated. I wanted to go home and hide, only I wasn’t brave enough to move. Now Gabriel, a complete stranger, was going to learn about this, too. I shook with humiliation.

  I hesitated and Kota stared at me a moment but then he got up. “Your voice will come back. You just need to rest your throat. Hang on a second.” He crossed the room and ran down the stairs. I heard him answering the door below.

  The moment he was gone, Nathan turned to me. “Why don’t you just say it? Do your parents beat you?”

  I waved my hands in the air across my body. “It’s not quite like that. They don’t hit me or anything.”

  “But they don’t like you hanging out with anyone? What happens if I show up?”

  “Don’t. Please.”

  His mouth turned into a frown. “Would they flip out if they found out you were with me today?”

  I nodded.

  “Hey,” he said, he leaned toward me until his face was close to mine. “Don’t worry. I won’t say anything to them. What about the other girl? You have a sister, right? Did she get this, too?”

  I shook my head. I slid out of the office chair and onto my knees to sit on the floor, sitting delicately on my heels. “She didn’t have to drink...” I said, but my voice fell then. I swallowed.

  Nathan moved off of the bed and then sat next to me. He was about to say something when thudding on the stairs sounded again. I heard someone shut the door downstairs and the flick of the lock and then three heads appeared as they got to the top of the stairs. Victor was first. He was wearing dark designer jeans this time; his shirt was white, buttoned up to his collarbone. His face looked a little strained, but when he saw me, he relaxed a little. He pushed his wavy hair back away from his eyes. Kota followed behind him. A moment later, another guy popped up from the stairs, looking as if he’d jumped the last couple of steps.

  When I first heard the name, I thought it would be a girl. Gabriel was about Victor’s height, though a little slimmer in the hips. His hair hung long around his chin, but was brushed back away from his face. Two locks of hair, one tucked behind each ear, were colored a light shade of blond. The rest of his hair was a rich brown. His eyes were crystal-like, bright blue, excited and wild. He had a couple of rings on each of his hands and stud earrings in each ear, his right had three more rings going up along the top. He wore jeans and a neon green tank shirt which showed off lean, but defined biceps.

  “Oy,” Gabriel said, his voice surprising me as it was deeper than Victor’s. “So you’re the troublemaker.”

  Heat radiated at my cheeks. Was that what they were saying about me?

  Victor gave him a chop on his head. “Don’t pick on her.”

  Gabriel ducked away from Victor's hand and then moved to sit next to me. “Hey, I was only teasing,” he said. “I didn’t mean anything by it.” He turned to me. “Don’t listen to me, okay?” His face was so bright and happy. He had an angular chin, a slight nose and shaped eyebrows. His crystal blue eyes were dazzling like sunlight in pool water.

  Kota tucked his chair back toward his desk and then sat across from us. Victor plopped down on Kota’s bed, hands tucked behind his head, and looking up at the ceiling.

  “We need to be more careful around her parents,” Nathan said.

  Kota nodded. “I think that’s why we need to talk about it.” He looked at me. “Tell us what we need to do.”

  I blinked at him, not sure what to say. What was this? They seemed to freely accept that my parents were difficult, and now they were willing to learn how to han
dle this? This seemed impossible. Anyone normal would have told me to go home and wouldn’t want to get in the middle of it. I flitted looks from Kota’s green caring eyes, to Nathan’s serious expression, to Gabriel’s curiosity... I even caught Victor turning his head, looking at me, and the fire in his eyes was a little subdued but working, as if thinking.

  “I’m not sure where to start,” I whispered. Did Victor and Gabriel know? Did Kota tell them?

  The guys looked at each other. Gabriel and Nathan had that same knack of being able to read the others. There was the slight incline of the head from each of them before they turned back to me. “What would we have to do if we wanted to come over?” Kota asked. “Let’s start with that.”

  As soon as the words were spoken, a thudding sound started to reverberate from the quiet of the neighborhood. A basketball was being bounced outside in the street.

  Looks were exchanged between all of us. Nathan jumped up and rushed to the window seat, leaning against the frame to look outside. “It’s Derrick.”

  Everyone else got up at once. Kota and I stood on either side of Nathan and looked down into the street. Victor and Gabriel moved to the other window to look out.

  A guy about our age was walking up the street. His hair was black with a bowl cut. He was tan and wore jean shorts with no shoes, his removed shirt draped over his shoulder. He bounced a basketball with his hands as he walked down the street.

  “Where is he going?” Nathan wondered out loud.

  We watched in silence together as the boy walked to my house and started to head up the drive.

  My eyes widened. What was he doing?

  Kota caught my hand that was fluttering at my throat, enclosing it with both of his hands. “Did you meet him? Is he going to ask for you?”

  I shook my head, watching as the boy disappeared into the open garage attached to the house toward the side door. “I’ve never seen him before.”

  He let go of my hand. I think we were all holding our breath, waiting for whatever was going to happen.

  After what felt like eons, the boy reappeared. Marie trailed behind him, slow, hesitant.

  They started playing basketball.

  I blinked. My sister was playing with the boy down the road. What was she doing?

  “Looks okay to me,” Nathan said. He turned to me. “Maybe we should go over.”

  “Wait a minute,” I said, taking a hold of his shirt sleeve to stop him before he could leave. He looked at me and then back out at the house.

  It only took a few minutes. They were trading off the basketball in what looked like a game of HORSE or PIG. The ball was tossed at the goal. Marie started to run for it but stopped dead. They turned their heads toward the garage. My sister ducked her head and ran for the garage. The boy collected his basketball and started his way back down the drive.

  “What happened?” Nathan turned to me. “Was it your mom?”

  I nodded. “She called to them at the door.” I watched as the boy made his way back up the road. “You should go home. She has chores to do,” I recited the line my mother always used. While we didn’t live close to other kids, a few neighbors had grandkids that visited and would ask to play if they saw us in the yard. My mother always sent them away.

  “Do you have chores?” Gabriel asked.

  I shook my head. Marie and I did split chores, but the house was usually pretty spotless. We were never outside our rooms so most of the house was never touched. Depending on my mom’s mood now, Marie might be told to get on her knees in the kitchen for hours or something else. I shuddered, worried for her, too. I wondered what she was thinking to run outside like that. There was a possibility Marie thought Mom had been dead asleep. She was wrong. “I don’t know what will happen to her.”

  Victor made a fist and then flopped back onto the bed. “I don’t like this.”

  Kota and Nathan moved away from the window seat, but I remained, watching to see the boy disappear around the bend in the street. “It’s her way of keeping control,” I said softly. My face was radiating heat and I felt a tear in my eye and I blinked it back. I thought I had gotten used to the way my parents handled things. Keeping it in the dark was how I handled it.

  Gabriel moved to sit on the bed near Victor’s legs. He patted the floor below him with his hand, looking up at me. “Come here. Your hair is bugging me. Kota, do you have a brush?”

  Kota leapt up and disappeared into his bathroom for a moment. He found a blue hair brush and tossed it over to Gabriel.

  Gabriel caught it with one hand and curled his fingers at me. “Come on,” he said.

  I felt awkward, but did what I was told, moving to sit at his feet, leaning a little against the bed. I pulled the hair clip away, letting my hair fall in a wet clump against my neck.

  “And what do you call this look? Wet shag?” His fingers fell over my hair, lightly tugging at the knots.

  Victor toed at Gabriel’s back to poke at him. “Leave her alone.”

  “Hey, I’m fixing it.” He smoothed out my hair at the tips, starting with combing out the ends. “I’m going to detangle it, but we’re going to wash it out and then dry it.”

  I shot a pleading look at Kota, feeling awkward. It was as if I was being told I didn’t know how to handle my own body, like being told I was smelly and needed some deodorant. Kota didn’t seem fazed by it.

  “It’s my fault,” Nathan said. “I pushed her into the pool.”

  They all looked at him. I did, too. I hadn’t expected him to talk about it. My blush continued on my face, now waiting to see if Kota or Victor appeared angry that I went swimming with Nathan instead of coming over. Why I felt that way, I wasn’t sure.

  Only they didn’t look angry. They looked surprised. “What happened?” Kota asked.

  Gabriel brushed out my hair while Nathan explained about how he found me in the tree and how he’d pushed me into the pool, all the way up until we were standing at Kota’s door. He complimented my swimming. Again the warm, tender sensation washed over me. I appreciated how normal they were. We were talking and hanging around together. For the moment I was so glad they were forgetting about my problems. I tried not to look as excited as I was. I knew that Kota sitting on the floor a couple of feet away wasn’t feeling his heart thudding or even thinking about the situation in the way I was. Touching, talking, laughing... So this is what happens when people got together?

  I was envious of the years they must have spent together to be so comfortable with one another. Would I ever be so cozy with them? Would there ever be a day when I wasn’t really conscious about the moment?

  Gabriel patted my now smoothed strands of hair. Soft curls fell around my shoulders, still wet but now brushed. “Your color is amazing,” he said. “How is it so many different colors?”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond. “It’s like a dirty blonde or something.”

  “Or something is right,” he said. “There’s a little red in there. Various shades of blonde. It’s crazy.” He urged me up by nudging me in the shoulder. “Let’s go wash it. I want to blow dry it and see how it looks.”

  I again looked at Kota, who only smiled a little sympathetically at me. Nathan was smirking. I think he was enjoying this. I was feeling silly, but I stood up. Gabriel stood, grabbing my arm and pushing me toward Kota’s bathroom.

  He shut the bathroom door and we stood alone in the enclosed space. I felt my breath catch, not expecting this. Flashes of my imagination went through my head of things my mom would tell me about when boys got you alone. If being in Kota’s room together with all of them wasn’t bad enough, here I was in a locked room with one who wanted to play with my hair.

  Gabriel went to Kota’s shower and found a bottle of shampoo and conditioner. “These aren’t ideal for you but it’s what we have right now.” He made a gesture to the sink and then patted me on the hip. “Let’s get to work.”

  My cheeks radiated and I moved forward to face the sink.

  Gabriel stood next to me
and twisted the knobs, testing the temperature with his fingers. “Tell me when you think it’s okay.”

  I reached in, waiting for the water to warm. When it did, I nodded to him.

  “Get in there,” he said.

  I could hear voices from the other side of the door. I had a feeling it was about me, and I strained to hear over the sound of the rushing water.

  When I ducked my head under the faucet, I couldn’t hear the voices. Just Gabriel.

  “You’re going to our school, aren’t you?” he asked, his fingers combing through my hair again, rubbing along my scalp behind my ears and really working his fingers along the base of my head. The massaging motion relaxed me. He was good at this.

  “Yes,” I croaked, not sure what to say. I was feeling even shyer now that he’d seen such an intimate side of me and learned the awkwardness of my family. He just met me and he knew the worst things so far.

  “We’ll be in the same grade,” he said. “Going to sign up for art class?”

  I laughed. “I can’t draw.”

  “Neither can I,” he said. He moved behind me, I felt his hip meeting mine. Touching was impossible to get used to. I resisted the urge to leap away from him, though it was difficult. “I hear you just show up and play with paint. There’s not much to it.”

  There was the fragrance of soap filling my nose and his fingers lathered up my hair with shampoo. “So you want an easy grade?” I asked.

  “They don’t offer the classes I want to take.”

  “What do you want to take?”

  He finished rubbing the shampoo in and then pushed my head a little until I was further under the running water. He cupped his hand into the water to redirect the flow to run over the base of my neck. “I wouldn’t mind learning bass. I already play guitar. There’s one class at... um... another school.” His fingers smoothed over the locks of my hair. I thought I felt him curling some of the strands but it was hard to tell.

  His hesitation confused me. “Another school?”

  “Just one of the private schools.”

  “Are you considering going to the private school next year?”

  His hands moved away from my head and he was silent. I thought I might have said something wrong but I heard a bottle being squeezed and he was rubbing something between his hands. “Might.”

  “Is there a requirement to get in?”

  He moved his fingers through my hair again, taking time to work the conditioner through every strand. “There’s always a requirement for a private school, sweetie.”

  The endearment made my breath catch. People don’t call other people sweetie up north, not unless they were sweethearts. I wondered if there was a hidden meaning, or if that was just how people talked here in the south, like I’d seen in movies.

  “So it means you won’t be going to my school if you go to the private one,” I said softly.

  “Maybe,” he said. “Victor’s so mean, isn’t he? Did you see him kick me? I was trying to be nice and fix your hair and he’s kicking me.” Was he dodging the question, or was it obvious?

  “He’s not so bad,” I said, thinking of the day before, how he had held my hand on the way out of the mall, and of the sheet music.

  “No, he isn’t bad. He’s just a pain in the ass, sometimes.” He finished the lather and then had me dunk my head into the water once more.

  When I was finished and dripping into the sink, he found a towel in the tiny bathroom closet and held it out to me. I wrapped my hair into it while he dug around in the cabinet under the sink. He pulled out organized blue bins, reaching deeper inside for one near the back.

  “So how do you know everyone?”

  “Huh?” he asked, pulling an older model brown dryer out from under the sink.

  I swallowed and tried to stage whisper. “I mean, how did you meet Kota? And Victor? When did you all become friends?”

  He pushed the blue bins back underneath the sink and plugged in the dryer. He snapped his fingers and pointed at the closed toilet seat. When I was sitting, my head came up to his stomach. He flipped on the dryer and started combing his fingers through my hair. “I met them all in kindergarten,” he said. “We went to the same elementary school. Everyone but Silas and North.”

  “Who’s North?”

  “Another one of the guys,” he said. “There’s me, Kota, Victor, Nathan, Silas, North and Luke.”

  “Who’s Luke?”

  “North’s brother.”

  I blinked. Seven of them.

  Gabriel reached for the hair brush on the counter and started smoothing out my hair. “You see, everyone except North and Silas grew up together. Silas didn’t move here until maybe when we were ten. North came about a year later.”

  “Where was North?”

  “He was living with his dad in Europe,” he said, brushing my hair up against the air from the blower. “They live with their uncle now.”

  “Do they stop by here often?”

  “You’ll see them sometime,” he said.

  A silence grew between us as he focused on fixing my hair. With the way I was sitting, I couldn’t see what he was doing to me. Mostly it felt like he was just drying it out, but he was doing a twist thing to add a little volume. It was more than I ever bothered to do.

  There really was no reason for me to do more to it. I usually never saw anyone but my own family. Marie would trim my hair for me. She wasn’t very good, but with my hair pulled back, no one noticed.

  When he was done, he put down the dryer and the brush onto the counter top. He smoothed his fingers through my hair. “Your hair is soft. I was right about the color, too. It’s chameleon.”

  “Huh?”

  “Changes color depending on the light.” He put the brush back in a drawer and then tossed the blow dryer under the sink. I wondered if Kota would be upset he didn’t carefully put it back where he’d found it. Gabriel curled his finger to me. “Come here, step in front of me.”

  I stood in front of the sink and he stepped behind me. His eyes appeared over my head in the mirror and his fingers crept up to my scalp. He was playing with my hair, threading his fingers through the strands and combing out the locks to the tips of my hair. He tried curling a few strands around his fingers and then smoothed the hair back out again. “You’re stunning,” he said softly.

  My cheeks heated and I could see myself blushing in the mirror, all the way to the tips of my ears.

  “Don’t be embarrassed,” he said. “You can’t be embarrassed by the truth. Look at that cute nose you have. You know what? It doesn’t even matter when you blush. That’s just nature’s makeup. Heavy makeup looks like shit on a girl. You don’t need it.” He pursed his lips together and then brought his cheek to the side of my head so I could see his whole face next to mine in the mirror. He focused on my eyes by looking through the mirror. “I want to ask you something personal and I want you to be honest with me. You’ve never had a boyfriend, have you?”

  The question caught me off guard. I shook my head and my mouth shaped into an ‘o’.

  “I didn’t think so.”

  I made a face at him. “You think I’m naive?”

  “Innocent,” he corrected, his voice softer now. He curled a lock of my hair through his fingers. “I’ve been flirting with you this whole time and you haven’t once told me to shut the fuck up or do that stupid thing girls do when they want another compliment.”

  I was beet red. Flirting? “Should I tell you to... to back off?”

  His lips parted and he started to sing. “Sang, heart on your sleeve. You watch out, I’m going to steal your heart.” The way he was singing was sweet and his voice flowed from his lips as smooth as water. It was clear he’d had some lessons. He stopped singing and waited as if expecting me to say something. When I didn’t, he beamed. He turned and shooed me with his hands. “Let’s get you out into the sunlight and see what your hair looks like.”

  I was blushing badly as I followed him back out into Kota’s bedro
om. My mind was whirling so fast that I felt like I needed to stay behind and calm myself. It just shocked me that I hadn’t recognized the things he was doing as flirting. Or was he teasing?

  My hair did feel really good.

  He padded back out into the bedroom and then side stepped, holding his hand out toward me in a presentation. “See guys, this is how hair should look.”

  Victor was still on the bed, fiddling with the medallion at his neck. Kota was at his computer, typing something in. Nathan was sitting in the window seat, punching something into his phone.

  They all turned at the same time to look at me. Kota stopped typing and readjusted his glasses. Victor sat up, his mouth open. Nathan dropped his phone but caught it before it fell to the carpet.

  “Did you change the color?” Kota asked.

  “I didn’t do shit,” Gabriel said. “I washed it and then blow dried it out. That’s all her.”

  “You just keep it tied back in that clip,” Victor said. “That’s why it looks different now.”

  I pulled a strand behind my ear. “It gets in the way when I’m busy.” I wasn’t sure if he heard me.

  “Just wait until I get my scissors,” Gabriel said. He reached back to me, running a finger through a lock of my hair close to my face. “I can give it some depth.”

  “I don’t think I should,” I said. “My parents will notice.”

  He made a face. “Your parents are a complication.”

  “We’re working on that,” Kota said.

  I blinked at him. “I...” I swallowed.

  Gabriel leaned in to me. “Just whisper it to me. I’ll tell them.”

  I sighed and then whispered in his ear. He leaned in so closely that my lips touched his lobe. Even as I leaned away to avoid it, he kept himself close. He smelled like warmth, floral.

  He repeated what I said, “She thinks we should keep like we’re doing now. She’s okay with escaping every morning and just not telling them where she’s going.”

  “That’s part of it, for now,” Kota said. He stood up, moving to sit on the carpet again. I moved over to sit next to him. This time Victor got up and sat on the floor next to me. The others joined us. “I made a promise to you, didn’t I? I just think we need to figure out a way to reach you. We probably also should slowly start just showing up. I mean, maybe your mom would get used to us.”

  My eyes widened and I shook my head. “No. We can’t.” They still didn’t quite understand, but I didn’t want to worry them anymore. The swallowing vinegar was bad enough but who knew what else she would do to me if she knew for sure boys were talking to me? Would she fulfill her promise about the bleach?

  He nodded, rubbing fingers at his chin. “Maybe we should start with a girl. There’s Danielle who lives up the street. We could ask her to go over.”

  Nathan rolled his eyes, looking away. “Is she going to want to?”

  “She’s not that bad.”

  “Unless you try to talk to her,” Gabriel said.

  “Or sit next to her on the bus,” Nathan said.

  “Or walk by her in school,” Victor added.

  “She’s who we have to work with,” Kota pointed out. “Or we could try Jessica. But she's young, so I don't know how that would work.” He turned back to me. “In the meantime, I was wondering if you’d allow us to give you a cell phone to use.”

  My head tilted backward a little and I stammered. “M... me?”

  “I think it’ll be the best way to check in with you and make plans if we’re going to make any. It’ll be the best way to communicate.”

  I rubbed a palm over my head. “I don’t know. You guys are going through a lot of trouble for me already. You still hardly know me.”

  “It’s a cell phone, not a marriage proposal,” Victor said. His strong, lean hands smoothed a wrinkle on his jeans.

  “It costs money,” I said. “I don’t really have a way to pay for it.”

  “That’s not something you need to worry about,” Victor said. He locked his fire eyes on me.

  “We’ll find an inexpensive one at the convenience store,” Kota said. “Nothing fancy. It’ll allow for phone calls and text messages.”

  I glanced at the carpet, still feeling uncomfortable. How strange it felt that they were including me into this circle. Now they were pulling together to get a cell phone for me. Guilt weighed on me that they even thought to spend any amount of money on someone like me. As I looked at all of them, it seemed as if this decision had already been made. They were just waiting to tell me. “I’ll have to be careful,” I said. “If my parents ever found it, I don’t know what they would do.”

  “Do you have a place to hide it?” Nathan asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Maybe. There’s an attic door in my room,” I said, pushing a finger to my lower lip.

  “Why not just under your pillow?” Gabriel asked.

  “Someone will find it,” I said. Unless I stayed right there in my room, it’s easy enough to unlock the door and poke around. My mother could easily search my room, if she wanted and Marie often did anyway. A phone was the last thing I wanted any of them to find.

  “You do it the best you can,” Kota said. He turned to Victor. “Can you go find one?”

  Victor nodded and stood up.

  “Get her a pretty one,” Gabriel said. He smiled wide and turned to me. “If you’re going to get a new phone, you’ll need a good one. What’s your favorite color?”

  I blushed as the attention was diverted to me again. Should I be honest or say something I thought was cool? “Pink,” I said, trying to be honest.

  Gabriel’s blue eyes brightened. “Yeah. Good choice. Get her a pink one.”

  Victor smirked. “One pink cell phone.”

  “Try to get her one that’s inconspicuous,” Kota added.

  “One inconspicuous pink phone.”

  “And get her a sturdy one,” Nathan said. “She might drop it. You know how accident prone she is” He grinned at me.

  Victor shifted on his feet, looking annoyed. “One inconspicuous, sturdy, pink cell phone. Do I need to glue sequins to it and include an antenna array?”

  “Do they have those?” Gabriel asked, blinking at him.

  Victor shot him a look. “I’ll be right back.” He fished out his keys and headed to the stairs, storming down them and closing the door with a bang.

  After he left, Kota adjusted his glasses again. “Well, that’s taken care of.”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered.

  Kota pointed a forefinger at me. “Sang, look at me.”

  I focused on him. His smile and his eyes were so warm that it was hard to keep looking at him. Why did it feel he could read my own thoughts in my head? I wanted to hide my face.

  “We’re friends, right?”

  I blushed. Were we? It was the very thing I wanted to know from him. Are we still friends even after all of this? “Yes,” I said, hopeful it was the right answer.

  “Friends help each other. Stop worrying, okay? We’ll take care of it.”

  I twisted my lips, trying to come up with a reason to stop it, but nothing seemed to be the right thing to say. I felt helpless, moving along with a plan they had already plotted.

  Nathan got up on his knees on the floor. “I’m hungry. I’m going to go steal a sandwich, Kota.”

  “There’s a couple of frozen ones in the freezer,” Kota suggested. “Heat it up in the microwave for a minute.”

  Nathan pointed a finger at me. “Do you want one? I’ll bring you up one. I know you haven’t eaten yet.”

  I’d forgotten about that. I glanced at Kota, unsure if I should.

  “It’s perfectly fine,” Kota said.

  Nathan disappeared down the stairs.

  “Now,” Kota began after he left. “We should probably talk about school and your classes.”

  “Classes?” Why were we talking about this? I looked at Gabriel, but he was unreadable. Should we worry about this now? It did relax me, though, th
at they had seemed to move on from talking about what happened with my mother. I felt so terrible already, like I was causing them problems being around. It amazed me they were bothering. If they were willing to put up with me, I would do my best not to drag them down.

  Kota nodded. “Registration is the day after tomorrow. Your parents will be taking you?”

  I nodded. “My dad.”

  Gabriel scooted over next to me. “Art class, right?”

  I smiled at him. “If they don’t mind stick figures,” I whispered.

  Kota got up to move to his desk and opened a drawer. He pulled out an envelope and brought it over. “This is the list of classes that will be available.”

  He opened it to reveal several printed out pages. Some of the classes were highlighted in various colors.

  “There’s the obvious,” he said. “English, geometry and a history class. Any particular interests there?”

  I checked over the list. “What’s AP?”

  “The more advanced classes.”

  “The English one says they read novels?”

  The corner of his mouth worked up into a smile. “I think it’ll be a pretty fast paced class. You’d have to read the required pages every day.”

  “That’s not a problem,” I said. “Better than the text books.” I looked back at the papers he’d given me, but I could sense Gabriel and Kota exchanging looks. Was I being stupid? “Is the only Asian history class an AP class?” My voice failed with the last word, and I swallowed. Talking was taking a toll on my throat, and it felt itchy. I wanted to cough but I didn’t want to worry them.

  “I think that’s for seniors. There’s prerequisites before you can take it.”

  “How about world history?” Gabriel asked.

  “I guess so.”

  Kota knelt next to me. His body was close to mine as he looked over my shoulder and I could feel his warmth and caught his spice scent. He seemed so focused that it didn’t appear to bother him. “There’s not too many class varieties, unfortunately. You’d be able to take the AP geometry without getting too bogged down.”

  I smirked. “I want to take the AP geometry?”

  “It’s the same numbers; they just go at slightly different learning speeds. Besides, you’ll share the class with Nathan or someone else most likely. I can help if you need it.”

  “What classes are you taking?”

  He smiled. “Particle physics and the AP calculus, although I don't really need it. A refresher is always nice. They don't have anything better. I’ll probably take that AP English.”

  “No advanced particle English?” I asked.

  Gabriel rocked back with his hand on his chest and laughed. “If there was, he’d take it.”

  “What’s so funny?” Nathan asked, coming up the stairs. He had two sandwiches wrapped in paper towels in his hands, and a bottle of water under his arm. He handed me one of the sandwiches. “I hope you like chicken.”

  I nodded, taking the bottle of water from him, too. He dropped himself into the window seat and opened a grilled chicken sandwich on a seeded bun.

  “We’re figuring out what classes Sang wants to take,” Kota said. “We’ve got three down. We need three more.”

  “There’s the gym glass we have to do,” Nathan said. He came across the room, reaching for the open bottle of water in my hand. He took a chug of water, swallowing and handing it back to me before he continued. “Might as well take it now.”

  “I think they separate the boys and girls for that,” Gabriel said.

  “Yeah, into groups, but we’re all mixed together in that one gym at the same time. Like the boys get one half and the girls get the other.” Nathan took a bite of sandwich, chewing and then talked with food in his mouth. “I mean, if any one of us has the same class, we’re across the room.”

  “Do I need to be in everyone’s same class?” I asked. The fresh water gave me a little voice back, just enough to do a notch above a stage whisper. I picked a piece of the bread off of my sandwich and ate it.

  “There’s just a strong likelihood a lot of us will be paired up,” Kota said. “There’s a limited variety of classes and we’re mostly all taking the same courses.”

  I shrugged. So their goal with school was getting into as many of the same classes as possible. If that was the case, why was Kota taking separate classes? I supposed studying together would be nice. However, there was more to this. Gabriel and Nathan acted as if this was normal. This was how they functioned together. Kota took the lead and everyone worked on it. Did other students try to take all the same classes so they would most likely get paired up together?

  I was going to take another bite of my sandwich, when Gabriel reached over and took my wrist. He looked right at me, never wavering his gaze, and then brought the sandwich to his face, with me holding it still, and took a small bite.

  “Get your own sandwich,” Nathan said, tossing a crumpled up paper towel at him.

  Gabriel dodged the paper. “I just wanted a taste.”

  I giggled, but I caught the look in Gabriel’s eye. I wondered if this was flirting. Was I supposed to say something?

  Kota had a piece of paper in his hand, writing down notes. He slowly slid the glasses on his nose up with his forefinger. “That’s four classes,” Kota said. “Two more.”

  “Science,” Gabriel said. “Chemistry.”

  “I haven’t taken biology yet,” I said. “Last year at my old school, the class was filled. I’d need the biology since it’s a prerequisite.”

  “She can take the typing class,” Nathan said.

  “You make it sound like she’s going to be a secretary,” Gabriel said. “Maybe she should take a class in shorthand, too.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Nathan said. “Don’t put words in my mouth. I was just saying it’s an easy class. Besides, there’s no homework and it’ll be an easy grade to boost her GPA early. Especially if you’re going to stick her into a couple of AP classes right off.”

  “Three,” I said. “There’s an AP biology.” All of them looked at me. My cheeks heated up again. Did I say something silly? “Science is science. It’s not like the frog’s gut chart changes depending on the class you take.”

  They all laughed.

  The sound of a car pulling up distracted us.

  “It must be Victor with the phone,” Kota said.

  Victor was up the stairs in a few minutes. He held a bag in his hands. His cheeks looked a little flushed, like he had been in a hurry. He plopped down onto the floor next to me with the package. “I didn’t see a pink one,” he said. “But there was a pink case. It’ll protect the phone.”

  I smiled shyly, unsure what to say. Thinking of a phone was one thing, but looking at the new bag in his hands, I felt my fingers trembling. “Thank you,” I said softly, unsure how to argue about having it now if he’d already gone through the trouble to get it.

  He took it out of the bag and then pulled the box apart. It was the latest iPhone, identical to the one he had.

  “I thought I said just simple calling and texting,” Kota said. “What happened to inconspicuous?”

  “It does text,” Victor said, his face tightening. “It also takes pictures and downloads apps. Sue me.” He handed me the phone.

  The touch screen was super clean and the app dashboard was bare, except for Angry Birds.

  “I filled in a few essentials on there,” Victor said. “I also put in everyone’s phone number.”

  It took me a moment to figure out which button held the phone numbers. I thumbed through the contacts page. “Including North and Luke?”

  “You would have gotten those eventually, anyway,” Kota said.

  “Who’s Blackbourne?”

  Victor’s eyes went wide. I caught out of the corner of my eye the other boys looking directly at him and looking panicked. “Oh, sorry. Here, let me see that.”

  He took the phone from me and pushed buttons until it was deleted.

  “Sorry,”
he said. “Just an old teacher. I don’t know how I transferred that one.”

  He seemed to play it off, but I caught the look Nathan and the others exchanged. It was very slight, but it was obvious this was more information I wasn’t really supposed to see.

  What was going on with these guys?

  ♥♥♥

  When I left Kota’s house that afternoon, I walked around the street and then took a path through the woods to find myself in my back yard. It was a long route but I really didn’t want anyone to see me leaving from Kota’s house.

  Before I left, Kota had me send a text to everyone so they could add me to their phones, including North and Luke. North was the only one who sent a message back right away.

  North: “Ok.”

  I had the phone tucked into the cup of my bra. It was the best way to hide it for now. If I just tried to keep it in my pocket, I was afraid it would slip, or my mom would notice the bulge.

  I had to pull my hair back, too. Gabriel was disappointed, but I told him if I came home with it down, it’d draw unneeded attention. My mother would already be angry over Marie with the boy from up the road. As it was, I’d have to convince her I was only walking in the woods if she asked.

  When I got into the house, I made a dash up the stairwell. The rear stairwell was a lifesaver, enabling me to leave the house unnoticed. It came out by the laundry room which had the side door to the garage.

  Upstairs, I knocked on Marie’s door to check on her.

  Marie answered, her long brown hair hanging behind her shoulders. Her nose and chin were sharp, her brown eyes smaller than mine. She was taller, too, by at least a foot. Her hips were wider. For sisters, we didn’t look a lot alike. “What?” she whined.

  “What happened earlier?” I croaked. Marie didn’t look upset and she could talk so it must not have been too bad this time.

  “Mom was looking for you,” she said, stepping out of the way. Her room had various piles of clothes on the floor and notebooks across her bed.

  “I know,” I said, even though I didn’t. “I’m going to take my shoes off and then I’ll go get yelled at.”

  I didn’t have to explain it. She knew exactly what I meant. Seeing our mother usually involved yelling and often a punishment. It was painful to kneel on the floor for hours with shoes on.

  I crossed the hallway and used a push pin tucked into the wall to unlock my door and get in to my room. Marie knew how to unlock my door and knew where I hid the pushpin. For me, it was just a small deterrent. It allowed me time to hear someone coming if I was inside. No one would bother knocking and I couldn’t force them to stay out.

  When I was inside, I relocked the door before pulling the cell phone out of my bra. I was tempted to play with it, but instead went for the attic space door. I reached in and found an opening between the wood of the wall and the insulation. I tucked the phone between them. I had the cord in my front pocket and I put that in the attic with it. On a final thought, I turned up the stereo music a little to detract from any noise the phone could make. I had been careful to turn that off when I got it, but I still worried it would vibrate or beep or something.

  “Sang!” I heard my mother calling. She must have heard when I turned up the volume on the radio. “Come down here!”

  I sighed, wishing I was still back at Kota’s.

  Downstairs, I entered my mother’s bedroom. Her inner sanctum. Her wiry hair looked disheveled, like it hadn’t been brushed in days. She sat with her back against the headboard, frowning at me. “Where have you been?”

  “In the shed.”

  “All day?”

  I nodded. “I was looking to see if I had any more clothes for school in the boxes we haven't unpacked yet,” I strained to be heard from across the room so I wouldn’t have to come closer. I knew what was coming and was ready.

  “You shouldn’t do that,” she said. “I will go through it when I'm ready to. I don't want you going through it.”

  “Oh,” I said, pretending to not understand. A little trouble would stop her from prodding further, I hoped. “Sorry,” I added.

  “Some... man,” she spat out the word, “came here today to play basketball with Marie.”

  Derrick, I thought. For some reason I thought he was my age and didn’t appear to be someone to be worried about. I tried to look confused. “Who was it?”

  “I don’t remember his name. He said he went to your school.”

  I nodded, pretending to think. “Well, there’s bound to be a kid or two around the block.”

  “How would you know?” she asked, digging at my story. “How did he know there were kids here? I don’t think you should be walking around in the yard anymore. They might come over again.”

  “But I haven’t run into anyone.”

  She mumbled something to herself, licking at her cracked lips. “I don’t want you hanging around with men.”

  “I haven’t met anyone,” I repeated.

  She pressed her lips together tightly. She had no proof otherwise, I knew. Depending on her mood, it could be bad or good. “Is your room clean?” she asked. A sharp odor hit my nose from the room, like rubbing alcohol.

  “Almost,” I said. It was like playing a game. If I gave the right answer, I got the answer I wanted. Right now, if she stuck me in my room it didn’t matter. It was where I wanted to be anyway.

  “Well, go to your room. Don’t come out until it’s spotless.”

  “Okay,” I said and I tried to go to the door.

  “I mean it,” she said, her voice commanding that I stay and hear her out on her instructions. “I want the trash put into a trash bag.”

  “Okay.”

  “And the clothes off the floor and hung up.”

  “Right.”

  “And I want to hear the vacuum running.”

  “I’ll get on it now,” I said, edging toward the door. I coughed. She didn’t say anything about my throat or ask about it. I wondered if she even remembered what she’d done.

  It was still another ten minutes before I got out of her room as she lectured me on how to clean. I was elated. I had all night to myself with a good excuse. I’d been grounded to my room until it was clean. I could be fairly undisturbed for a while. It was the punishment I could deal with happily.

  I rushed up the stairs and then locked my door behind me. My room didn’t have trash or clothes on the ground. The floor was bare. I smiled to myself and shook my head. If she came up to check, there was nothing for her to say about it. There was hardly a thing in my room to mess it up with.

  I went to the attic door and pulled out the cell phone.

  If someone wanted to unlock the door and look in, I’d have about a split second to listen to the rattle of the handle before it opened. I cuddled up over near the window. I sat on the trunk, looking out to check Kota’s house. Victor’s car was still there, but he’d said he was going to stick around for dinner. Victor and Kota and Gabriel had a movie they wanted to watch. Nathan had gone home. He claimed he had a few chores to do around the house.

  I grabbed a book from the shelf and sprawled out on the floor next to my trunk. If someone rattled the door, I could drop the phone behind the trunk and quickly pick up the book to look like I had been reading.

  I checked the messages, but no one had sent me anything. I hovered my fingers over the displayed keyboard, wondering what I could do. And who would I text? I didn’t know what to say to anyone.

  To pass the time and to keep myself busy, I focused on the Angry Birds app.

  ♥♥♥

  I got tired of Angry Birds quickly. I spent a lot of time on the floor, just looking up at the ceiling and listening to the music from my stereo. The sun started to go down. I checked outside; Victor’s car was gone from Kota’s driveway, so he was already home or on his way.

  I had the phone on my stomach when it started to vibrate. It spooked me and I shivered. The phone slid down to the floor and flopped over. I sat up quickly, so fast, it made me dizzy
, and turned on the screen.

  Silas: “Good.”

  He was responding to the message I had sent earlier about getting this new phone. I pondered what I would send him next, then quickly typed in:

  Sang: “How was practice?”

  Silas: “Long. I’m tired.”

  Should I stop texting? I wondered. He probably wanted to rest and didn’t want me bugging him.

  The phone rattled in my hands.

  Silas: “What are you doing?”

  I looked nervously around the room. What am I doing? I’m obsessively hanging on to this phone and attempting to sound cool to you so you’ll like me.

  Before I could answer, the phone vibrated again. Silas was calling.

  My heart dropped in my chest. I wasn’t sure if I could get away with answering it. I wouldn’t hear Marie or anyone coming. And I couldn’t talk! What could I do?

  In my panic, I hit the button. I couldn’t just not answer.

  “Hello?” I said softly into the receiver.

  “I’m not good at texting,” Silas’s deep voice floated to my ear. Just hearing his low, masculine tones made my insides flip. “I’ve got rhino fingers.”

  I chuckled. “You were doing okay,” I whispered, my eyes darting around my room. Could I slip into the attic space? My closet?

  “This is easier,” he said. “So what are you doing?”

  I carefully held the phone to my ear with my shoulder and then unlocked the window. “Not a lot. I was reading.”

  “Did you read all day?”

  I held the phone to my chest and heaved a foot out onto the rooftop. The wind was blowing softly outside, but it was the safest place to be nearby and not get caught. I brought the phone back to my ear, using my shoulder again to hold it as I eased myself out. “I went swimming with Nathan, too. And I met Gabriel.”

  “Did he mess with your hair?”

  I laughed. “How’d you know?” I put my butt down on the rooftop, scooting myself until I was sitting next to the window rather than in front of it. If someone tried to get into my room, I might not hear them from outside but if I tucked myself out of the way, the person wouldn’t see me out there. It would just look like my window was open. Hopefully no one would be interested in looking outside.

  “I think he’s done everyone’s since I’ve known him,” he said. “I haven’t paid for a haircut since I came here.”

  “You moved here when you were little, right?”

  The phone vibrated in my hand and there was a beep. I moved it away from my head. It said there was a message coming in. I felt my heart beating wildly with the desire to check it out but I didn’t know the buttons to push to look at it without hanging up on Silas.

  As it was, since I was distracted, I missed half of his answer. I put the phone to my ear again just as he was saying, “-- it’s different here, but I guess I’ll manage.”

  “I’ll have to find a way to manage, too, I guess.”

  He laughed. “Not so bad right now, is it?”

  Another vibration, another beep. This time I caught the name. It was from Kota. I still didn’t know what to do, so I ignored it again.

  “I think it’s pretty nice here. I mean I met you and the others. You guys are cool,” I croaked. Lame! I put my hand to my cheek, feeling it warming. I didn’t know how to talk to people.

  He was quiet for a moment. “Do you think we can hang out tomorrow?”

  Another vibrate, another beep. Kota.

  “I suppose so. I don’t know how to... um,” I wasn’t sure the words to say and Kota’s messages were distracting me so badly, I couldn’t think.

  “I’ve got a car. I probably need to meet you at Kota’s, right?”

  “Yeah, probably,” I squeaked as I whispered.

  Pause. Did he hear what I said? “Is your voice okay?”

  I swallowed, trying my best. “I’m fine.”

  “I’ll have to do stuff in the morning but I can swing by later in the afternoon.”

  “Perfect.” Was this him asking for just us or was he coming over to hang out with me and Kota? He was asking me personally, right? I didn’t know how to take the question.

  The phone vibrated and started beeping, Kota was calling.

  “What’s that noise?”

  “Kota’s calling,” I said. “I don’t really know how to switch over the line...”

  “It’s okay,” Silas said. “Go ahead and answer him. I’ll talk to you later.”

  I wasn’t sure, but he sounded disappointed in having to go so soon. “Okay, bye.”

  “Bye.”

  I pushed the big green button on the phone to answer Kota’s call.

  “Hel--?”

  “Get off the roof, Sang!”

  His tone was stressed. Was he mad at me? “Kota, I...”

  “Hide the phone in your pocket and go outside behind your shed. Go now.” He hung up.

  I felt my legs shaking underneath me when I tried to stand up. Kota was scaring the bejeezus out of me.

  I scrambled through the window. I tried to shut it but it got stuck halfway down and I left it. I tucked the phone back into the cup of my bra. I stopped to double check that everything looked normal, and then went for the door.

  The house was quiet. I slipped down the hallway, trying not to make a sound as I tiptoed down the back stairwell and out into the garage.

  I jogged out into the open driveway, down to the end of it to the shed. I circled around, the grass warm under my bare feet. The back of the shed had a concrete patio and an overhang. It was kind of like a third porch. I think it was meant for a place to stick a barbecue pit or maybe even a car because there looked like an oil slick on one side. It wouldn’t allow much protection if Marie left the house to come look for me, but it did block me from the windows and I was out of voice distance, in case someone could actually hear me from my bedroom.

  The phone started to shake in my hands. Kota was calling and I tapped the green button.

  “What were you doing on the roof?” he demanded, his voice intense.

  “I wasn’t sure if I should answer the phone in the house.”

  He breathed out into the phone, causing it to crackle with noise. “I thought you were going to fall off. You’ve gotten into enough trouble this week without needing to go to the hospital.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “That area over the roof of the porch is pretty flat. Besides, the drop isn’t that far.”

  “It could break your neck,” he said.

  “I’ve been trained on how to fall,” I insisted.

  He paused. “What do you mean?”

  “Back in elementary school, in gym class. They taught us to fall from a tall distance.”

  “How?”

  “Depends on the distance,” I said. “If it’s pretty far, there’s this thing where you tuck and roll to keep going on that momentum so you don’t break your hands and knees.”

  He laughed, the power in his voice slipped away, becoming friendly. “And they were teaching you this in elementary school?”

  “I think they might not do it anymore. After a week of training, some of us were out on the school jungle gym taking turns practicing falling. We got caught pretty quickly and we got reprimanded about it. I may or may not have been involved.”

  He laughed again. “You are a trouble maker. But that’s no excuse. Don’t climb out on the roof.”

  “What if there’s a fire?”

  “Unless there’s a fire.”

  “What if there’s a robber with a gun?”

  “Sang.”

  “Or a zombie?” I giggled.

  “You don’t run from zombies. You shoot them in the head.”

  “I don’t have a gun.”

  “I’m not buying you a gun.”

  I laughed this time and he did too. “Oh, Silas called and said he might come over tomorrow afternoon.” I hoped he meant to hang out with Kota and the others. Going solo was too nerve-wracking to think about.

  “
That’s good. I heard North and Luke were coming, too. They had something they wanted to tell us.”

  There was a beep from the phone and I checked it. It was from Luke.

  “Luke’s sending me a message right now.”

  “Well you should go answer him,” Kota said. “Just stay off your roof, okay? I’ll tell everyone to text you to call them and you will do it as soon as you can. No surprise calls.”

  I agreed and hung up. Still, the conversation bugged me. He had been watching me from his window? Now he was telling everyone the best way to communicate with me. Leader of the group. What kind of group was this?

  Luke