“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 that 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 was 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 fit 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 view 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 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 porch of 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 would 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
When I got back to my bedroom without anyone noticing, I was relieved. I huddled back near the window and checked the message from Luke.
Luke: “Hi.”
I laughed a little, giddy. I had boys texting me. It was like something out of a movie I’d seen. How stupid was I to get excited over a text?
Sang: “Hello.”
I tried to suppress my excitement. I really wanted to go for a walk to release some of this energy but now that I was back in the house again, I didn’t want to go through the effort to sneak out. This phone was much more fun than I’d anticipated. I had friends calling me! It was easier to pretend I was normal this way.
The phone buzzed in my hand.
Luke: “I’m Lucian but everyone calls me Luke. You’re Sang, right? Where did you move from?”
Sang: “I’m from up north. The south is different.”
Luke: “It’s warmer, but it’s probably the same.”
Sang: “There’s also palm trees.”
Luke: “LOL”
Sang: “Are you coming over tomorrow? Kota mentioned it.”
Luke: “Yeah. In the morning, I think.”
Sang: “What’s the big announcement?”
Luke: “Promise not to tell?”
Would I tell? Promise? Would he trust me? He hadn’t even met me yet.