North shrugged. I felt his arm push gently at my back as he did. “It's the usual.”
Kota’s mouth dipped in the corner. “I mean it. I don’t care if you think you know more than the teacher. This isn’t like...” Kota glanced at me and then back to North. “Don’t go falling asleep during class, even if you know all the answers.”
“I’ll keep up,” North said.
Kota seemed pleased with this. It was as if the whole thing was settled. I admired the way they looked up to Kota and everything, but this was beyond what I had expected. He was giving them instructions. He had a natural leadership, even if he wasn’t the biggest or the most aggressive. However, it had me wondering about this group of guys. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
“Well,” Kota said. “I’ll call Victor and the others to let them in on it.”
“Where are they?” I asked.
“Victor and Gabriel are over at the school. It’s open today for touring. They’re checking it out before registration and the general open house tomorrow. They’ll be bringing us a couple of maps.”
“It seems like you guys have this down,” I said. “It’s like you’ve done this a lot.”
“We’ve been in the same grade since forever,” Luke said.
“Since kindergarten,” North corrected. “You guys have. I got in late.”
“And Silas,” Luke said. “I think when he moved here, he got held back a grade. Not his fault. It was just the age difference.”
I moved my ankles, switching them around. The action caused me to lean back a little. My back pressed into North’s arm. I blushed, sitting up more and mouthed the words, “Oh, sorry.”
“Relax,” he said. “You can lean against me.”
I wasn’t sure if I should, but the look on his face left my insides quivering. If I didn’t, would it seem like I wasn’t comfortable with him? If I did... well it felt strange to me. I relaxed a little, lightly sitting back, feeling his arm steady behind me. When the conversation turned again to schedules, classes and the school, my mind was whirling, totally focused on North’s arm. Did that mean he liked me? I wondered what Luke thought. Were we friends already?
At one point, Luke grabbed at his stomach. “Is it breakfast time yet? I’m hungry.”
“We can make breakfast,” Kota said. “My mom’s gone to work. What do we want? Pancakes?”
“Do you have chocolate chips?” Luke asked, looking at me with a grin.
North caught the look. “My god, not you, too.”
“Huh?” I asked.
“Luke’s favorite breakfast is chocolate chip pancakes.”
My eyes went wide and I turned again to Luke. “Really?”
He grinned, nodding enthusiastically.
North leaned away from me, falling onto his back on the bed. His hands went up to his face, rubbing, his elbows arching in the air. “You two are terrible. You can’t have chocolate for breakfast.” The edge of his black shirt drifted up slightly on his body, revealing his belly button. There was a line of coarse hair starting from his jeans, making a thin line up to almost where his belly button was. I know I stared for way too long but I couldn’t help it. The sight made my breath catch.
Luke jumped up from the floor. “You can have anything for breakfast,” he said. He held out a hand to me. “Let’s go cook.”
I smiled, reaching out to him. He held my hand as I stood up and then part of the way across the room until we were near the stairs. He let go then so we weren’t tripping over each other on the stairs. Kota came with us on my heels. I spotted North getting up from the bed, looking right at me before I moved down the stairs too low for him to see me anymore.
I could have sworn I saw a smile.
Downstairs, I stood with Luke in the kitchen. I wasn’t sure what to do. It wasn’t my kitchen.
Kota came up behind us and opened up the pantry. He pulled out a container marked as pancake mix. “Sang, there’s butter, milk and eggs in the fridge.”
I opened the fridge, peering in. It felt so strange to be looking inside, like I was peeking inside their drawers. I found the milk and other things, collecting them in my arms and bringing them to the counter. Luke found the frying pan and a spatula.
North came downstairs and leaned against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest, observing. “You need protein,” he said. “Make some bacon.”
“He’s right,” Kota said. “Sang? Can you grab it?”
I went back to the fridge, checked the drawers and found the bacon. Luke pulled out another frying pan and flicked on the heat on the stove to warm it up.
I pulled bacon apart, waiting for the pan to heat up. Kota found a fork for me and then moved away to start mixing pancake batter. I got left in charge of bacon.
“We’ll have to make chocolate chip pancakes part of the diner menu,” Luke said. “Like a special.” He stood next to me, watching as I released bacon into the heated pan and it started to sizzle.
“We’re not serving chocolate chip pancakes,” North said.
“Other diners do it,” Luke said. “And Sang likes it.”
North chuffed.
“You could serve it with fruit,” I suggested. “Bananas? Strawberries? That would make it healthy.”
“I think we have to build the place first,” North said, “before we start planning a menu. Besides, Uncle will make whatever he wants. It’ll be his place.”
“You’re going to work with us, right Sang?” Luke asked, smiling as he lit his burner and slapped butter into the pan so it could melt.
“Um,” I started. How could I promise to work when I wasn’t sure when I could get out of the house? I looked behind me at Kota, who caught my glance.
“We’ll have to see how things work out,” Kota said for me. “I’m sure we can all pitch in when it gets busy.”
“I’d like to help,” I said, poking at the bacon and then using the fork to flip it over. It was easy to picture working near Luke. He seemed nice. North wasn't so bad, either. I thought. If he cared about Luke, and he clearly did, he wasn't all bad and gruff.
I was about to flip over the last piece when some of the hot grease popped and it caught the underside of my forearm. I sucked through my teeth, mostly out of surprise and pulled the fork away, shaking my arm a little to bring cool air to my skin.
“Easy, Sang,” Luke said. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
I felt a hand on my arm and turned to see North holding me, reaching for the fork. He took it from my grasp. He moved forward, nudging me out of the way and taking over the bacon.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I can do it.”
“Don’t worry about it,” North said. “Go help Kota.”
I blushed, feeling like I got reprimanded. Or maybe not? It wasn’t like that. He took over because he didn’t want me to get popped again. He was concerned about me. North’s face was unreadable but
I was touched.
Kota stirred the pancake mix. When I stepped up beside him, he smiled. “We just need the chips. They’re in that food pantry,” he said to me. He nodded to where there was a door at the other end of the kitchen.
I moved to it, finding the chips bag and pulling it off the shelf. Kota was already pouring the batter in the hot pan.
I opened the bag of chips, collecting a handful. When Kota moved out of the way, I sprinkled chocolate chips on top of the batter.
“Yeah,” Luke said. “Get a lot in there.”
“Don’t go crazy,” North warned.
Luke shared a conspiratorial grin with me. He leaned in and whispered. “Put extra chocolate chips in his.”
“I’ll make his a smile face,” I said.
Luke’s eyes popped open. “Oh! Yeah. Do that.”
“I can hear you two,” North said. He started plating bacon and putting more into the pan to cook.
Kota and I stood by while bacon was made and pancakes were flipped. Kota stood so close to me that I felt his warmth from his arm.
He nudged at me. “How’s the phone working?”
“Fine.” I pulled the pink phone from my front pocket. “I’ve never...” my voice cracked and I swallowed, patting my throat. “It took getting used to,” I whispered.
“You should rest your throat,” he said. “You really shouldn’t be talking. Do you need some water?”
“What’s wrong with her throat?” North asked, his dark eyes fixing on me. “Are you sick?”
I glanced at Kota. His eyes darkened. “Might as well tell them,” he said. “They would have found out.”
I sighed. Kota put a hand on my back, rubbing softly as I said it as loud as I was able. “My mother made me drink a glass of lemon juice and vinegar.” It was easier to say than I thought. It was like Kota’s hand on me made me feel brave.
Luke dropped the spatula into the pancakes. He cursed under his breath and then fished it back out.
North appeared stunned. “She forced you?”
I nodded, blushing.
“And it made your throat...” he started to ask but never finished. He fixed his eyes on the bacon. “Shit.”
Kota moved away from me and found a glass and grabbed a pitcher of water from the fridge. “Her parents are pretty strict. So that’s why we need to text only. No calling her house directly or showing up unexpectedly.”