He lifted me. My arms threaded around his neck. His fingers gripped me tight to his body. My head sunk into his shoulder. I breathed in musk and lavender.
Dr. Green held open the door for us. “I’ll go find Mr. Blackbourne before we’re one coach short tomorrow.” He followed us out into the main hallway and took off in a direction I couldn’t see.
Gabriel, Kota and Victor marched together toward the parking lot. Gabriel carried me like a badge of honor, his arms tight around me. He pressed his cheek against the top of my head.
At the BMW, Victor held the back door open. Gabriel angled himself into the car, keeping me in his lap. The bags and the violin were dropped into the seat next to us. Kota slid into the passenger side and Victor started the car.
I wondered if my sister noticed I was missing. Would they say anything about my face? How would I hide it? I trembled.
“Okay, you need to stop shaking,” Gabriel said against my forehead. He slipped fingers into the straps of my sandals, sliding them off of my feet. He dropped them onto the floor. He tucked his arm over my thigh, pulling me to snuggle against him. “It’s too hard to be mad at you when you’re shaking.”
“You’re mad at me, too?” I asked. Now that we were away from school and he was holding on to me, I felt calmer. I wondered why I wasn’t blushing from being in his lap but in the moment, I didn’t really care. It felt too good to have him touching me, enveloping me like a blanket. I felt I should be embarrassed. Kota and Victor didn’t seem to blink an eye at this so I could only assume it was okay to do.
“I told you. You’re grounded.” His jaw and his nose nuzzled against the side of my head by my ear. His lips curled up.
“For how long?”
“Until I’m done being mad at you. I don’t know. A billion years. Fucking shit, Sang.” He squeezed me to him, knocking my breath from my lungs. “Don’t you ever jump in like that again. I don’t care if my head is on fire. You ever see shit like that, you run.”
“You didn’t run,” I said.
He released me and a chop fell on my shoulder. “Fuck you. I was saving your pretty ass.”
“Stop yelling at her,” Victor said, “or I’m kicking you from this car.”
“See? Victor’s mad at you, too. If you do it again, he’ll kick your ass. And then Kota will, but then I’ll do it again because Kota will probably be all soft and shit.”
“Nope,” Kota announced, turning in his seat to look back at us. He smiled at me, winking. “I’d have to beat her, too.”
I chuffed, feeling the smirk on my face even though it hurt to do it with my lip bruised.
“See?” Gabriel said. “And don’t even get me started on Silas and North and Luke.”
“And Mr. Blackbourne,” I said. “He’s mad at me, too.”
“Girl, he’s about to go murder some teenagers. I’m probably at the top of the list for letting those goons anywhere near you.” He shifted. He pulled back to look down at my face but he glanced down at my shirt, fingering the missing buttons. “Aw, they ripped your shirt. Victor, we have to get her a new shirt.”
I rolled my eyes, twisting my mouth awkwardly to grin and trying to do it without hurting.
“What’s the plan?” Victor asked.
“We’re taking Sang home,” Kota said. “We need to cover her face.”
“Have to do everything around here,” Gabriel said. He pulled his book bag out of the bundle near us and started pilfering through pockets. “I might have something that’s your color. You’re lucky I brought this today.”
“Sang,” Kota said, his green eyes focusing on me, “when you get home, keep me in touch. Let me know if your family says anything. If they ask, tell them it was a crazy dodge ball in gym class.”
I nodded. “What are you guys going to do?”
“We’ve got work,” Kota said.
“Wiring those guys? What does that mean?”
Gabriel juggled compacts in his hands, looking at the back labels. “Stop asking questions.”
“It means you’re going to listen in on their conversations. You can’t do that,” I responded.
Gabriel popped a palm against my thigh. “I said shush.”
“You said stop asking questions,” I retorted. “I didn’t ask. I answered.”
“She already knows,” Victor said. He turned down Sunnyvale Court. “It involves her now.”
Kota grunted. “Let’s just stop talking. We need to focus. We can have this discussion later.”
“I just have one more question,” I said.
Kota swung his eyes at me, his head tilting. “What?”
“So… Dr. Green is an actual doctor doctor?” I smirked because my question was ludicrous. It hadn’t occurred to me until he was looking at my eyes earlier that his doctorate might mean he was a medical doctor and not a doctorate in physics or something like that. I just wanted validation and to change the subject.
Gabriel snorted. Kota beamed, laughing. Victor chuckled.
“Fuck,” Gabriel hooted, his eyes glossing with tears. He dropped his arms around my shoulder, hugging me. “Yes, okay. That’s it. We’re keeping her forever.”
S winging H ammers
When Gabriel finished applying makeup to my face, Kota dismissed me to my house. Gabriel and Victor wanted to walk me home but Kota insisted I go it alone.
When I got in, the house was silent. Marie was gone. I suspected she ran off to Danielle’s house. My mother was asleep. That was good news for me. I went unnoticed.
I sent a quick text to Kota to let him know I was in the clear for the moment at home.
Kota: “Good. Now do your homework and relax. I’ll call you later.”
I checked my face in the bathroom mirror. There was a dark spot on my lip if I pouted enough, but otherwise it was mostly just a little swollen. My cheek felt puffy. Any redness or bruising was masked by a thin veil of concealing foundation thanks to Gabriel.
I spent some time curled up in my bed. I kept trying to review what happened, analyzing my actions. How did I lose so much control like that? I reimagined the warmth from Victor’s arms around me. I missed the way Gabriel held me in the car. I wondered why Kota was so quiet with me. He’d kept his distance the whole time and I wondered if he was angry, too. I worried how the others would react when they learned what happened. What would happen tomorrow? Would those bullies see me in the hallway and try again?
And why were Academy students now in charge of security at the school? Suddenly Nathan’s and Victor’s disappearance on the first day of school seem obviou
s. There must have been another fight. Nathan got the brunt of it. Did Victor swoop in and help?
The speculation was annoying because I didn’t have a method of figuring out what the truth was. I didn’t think they would be honest with me.
I was finishing up homework when I heard the phone buzzing in its hidden spot in the attic.
Luke: “Are you busy?”
Sang: “Not busy. Where are you?”
Luke: “At the diner. Can you come? And bring some water?”
I put on a pair of shorts and brushed my hair. I checked in on my mom. Every once in a while, my mother got hit hard by the medication she took because she was sick. There were times when she would sleep for long hours, day and night. She was passed out now. I wondered if this was one of those cases or if it was just a nap. To test it, I made a little noise outside of her room, knocking the door into the wall.
Nothing.
She was out. If I was lucky, and I hated to think that because she was my mother and it was unhealthy, but I hoped she would be out for a while. The peace of mind of knowing she was asleep made it safer to venture out of the house for both Marie and I.
I wasn’t quite sure where Marie kept running off to, but I was hoping this was a good sign. If she was with Danielle or anyone else, that meant I had more opportunities to get out of the house, too. We never had such a chance before. Would we finally get to here on this street? If our mother was kept in the dark about where we were, if Marie and I were careful, maybe being on our knees, or worse, wouldn’t happen as often.
The old church at the end of Sunnyvale Court had the cross removed now on the outside, though there was still a smudge outline over the top of the door. Otherwise, it looked like a big storage building.
There was a black truck parked in front of the doors that I didn’t recognize. When I got closer to the church, I heard shouting inside. I paused, unsure if I should enter if they were fighting. I’d had enough of that today.
I opened the front door and followed the sound of voices and crashing until I found the kitchen. Silas and North were shirtless, causing me to do a double take. Their muscular chests were caked in patches with dust. Each held a sledge hammer.