AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“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 his head 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 showed 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 back his wavy hair 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 brushed back away from his face. Two locks of hair, one tucked behind each ear, was colored a lighter 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 ear 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’re willing to learn how to handle 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 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 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 looking 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. His shirt was removed and hanging over his shoulder and he was wearing jean shorts and was barefoot. He bounced a basketball in 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.
In what felt like eons, the boy reappeared again. 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 she was 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.
