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He approached slowly and then tilted his head. “Scoot over,” he said.
She shifted and then slid to the very furthest wall away from him, her knees up and against her chest, like a shield against her body.
Kota hesitated, flinching at her retreat and instinct to protect herself. He tightened his smile, hoping it appeared to be genuine. Her move caused him to be uncertain about where to sit, and he wondered if it might be better to sit on the floor rather than next to her. Instead, he sat with his back to the wall, facing her in the window seat alcove.
He handed her the mug carefully, holding it until he was sure she had a grip on the handle and wouldn’t burn her hand. He waited until she took a sip, and struggled to drum up something to talk to her about. He needed to establish some connection with her if he was going to get her to trust him. “So where did you move from?” He sipped quickly from his mug, wanting something to do with his hands to keep from fidgeting.
Her cheeks went red and her eyes darted toward the window. “A tiny town in Illinois.”
She paused there, and he waited, but she seemed distracted by the rain or the darkness, or perhaps looking for something else.
“Did you have any friends?” he asked when it was obvious she wasn’t going to continue.
Her head shook, and she returned her focus to him. “No one I would write to. I really wasn’t that close to anyone.”
No close friends. He didn’t like this at all. He had assumed she had lived in Illinois for a while, though. Maybe her family moved regularly and she hadn’t had time to make friends. He silenced his suspicions. He needed to know more before he could draw any conclusions. He traced his finger along the lip of the mug, thinking of what else to ask, something that would generate more than a one sentence response. “You’ll be going to the public school, right?” Again he berated himself silently for the idiotic question. Of course she would, unless she was going to a prep school of some sort, and those were of limited supply in the immediate area.
“Like everyone else, I guess,” she said.
Yeah, silly question. “What grade?” he asked.
“Sophomore,” she said.
He sat up, hopeful. They’d most likely be attending the same school this year. If he made a connection with her, and if he could determine he could help her, he might be able to convince Mr. Blackbourne to change her schedule and put her in some of the same classes. The only problem was, Kota was going to take advantage of being in this school since they had to be there anyway, meaning he was planning to take more advanced courses.
No one would mind if he changed things up a bit to secure a friendship to help out someone in need. He didn’t have many favors left, so he hoped this would be something he could do on his own. Maybe all she needed was a friend. “Me, too,” he said. “What are you going to take this year?”
She shrugged. “I don’t really know what I want.”
It was like pulling teeth to get her to open up. He studied her as he sipped his cocoa and tried to figure out what would get her to talk to him. They might not make it to when school started if she didn’t find someone she could confide in, and instead decided to go off on her own again.
“Do your parents want you to take something in particular?” he asked, determined to keep trying.
She sighed and something in her seemed to change. Her shoulders dropped slightly, relaxing as she nodded. “The daughter of an electrical engineer should have a degree in something. My older sister already started in the arts. I’m getting pushed into science.”
Well, well... there’s a start. “Would it be that bad?” he asked. “Science is pretty awesome.” He couldn’t help but hope she had some interest in science. At least he would have found something they might have in common.
She grimaced. “I don’t know if I want to do that.”
Did she not like science? Would she rather be in an art course? “What do you prefer?”
“I’m not sure, really,” she said. “There’s so many choices. I don’t know if I want to devote my life to science. Or art. Or something else. It all sounds good.”
This was sounding better. She was indecisive because she liked everything. He’d been worried maybe she didn’t have any interests at all. He brightened and laughed. “That sounds familiar.”
Her cheeks reddened. He felt instantly guilty. He hadn’t meant to sound like he was laughing at her.
Before he could respond, she continued. “I don’t hate science. I don’t hate anything. It’s like I want everything. Not fully. I just want a touch.” She tucked her head down and sipped at her hot chocolate.
Kota relaxed his smile. While he’d picked science and some math to study on his own, maybe she just needed to try different things and discover what she really liked. Maybe she was curious like him and liked everything but hadn’t figured out her focus yet.
Their conversation didn’t tell him anything about what she was going through at home. He sought out a delicate way to ask the question he’d been waiting to ask. “Sang... where were you going?” He lifted his gaze to her face, hoping to get a read on her from her expression.
She kept her eyes on her own mug. “There’s that new house up the road. I was going to sleep there for the night.”
Kota’s eyes widened. He knew the place; the garage was still unfinished and the construction workers had left the doors open. It was an empty house in a quiet neighborhood, so there wasn’t much risk that a hobo or someone else would enter. Still, that didn’t mean she’d be safe there. And why there? “You were running away?” he asked.
Her eyes closed and her lips tightened. Kota wondered if he’d asked the wrong question, causing her to clam up. She spoke, but her voice was softer, almost a whisper. “No. Not for forever. I just wanted one night out of the house.”
Alarms went off in Kota. Her wanting a night out was a desperate move. And if she was willing to admit it was only going to be for one night...she felt trapped enough to think she couldn’t just run off forever. Kota gritted his teeth and held more tightly to the mug. It was clear that something was going wrong over there. He desperately needed to establish a rapport, but he also needed to learn more about what was going on at her house. “So you wanted to break into a house? Alone? In the middle of the night?”
She turned her head, her cheeks taking on a deeper shade of red. “It sounds crazy.” She sighed and turned to look at him once more, tears pooling in her eyes. “I wasn’t going to hurt anything. My parents are...”
He held his breath as she paused.
“...different. I don’t get out much. I just wanted to get away for the night. I didn’t want to feel trapped anymore.”
Different wasn’t helpful. Despite her feelings, she was still protecting her family, unwilling to divulge whatever it was that had driven her out. He smothered a frown, wondering if perhaps he’d made a mistake. Maybe it was over something insignificant. Maybe he’d been wrong and she’d simply had a disagreement with her parents and had taken off. Maybe she was rebellious in that way.
“You just needed a release,” he suggested.
Her face brightened slightly. “It was just a bad night to do it. I probably shouldn’t have thought of the empty house. I just knew the back door was open and I wouldn’t have harmed anything.”
He smiled at her being worried about hurting an empty house. She hardly seemed the rebellious type. “I have to admit, I can’t imagine you committing a breaking and entering. You don’t look like the bad girl type.” He was trying to be funny, but at the same time hoped she’d share more.
Instead of answering, her face twisted and she stuck her tongue out to make a face. The goofy gesture caught him off guard and he chuckled.
Seeing she’d made him laugh, she giggled and continued, “I guess it seems pretty silly. It’s just a single night.”
He tilted his head. “Why tonight? I mean, what happened today that you felt you had to get out?”
She blushed, and then pressed
a palm to her cheek. Did it hurt? Had she gotten slapped? He jumped to all sorts of conclusions but reminded himself he needed to hear her story before making assumptions. “It’s complicated.”
“I’m pretty smart,” he said. “Try me.”
“It seemed a better idea than hiding away forever,” she said, her voice changing from amused to wistful. “I don’t want to believe the world is all that terrible.”
He considered her strange behavior. Overprotective parents? Her sister stayed at the house while Sang escaped to the woods. She wasn’t easy to approach. But maybe he was wrong about the abuse. Maybe they simply kept her at home to protect her. It wasn’t really fair, of course, but if there wasn’t abuse, he could work with it.
He relaxed. Maybe she just needed a secret friend. Someone on the outside who she could talk to. At least she got to school, instead of being kept at home all day. Maybe she’d get a fresh start when school started. He could help her find a few other friends as well. He smiled. “Sang, you’re an idiot.”
Her mouth made an “o” in surprise. “But... I...”
Pressing one finger against her lips, he stopped her from talking. It was a bold move, even for him, but it oddly seemed natural, too.
