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“Sang,” my mother called out. “Sang!”
I paused, counting off the amount of seconds I suspected it would take me to come down the stairs if she called for me. I blew out a slow breath, forcing myself to calm and I stood up quickly, taking a large leap backward so I was closer to the door.
My mother was on her back with her eyes closed. I pushed a palm to my chest. I clasped the key in my other hand, tucking it behind my back. “Yes?” I said softly. I was hoping she had fallen asleep again.
My mother’s eyelids dragged up. She eyes focused on me. “Is your sister home?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Is your room clean?”
I tried to hide my smile. “Almost.”
“Don’t leave your room until it’s done.”
I ran from her bedroom, and up the front stairs. I dumped books from my bag I didn’t need, recollected the ones I had homework for and replaced my bag on my shoulders. I was shaking but my mother didn’t call out again for Marie or for anything else.
I slipped out the back door and sprinted for Kota’s.
I hit the doorbell at the door inside Kota’s garage. I stood back to wait and was surprised to see Silas answer. His broad smile lit up as he saw me.
“Hey,” he said. “You made it.”
I nodded, smiling back to suppress my nervousness. I was so happy to see him, even though I’d seen him less than an hour ago. After sneaking around my mother’s room and almost getting caught, I was on edge.
He stepped out of the way so I could get in. He closed the door and nudged me toward Kota’s bedroom. I thudded my way up the stairs and he followed, closing Kota’s door behind us and hitting the lock.
At the top of the stairs, Kota looked over from his desk. He flashed a smile at me. North appeared half asleep on Kota’s bed, the pillow stuffed between his arm and his forehead. I felt a wash of comfort being in the cozy security of this bedroom. The grave difference between my parents’ house, where I walked on egg shells and kept secret diaries in code and didn’t see my family for long periods of time, compared to Kota, North and the others made my heart trip. Why couldn’t I feel this safe and wanted all the time?
“I was worried something happened,” Kota said. He pushed his glasses up his nose.
“Got caught up,” I said. I dropped my bag and pulled the key from its side pocket. “Do you know where I can get a key made?”
North half yawned and turned, holding out a hand out for it. “What’s it for?”
I crossed the room and placed it in his palm. “It’s the house key.” I pulled out the ten that Marie gave me and held it to him. “Marie wants a copy. I should get one, too. I didn’t want to tell her about the roof thing.”
Silas chucked behind me. “She’s getting as bad as you.”
I held out the ten for North but he waved me off, shoving the key into his pocket. “When do you need it back?” he asked.
“It can wait overnight,” I said. I crumpled the ten dollars at him and tossed it at his chest. “And you’re not making keys out of thin air so I know it’ll cost something to make.”
He caught the bill and then tossed it back at my head. “Hang on to it. You might need it later. I can get you some damn keys.”
I mustered up a glare for him and North glowered right back. My blood pumped in my veins. They had no idea what I had to go through to get that key and I was feeling clever and alive and in no need for charity. North was unrelenting
Silas grabbed my shoulders, pulling me back into him. “Easy, aggele mou,” he said.
I sighed, stuffing the money into my palm.
“Was this part of the negotiations?” Kota asked me.
I nodded, pulling away from Silas to kneel on the floor. “As long as she doesn’t slip up and get into trouble, it should be fine. Today wasn’t a problem unless the school ends up calling.”
“I think Mr. Blackbourne took care of that,” Kota said.
Could Mr. Blackbourne do that for me without getting attention from Mr. Hendricks or Mr. McCoy?
Silas sat cross legged on the floor next to me and leaned back on his hands. “What now?”
Kota touched a finger to the bridge of his glasses. “Unless we hear from Victor or the others, we get ready for Friday.”
Silas nudged my arm. “Are you going to make something for tomorrow for lunch?”
I sucked in a breath, realizing they didn’t know Dr. Green’s plan yet. “I can make something,” I said. “But I won’t be around at lunch time. Dr. Green wants me to back off from hanging around you guys on campus.”
North’s eyes popped open. “What?”
I swallowed, glancing at Kota’s curious face and over at Silas’s. “Dr. Green wants to see if Mr. McCoy is going to come after me if I’m alone.”
“No fucking way,” North said. He glared at Kota. “He can’t ask her that.”
Kota frowned. He drew away from his computer desk to come sit on the floor across from me. “What did he say exactly?”
Silas’s hand traced my back, warming me and supp
ortive. “He had to have a reason,” he said.
I nodded. “A few things. He wants to draw out McCoy and see if he’s interested in just trying to one up me because of what happened at registration or if this was a thing against you guys because he doesn’t like you being there or something else. If I’m not hanging out with you guys, maybe McCoy might back off if he thinks I’m not as close to you all as he thought.”
North’s dark eyes flared but pressed his lips together.
Kota nodded to me. “What else?” he asked.
“There’s the thing about the uniforms,” I said. “He wants an adjustment period. If I’m walking next to you all the time, other students are going to assume I’m part of the same thing and I’ll be another target. He wants me to back off until things settle down and the students get used to them.”
“He wants her out of the way so we can do our job,” North grumbled. He fell back onto the bed and rubbed a palm against his eye. “Christ, she’s been the target all week and he wants us to back off.”
“I don’t think that’s what he meant,” Kota said.
“Fuck that shit,” North barked at him. He sat up, swinging his legs over to put his feet on the carpet. “He’s fucking using her as bait.”
My heart thudded. This wasn’t the reaction I was expecting. Victor and the others seemed better able to handle it. Maybe I should have made Dr. Green explain it to them.
Silas kept a quiet hand on my back, rubbing gently between my shoulder blades. I sensed he was waiting for North and Kota to make a decision.
“She’s not bait,” Kota said. “We’ll be there. She can be nearby without it looking like she’s right next to us. We’re supposed to be the targets, not her, remember?”
“You’ve seen those monsters,” North said. “She can’t walk a few dozen feet away from us before they’re on her. It’s either Mike proposing to her, or that vice principal, or fucking Greg feeling her up in the hallway.”
Kota’s eyes bulged open. “Greg?” He fired off a look at me. “Mall Greg? He goes to this school?”
I pushed a finger to my lower lip and nodded.
