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But he couldn’t tell her about the Academy and what they were doing.
And he didn’t feel it was right to tell her about the relationship dynamic they’d developed with Sang. Kota should tell her, if he wanted to.
If he hadn’t fucked it up after last night.
The lie formed on his tongue, and he hoped this was the best solution. “It might be my fault, and for it, I’m sorry. But I don’t think they’ve broken up. It may just be a rough patch. But Sang...yes. I think it’s okay if you still tried to be supportive of her right now. Kota wouldn’t want her to feel she had to walk to the grocery store so late.” He sighed and rolled his head back, looking at the ceiling. “If I hadn’t done...what I’d done...maybe she would have felt safe to ask me if I’d been home or...”
“I don’t know why she couldn’t have asked me,” Erica said. “Do you think maybe I embarrassed her? She’s not ashamed of what happened, do you think? Ever since then, I haven’t seen her much. I wonder if I made her feel uncomfortable, so she’s avoiding the place.” She put her palm to her mouth, covering it as she spoke. “You know, maybe that’s it. And it’s causing them stress when she doesn’t want to come over. And he can’t go over to see her...”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Maybe it is. And why wasn’t he at home last night? He’s avoiding her by not coming in until super early in the morning, the time to go to school, so he won’t have to talk to her?”
Her struggling with her son’s relationships and trying to put the pieces together seemed to make the whole situation much worse. It must be hard seeing Kota unhappy, and knowing Sang is in a rough patch, and not being able to do anything to help either of them. Blaming everything last night on the relationship got her away from thinking it could be the Academy or something else, so maybe he needed to encourage this line of thinking.
But he was already collaborating on admitting to this, and not revealing things she shouldn’t be looking in on. Instead of making her feel any worse, he did what he could that might help Kota and Sang, as well as her.
He reached out to Erica, taking her hand and holding it in his, looking at her face. He needed her to trust him this time. “I know Kota,” he said. “He wouldn’t give up on Sang. Sang...she’s complicated. With her parents... and at school...Kota’s the one that’s been there for her. Helped her. And...they’re perfect together. He’s not going to just let that go.”
“So where was he last night?” she asked.
Nathan swallowed and shrugged. “I’m not totally sure but...I think...it might have something to do with Sang. Maybe in his own way he was helping her with what she’s going through. Maybe he couldn’t tell you or her what he was up to.” He scooted his chair closer. “I just know that maybe I did mess things up a bit. This is on me, okay? It’s not you. And I’m sure if you give Kota some space, he’ll figure it out and tell you what he wants to tell you.”
Erica pressed her lips together and nodded shortly. “I thought to mention to him that first relationships...they don’t last. I wanted to say something to make him feel better. But I thought maybe it was too soon, or too negative Nancy of me to think in such a way.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Nathan said, although her comment settled into him hard.
First relationships don’t last.
It was generalized and perhaps true for most people. The others had off and on dates in the past, at least some of them, as far as he knew.
For Kota, was it his first? At least his first steady...
Nathan bit his own tongue before thinking too much further. It was hard enough expressing to Erica that Sang was Kota’s girlfriend.
Not himself.
Not after all those nights he’d spent with her. Close to her. After all those moments they shared, kissing and just being together. It ached in his heart to think she wouldn’t be around as often.
Erica tapped her fingernails on Sang’s phone case. “Maybe you can pass it to her. When you see her? Let her know I found it?”
“Sure.”
She rose, taking up her purse. “I don’t know what’s going on,” she said. She touched briefly at her brow, closing her eyes. “This Academy you two go to and how it’s got you going to that public school this year, maybe it’s stressing them out as well.”
Nathan stood, putting a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. Don’t worry about it.”
“I worry,” Erica said, and she smiled at him. “It’s my job.”
“Don’t worry about this,” he said. “I’ll talk to them both. And I’ll get Kota to talk to you. If it takes me apologizing to both of them again or getting the other guys to help me out, I’ll do it.”
Erica seemed satisfied with this and left. Nathan stood in the kitchen alone, looking at the pink phone on the table. His heart raced at the thought of it in Erica’s hands.
Did she tell the truth about not looking at it? Because if she had...who knows what Sang had said to him, or the others.
Maybe she was telling the truth, but she didn’t give it up until just now. If Victor hadn’t turned it off because they thought Volto had it, who knew what she would have thought of them all. Of the Academy, as well.
Erica was too close to the truth. What would she think if she knew her son, and Nathan and the others, and now Sang were involved in the Academy and what it was about? Not to mention the relationship they constantly talked about.
They couldn’t risk her getting any closer to finding out.
Behind the Scenes
For the next few days, a routine settled in. Nathan made sure Danielle and Marie were dropped off and picked up for school, either with him in the car or with someone else. Sang joined Mr. Blackbourne in the principal’s office to sort out files. Classes resumed normally for most students. Occasionally, Mr. Blackbourne called in other students when he found notes tucked away from Mr. Hendricks. He double-checked with them what they were called in for.
In the evenings, Mr. Blackbourne studied, often with Dr. Green and Sang. They stayed late after school. Sang brought home the books with her when she went back with Kota at night. She claimed to be studying for tests around Erica, and she was, only not for science or geography.
The police thinned out by the second day. One or two remained on campus just to wait and see if Mr. Hendricks would show back up. His house was monitored. No results.
After school on the following Monday, Nathan was at home, sitting on the couch alone. His bare feet were on the coffee table. He sat back, looking up at the ceiling. He thought to go running to get his frustration out with exercise.
Staring was more satisfying in the moment. Idle. Wallowing.
He’d barely spoken to the others since the other day. Most had genuinely been too busy. A few, he was sure, knew about what he and Kota had done.
He was willing to believe it was mostly himself avoiding them. He needed the separation, for now. And that meant avoiding Sang as well. Since no one else came to him about what happened, he assumed it wasn’t as bad as Dr. Green made it out.
It still worried him. Being alone was probably making him more and more paranoid. That was the worst part. For the entire weekend, he’d been isolated.
The front door opened, breaking him of his floundering thoughts. Nathan groaned but didn’t bother to go see who it was. If they didn’t knock, it was one of the guys. It certainly wasn’t Sang. She was still at the school.
“I’m here,” he called out to whoever it was.
Footsteps came closer and he twisted on the couch to look.
Danielle stood by the couch, just behind it. Her hair was pulled back in a very short ponytail.
He raised an eyebrow and pulled himself off the couch to stand up. “What are you doing here?” He looked behind her and then to the doorway into the kitchen. “Where’s Marie?”
“She’s at home,” she said. “Checking in with her mom.”
“So what are you doing here?”
She walked around the couch, p
utting her hands on her hips and looking at him. “I’m tired of this stupid thing we’re doing.”
Nathan cocked a brow. “You mean getting you out of school?”
“We’re still going to school,” she said. “We may as well spend our days in in-school suspension. All we do is sit around and occasionally take a test.”
“They aren’t hard.”
“That’s not the point,” she said, her tone rising sharply. “I didn’t sign up for this. You said you could get us out.”
“We can get Marie out,” he said. He had no patience for this at all right now. Whatever stupid reason she wanted out of school for, they shouldn’t have been encouraging it. “What do you think is going to happen when your mom finds you aren’t going to school anymore?”
