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He takes a moment to answer. “Broke something.”
I frown. “Broke what?”
“Something that mattered.”
“What does that —”
“Here.”
I know he did that deliberately. To put me off from questioning him.
And I’m so intrigued right now that I want to stay on it. I want to push him.
But I won’t.
Because I feel like what we have right now, is fragile.
And super new.
I don’t want to poke at it lest I burst it.
Besides, there are other things that demand my attention. Especially when I see what he means by ‘here.’
It’s between us, in the palm of his hand.
Looking up, I ask, “A phone?”
“Take it.”
I look at it again before glancing back up. “You want me to… You want me to take this phone?”
“Yes.”
I blink a couple of times. “Why?”
“Because you don’t have one,” he replies patiently.
“But I do,” I tell him.
“At St. Mary’s,” he clarifies.
He’s right about that. I don’t have a phone at St. Mary’s.
Personal technology of any kind is prohibited, including cell phones, laptops, iPads and whatnot. If needed, we use the school-issued, communal phones and computers.
But that still doesn’t explain why he’s giving me a phone.
He takes mercy on me though and says, “We’re working together, right? Colleagues, if you will.” I nod and he goes on, “So you need to be able to contact me and I, you. In case of emergencies.”
“Oh.”
“It’s easy to hide.” At this, I go speechless but he launches into a whole explanation. “Since you aren’t allowed to have a phone at your piece of shit school, I got you a flip phone. It’s also a piece of shit but it’s small, compact and you can easily hide it. Probably in your chest of drawers or in the back of your closet. Under your mattress.” He looks up then. “Just make sure to hide it in a place where you can get to it easily but no one else can. And always,alwaysswitch it off when you’re not using it. And fucking always have it on silent. No vibrate either, do you understand? And do not, under any circumstances, carry it in your backpack or your pockets. Just put it in a safe place and leave it there.”
For several seconds after he’s finished instructing me on how to hide an illegal phone, I simply stare at him.
He was instructing, wasn’t he?
In a sharp and a stern tone. Rattling off things to do and not do.
