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"It's Chase and Mikey," she says hurriedly. "That was the principal calling. They were in a fight."
We don’t need to say anything else. We're both so in sync that we act at nearly the same moment. While I pack up my laptop, Mia grabs her bag and distantly calls her assistant to cover.
The drive to school is quick and we try to piece together what happened, from what the principal told Mia.
"What started the fight?" I ask and she shakes her head.
"I don't know. According to Principal Givens, Mikey started it and then Chase jumped in."
"Mikey started a fight?" I frown. "Doesn't sound like him."
"I know, that's what I said. We'll figure out the rest of the story once we get there."
Even in the principal's stuffy office, it's hard to piece together exactly what happened.
But Chase is happy enough to give us a rundown.
"It's not our fault," he says, standing indignantly and gesturing in agitation. "This kid Logan, from the Bears team, was talking smack about my mom, saying that she's a horrible coach and should probably give up and spend that time trying to find a husband. I was about to tell him to shut up but Mikey beat me to it. Came out of nowhere and decked the kid. And then he almost got his butt beaten so I had to step in."
Mikey nods from his seat, although he doesn't have a single scratch on him to corroborate the story.
"He doesn't look beat," Principal Givens says dryly.
"That's cause I jumped in," Chase insists, "and kicked Logan's butt."
"Ah. So, it was Logan getting his butt beaten."
"Well, it's not like I just wailed on him. He hit me too. Look."
He raises his shirt to show a tiny bruise forming on his abdomen. I only see it for a second before something else immediately snags my attention.
A few inches under his armpit lays a faint brown mark, that looks like a circle, with uneven borders, and a whitish dot in the center.
Shock douses me.
It's a pretty unusual birthmark, one I've only seen twice. On myself, and on the childhood shirtless pictures of my dad, back when he would vacation in the Keys, and hold up the fish he caught in every photo. The mark tends to fade with age, but that's not the thing reverberating in my mind right now.
Why the hell does Chase have our family birthmark?
19
MIA
Luke’s bodygoes rigid beside me.
I glance at him, expecting to see that he’s pissed that Mikey was apparently trying to defend my honor, but notice his eyes are transfixed on Chase whose shirt is still lifted to show us the bruise.
And then I figure he's mad that Chase got hurt.
I'm mad too, but I don't sound off like I want to. Someone needs to maintain rationality here, or this could all go left pretty quickly.
I do note Luke's silence though. He’s quiet for so long it’s like his mind is far away. And then when his eyes turn to me they’re an inferno of confusion and questions that I can't answer.
“Mr. and Mrs. Hardy.” I glance back at Principal Givens who is calmly sitting at the head of the table, expression telling us she's already tired of us. "I'd like to settle this as quickly as possible, if that's alright with you."
“Oh no," I tell her holding my hand up. “We’re not married.”
“Oh. Apologies for the mistake. I assume since they're brothers -“
