by C. L. Stone
“Sorry,” he said. “Just an old teacher. I don’t know how I transferred that one.”
He seemed to play it off, but I caught the look Nathan and the others exchanged. It was very slight but it was obvious this was more information I wasn’t really supposed to see.
What was going on with these guys?
When I left Kota’s house that afternoon, I walked around the street and then took a path through the woods to find myself in the back yard. It was a long route but I really didn’t want anyone to see me leaving from Kota’s house.
Before I left, Kota had me send a text to everyone so they could add me to their phones, including North and Luke. Silas and Luke didn’t reply. North was the only one who sent a message back.
North: “Ok.”
I had the phone tucked into the cup of my bra. It was the best way to hide it for now. If I just tried to keep it in my pocket, I was afraid it would slip or my mom would notice the bulge.
I had to pull my hair back, too. Gabriel was disappointed but I told him if I came home with it down, it’d draw unneeded attention. Unusual for me would be attention and at that point, my mother would already be angry over Marie with the boy from up the road. As it was, I’d have to convince her I was only walking in the woods today if she asked.
When I got into the house, I made a dash up the stairwell. The rear stairwell was a lifesaver to my many attempts to leave the house. It came out by the laundry room which had the side door to the garage. Upstairs, I knocked on Marie’s door to check on her.
Marie answered, her long brown hair hanging behind her shoulders. Her nose and chin were sharp, her brown eyes smaller than mine. She was taller, too, by at least a foot. Her hips were wider. For sisters, we didn’t look a lot alike. “What?” she whined.
“What happened earlier?” I croaked. Marie didn’t look upset and she could talk so it must not have been too bad this time.
“Mom was looking for you,” she said, stepping out of the way. Her room had various piles of clothes on the floor and notebooks across her bed.
“I know,” I said, even though I didn’t. “I’m going to take my shoes off and then I’ll go get yelled at.”
I didn’t have to explain it. She knew exactly what I meant. Seeing our mother usually involved yelling and often a punishment. It was painful to kneel on the floor for hours with shoes on.
I crossed the hallway and used a push pin tucked into the wall to unlock my door and get in to my room. Marie knew how to unlock my door and knew where I hid the pushpin. For me, it was just a small deterrent. It allowed me time to hear someone coming if I was inside. No one would bother knocking and I couldn’t enforce them to stay out.
When I was inside, I relocked the door before pulling the cell phone out of my bra. I was tempted to play with it but instead I went for the attic space door. I reached in and found an opening between the wood of the wall and the insulation. I tucked the phone between them. I had the cord in my front pocket and I put that in the attic with it. On a final thought, I turned up the stereo music a little to detract from any noise the phone could make. I had been careful to turn that off when I got it but I still worried it would vibrate or beep or something.
“Sang!” I heard my mother calling. She must have heard when I turned up the volume on the radio. “Come down here!”
I sighed, wishing I was still back at Kota’s.
Downstairs, I entered my mother’s bedroom. Her inner sanctum. Her wiry hair looked strewn out. She sat with her back against the headboard. She frowned at me. “Where have you been?”
“In the shed.”
“All day?”
I nodded. “I was looking to see if I had any more clothes for school in the boxes we haven't unpacked yet,” I strained to be heard from across the room so I wouldn’t have to come closer. I knew what was coming and was ready.
“You shouldn’t do that,” she said. “I will go through it when I'm ready to. I don't want you going through it.”
“Oh,” I said, pretending to not understand. A little trouble would stop her from prodding further, I hoped. “Sorry,” I added.
“Some... man,” she spat out the word, “came here today to play basketball with Marie.”
Derrick, I thought. For some reason I thought he was my age and didn’t appear to be someone to be worried about. I tried to look confused. “Who was it?”
“I don’t remember his name. He said he went to your school.”
I nodded, pretending to think. “Well, there’s bound to be a kid or two around the block.”
“How would you know?” she asked, digging at my story. “How did he know there were kids here? I don’t think you should be walking around in the yard anymore. They might come over again.”
“But I haven’t run into anyone.”
She mumbled something to herself, licking at her cracked lips. “I don’t want you hanging around with men.”
“I haven’t met anyone,” I repeated.
She pressed her lips together tightly. She had no proof otherwise, I knew. Depending on her mood, it could be bad or good. “Is your room clean?” she asked. A sharp odor hit my nose from the room, like rubbing alcohol.
“Almost,” I said. It was like playing a game. If I gave the right answer, I got the answer I wanted. Right now, if she stuck me in my room it didn’t matter. It was where I wanted to be right now.
“Well go to your room. Don’t come out until it’s spotless.”
“Okay,” I said and I tried to go to the door.
“I mean it,” she said, her voice commanding that I stay and hear her out on her instructions. “I want the trash put into a trash bag.”
“Okay.”
“And the clothes off the floor and hung up.”
“Right.”
“And I want to hear the vacuum running.”
“I’ll get on it now,” I said, edging toward the door. I coughed. She didn’t say anything about my throat or ask about it. I wondered if she even remembered what she’d done.
It was still another ten minutes before I got out of her room as she lectured me on how to clean. I was elated. I had all night to myself with a good excuse. I’d been grounded to my room until it was clean. I could be fairly undisturbed for a while. It was the punishment I could deal with happily.
I rushed up the stairs and then locked my door behind me. My room didn’t have trash or clothes on the ground. The floor was bare. I smiled to myself and shook my head. If she came up to check, there was nothing for her to say about it. There was hardly a thing in my room to mess it up with.
I went to the attic door and pulled out the cell phone.
If someone wanted to unlock the door and look in, I’d have about a split second to listen to the rattle of the handle before it opened. I cuddled up over near the window. I sat on the trunk, looking out to check Kota’s house. Victor’s car was still there but he’d said he was going to stick around for dinner. Victor and Kota and Gabriel had a movie they wanted to watch. Nathan had gone home. He claimed he had a few chores to do around the house.
I grabbed a book from the shelf and sprawled out on the floor next to my trunk. If someone rattled the door, I could drop it behind the trunk and quickly pick up the book to look like I had been reading.
I checked the messages but no one had sent me anything. I hovered my fingers over the displayed keyboard, wondering what I could do. And who would I text? I didn’t know what to say to anyone.
To pass the time and to keep myself busy, I focused on the Angry Birds app.
I got tired of Angry Birds quickly. I spent a lot of time on the floor just looking up at the ceiling and listening to the music from my stereo. The sun started to go down. I checked outside and Victor’s car was gone from Kota’s driveway so he was already home or on his way.
I had the phone on my stomach when it started to vibrate. It spooked me and I shivered. The phone slid down to the floor and flopped over. I sat up quickly, almost too fast as it made me dizzy,
and I turned on the screen.
Silas: “Good.”
I checked the message I had sent earlier about getting this new phone. I pondered what I would send him next and quickly typed in:
Sang: “How was practice?”
Silas: “Long. I’m tired.”
Should I stop texting? I wondered. He probably wanted to rest and didn’t want me bugging him.
The phone rattled in my hands.
Silas: “What are you doing?”
I looked nervously around the room. What am I doing? I’m obsessively hanging on to this phone and attempting to sound cool to you so you’ll like me.
Before I could answer, the phone vibrated again. Silas was calling.
My heart dropped in my chest. I wasn’t sure if I could get away with answering it. I wouldn’t hear Marie or anyone coming. And I couldn’t talk! What could I do?
In my panic, I hit the button. I couldn’t just not answer.
“Hello?” I said softly into the receiver.
“I’m not good at texting,” Silas’s deep voice floated to my ear. Just hearing his deep tones made my insides flip. “I’ve got rhino fingers.”
I chuckled. “You were doing okay,” I whispered, my eyes darting around my room. Could I slip into the attic space? My closet?
“This is easier,” he said. “So what are you doing?”
I carefully held the phone to my ear with my shoulder and then unlocked the window. “Not a lot. I was reading.”
“Did you read all day?”
I held the phone to my chest and heaved a foot out onto the rooftop. The wind was blowing softly outside but it was the safest place to be nearby and not get caught. I brought the phone back to my ear, using my shoulder again to hold to it as I eased myself out. “I went swimming with Nathan, too. And I met Gabriel.”
“Did he mess with your hair?”
I laughed. “How’d you know?” I put my butt down on the rooftop, scooting myself until I was sitting next to the window rather than in front of it. If someone tried to get into my room, I might not hear them from outside but if I tucked myself out of the way, the person wouldn’t see me out there. It would just look like my window was open. Hopefully no one would be interested in looking outside.
“I think he’s done everyone’s since I’ve known him,” he said. “I haven’t paid for a haircut since I came here.”
“You moved here when you were little, right?”
The phone vibrated in my hand and there was a beep. I removed it away from my head. It said there was a message coming in. I felt my heart beating wildly with the desire to check it out but I didn’t know the buttons to push to look at it without hanging up on Silas.
As it was, since I was distracted I missed half of his answer. I put the phone to my head again just as he was saying, “-- it’s different here, but I guess I’ll manage.”
“I’ll have to find a way to manage, too, I guess.”
He laughed. “Not so bad right now, is it?”
Another vibration, another beep. This time I caught the name. It was from Kota. I still didn’t know what to do so I ignored it again.
“I think it’s pretty nice here. I mean I met you and the others. You guys are cool,” I croaked. Lame! I put my hand to my cheek, feeling it warming. I didn’t know how to talk to people.
He was quiet for a moment. “Do you think we can hang out tomorrow?”
Another vibrate, another beep. Kota.
“I suppose so. I don’t know how to... um,” I wasn’t sure the words to say and Kota’s messages were distracting me so badly, I couldn’t think.
“I’ve got a car. I probably need to meet you at Kota’s, right?”
“Yeah, probably,” I squeaked as I whispered.
Pause. Did he hear what I said? “Is your voice okay?”
I swallowed, trying my best. “I’m fine.”
“I’ll have to do stuff that morning but I can swing by later in the afternoon.”
“Perfect.” Was this him asking for just us or was he coming over to hang out with me and Kota? He was asking me personally, right? I didn’t know how to take the question.
The phone vibrated and started beeping, Kota was calling.
“What’s that noise?”
“Kota’s calling,” I said. “I don’t really know how to switch over the line...”
“It’s okay,” Silas said. “Go ahead and answer him. I’ll talk to you later.”
I wasn’t sure but he sounded disappointed in having to go so soon. “Okay, bye.”
“Bye.”
I pushed the big green button on the phone to answer Kota’s call.
“Hel--?”
“Get off the roof, Sang!”
His tone was stressed. Was he mad at me? “Kota, I...”
“Hide the phone in your pocket and go outside behind your shed. Go now.” He hung up.
I felt my legs shaking underneath me when I tried to stand up. Kota was scaring the bejeezus out of me.
I scrambled through the window. I tried to shut it but it got stuck halfway down and I left it. I tucked the phone back into the cup of my bra. I stopped to double check that everything looked normal and then went for the door.
The house was quiet. I slipped down the hallway, trying not to make a sound as I tiptoed down the back stairwell and out into the garage.
I jogged out into the open driveway, down to the end of it to the shed. I circled around, the grass was warm under my bare feet. The back of the shed had a concrete patio and an overhang. It was kind of like a third porch. I think it was meant for a place to stick a barbecue pit or maybe even fit a car because there looked like an oil slick on one side. It wouldn’t allow much protection if Marie left the house to come look for me, but it did block me from view from the windows and I was out of voice distance in case someone could actually hear me from my bedroom.
The phone started to shake in my hands. Kota was calling and I tapped the green button.
“What were you doing on the roof?” he demanded, his voice intense.
“I wasn’t sure if I should answer the phone in the house.”
He breathed out into the phone, causing it crackle with noise. “I thought you were going to fall off. You’ve gotten into enough trouble this week without needing to go to the hospital.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “That area over the porch of the roof of the porch is pretty flat. Besides, the drop isn’t that far.”
“It could break your neck,” he said.
“I’ve been trained on how to fall,” I insisted.
He paused. “What do you mean?”
“Back in elementary school, in gym class. They taught us to fall from a tall distance.”
“How?”
“Depends on the distance,” I said. “If it’s pretty far, there’s this thing where you tuck and roll to keep going on that momentum so you don’t break your hands and knees.”
He laughed, the power in his voice slipped away, becoming friendly. “And they were teaching you this in elementary school?”
“I think they might not do it anymore. After a week of training, some of us were out on the school jungle gym taking turns practicing falling. We got caught pretty quickly and we got reprimanded about it. I may or may not have been involved.”
He laughed again. “You are a trouble maker. But that’s no excuse. Don’t climb out on the roof.”
“What if there’s a fire?”
“Unless there’s a fire.”
“What if there’s a robber with a gun?”
“Sang.”
“Or a zombie?” I giggled.
“You don’t run from zombies. You shoot them in the head.”
“I don’t have a gun.”
“I’m not buying you a gun.”
I laughed this time and he did too. “Oh, Silas called and said he might come over tomorrow afternoon.” I hoped he meant to hang out with Kota and the others. Going solo was too nerve-wracking to think about.
“That’s good. I heard North and Luke were coming, too. They had something they wanted to tell us.”
There was a beep from the phone and I checked it. It was from Luke.
“Luke’s sending me a message right now.”
“Well you should go answer him,” Kota said. “Just stay off your roof, okay? I’ll tell everyone to text you to call them and you would do it as soon as you can. No surprise calls.”
I agreed and hung up. Still, the conversation bugged me. He had been watching me from his window? Now he was telling everyone the best way to communicate with me. Leader of the group. What kind of group was this?
Luke
When I got back to my bedroom without anyone noticing, I was relieved. I huddled back near the window and checked the message from Luke.
Luke: “Hi.”
I laughed a little, giddy. I had boys texting me. It was like something out of a movie I’d seen. How stupid was I to get excited over a text?
Sang: “Hello.”
I tried to suppress my excitement. I really wanted to go for a walk to release some of this energy but now that I was back in the house again, I didn’t want to go through the effort to sneak out. This phone was much more fun than I’d anticipated. I had friends calling me! It was easier to pretend I was normal this way.
The phone buzzed in my hand.
Luke: “I’m Lucian but everyone calls me Luke. You’re Sang, right? Where did you move from?”
Sang: “I’m from up north. The south is different.”
Luke: “It’s warmer, but it’s probably the same.”
Sang: “There’s also palm trees.”
Luke: “LOL”
Sang: “Are you coming over tomorrow? Kota mentioned it.”
Luke: “Yeah. In the morning, I think.”
Sang: “What’s the big announcement?”
Luke: “Promise not to tell?”
Would I tell? Promise? Would he trust me? He hadn’t even met me yet.