North put an arm around my shoulders, tugging me into him. I pressed my cheek to his bicep, watching and holding my breath. She knew more about me than I’d wanted her to know. A tiny hard pit formed in my stomach. It had been positioned there since camp and had only gotten tighter and heavier since.
“Can you blame her?” Jimmy asked. “He was gone. You saw this house when we showed up. It’s...empty. Her room had the worst clothes, boy clothes. Just a couple of books and an old stereo.” He flopped onto his back on the bed, looking at the ceiling. His voice became a little harder to hear. “She’s got a group of pictures in a small alcove inside that attic space. Those must be her boyfriends.”
“It’s her sister you’ll have to be careful around. Marie’s so jealous of her. She was willing to sell her sister out. I’m not so sure I believe half of what she says. She’d do anything to get us out of here. Scaring us. Threatening.”
North’s arm around my shoulder became firm. This didn’t tell us if she knew the truth. Did she know about the time my stepmother had put me in the closet? Or the times I was punished? Did she know about my real mother and that secret?
“I don’t really like Marie,” Jimmy said.
“We’re in this together now,” Carol sighed and then picked up laundry to put on hangers. She began walking back and forth to the closets to hang each item as she picked it up. “I don’t know how their father planned to put them in a private school. Sang’s the only one with good grades. It would be such a waste of money for Marie. It’d be her last year.”
Private school? I pressed a palm against North’s leg, needing something to hold on to. I could almost laugh at the ludicrous idea.
If I’d never met the guys, I would have wanted it. I would have loved it. Normalcy. Getting away. Carol would have been a godsend.
North tilted his head and whispered in my ear. “Never going to happen, Sang Baby.”
I didn’t want it, either. Not now. Not when I had them. Not when I had the Academy.
“What about Sang?” Jimmy asked. “She seems nice. If she’s got the grades, it’d keep her away from boys until she graduated.”
“I’m considering it, but private schools cost a lot. What a waste when I can just monitor her.”
“Yes,” North said, hugging me close and kissing my forehead. “Baby. Sounds like she’d let you go if it were free. We can do this. We’ve done it before.”
“Do it?” I asked. “I don’t want to go to private school.”
“It won’t be real. You’ll just be with us. We just make it up. Worked for a lot of us.”
My heart did a flip in my chest. The Academy. Silas, Victor...even Kota...Their parents thought they went to private school. A normal one.
It gave me hope. If I could behave and get on Carol’s good side, the Academy could help us. They’d get me out of here, hopefully without too many problems.
I thought of the costs, though. I couldn’t help it. I wanted it so much, but there was so much to do. Carol wanted a divorce. My father wanted to keep my past a secret.
My stepmother...she’d have to be monitored to prevent her from speaking out. What happened when she left the hospital?
I’d always have to worry about Marie and what she might say about me.
Jimmy might know more than he was letting on. Or he might learn more from Marie.
Who knew who they all talked to as well? What about in the future?
I could use Academy money and favors, perhaps, but would the cost be too much? Would it mean it wouldn’t be worth it to the Academy to keep me on?
North seemed excited. Worry and concern snaked their way into my heart.
This might never be over. All my life I’d have to watch, wait, and wonder when the truth about me would be revealed.
I wanted to go over more of what this would mean, when I felt short vibrations at my chest. The phone was indicating I had messages.
Mrs. Midori
DR. GREEN
––––––––
Sean Green rolled down the window of his sedan to get rid of the condensation collecting on the windshield.
Charleston’s airport was slow at nine in the evening. A wall of glass doors faced the sidewalk. Occasionally a person walked by, dragging in luggage or walking out with some.
A security guard stood near the doors, grasping his belt as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He occasionally looked over at Sean’s car. He’d said it was okay to stay where he was but would have to move if more cars came by.
He was being overly nice, the Southern default, because no one was supposed to wait by the doors. Only the alternative was Sean driving around in a circle again and again.
Paying for parking wasn’t a problem, and Sean would have met his mother inside the airport, but she’d nag him for wasting a couple of dollars.
He’d borrowed a shirt from Kota, a plain button-down white shirt. His jeans probably needed a wash, but it was the best he had at the moment.
With one hand, he was tapping his fingers against the steering wheel to a song he couldn’t remember the words to.
With his other hand, he held his phone, opening and closing Sang’s heart icon app, looking at the multiple-colored buttons.
He could call her.
She didn’t need to talk. Like last time.
He paused both hands, rolling his head back onto the headrest. A slow breath out released between his lips. What would he say? I want to kiss you again? See you tomorrow at dinner? Tell me how you feel about me?
And then hang up on her when his mother showed up. That’d win points.
It wasn’t a competition, but Kota’s words rolled around in his head. He’d always adored Sang, but from afar. He’d spent more time hearing about her than being around her.
The relationship plan had sounded like a good idea at the time. There was the other side of this, however, that Kota, brilliant Kota, had pointed out.
It wasn’t just a matter of all of them agreeing to do this. If she didn’t really love one of them, it still wouldn’t work.
She’d not only have to be on board with it, she’d have to feel strongly enough about all of them.
What if she didn’t feel the same way about him?
Maybe this dinner on Saturday would change things. Maybe while he was there, he could ask Carol’s permission to take Sang out on a date. That’d get her out of that house more.
Going on an actual date with Sang would be even nicer.
Yet, there needed to be more. He needed to stop hesitating about reaching out to her. If he could text her, it’d probably be better.
She was going to be spending time in the attic. Her phone was on vibrate. She could answer whenever she found a moment.
Sean chewed on his lip, picking up the phone and starting to type out a message to her.
Sean: Hi Pookie.
He paused in the message, unsure what else to say.
What could he talk about? Camp? No, that had been a disaster. Ask her whether she’d taken her vitamin today?
Did he want to be her doctor or date her?
Ugh.
He tapped at the screen, making emoticon hearts and then deleting them. Nothing seemed right.
Finally, he typed out a message.