We decided to grab Japanese on the way home. No one was in the mood to wait to eat or cook. The restaurant probably thought we were feeding an army as we ordered three party platters of sushi, five chicken teriyakis, three shrimp teriyakis, and ten orders of egg rolls. My mouth watered at the thought of eating. I barely had time to eat breakfast this morning, and I couldn’t stomach lunch, no matter how many times Noah and Gavin got on me.
Will was home by the time we got home, and he looked older than I had ever seen him. He fondly watched over the kids as they played, but I could see the weight of the world lying on his shoulders today.
We hastily unloaded all our food on the dining room table and dug in immediately. I grabbed some sushi rolls, mixed the wasabi with the soy sauce, and dug in with gusto. I tried to shut all the negative of the day out, but Will finally spoke up after we had put a huge dent into the food.
“Blake, did I hear that you are thinking about dropping out of your classes and doing online courses?” he asked gently with an inscrutable look.
I swallowed the spicy tuna I had been eating. My chopsticks were poised over my next piece. “Yes. Today was…difficult, and I’m not sure I want to subject myself to it anymore.”
“I want to drop out too,” Alex piped up with a mutinous look. “The teacher made me read out loud, and the kids laughed at me when I didn’t say the words right.”
“You just need to practice,” Ella said sagely as she stabbed a piece of broccoli with her fork.
They were in the same class, but it was clear after day one that Alex took a little while to warm up to others. Plus, it didn’t help that his school district was one of the worst in the state, so he was slightly behind his other peers.
“How was your day?” I asked Micah, hoping to divert more attention away from myself.
He shrugged. “Ms. Tanya is great. She’s really patient and didn’t make me feel dumb.” He eye-balled the California roll I had put on his plate to try.
“That’s good,” I told him with a smile.
“Maybe it is a good idea,” Will finally said after a moment pause. “You can do your class work during the day, and if you’re caught up and bored, you can come with me to the clinic. Jace was busy all day with some of those females we brought in…” his voice trailed off.
“Do you think you should just let her bullies win?” Gavin asked incredulously.
Gavin had told us earlier that he had talked to his parents to let them know he was staying here now. They had taken it surprisingly well. He had set up a schedule with them so that he could still do some hours in at the shelter. Jemmy and Rachel had volunteered to go with him.
Will chocked his head to the side as he took a sip of his wine. “We can look at it that way, or we can realize that she may have a larger target on her back now. By now, everyone knows that her gifts and connections make her powerful. Some people may look at that as a challenge.”
Gavin eyes widened as he nodded in understanding.
“We don’t have training until tomorrow afternoon,” Troy stated. “Maybe we can go to the clinic as well.”
“That’ll be great,” Will smiled with relief. “I’m stretched thin,” he rubbed his eyes. “With Horatio’s activities increasing, ours has as well.”
“I can drop out of school too,” Drake said quietly from the end of the table. Everyone looked at him in stunned silence and he shrugged. “You all know I never felt passionate about being a psyche major. Maybe this is my sign to back out. Remy, are you still looking for an executive chef at your new We 7?”
“Can you cook?” Remy joked.
“I can throw together a dish or two,” Drake shrugged nonchalantly.
“You already put in a lot of time into school to just walk away from it,” Jemmy frowned. “I mean, I know your heart wasn’t completely in it before, but you’re not using this as an excuse to get away from Rose, are you?” she asked with narrowed eyes.
“Says the girl who still doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up,” Jaxson scoffed with a teasing grin. “If he wants to drop out of school and pursue his actual dream, I don’t see the issue.”
“Shut up!” Jemmy stuck her tongue out at him as she threw a piece of broccoli at him. “I do know, thank you very much. Gavin’s been showing me coding and other cool stuff on the computer, and I like it.”
“You can barely download music,” Jaxson continued to tease her. “I know you can manipulate electronics and all, but…”
“She’s actually really good at it,” Gavin finally spoke up with a smile. “Although I think she’s been cheating and using her gifts often.”
Jemmy smiled mischievously and shrugged. “It still gets done. Is he really allowed to drop out, Pops?” Jemmy asked.
Will smiled into his glass. “I don’t see why not. We go to school to get a career we want to pursue. Drake already has a talent with cooking and an excellent job waiting for him, and he’s an adult. So, I’ll support whatever decision he makes.”
“I’ve been eighteen for two months. I’m an adult. Can I finally get my nose, tongue, and belly button pierced?” Jemmy smiled hopefully.
“Nope,” several male voices chimed in at once.
I rushed through getting the kids down to sleep that night. I felt the piano calling me, and I felt relief at Will’s support in me dropping out of school. I was still going to go to school, but now I wasn’t forced to be around people that didn’t like me or know me.
I kissed Ella goodnight and went to close her door, when she called out to me. “Blake did you look at my drawing?”
I felt like hitting my forehead. “Not yet,” I didn’t feel like lying to her. “I’ll look at it soon. I love you. Goodnight, sleep tight.”
“Don’t let the bed bugs bite,” she chimed in quietly, her voice sounded disappointed.
I immediately felt guilty. I think I had stuffed it in my locker at school when I put my books in there. I would look at it tomorrow when I went to clean out my locker.
I went into my room, rinsed my body off, and slipped into a pair of boy shorts, a tank top, and a sweatshirt that naturally fell off one of my shoulders. I know almost everyone had retired for the night. We had a long night the night before, and today had been a physically and emotionally draining day. Drake and Remy had volunteered to put down the boys, and I had gladly accepted it.