Nobody's Listening

S E V E N

The next day was considerably shitty. My mom chastised me for bringing Luke into our home and being "unreasonably irresponsible," as she put it. I was apparently grounded from having anyone over when my mom wasn't home until the ripe age of forty.

When I finally was allowed to leave under my mom's careful gaze, I got to school late too late to get a good parking spot. Of course, it was raining, so I had to run into school with my jacket over my head.

I had to listen to Cyd talk about Mesh all first period, which didn't help my mood any. I also ignored Luke, who looked miserable every time I ran away from him.

At lunch, right when I thought I was going to explode from all my suppressed anger, Cyd told me that James didn't seem to be at school.

"What? Why?" I said, surprised.

She shrugged her tiny shoulders. "No idea. He looked pretty hurt last night, though, so maybe he just woke up really sore this morning and decided to stay home."

I snorted. "Well, he better be here tomorrow."

But he wasn't there the next day, or the next. My mood was on a steady decline. Luke was getting even more persistent. "We're still going out tomorrow, right?" he asked worriedly on Friday.

"Yeah," I said, shooing him away as I hurried to my van. I honestly felt really shitty about pushing Luke away, since he was so sweet and seemed like he genuinely liked me. But I just needed some space to breathe.

It was quiet at home. I found a note from my mom telling me that she had the night shift and would be working until noon tomorrow. I sighed. My poor mom worked her ass off and never got much in return.

I walked upstairs, looking forward to listening to music in my room. Maybe I would catch up on sleep too. The first week of school was over, and I had many, many more to go.

I don't know when I fell asleep, but I woke up to my cell phone beeping angrily. I picked it up and saw the call from James. My heart skipped in my chest. I took a deep breath and answered it. "Hello?"

"Dezza?" a raspy voice spoke from the other end.

"James?"

"Dezza, you have to… you have to come get me. Please."

"James?" I repeated. "What's wrong?"

"I'll explain when you get here." There was a long pause that scared me. "Just pick me up at the bottom of my street?"

"Uh…" I jumped out of bed and scooped up my car keys. "Sure, I'll be there in a few minutes."

James breathed out a sigh of relief and hung up.

I didn't know what was going on, but I figured I should hurry. When I pulled up to Wild Hollow, a stooped figure in black lurched up to the passenger side, climbing in before I could refuse.

"Thanks for picking me up," the figure whispered.

"James?" Confusion made me sound frightened.

He nodded. "Just drive, I'll tell you everything when we get up to your room."

I raced home, eager for answers. As soon as I pulled into the driveway, James hobbled up to the front door and I unlocked it for him. He staggered up the stairs to my room and flopped down on the bed. "You don't know how grateful I am about you picking me up," he said, relief coating his words.

"James." I sat down next to his sprawled out body. "What's going on? Why did you miss three days of school?"

He sighed. "It's a long story." He slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position. I watched as he pulled his hood down, and I gasped.