The bubble-popping sound of my computer sounded early the next morning, notifying me that I had an incoming call.
"Hey, Dad," I drawled out sleepily after clicking on the call.
"Good Morning, Pumpkin. Looks like I woke you. Sleeping in today?" He sounded concerned.
Glancing at the clock on my laptop, I saw that the time read six thirty. "Damn!"
Throwing off the covers, I ran into my closet. "Dad, can I talk to you after I get home tonight? I'm supposed to be in the lab in thirty minutes."
Tuesdays and Thursdays worked best for Dr. Porter, my mentor and Chemistry teacher from Sophmore year, so I opted to make it to the lab those mornings for some extra work time on my Science Fair research.
"Yeah, sure, but it will be pretty late for me . . . or early, actually. Listen, I just needed to tell you that Grandma is coming in tonight."
I poked my head around the closet door and suppressed a groan. "Dad, do you think you can't trust me? I've been just fine here by myself." It almost felt like I was lying. Everything from the night before, dinah and then the fight, hit me so hard that I wanted nothing more than to punch something.
"I trust you completely. . . .but your grandma doesn't." He laughed. "She's just worried about you being on your own, so she said she'd come by for a few days, possibly a week, and lend a hand. You are still a minor after all, and she keeps watching those news shows like Sex Slaves in the Suburbs. She worries."
My dad and his mom hated the idea of me practically living alone for three months, but my desire to be in my own school for my senior year won out.
I shimmied into some skinny jeans, slipped a long-sleeved, fitted violet tee over my head, and walked out of the closet.
"If it will put her mind at ease, but as you can see, I'm fine," I sighed.
"I'm not even sure what the law says about this, actually. You are staying out of trouble, right?" His eyes narrowed at me as I slipped on some black ballet
flats. Dad was calm about most things, but trying to parent me from Germany was driving him up the wall. This was the seventh time we'd talked in the past two weeks. With the time difference, that was an accomplishment.
"Of course." I almost choked on my words. If you could call running out of the house to possibly shoot a couple of street thugs "staying out of trouble . . ." "And I'll be eighteen in a couple of weeks. I'm barely a minor anymore."
"I know." My dad exhaled wearily. "Alright, I'll let you go. Just be home for dinner for your grandma tonight."
"Yes, sir. I'll call you tomorrow morning. Sound good?"
"Talk to you then. Have a great day, Pumpkin." And he clicked off.
***
The breakfast bar and juice box I grabbed before leaving the house held me over during the lab work, but by first bell, the hunger pangs started. Coupled with the fact that Dinah hadn't shown up or texted back this morning, I rushed in aggravation down the hall to the cafeteria for a vending machine run before class.
My concentration was flying in five different directions this morning. I'd forgotten to run to the hardware store for supplies last night, so the research I'd wanted to accomplish this morning turned out to be very little.
After I broke a beaker and damn near burned my hand with the Bunsen burner, I'd cleared out of the lab before I killed myself.
My jaw ached from clenching my teeth all morning. Images of Dinah's legs hugging Lauren's hips on the motorcycle kept assaulting me. "What if's" of what would have happened last night if that knife had sliced Lauren's neck or stomach instead of her arm flashed through my mind.
Rounding the corner, I immediately halted.
What? WHAT!
Dinah leaned against the yellow wall next to the cafeteria doors, while Lauren leaned into her. Her arm was posted to the wall above her head, and her head was dipped, bringing her lips within inches of hers. The white top she wore rode up to reveal a sliver of skin as Lauren's thumb caressed her softly while holding her hip.
She said something against her lips, and Dinah's chest rose and fell in deep breaths.
No.
