Read His Mind | ✓

Chapter 16

I purposely stood in front of Abbie to block his view. I couldn't let Bobby see her. He'll be able to sense that she was different- that she was a female Teli. "B-Bobby! What are you doing here?" I asked, taking a quick look at Abbie behind me. She stared up at me in confusion. What was he doing?.. he looks nervous... who's Bobby?.. his dad?... why would he call his dad by his first name?.. this is weird..

"Your school called me. Care to give an explanation on why I was notified?" Bobby was a stout man who always wore suspenders. I had no idea why he was so obsessed with wearing those out of style and old fashioned clothes. He had bald spot in the center of his head and wore black glasses. I don't understand why he was picked to be my fake dad, we looked nothing alike, nothing.

"We can talk about this at home. You didn't have to come."

"I had some business near here so I thought I might as well drop by and hear your what you have to say for yourself," he explained. "You can start explaining yourself now, I'm listening."

"It was my fault, Mr. uh.. Chang," a voice piped up from behind me. "Don't blame Benson. I caused this mess." She pushed me away and got up from the bench. "I'm sorry for getting him in trouble."

Bobby's eyebrows went up in interest. "You are Benson's...?" I looked between them in worry. This is bad.. this is bad... what was she doing?.. he wouldn't have noticed her if only she didn't speak up... 

 "I told you it wasn't your fault," I hissed at her. "What are you doing??"

"I'm Benson's friend," she said, ignoring me. "I'm Abbie Lee. It's nice to meet you."

"Hello Abbie, it's nice to meet one of Benson's friends," Bobby smiled warmly at her. "How did the two of you meet?" he asked curiously. I could tell he was sensing something. He would not be curious about something unless it was important. 

"Why do you want to know?" I asked defensively. "You should go now. The bell is going to ring anytime now, we have to go to class."

Abbie gave me a look. What's going on with him?... 

"Benson-" Bobby began to say.

"We can talk about this at home. Right now, we need to go to class."

"Alright. It's been fun talking with you, Abbie. I hope we can talk again, I'll tell Benson to invite you to our place some time and we can finish this conversation." 

"Bobb- Dad!" I almost called him Bobby again. Abbie was already feeling a little suspicious at my slip earlier. 

"I'm leaving." 

Abbie politely said goodbye and we watched him walk away.

When he was a few feet away, I turned to Abbie. "Don't be so friendly with him, you don't know who he really is," I warned. 

"Who is he really then?" she asked. Why's he acting like this?.. was he jealous of his dad or something?.. gross.. no no.. why would he be jealous... it's not like he likes me...

I couldn't help but smile at what I heard. She sure had a wild imagination. 

"Why are you smiling? Is my question funny to you?" 

"I'm not jealous of my dad, Abbie. Don't worry," I laughed. "And as for if I like you... no comment."

How did he... how did he know... that's creepy.. "How did you do that?"

I can not believe I did it again. I really had to hold my thoughts in. Last time at her house, I accidentally blurted out what I heard her mom think. About the divorce. And that already raised her suspicions on me and now I just did it again. How was I going to fix this? I can't use the same excuse as last time..

"Do what?" I tried to hide my nervousness and smiled at her innocently.

Did I imagine it again like last time at home? Was I going crazy? "Didn't you just... never mind."

The bell rang at that moment. I walked Abbie to her class and headed to mine. As I walked to my class, I thought of ways to divert Bobby's curiosity of Abbie. Did he already know that she was Teli? 

◈ ◈ ◈

Bobby was waiting for me at home, sitting casually on the couch.

"What took you so long?" he asked in annoyance. The warmth I heard in his voice when he was speaking with Abbie was no longer there. This was how Bobby really was- the side Abbie didn't know. He spoke harshly and rudely to me at home, treating me with no respect. There was no father-son love here, even though it was all show to the public.

"I had to do some things." I threw my backpack on the ground and went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

"Were you doing something with that girl?" 

"That's none of your business." I twisted the cap off and took a large gulp of the cold water. "What were you doing at my school anyways? You never cared about my life."

"My job was to watch over you, to make sure you make no trouble. I got a call about you having some kind of fight so I decided to give you a visit."

"What were you going to say?" I asked. "Tell me now since you couldn't at school."

"Forget that. I want to know more about that... Abbie, was it?" 

"There's nothing you need to know. She's just a friend."

"A guy and girl can't just be friends. Do you not read romance novels at all? They always end up together." 

"Pft. We're not living in a romance novel, Bobby. We're just friends."

"Sure, you are. I sense something odd about that girl. Bring her over some time so I can make sure."

"No, why should I?"

"You seem to care a lot about this girl. Is there something you're hiding from me, Ben?" Bobby looked at me with curious eyes.

"Nothing. I'm hiding nothing. I'll go to my room now." I grabbed my backpack off the floor and hurried to my room down the hall and shut the door behind me. This was bad. He was suspicious. I had to keep Abbie away from him. I need to stay away from her, in order to protect her from him. From the COT.