Kisses after midnight (WICKED #0) | ✓

35

JAY BLINKED, BEFORE NOTICING the way his father glanced at the principal. So he mumbled an answer and though he was sure his father hadn't heard it, the man still smiled widely and nodded.

"That's great to hear," he said.

"Is it?" the principal said, sounding amused.

Jay had to muffle his chuckle with his hand then, shooting the principal a warning look quickly after. His father was many things, but kind to people who disrespected him he was not.

"It is," his father said, expression a bit stiff when he looked at the principal again," if you will allow me a few moments alone with my son?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," Clarkson said, shaking his head sympathetically," you see, Jay has gotten -"

"Jae-Soo," his father corrected him, voice sharp.

The principal glanced at Jay then and when he didn't say anything, he continued on, unbothered.

"So Jay has gotten quite weak," he said," I think it's the flu or something. Anyway, I should be here to check up on him, in case he got injured."

"Pray tell, how would he get injured?" his father said, his eyes cold despite his smile.

"You tell me," the principal said.

They kept staring at one another then and Jay quickly stepped in between. Though he was sure Clarkson could take his father out in a fight, there were many different ways his father could strike back later and they would all leave something worse than a bruise.

"Father, it's fine," he said," can you tell me why you visited?"

"Out of concern for you, of course," his father said, though his voice was laced with frost," I wanted to know if my son was being treated right and behaving well."

"He has been," Clarkson said.

"I've heard differently though," his father said as he gave Jay a look which chilled him to the bone.

"You didn't," Jay whispered.

"Didn't what?" Clarkson frowned, confused.

"Nothing," his father said with a low chuckle," Jae-Soo is just prone to exaggerate his responses. Luckily the Dirani girl doesn't mind."

"How do you know that?" Jay asked, though the truth was starting to settle in him like a fatigue he couldn't shake.

His father had hired someone to spy on him again. After all he had gone through, after all the ways his trust had shattered, he had done it again. And even though Jay had left earlier feeling loved, now he wasn't even sure who he could call a friend anymore. Who was it?

"Just heard a few rumors," his father smiled.

Gabriela?

"About a camp filled with teenagers?" Clarkson said," from who?"

Mateo?

"It doesn't matter, does it?" his father said, before adding," besides, it was out of concern for my son anyway. When I hear about the kinds of people he hangs out with nowadays... Surely a camp where deliquents get together isn't the best idea to stimulate them to better themselves."

Sahar?

"Why should they better themselves?" the principal said," all these kids need is to feel accepted and loved, what good would any punishments do here?"

Thinking of the names alone stung in a way Jay hadn't felt before, his father's smooth voice just gasoline now, pouring on the burning wreckage of his heart. The flames rised higher and higher, until they made his eyes red and his throat sore. All of a sudden it felt like everyone was watching him, his own skin an uncomfortable thing now, that damned name of his dragging him down under. He had trusted them all, like a fool.