Are you kidding me? Can I not make it five feet in this hallway without having to answer to someone?
I turn to face whoever is wasting my time, only to find a girl—or woman, rather—who perfectly matches the description of Avril Ashley.
This is exactly what I don’t need right now.
“Can I see you in my office, please?”
I squeeze the back of my neck and shake my head. “I can’t, Avril.”
She reveals nothing of what is going through her head. She stares at me with a stoic expression and then says, “My office. Now.” She turns on her heels and heads down the hall.
I contemplate running in the other direction, but drawing attention to myself won’t do me any favors. I reluctantly follow her until she reaches the door to administration. I follow her past the secretary and into an office. I step aside as she closes the door, but I don’t sit. I’m watching her carefully, and she still hasn’t looked back at me.
She makes her way to the window and stares outside, wrapping her arms around herself. The silence is awkward at best.
“Do you want to explain what happened Friday night?” she asks.
I immediately begin searching my infant memory for what she could be talking about.
Friday, Friday, Friday.
Without my notes in front of me, I come up empty. There’s no way I can remember every detail of what I’ve read in the past two hours.
When I fail to respond, she lets out a soft laugh. “You are unreal,” she says, turning to face me now. Her eyes are red, but so far they’re dry. “What in the world possessed you to punch my father?”
Oh. The diner. The fight with the owner, Brian’s father.
Wait.
I stand up straighter, the hairs prickling up across the skin of my neck. Avril Ashley is Brian Finley’s sister? How is that even possible? And why would Charlie and I be involved with them?
“Did it have to do with her?” she asks.
She’s throwing too much at me at once. I grip the back of my neck with my hands again and squeeze away some of the nerves. She doesn’t seem to care that I’m not in the mood to discuss this right now. She takes several quick steps toward me until her finger is poking me in the chest.
“My father was offering her a job, you know. I don’t know what you’re up to, Silas.” She spins and walks back to the window but then throws her hands up in frustration and faces me. “First, you waltz in here three weeks ago and act like Charlie is destroying your life because of her involvement with Brian. You make me feel sorry for you. You even make me feel guilty just for being his sister. And then you use that to manipulate me into kissing you, and once I finally cave, you show up every single day for more. Then you go to my father’s restaurant and attack him, then follow that up by breaking things off with me.” She takes a step back and puts her hand against her forehead. “Do you realize how much trouble I could be in, Silas?” She begins pacing back and forth. “I liked you. I risked my job for you. Hell, I risked my relationship with my own brother for you.” She stares up at the ceiling, placing her hands on her hips. “I’m an idiot,” she says. “I’m married. I’m a married woman with a degree, and here I am messing around with a student simply because he’s attractive and I’m too damn foolish to know when someone is using me.”
Information overload. I can’t even respond as everything she just said sinks in.
“If you tell anyone about this, I’ll make sure my father presses charges against you,” she says with a threatening glare.
I find my tongue with that comment. “I’ll never tell anyone, Avril. You know that.”
Does she know that? The old me didn’t seem to be very trustworthy.
She keeps her eyes locked with mine for several moments until she seems satisfied with my response. “Leave. And if you need a counselor for the rest of the school year, do us both a favor and transfer schools.”
I put my hand on the doorknob and wait for her to say something else. When she doesn’t, I try and make up for the old Silas. “For what it’s worth…I’m sorry.”
Her lips press into a tight line. She spins and walks angrily to her desk. “Get the hell out of my office, Silas.”
Gladly.
Chapter 5: Charlie
I must have drifted off. I hear a soft beep and then the sound of metal sliding against metal. My eyes snap open and instinctually I press myself harder against the wall. I can’t believe I fell asleep. They had to have drugged me.
They. I’m about to find out who they are.
The door opens and my breathing gets faster as I squirm against the wall. A foot, plain white tennis shoes, and then…the smiling face of a woman. She comes in humming, kicking the door closed behind her. I relax a little. She looks like a nurse, dressed in pale yellow scrubs. Her hair is dark and pulled back in a low ponytail. She’s older, maybe in her forties. For a brief second I wonder how old I am. My hand travels up to my face, as if I could feel my age on my skin.
“Hello,” she says cheerfully. She hasn’t looked at me yet. She’s busying herself with the tray of food.
I wrap my arms tighter around my knees. She sets a tray down on a little table next to the bed and glances up for the first time.
“I brought your lunch. Are you hungry?”
Lunch? I wonder what happened to breakfast.
When I still don’t answer, she smiles and lifts the lid off one of the plates as if to tempt me.
“It’s spaghetti today,” she says. “You like spaghetti.”