You've Reached Sam (54)

“Hey—” Liam shouts.

But Mika elbows him right in the gut, and he falls to the floor, wheezing.

The crowd erupts. The noise attracts more people into the hall, including a few teachers who arrive to break up the fight. One of them, Mr. Lang from biology, brings two fingers to his lips and blows them like a whistle. Everyone glances around before the crowd quickly disperses.

Someone touches my arm.

“Julie—we should go.”

Yuki appears at my side, beckoning me to follow the crowd outside.

“What about Mika?” I say, searching through the crowd for her. There she is with Mr. Lang. He has one hand on her shoulder, and the other clenching Liam’s arm.

“I’m not sure if there’s anything we can do,” Yuki says. And as much as I want to do something, I know she’s right.



* * *





* * *



I’ve been waiting outside school for more than an hour. Yuki stayed with me for a while, but they were taking so long in there, I told her she should go home without me. I think Mr. Lang took everyone into his office. What’s going on in there? I hope Mika isn’t in too much trouble.

A half hour later, Mika finally comes out the front doors. She holds an ice pack over her left eye.

“Mika—are you okay?” I reach out to inspect it, but Mika turns the other way.

“It’s nothing,” she says.

“What happened in there?”

“I’m suspended.”

“That’s terrible. This is all my fault. Let me go in and tell Mr. Lang—”

“Just forget it. I have to go—” she says abruptly, then hurries off, leaving me standing there.

“Mika! Wait!” I call after her a few times, but she doesn’t look back.

I almost run after her. But something inside me says she wants to be left alone. At least, for now. So I just stand there, watching her disappear down the block. I wish she would let me help her, after everything she’s done for me. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. I don’t know how to get through to her. I stare down at the pavement, wondering how I’m going to fix this …



* * *



When I get home, I call Sam right away and tell him everything. I tell him about Oliver, his jacket, and the things Taylor said. Then I tell him about Mika and the fight that broke out between them.

“She won’t talk to me,” I say. “I’m don’t know what to do.”

“Have you tried texting her?” Sam asks.

I check my phone again. “I asked her if she made it home earlier. But she never responded. I feel terrible.”

“Taylor should feel terrible,” Sam says, a strain in his voice. “I can’t believe she said those things to you. I’m sorry, Julie. I wish I was there. I wish I could do something about all this.”

“I wish you were here, too.”

He lets out a long breath. “It feels like this is all my fault.”

“Sam—you can’t blame yourself for any of this.”

“But it’s hard not to,” he says, sounding frustrated. “Mika wouldn’t be feeling this way, and getting into fights, and no one would be saying those things about you if I hadn’t … If only…” His voice trails off.

“Stop it,” I say. “That isn’t your fault, Sam. None of this is. And I don’t care what people say about me, okay?”

A long silence.

“I feel so useless, though. Not being able to do anything,” he says. “Not even for Mika. I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I lost her, you know? At least you can talk to her, though. Maybe you can go over there, see her in person.”

“I don’t know if she would even listen,” I say.

“You think you could you try again?”

“You know I want to,” I say. “But every time we talk, I always have to hide something from her, and I think she can sense it.… It’s like this wall between us now.”

“So what are you thinking?”

I hesitate to answer this. I’m afraid of what he’ll say. “I want to tell her about you. I think it would fix things between us. I think she’d understand.”

Sam goes quiet.

“Do you think I shouldn’t?”

“I don’t know, Jules,” he says. “I don’t want something bad to happen to our connection.”

“But you said there’s also a chance nothing will happen,” I remind him.

“I mean, maybe nothing will. It’s still a big risk, you know?”

“So you’re saying this is a bad idea?”

Sam goes quiet again, considering this. “I’ll let this be your call.”

I stare out the window, wondering what to do. “I wish you gave me clearer answers sometimes.”

“I’m sorry. I wish I had them.”





CHAPTER TWELVE


I couldn’t wait another day to see Mika. I couldn’t leave things the way they were. The guilt was eating me up, making it hard to focus. The sun casts shadows along the driveway as I reach the front door to her house. The van is parked outside the garage, so her parents must be home, too. I hope it’ll be her mom who answers when I ring the doorbell. Whenever there was bickering between us, she was the peacemaker.