Secret Lucidity(72)

Me: Where are you?

I sneak a peek from under my desk at the text I sent David during fourth period when there was a substitute in his class. I’ve been waiting all day for his response, but none has come, and there’s only an hour left until the final bell rings.

“No phones, Cam. You know the rules,” Mrs. Gillespie scolds from the front of the class.

I shove it in my pocket at the same time a call from the intercom system sounds.

“Mrs. Gillespie?”

“Yes.”

“Could you please send Camellia Hale to the principal’s office with her belongings ready for check out?”

“Sure thing,” she responds and then looks at me. “Don’t forget about your homework assignment that’s due tomorrow.”

A few student’s turn in their desks and give me a quick look of curiosity as I grab my backpack, and I wonder if this has anything to do with my mom. Her court appearance about the house was scheduled for earlier today. To say I was shocked when I came downstairs this morning to see her sober and dressed for the occasion would be an understatement.

When I walk into the lobby of the office, Mr. Sanders is waiting for me.

“How are you today?” he greets.

“Good.”

He motions for me to follow him into his office, and the moment I see a police officer, the blood drains from my body, rendering me still. There’s another woman, dressed in black pants and a blazer, standing next to the cop, both faced in serious expressions.

“Go ahead and take a seat,” the principal tells me after he closes the door, and I do, but it isn’t him that speaks next.

“Hi, Camellia. I’m Officer Colfax and this is Julie Sutton from Child Protective Services.”

“Has something happened to my mom?” I blurt out, worried that someone said something about how neglectful she has been.

Mr. Sanders’s eyes shift from the police officer to me. “No, dear. This isn’t about your mother.”

“We’ve been trying to get ahold of her,” the officer says.

“Why? What’s going on?” I look around the room at the three of them with terrified confusion pounding through me.

“There’s been an allegation made that we are going to need to ask you some questions about, but since you’re a minor, we need your mother with you.”

Oh my God. Do they know?

“An allegation ab-about what?”

“Would you like to try contacting your mom yourself?” the officer inquires instead of answering me.

With clammy hands, I pull out my cell and fake call my mom as I go into panic mode. After a few seconds, I lower the phone to my lap and lie, “Sometimes she leaves her cell in her car.”

Reaching into his pocket, he pulls out a card and tells me, “This has all my contact information. When you get home, have her call me.”

The card almost slips from my jittery fingers when I take it from him.

“You’re not in any sort of trouble,” he then adds. “You’ve done nothing wrong, okay?”

I nod, muttering an uncertain, “Okay,” because if this has anything to do with David not being in class today, I don’t know what I’ll do.

“We just want to talk, that’s all.”

I nod again as fear hooks its claws into me, releasing a violent chill through my veins.

“I’m going to allow you an early dismissal,” the principal says.

“I’m not going back to class?”

“It’s best that you go home and have your mother call me,” Officer Colfax says. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

I give a look to Mr. Sanders, the man my father worked so many years for, the man who has been to my home with his wife for dinner countless times. I’m sure he can see my trepidation when his eyes soften and he gives me a reassuring nod. But nothing can reassure me when no one is telling me anything.

Officer Colfax doesn’t say a word as he escorts me through the halls, catching the eyes of a few students who are wandering aimlessly, and I want to run. I force my feet to move in pace with his as he walks me all the way to my car, as if I’m some sort of criminal.

He stresses once more that I’ve done nothing wrong and reminds me to have my mom call him as soon as possible.

The moment I’m off school grounds, I race as fast as I can to David’s house, rolling through stop signs and yelling at red lights. I quickly call my mother and leave a voice mail when she doesn’t answer.

“Mom, I need you to not answer the phone from any numbers you don’t recognize.” The words fall from my mouth in a frenzy. “I’ll be home later.”

There’s a slick, black car parked in the driveway in front of the third garage of David’s house. It should be enough to stop me, but I can’t even think straight in this moment. I pull my car in and shut the garage behind me before bolting into his house in a sheer panic.

He immediately stands from the kitchen table, where he was sitting with another man, and comes straight toward me. I know in this very moment, with the terror in David’s eyes, that everything is all wrong.

“What’s going on?” My voice trembles over the words.

“Is this her?” the man says as David scoops me in his arms, hugging me in a way he’s never done before.