Dark Days (The Childe Series, #2) (4 page)

“You know, you can’t bribe me to make everything okay, right?”

“No, we know. We were planning this even before all of this happened. We just wanted to present this now, as somewhat of a peace offering,” Rachel explained.

“Oh…well, I was just making sure we’re on the same page.”

“And starting now, you’re no longer grounded. You’ve been cooped up long enough. Even though it was mostly self-inflicted,” she said, smiling slightly.

“Thanks, but I don’t know if I’ll be heading outside anytime soon. I’m still trying out this whole hermit thing. I’m not quite ready to face my friends at the moment.”

“You know they’re very worried about you, right? They’ve called numerous times. You shouldn’t punish them for things we’ve done.”

Cat glanced at her mom and then back at the keys in her hand. “Well, Rachel, now you know I’m okay. I think I might go back to the whole moping thing, if you don’t mind. But it kind of works best when I’m here alone, though,” she joked. Rachel smiled slightly and hugged Cat.

“If you’d like to talk more, your father and I will be downstairs. Oh, and dinner will be at seven if you want to join us.”  Cat didn’t answer. She just nodded to her mom as she left the room.

“Rachel?”

“Yes, sweetie?” she asked, reopening the door.

“Never mind.”

That night Ryan stood out in front of Cat’s house pacing back and forth in the rain, deciding if he should go up to her window, especially after Taylor’s warning. He had been waiting for about an hour after calling her phone numerous times and leaving several messages. It was eleven o’clock and Cat’s bedroom light was still on. Frustrated, Ryan finally decided to try and talk to her. Just as he was jumping up to the balcony, he noticed a golden form dash out from the Sitka spruce tree. Ryan waited and watched as a cat bolted across the balcony’s railing, through the rain, and up to Cat’s bay window.

A loud meow sent Cat hurrying to the window. She was shocked to see Jewels out in the rain. Quickly flinging her window open, she grabbed the feline and began drying her off with the towel that was draped over her tri-fold rice, paper screen.

“You poor thing, you’re soaked to the bone, Jewels. What are you doing out in this nasty weather?” The feline nestled up to Cat, purring contently, as if thanking her for the wipe down. The stray cat had made a habit of stopping by Cat’s bedroom window regularly. She resembled a miniature lioness, complete with golden brown fur. The name Jewels was given to her by Cat, who loved how her eyes always shined like tiny jewels.   

Ryan made his way up to the balcony and continued to watch from outside. Suddenly, Jewels whipped around, hissing violently toward the window, and staring straight at Ryan. He quickly descended from the balcony and ran toward his car, hoping Cat hadn’t seen him.

“What’s the matter, girl?” Jewels jumped out of Cat’s arms and perched herself on the window seat, her hair raised, and looking like she was ready to attack. Cat peered through the curtains and saw a car pulling away from her house, its tail lights glowing through the rain.

“Was that Ryan?” Running over to her desk, she pulled her cell phone from the drawer and started to turn it on, but then stopped. She had every intention of calling Ryan, but she couldn’t go through with it.
Come on Cat, you can’t block them out forever,
she thought and then tossed the phone back in the drawer. Plopping face down on her bed, Cat moaned. “Ugh! Jewels, why am I so stubborn?” she uttered as Jewels joined her on the bed and curled up.

The next couple of days passed as a blur. The rain still showed no sign of stopping. It had rained a week straight, an Astoria summer record. The front lawn closely resembled a lake. Cat was still not making any effort to communicate with her friends, though it was becoming exceedingly more difficult not to. She also had yet to join her family for dinner, though at every meal, they saved a seat for her, just in case she changed her mind.

A loud banging came at Cat’s bay window and she saw Julie standing on her balcony completely soaked and shivering. “Are you going let me in or not?” she asked loudly. Cat opened the window and Julie stormed in, grabbing a towel from the bathroom.

“What the heck are you doing out in the rain?”

“Well, when your best friend won’t return any of your calls, drastic measures must be taken,” Julie stammered. “Oh, and that lattice, by the way, is darn hard to climb up when it’s wet, just saying.”

Cat didn’t say anything. She just looked at the ground in shame and slouched down on her bed. Julie sat, and put her arm around Cat. “Don’t worry, silly, I forgive you. Whatever your reason is, I’m sure it’s a good one. And by the way, I never bought the one your parents were passing around about you being sick,” she said, smiling at Cat. Cat looked at Julie and flashed her a quick smile.

“Hey, Julie? What’s it like being adopted?”

“What do you mean?” she replied, puzzled.

“Well, when you found out you were adopted, what was it like?”

“I kind of always knew, I guess. So when Mom told me, I wasn’t really that surprised. Why do you ask?”

Tears began to roll down Cat’s cheeks as she turned to face Julie. “I just found out that…I’m adopted. That’s why I went all anti-social.” Before Cat could get anything else out, Julie grabbed her in a hug, and for the first time in a week, Cat felt a sense of calm come over her. She smiled as Julie squeezed her tightly.

“Julie, I have a favor to ask you.”

“Okay.”

“You can’t tell the others we’ve talked. I need more time to think about what I’m going to say to the rest of the gang.”

“You got it, but please try to make your talk sooner rather than later. You know I’m terrible at keeping secrets,” Julie said with a laugh.