What I Didn't Say (29 page)

Jordan gave me this look, like she knew something was up.  “Why does it smell like Samantha in here?”

Busted.

Lying, I just gave a shrug. 
What do you want?
I wrote.

“Mom’s just about got breakfast done,” she said, still eying me suspiciously. 

Without waiting for her to figure things out, I hopped out of bed and walked past her to the kitchen.

I had a feeling things were about to get very complicated.

6 weeks ‘til Sam’s birthday

Sam decided there was no way that she could go to school until we figured out how to get rid of Mike.  And we weren’t sure how to do that yet.  She also wasn’t going to be able to go into town anymore without someone spotting her.  It wasn’t going to take long before everyone on the island knew Sam was living on her own. 

They would all think they were being helpful, tracking Sam down so she could be reunited with her only living parent.  But sometimes things aren’t as story-book happy as they seem.

This also meant that Sam couldn’t come over to my house anymore.  It wouldn’t be long before my parents found out about everything too.

I was going to become a lying fool.

One of the most frustrating things about it all was how close we were to Sam’s birthday.  There was less than six weeks left, only forty-one days.

Surprisingly, nothing happened until Monday, when school started back up from the weekend.  I was dreading going to school without Sam, but I dreaded her being taken away even more. 

“So,” Carter said as us and Rain walked to our lockers that morning.  “You and Samantha made up yet?”

Crap.
  I hadn’t thought about that part yet.  Everyone at school thought we were still broken up.

Which provided a perfect opportunity.

Nope,
I wrote in a notebook
.  Haven’t talked to her since last week.

Lie number one.

“Have I told you yet that you’re an idiot,” Rain said, shaking his head.

You have,
I wrote impatiently.

“Just sayin’,” he said as the bell rang and the three of us headed toward different classes.

I couldn’t seem to keep my left leg from bouncing up and down like I’d had too much coffee as I went through my classes.  Mr. Roy glanced in my direction when he called Sam’s name for roll and she didn’t answer.  But it wasn’t more than a glance.  Thankfully we didn’t get checked on too often for ASL, and Mrs. Morrison didn’t make a big deal out of it that Sam wasn’t there for our next class.

It was a little harder getting Sam’s homework for her though without looking suspicious.  Especially for those classes that I didn’t have with her.  It didn’t help my story that we were broken up.  I ended up having to con other students that were in Sam’s classes into getting the work for me.

I was a freaking nervous wreck by the end of the day.

How were we going to keep this up until Sam’s eighteenth birthday?  Suddenly forty-one days felt like an eternity.

I knocked on the door to the motorhome five times to let Sam know it was me.  She still looked edgy as she opened the door.

“So, how’d it go today?” she asked, her eyes scanning the trees behind me.  She looked totally freaked out.  “Any problems?”

None,
I wrote in our notebook
.  No one even seemed to notice you were gone.  Got all your homework though.

“Thank you!” she said gleefully, wrapping her arms around my neck and hugging me.  “I’ve been so stressed out about all of this.”

People still think we’re broken up,
I wrote when she released me. 
Should make it easier to cover for you.  I could just say that we had a fight last week and I don’t know where you are.

“Perfect,” she said with a forced smile.  She really was freaking out.

We sat and did homework for about an hour, ended up making out for about a half hour, and then I had to go home.  Being there long was dangerous considering to everyone around us we were supposed to be broken up.  Risking being gone after school would look suspicious.

Nothing seemed too different the next day at school either.  Most of the teachers seemed surprised Sam wasn’t in school, it was odd behavior for her, but it just seemed like normal concern, not suspicion.  Again I got Sam’s homework and took it to her.

But by Wednesday I heard whispers in the hall.

“They said her mom died over the summer.”

“She’s been living on her own all year.”

“I heard she’s homeless.”

“No wonder she looks so shabby.  Crap, I feel bad for saying anything about her.”

“Why’s she been hiding all this?”

Now the school was talking.

Stopping at my locker, I put some of my book in, taking other’s out.  I cringed when I saw Rain and Carter walking up to me.

Here come more lies.

“Dude,” Rain said, his eyes wide.  “Is Samantha really homeless?  Her mom
died
?”

I didn’t say anything, just pretended to be digging through my locker.

“You
knew
?” Carter said, his voice accusing sounding.  “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Don’t go there, man.

“Everyone’s looking for her, Jake,” Rain said, his voice lowered.  “Her dad’s on the island.  He needs to take her with him, they’re saying.  The cops have been at the school all morning questioning teachers.  They’re going to come looking for you.”

Oh crap.

“Where is she?” Carter asked.

I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest and my palms started sweating.

We had another fight on Thursday,
I wrote.  Lies. 
I haven’t seen her since then.  We’re broken up, remember?

“You think she took off after your fight?” Carter asked as we started walking down the hall.

I just shrugged.  Hopefully my expression wasn’t too freaked out.

I saw the way people stared at me as I made my way to Calculus.  The whispers spread almost like a wave as I walked by.  Everyone would know about this before the tardy bell rang for first period.

Somehow I made it through my first class of the day.  I had no idea what we were supposed to be learning, but somehow I survived the hour without having a total freak out.  But as I walked to second period, everyone was staring at me as much as they did my first day back at school after the accident.

I should have known Principal Hill would send them after me during ASL, the class that was supposed to be just me and Sam.  I slowed as I got to the end of the building and saw two police officers and Principal Hill standing just inside the room. 

For a brief moment I considered just bolting.  But how could that not look suspicious?

Hoping none of them would hear my heart freaking out in my chest, I put on a blank face and walked into the classroom.

“Jake,” Principal Hill nodded to me, his face serious.  I wondered if Sam’s situation could get him into any kind of trouble.  Teachers got a hard time for not noticing stuff like this.  “Officers Blizen and Bennett need to ask you some questions about Samantha Shay.”

Keeping my face as blank as I could, I nodded.

The two officers indicated for me to sit in one of the desks.  Seeing they had no intention of sitting themselves, I chose to stand.  I leaned against one of the desks, my backpack still on, and crossed my arms over my chest.

I saw them both eye my scars, unsure looks on their faces.  Rolling my eyes, I swung my backpack to my front and pulled out a notebook and pen.

“We understand that you’re… involved with Miss Shay?” Officer Bennett started.  It was hard to take him seriously when most of the island saw him with the Oddfellows in the Solstice Day Parade costumed like a cross-dressing, thirteen-foot-tall clown.

Were,
I wrote.

“I’m sorry?” he said, his face still so unsure looking, like I might melt if he spoke too harshly at me.

We were… involved.  We broke up last week.  Ask anyone in the school.

“Oh,” he stuttered.  He shuffled some papers, looking totally lost.  He kept glancing at my throat.  It was amazing how some people just didn’t know how to handle communicating with people with disabilities. 

“May I ask what the reason was why you broke up?” Officer Blizen spoke up, saving Bennett.  “It could be helpful in finding Samantha.”

I hesitated, debating whether to lie.  But it seemed simpler to tell the truth.

She said something about me not being able to talk,
I confessed. 
I freaked out and did something stupid with another girl.

Let them think it was worse than it was.  Should help my case.

“And I can imagine Miss Shay was very upset about this whole situation?”  Something about Officer Blizen’s questions seemed very routine.  I had a feeling he wasn’t from the island.  A homeless girl going missing wasn’t something that exactly happened very often on the island.  It seemed like he should be a little more concerned like Officer Bennett.

Yeah,
I wrote. 
She was upset.  We had a big fight Thursday.

“And have you seen her since Thursday?” he asked, scribbling something down on a notepad.

For a bit at school on Friday but that was the last time.
  Lie.  How many more were to come?

“Jacob, were you aware that Samantha was living on her own, even though she is a minor?”  He turned his green eyes on me, his expression almost daring me to come up with something that wasn’t the truth.

I hesitated for a second.  Honestly I wasn’t quite sure what to say.  Going either way could get me into a lot of trouble, more than I already was.

Should I be talking to either of you without my parents here?
  Now it was my turn to give them a “look.”

“They’ve been called, Jake,” Principal Hill said, his expression looking uncomfortable.  I knew how my mom was going to react when she found out that Principal Hill had let the police question me before they got here.  “Your parents should come any second.”

Setting my notebook down flat on the desk, I crossed my arms over my chest, and stared Officer Blizen in the eye.  I hoped he got the message that I was done talking for a while.

But while I was giving him the stare down, I was panicking on the inside.  It was one thing to lie to these officers, which was pretty freaking bad; it was another lying to my parents about the girl who had spent hours, and many a night under their roof, as practically a part of our family.

It seemed like it took forever, but eventually my mom and dad walked through the doors of my classroom.

“They’re already here?” Mom barely kept from yelling when she saw the officers in the room.  “Tony, he’s just a kid!”