Chapter 18
Twenty-four hours later, my phone vibrates under my pillow. Half asleep, I roll on my back and check the screen. It’s a text from Irene, a picture really, with the caption, “Mason won’t tell us anything.”
I stare at the photo.
“Holy crap,” I say aloud.
“What?”
I roll over and see my mother at the hotel table she’s using as a desk. She’s got her hair back and her glasses perched on her nose. To be honest, it’s weird not waking up in the camper, but when I told my mom that I was ready to go back home and face reality, she said she wanted to come with me. I promised her she could be back for the Fourth. I have little doubt she has a certain Hawkins man she wants to spend it with.
Our schedule is tight, but right now we’re in Charlotte, North Carolina on the way back to Nashville.
“Irene just sent me this picture of Mason.” I crawl out of the bed and hand her the phone. She squints and looks at the picture.
“Someone gave him a black eye, huh?”
“Looks like it.”
She looks over the phone and at me sitting on the edge of my bed. With a raised eyebrow she asks, “Any idea who?”
“I’ve got a couple suspects in mind.” I think of which boys had vanished off that dock when Pete and Justin got me out of the water. I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of either Nick or Whit’s fists. I look at the photo again.
“Do you think he’ll press charges?” I ask.
My mother stares at me for a brief moment. “Not if he doesn’t want to explain why he followed an eighteen-year-old student to South Carolina in the first place.” I get out of the bed, searching for my clothes for the long car ride ahead. My mother busies herself with her work but pauses to add, “I know you think you’re running to fix your past, but are you sure you’re not just running away again?”
“From who?”
She stares at me. “Whoever gave Mason that shiner. Whoever cares about you back in that little beach town?”
“This is something I need to do,” I tell her, heading for the bathroom. We’re still sharing tight quarters but at least my elbows don’t hit the walls in the shower. “And those guys on the beach…they’ll be okay. They’ve got plans.”
Again, I feel my mother’s eyes on me, but I’ve ma
de my decision. I’m dealing with my past so I can face my future. A future I know good and well doesn’t involve four guys from the beach.
* * *
Headmaster Yancey blinks from across the desk. I’ve just told him about Mason and our relationship. His bald head shines from the overhead lighting and his lips purse in a thin line. My mother holds my hand and I feel her nails dig into my palm. He thinks I’m lying. He’ll take Mason’s side. He’ll—
“I’m so sorry this happened to you.”
Happened to me.
Happened. Not you were involved. Or you participated in, which are words more familiar to my truth, but I knew the minute I walked in here one of two things would happen. They would believe me, or they wouldn’t.
I breathed out a sobbing sigh of relief.
He believed me, not only that he’d recently become aware of some other issues concerning Mason. “This information, along with his recent arrest, will not be tolerated at our school. I can fire him for the arrest, that’s a direct violation of his employee contract, but don’t worry. We’ll follow up on this allegation and see it through.”
“Arrest?”
He looks down at a piece of paper on his desk. “Down in Ocean Beach, South Carolina. Disorderly conduct. Public intoxication.”
Mom and I glance at one another but say nothing. I think this may finally be over. For real this time, and I’m okay with that. I just want to move on. Move forward.
Taking a deep breath, I say, “I do have one question.”