The walk back felt longer. My ribs were starting to ache again, with every other step.
My brain kept replaying the image of her house. The peeling blue paint. The front step that looked like it would collapse if you looked at it wrong.
The fence was broken in one spot, just a couple of splintered boards hanging loose. The grass in the yard was overgrown, full of weeds.
And the windows were just... grimy. Like no one had washed them in years.
’Does she live there alone?’
A kid her age, in a place like that? The whole street felt quiet. Too quiet.
Where were her parents? The thought just sat there in my head.
Even with my parents overseas, my place was clean. They paid for everything. Soone was taking care of things.
But her? Her uniform was frayed. Her shoes were falling apart. It wasn’t just a ssy house. It was neglect.
’What am I supposed to do?’
The answer was simple: nothing.
It wasn’t my business. Showing up at her door with a toolbox and a can of paint wasn’t going to fix whatever was broken inside that house. That would be overstepping. It would be rude. It would make just another person trying to ’save’ her without asking what she even wanted.
I wasn’t her pillar. I wasn’t her friend. I was just so guy who walked her ho once.
That was the line. I couldn’t cross it.
The school was quiet when I got back, the hallways mostly empty. I walked straight to my class. The door was closed, and I could hear Ms. Lail’s voice from inside, talking about fault lines.
I took a breath and slid the door open, trying to be quiet.
Every head in the room turned.
Ms. Lail stopped mid-sentence. She just looked at , her arms crossed.
"Kofi. Nice of you to join us."
"Sorry," I mumbled. "I had to..."
"I don’t care what you had to do," she cut off. "You can’t just leave in the middle of the school day and then waltz back in whenever you feel like it. There are rules."
She pointed a finger at the door. "Go wait in the hall. We’ll talk after class."
I felt my face get hot. The whole class was staring. I saw Nina look at for a split second, her expression completely blank, before she turned back to face the front.
I didn’t say anything else. I just backed out of the room and slid the door shut.
’Well, crap. Let’s hope the principal doesn’t walk by.’
I leaned against the wall outside the classroom. My ribs were still whining from the sprint to catch up with Thea, and now I was stuck out here, waiting for Ms. Lail to decide my fate.
’Great job, Kofi,’ I thought. ’Chase after so kid you don’t even know and get yourself sent to the principal’s office. Real smooth.’
I pulled out my phone to check if Nina had texted back. Nothing. Just my own ssages staring back at , marked as read but no reply. My thumb hovered over the keyboard, tempted to send sothing else, but I stopped myself.
She was pissed, and spamming her wasn’t going to help.
The door slid open, and I straightened up, shoving my phone in my pocket. Ms. Lail stepped out, arms still crossed, her face showing disappointnt.
"You want to tell what was so important you had to ditch class?"
I opened my mouth, then closed it. What was I supposed to say? ’I was walking a kid ho because she got beat up and I felt bad’? That sounded like an excuse, even if it was true.
"I had to help soone," I said finally, keeping it vague.
She raised an eyebrow. "Help soone. That’s it?"
"Yeah."
Her eyes narrowed, like she was trying to see through . "Kofi, you’re a good kid, but you can’t just walk out in the middle of the day. There’s a system. You talk to a teacher, you go to the office, you don’t just vanish."
I nodded, looking at the floor. "I know. It won’t happen again."
"It better not." She uncrossed her arms, softening a little. "You’re lucky I’m not sending you to the principal. But you’re staying after school tomorrow to make up the work you missed."
"Got it." I didn’t argue. It could’ve been worse.
"Alright, you can enter."
---
I slid into my chair and just let out a breath. My brain felt like a scrambled egg. The last hour had been a complete train wreck, and all I wanted was for the final bell to ring so I could go ho and reboot my entire life.
I risked a glance over at Nina’s desk. She was staring at her desk, looked like she was studying. She didn’t look at . She didn’t even twitch in my direction. The air between our desks, which had been so easy and full of stupid jokes just this morning, now felt like a dead zone.
Next lesson, the classroom was dead quiet, just the scratch of pencils on paper and the occasional cough. The teacher said we could work on whatever we wanted since it was a free period, so I pulled out my sketchbook and flipped to a blank page.
My hand moved without really thinking about it. Just lines at first, then shapes. A sword hilt took form, then the blade. Nothing fancy, just sothing to keep my brain busy.
But it wasn’t working. Every few seconds, my thoughts would drift back to Nina.
’I screwed this up,’ I thought, adding crosshatching to the blade. ’Big ti.’
Then there was Thea. The image of her house kept flashing in my head. The way she’d said "ho" like it was just another word for nowhere else to go.
I started sketching a bird in the corner of the page. Not because I was any good at it, but because she’d said she liked drawing them. A blue jay, maybe. The head ca out all wrong, just like she’d said hers did.
My phone buzzed against my leg.
I glanced up at the teacher. She was grading papers, not paying attention to us. I slipped my phone out carefully, keeping it low under my desk.
It was from Nina.
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