Ryan, it's me, your mom. I need to talk to you. It's urgent. Can you meet me at the mall tomorrow? Don't be late." The words had etched in his mind and his thoughts trailed away to what she had said. Why did she want to meet him now and why did it sound so urgent?
She'd called him late last night, long after he went to bed, and with an upset voice told him that she wanted to meet him up personal and that it was very urgent. When he'd pressed her on why she wanted to meet him she'd told him that she couldn't talk and then hung up.
He had felt like a fool, standing there with the phone in his hand. When Sandy had asked him if everything was all right he'd just shrugged it off with a "Just peachy" and then went back to the poorhouse. The whole night had been spent thinking why she had called him.
It had been several months since the morning she left after the disastrous party that had started fine but ended up in chaos. She had been so drunk that she had fallen flat on her ass and embarrassed herself as well as the Cohen's. The vision of her walking down the stairs, all dressed up and happy, had followed him for months. He'd been so very proud of her. Then when she had been so drunk it was like the dream of having a mother had crushed and he became angry but also very sad. When she had left him without a word he swore that he would never talk to her again. That was until last night when she'd called him up and soon he was about to stand face to face to her again.
It was the last period of the day and he couldn't wait until he got out of there. The class was history and they had Mr Crownfield, the schools toughest teacher. He knew that he should listen to the man talking about Kings and Queens in Europe but it was too hard to concentrate. The subject was boring but there was other stuff on his mind too. This morning after breakfast Sandy and Kirsten had asked him who called last night. He'd lied and told them it was Marissa wondering something about homework. They hadn't pressed on but it was clear that they didn't believe him either.
For some strange reason he didn't want to tell the Cohen's that his mother had called, especially not since he had a bad hunch about it all. Chances were that if they both knew, Kristen and Sandy would have volunteered to go with him to the mall. Like he was some kind of young kid. His mother had also made it clear that she wanted to meet him alone so telling someone was not an option.
Talking to Seth was out of the question since his "brother" suffered from the flu virus that was going around and was sound asleep when he left for school. Ryan had been lucky enough not to catch it even though at this moment he would have nothing against it since it would have been a possible excuse to get out of the meeting. The mere thought of talking to his mother sent butterflies to his stomach. What if she would tell him that he had to come and live with her again? What if he had to leave the Cohen's and Marissa? What if he had to leave everything that he started to build up here?
Ryan sighed.
Even if Seth had been well enough to listen he wasn't sure that he would have said anything to him. Mainly because every time he mentioned something about his past, his family back home, Seth got something dark in his eyes. At times it was like he didn't want to acknowledge that Ryan had a past. That he had another family and that he'd grew up in Chino and not Newport. Those rare times when Ryan told something about his past Seth often acted weird. He would place an arm around his friends shoulder and then say with a false cheerful tone that those things happened in the past and now everything is different.
But was it really that different?
He was still the kid from Chino. The outsider that was fortunate enough to get shelter with the Cohen's. The lucky bastard that got to start a new life.
"Atwood!" The booming voice of his history teacher Mr Crownfield sounded in the class room.
Jerking back from his thoughts he looked up just to be met with the teacher's hard eyes. "Have you listened to a word I've said Atwood?" The tall bald-headed man asked with a frown. Every head in the classroom turned in his direction, making him feel very uncomfortable at the sudden attention he'd attracted.
"Eh..Uh I'm sorry sir." Ryan swallowed hard, his head throbbing from the lack of sleep and stomach churning from being nervous.
"Mr Atwood I don't know what you're used to where you come from but here students pay attention when their teachers talk." He looked sternly at Ryan who sat up straighter in his chair. "Now will you kindly tell the class about why England's king killed his young wife?"
Ryan swallowed hard. He had no idea what to say since he hadn't listened to a word that had been said. Staring down in his history book he hoped that the bald headed teacher would let him get off this time without further questioning.
"Well Atwood, I'm waiting." The teacher tapped impatiently with his stick against his desk. The sound made Ryan even more nervous and he felt like he was being pressed into a hole. "If you stopped being up all night partying maybe you would pay more attention to what's being taught in the lessons."
Ryan nodded. There was no way he was going to tell the teacher the real reason for him being awake all night. He would rather bite the bullet.
"Since you haven't paid attention to this lesson I'm going to give you extra homework. I want you to read pages 654 to 715 by tomorrow and then I want you to do a paper on the king I've devoted this whole lesson to. The king that you so comfortable dismissed.
He groaned inwardly. The last thing he wanted to do was to be cooped up in the pool house having to read history. Yet there was not much he could do about it now. He would have to deal with the homework when coming back from the meeting with his mother.
As soon as the teacher was out of his view Luke leaned over to him and said with a hushed tone, "Dude, you were lucky just to get out off with homework. Crownfield is known to be the teacher that gives out most detentions in school. He's a real hardass."
Ryan nodded.
"I heard that Mr Ward!" The teacher's voice boomed. Turning to the two students he went on," "Since you ," he laid his hand on Luke's shoulder, "were so eager to point out that I'm an hardass as you call it then I better fulfil my reputation." He paused while looking at them, "Therefore I've decided to give you both one hour detention. Effecting immediately after class!" There was a noise of surprise going in the classroom. Mr Crownfield had served in the military when young and this was often noticed in his way of serving out detentions.
Ryan groaned. Having homework was bad but why was he getting an hours detention on top of everything? Especially when he'd done nothing wrong? Luke who knew how the teachers mind operated hushed him down. Disobeying or mouthing back was the worst anyone could do and it would only serve to more trouble. "Don't," he whispered.
Ryan sat there in silence. There was no way he could do this today. Not when his mother needed him. Rubbing a hand across his face he did his best to turn his attention to the book but it was hard since all he could think off was how to get out of the situation.
The time seemed to tick away so slow that it was painful and when the class was finally over Ryan felt nervousness creep up inside of him. Getting up from his seat he desperately hoped that the teacher had forgotten all about his detention when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder.
"Where do you think you're going Atwood?"
Turning around he was met with the teacher's cold eyes.
"I..I.." His mouth felt like cotton and it was hard to find the words. He really had to get to his mother or he was afraid that she wouldn't wait up for him until he was done with the detention. Part of him wanted so bad to tell the teacher his reasons for leaving but one look at the older man told him that it would be useless. All that would happen was that it would slip out, first to Luke and then to the Cohen's and the reaction wouldn't be too nice. On top of that he feared that he wouldn't be able to leave anyways so it was better to keep his mouth shut.
"Sit down then..I didn't give you permission to leave did I?" The teacher pressed him down in his desk.
Ryan tried desperately to find a way out. Things like this had always made him all jittery. He'd never liked talking and in the past words had not been his way of expressing things. In Chino it was the fists that did the talking and if a situation like this had happened over there he had walked out of the classroom not bothering to ask for permission to get out off the detention. But in Newport it was something else. Here he had to learn to defend himself with words.
His head hurt from reading since the text blurred all the time making him have to start all over again all the time. When the teacher walked back to his desk, Luke leaned towards him again, "What's your problem dude. Why are you so nervous?" He added with a smile, "Is Marissa waiting for you?"
"No." Ryan shook his head. He thought several seconds before deciding on telling the truth. After all Luke was the one that he had shared his secret with about his dad being gay, even if it was an accident that was not supposed to be found out. "It's my mom. She called me yesterday and wanted to meet me at the mall..right after school."
"Oh..What a bummer," Luke said. "I wished I'd kept my big mouth shut and then you would have been able to go."
Ryan said nothing but deep inside he thought the same. Still he let nothing on. "It´s ok man."
"No it's not. Pretend to go to the bathroom and I'll cover for you."
"Atwood, Ward," Crownfield interrupted them with a harsh tone, "ladies. I didn't say that you could talk, did I?" He looked sternly at them.
"No." Ryan shook his head but at the same time wishing he hadn't done so since it only made his headache intensifying a knot.
"Good then NO talking." The teacher boomed from the front of the classroom.
With a sigh Ryan turned back his attention to the textbook. Time was passing so slowly and he kept glancing at his watch, counting the minutes that he was going to be late. When only fifteen minutes had passed, he was actually having a hard time sitting still. There were no telling if his mom would wait for him and if she wasn't he didn't know when he would be able to see her the next time. She hadn't left any phone number for him and when she'd called last night it had been from a phone booth.
Ryan decided he had to do something about the situation. The more he thought about not being there for his mom when she needed him, the worse he felt. He couldn't let her down. After all she was the one that had called him, needing his help. In his mind he was trying to find an escape route when it suddenly struck him. Hadn't Luke told him to pretend to go to the bathroom? And that he would cover for him? With that in mind a strategy folded out in his mind.