TWENTY-TWO

I couldn’t even put Andrew’s expression into words… the closer I came to describing it was as beyond furious, and even that was not enough.

He stood there, frozen in place, staring at Hunter in a way that made me scared for his life.

Then he finally snapped.  “We don’t have time for this right now.  Kayla, I’m taking Kelly to the hospital, she thinks there is something wrong, so let’s go.”

“But, we weren’t…”

“Don’t care.  I mean… I do care and we will talk about it.  Whatever excuse you have is the part I don’t care about.  Now, I said, LET’S GO.”  Andrew then looked at Hunter, who sat there, speechless, probably wishing he could disappear without having the consequences of having to explain it later.  “YOU!’ he said as he came closer to Hunter, pointing his index finger right at his face.  “I want you gone by the time we get back, and make sure to leave your parents’ address and phone number on the kitchen table.  And trust me, if it’s not there, I will find it one way or another.”

“Yes, Sir.”  Hunter said in a way that by looking at Andrew’s expression almost seemed to have calmed him down.  It was just weird how Hunter had that effect on Kelly and Andrew.

I went downstairs, pajamas and all.  Kelly was already waiting in the car and Andrew said she was feeling a lot of pain, but didn’t go into it. 

Before we got in the car, he leaned toward me, and whispered.  “Not a word about this to your mother… she doesn’t need the stress.  Understood?” 

I nodded.

Kelly seemed to be okay overall, she looked at me surprised and then at Andrew.

“I thought you were just going to leave a note on her desk, honey.”  She said in a questionable tone, looking for an explanation.

Andrew kept looking forward as if he was really focused on his driving.  I knew he was avoiding Kelly’s gaze, as she would see right through him.  “She was up anyway,” he said.

Well, it wasn’t technically a lie.

***

It turned out that Kelly just had heartburn. 

It was already dawn when we got back home.  Andrew avoided talking to me and I knew it was because him being mad would reflect in his tone.  Either way, Kelly knew something was up and even though she was tired and needed rest, she told Andrew she wouldn’t be able to relax until we told her what was going on.

So, he told her… everything!

Kelly gave me that disappointed look that was worse than anything else.

Andrew walked to the kitchen table, grabbing the piece of paper that Hunter had left, ensuring Kelly that he would call his parents and make sure there were consequences, but I just couldn’t allow Hunter to get in trouble when he was doing me a favor.

I looked at Kelly, “Mom, it is really not what it seemed.”

“Well, what was it then, Kayla?!”  Andrew asked in a frustrated tone; knowing that it was exactly as he had seen.

I really had to choose my words carefully not to get into any more trouble.

“I’ve been having these really bad dreams and I’ve been having trouble sleeping again.”  I looked down, avoiding their gaze, feeling awful for lying.  “I didn’t want to worry you.  I was afraid of staying up again; afraid that would lead me to see things like last time and I just thought if I had someone in my room while I slept I would be okay.”

“So, for how many nights has this been happening?”  Kelly asked.

“Just last night, I swear!  And the kiss, I don’t know how that happened.  I don-don’t even like him like that!”  My voice was breaking as I said that, surprising even myself that I couldn’t even say that in a convincing tone.

Kelly sighed.  “Look, Kayla, I’m going to trust you that nothing besides that kiss ever happened before—“

“Honey!”  Andrew interrupted.

Kelly put her hand up for him to allow her to finish.

“Hunter really seems like a good kid, responsible… but Kayla, you need to come to us when you have problems like that.  I want you to see Dr. Moulder again.”

Great!

“Maybe get some distance from Hunter as well.”

“But—“

“Don’t push it, Kayla!” Andrew said.

“Fine!”  I got up and went to my room, got dressed and went back downstairs.

“Where are you going?”  Kelly asked.  “We’ve kept you up all night; you will probably fall asleep in class.”

“No.  I’m good,” I assured them. 

I got in my car, and having sometime before school started, I drove to Hunter’s house.