I wasn’t sure why that mattered.
I just wanted to see my sister.
Jasper reached into his back pocket and produced his ID, handing it over. “We are.”
She took the IDs and walked to the computer off to the side of where she’d been standing. She typed in a few names and said, “Are you taking her home?”
I didn’t know.
Anders was a smarty pants, and her favorite place in the world was school. She wouldn’t want to go home, I didn’t think. But I wouldn’t rule out that option.
“I’m not sure.”
“Then why are you here?”
I gritted my teeth. “My little sister called me crying and begged me to come.”
“How’d she do that?” The woman stiffened.
“On her cell phone?” I rolled my eyes.
“Students aren’t allowed cell phones at school anymore. That’s a state law.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How about you go get my sister, and we can discuss state law after I know that she’s okay?”
Jasper’s hand came down on my wrist and he squeezed.
Not until it was painful or anything, but hard enough to provide me with a warning.
A warning that I needed, because I was losing my shit.
And the school wouldn’t let me in here if I didn’t calm myself.
I barely contained the urge to start making a scene, but the receptionist gave in and picked up her phone. She dialed a number and then said, “Mrs. Lancaster, this is the front office. Can you send Anders Hodges up to the office?”
They exchanged a few more words before she hung up and said, “You can wait over there.”
I didn’t bother to look where ‘over there’ was. Instead, I stayed exactly where I was, a few feet from the door, and waited impatiently, shifting from foot to foot as I did.
“Would you calm down?” he whispered. “You look fuckin’ nuts right now.”
I was “fuckin’” nuts.’
I didn’t respond and instead stayed where I was, continuing my leaning from foot to foot.
When she finally pushed through the doors, her eyes were red and swollen, and her lip was quivering.
“Anders, what’s wrong?”
She hit me like a battering ram, and the only thing that kept me upright was Jasper’s hands on my hips.
“Oooph,” I grunted as all the air left my lungs.
“Tell me it’s not true!” she begged.
“What’s not true?”
She pulled back, her watery eyes filled with tears. “You told me Santa was real!”
