"You DO have a future." I hug him. "I'm not letting them take that from you."
"I love you," he whispers in my ear.
"I love you too."
"You want to study now? Get it over with?"
I sigh and get off his lap. "If we have to, then yeah."
"How are you doing at school?"
"I'm failing, but to be fair, that school is ridiculously hard."
"And you're really smart. You can do this, Rumor. Don't tell yourself you can't."
"Why do you keep giving me pep talks about school? I don't care about school."
"I want you to care. I don't want you stuck working some shitty job after you graduate."
"Then I'll get a job that isn't shitty," I say with a smile.
"You know what I mean. I want you to go to college. Maybe we could go together."
"To USC?" I laugh. "Yeah, I guarantee they wouldn't let me in there."
"They might if you get your grades up. Brock's a guest lecturer there. That alone is enough for them to consider you."
"Brock teaches classes?"
"He's not on staff. He just gives a lecture now and then to the acting students, and sometimes he'll take a few of them on set."
"Let me guess. Hot girls he wants to sleep with?"
Jackson laughs. "Probably." He points to my backpack. "Let's get started."
"In a minute." I turn to him. "First I have to tell you something."
"What is it?"
"I think I might know where my dad is. I overheard Brock talking on the phone right before I came here and I'm almost positive he was talking about my dad."
"Brock is your dad."
I shake my head. "I meant Devon. Brock was asking the guy on the phone to find him. He said he didn't want him showing up here but wanted to know where he is. He told the guy I'd heard from him, so they had to have been talking about my dad, I mean Devon."
"So where is? Do you know?"
"I'm not sure but I think the guy on the phone was telling Brock that Devon was last seen in some town by Mexico. I forgot the name, but it was something I've heard before. I think it was the same place I heard that lady say in the background when my dad called me. I mean, Devon." I squeeze my eyes shut. "What was the name? El something. I should've wrote it down."
"El Paso?"
"No, but that's close." I open my eyes. "El Centro! I think that was it. Look it up. See if it's real."
Jackson searches on his phone. "Yeah, it's real. It's about two hours from here. By Baja. Border town."
"Do you think he's still there?"
"I'm guessing he's in Mexico. He probably took a bus to El Centro that night you talked to him, then crossed the border the next day."
