CHAPTERSIXTY
ASTRID
After fumbling with my phone,I slipped into my car and tried to turn it on, but my keys were nowhere to be found.I checked my pockets, then the passenger seat, then my pockets again, only to come up empty-handed.
Where the hell are they?
“Astrid!”Cairo shouted from his car.
I glanced over to see him dangling my keys, then jumped out to grab them.
“Do you want me to drive you?”he asked.“You look …”
“Like I’m going to have a panic attack?”I asked, slipping back into his car.“Yes, I am, and, yes, I’d like for you to drive me, if you don’t mind missing first period.I don’t know why, but I have this really bad feeling in my stomach.”
Something wasn’t right.I just knew it.
My phone sat on my bouncing thigh, Diya’s messages on the screen.
Diya: Astrid.
Diya: I need you.
Diya: Please, come now.
Something about those words sent a chill up my spine.He sped out of the Dunkin’ parking lot and headed straight for Redwood Academy, driving through the parking lot to see if Diya was here.
But she wasn’t, and neither was Calix.
“Fuck,” I murmured.“He found out.”
“Who?Calix?About what?”
“About Diya being pregnant.”
“Diya’s pregnant?”Cairo asked.
Guess he doesn’t know as much as I thought …
“Yes, but you can’t tell anyone, okay?She’ll kill me …”If Calix hasn’t killed her yet.
“Who’s the father?”Cairo asked.When I didn’t respond, Cairo glanced over at me for a brief moment, pulling to a stop at the Stop sign.He began driving once more, his eyes turning from confusion into shock.“You’ve got to be kidding.”
“You can’t tell anyone!”I said, turning toward him and grabbing his hand.“Please.”
“I won’t, but their stepdad?”
“I know,” I whispered, spotting their house in the distance.“I know.I know.”
Once Cairo parked out front, I leaped out of the car and headed with him up the front walkway to the door that was wide open.Calix was shouting inside, his voice echoing out the front door.And it sounded like … crashing and screaming.
“Calix, stop!”Diya shouted.
I hurried into the house, my heart pounding so hard that I could feel it in my throat.My stomach twisted into ugly knots.I ran up the stairs, my mind racing with possibilities as to what was happening—none of them good.
When I reached Diya’s room, she was standing on her bed, with her stepfather on one side and Calix on the other.Calix was screaming, shouting at his stepfather, not having noticed me yet.And the poor man already had a black eye forming from Calix.
“Diya!”I shouted, pushing past Calix to pull her off the bed.“Get down.”
