Animal

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

 

          Chester wasn’t in school the next day and he didn’t answer any of Mike’s texts. Mike wanted to cry. What if Chester was in trouble? What if he was hurting and Mike wasn’t able to help him? And then it was Wednesday and Chester was there. He smiled at Mike.

          “Hey,” he said. Mike glanced at him. Chester looked ok.

          “Hi. Where were you yesterday?”

          “Oh….um…. I wasn’t feeling ok.”

          Mike frowned but Chester didn’t elaborate. Mike shrugged. Chester had promised him that he would tell him if he was hurting.

          “What about your dad? He hasn’t hurt you has he?” Chester asked. Mike shook his head.

          “Nah. He doesn’t want to be around me. He doesn’t know that you and I skipped yesterday. It’s all ok.”

          “That’s good,” Chester said as he held onto Mike’s hand. They were walking around the cafeteria together. It was loud in there so they could talk about personal issues. Chester sighed and then glanced up at the ceiling.

          “Are you sure you’re ok?” Mike asked quietly. Chester nodded.

          “Yea I’m fine. We can’t skip today.”

          “No. But…I mean…..,” Mike tried to think of a way they could talk.

          “When does your dad go to sleep?”

          “Chester…..”

          “When?”

          “I don’t know. Probably like eleven or something.”

          “Ok.”

          “Chester that’s stupid.”

          “I’ll see you later,” Chester said abruptly breaking their contact and walking out of the cafeteria. Chester was way too mysterious and sometimes annoying. He didn’t want to know how Chester was going to get to his house at eleven at night or what he was planning. It was a bad idea. He walked home that day wishing that his family would just leave him alone. Why couldn’t he be with the person he loved? So they’d had a fight. So what? Why couldn’t they make up? Was it just because Chester had called him a Jap? Was that it? He forgave him. Why couldn’t his mom see that? And now his dad was here for the next few days and he wanted to cry. He sighed as he walked inside. He dropped his bag on the floor. He didn’t have any homework.

          “Hey dad,” he called. There wasn’t an answer. He frowned and walked into the kitchen. A note sat on the table.