Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Beat It"

Arjun came home the next morning looking completely worn out. I was in the living room playing video games when the door opened. At first I had thought it was Keto and Veronica coming home from the mall, but when I saw it was Arjun, my eyes widened. Ms. Harlow was usually at work at this time of day, and Arjun knew it. But today, she was taking the day off, which I was sure he didn't know.

Right when we made eye contact, Ms. Harlow called from the kitchen, "Who's that, Randall?"

Arjun's face flushed a deathly pale, and he slowly turned towards the kitchen as his mother entered the room. "Ah...hi Mom."

Ms. Harlow stared for a moment. "Arjun, you're back," she said flatly. I knew she was happy to see him, but I picked up on the controlled anger in her voice. "How was your friend's house?"

Arjun shifted the weight of his bag. "Good. Sorry I didn't call or anything. My phone died and I forgot the charger."

Ms. Harlow raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

I turned back to playing my game. The aura around the two of them was enough to blow up the whole dang house. I tried not to pay attention when Arjun went down the hall, his mom trailing behind him. Moments later, they were shouting at each other. Ugh...how awkward.

I paused my game and headed out to the front porch. I could still hear them fighting, but it was muffled behind the front door. It had been a long time since the last time they argued. Somehow I managed to be present every time they did it.

Keto's car came around the corner then and pulled up along the sidewalk, then. Veronica stepped out of the passenger side with her arm full of shopping bags.

"Aww, waiting for us?" she said as she stepped up to the porch.

I laughed. "You wish. Arjun came home and picked a fight with his mom."

Veronica rolled her eyes. "Why am I not surprised?"

"So are we stuck out here or something?" Keto came up beside her with his own shopping bags. "Did you get kicked out?"

"No, I just didn't want to hear it." I sighed. "You can go in if you want, I guess."

Keto shrugged and went on it, but Veronica plopped her bags on the porch and sat down on the step. For a moment, she was quiet, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. When she looked at me, she sighed and said, "Arjun's been getting into trouble, right?"

I forced myself to shrug nonchalantly. "What do you mean?"

"He's been lying. I...don't think he's been at a friend's house." She paused. "And I think you know where he really was."

I raised my eyebrows. "Me? I have no clue where he was!" It was technically the truth - Arjun never told me where he was specifically going to be - but it still made me nervous.

"It's just, you two have always been close. I feel like he would tell you more than he would tell us," Veronica said, almost in an accusatory way.

"Arjun's close with his mom, too, and he's not telling her anything!" I argued.

"It would be different with a friend! If he was in trouble, you know he'd come to you. He did it all the time in middle school, didn't he?"

I pursed my lips. Boy was that the truth. Whenever Arjun got in a fight, failed an exam, or whatever it was he was too embarrassed to go to his mom about, he would come to me. Like I could have done anything about those things. In high school, he became distant from the rest of us- now I knew why. Apparently he hadn't been too keen to share the illegal stuff he was doing in high school with me like he did now. I kinda wished that was still the case so I didn't have to worry about all this stuff.

"I can't believe him," Veronica said with a stomp of her foot. "He never tells me anything, or Keto! Does he not trust us or something?"

"Uhhh-" It was all I could get out before she kept going, rambling on to herself as she barged into the house. I sat there in silence for a moment, wondering how the heck I was going to get out of this unscathed. How Arjun was going to get out of this. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized how deep into trouble Arjun had gotten himself. What if he got caught? Would he go to jail?

Now I was just freaking myself out. My mouth was dry, and a familiar ache was starting in my stomach. How I wished I could talk about this to my therapist, but I knew I shouldn't. It probably wouldn't even make me feel better about it. I just wanted everything to be normal so badly.

I went inside to find the argument had tapered, but now a new vibe filled the house. Ms, Harlow was in the kitchen, and Arjun was locked in his room. From the look on Ms. Harlow's face as I helped her wash dishes, I knew Arjun hadn't told her anything about where he'd been the last few days.

They didn't speak to each other for the rest of the day.

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Listen to Michael Jackson's "Beat It"!

Peace✌️~ A.J.