The Kids on Exspes Street

Chapter 8: The Call

The shrill ringing of Chase's cell phone awoke him from his restless sleep, and though the contemplated ignoring it, his younger siblings were asleep in the next room over. In reality, the last thing he needed was waking Joey and Clara up, as well as his mother who had only gotten home from her work shift an hour before, and was exhausted as usual. With little grace or urgency, he rolled out of bed, pushing his mess of dirty blonde hair from his eyes as he trudged over the worn carpet below his feet, not bothering to adjust the lopsided boxers that hung unevenly around his hips.

He picked up his cell phone from the desk and jabbed the "answer call" button with his thumb.

"Hello?" he grumbled in obvious agitation, his voice still heavy with sleep and lack of use from the night.

"Chase?" 

The voice was quiet, hushed almost with various noises of others speaking and the occasional squealing of tires in the background. Chase blinked a few times as though trying to refocus, suddenly more alert, and straightened his posture.

"Sage?" he says incredulously, his voice almost holding the same hushed air as the girl on the other line, though his was more one of surprise and confusion. There was an uncomfortable cough over the receiver that was enough of an answer. Chase's thoughts were going a mile a minute, trying to make up for lost time due to his sleep-induced haze. They hadn't talked in how long, now? Sage only called when something was wrong. Very wrong. 

She didn't like relying on others. She never did.

"Are you alright?" his tone had changed, now surprisingly less demanding with concern slipping in through his voice. Sage audibly cleared her throat, and he heard muffled movement through the receiver as she repositioned her phone.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. It's just, I.." she trailed off, and Chase waited. He had been friends with Sage since they were kids. She had never responded well to people prodding in her business; she was stubborn. If she didn't offer the information, you probably weren't going to get it.

"I left town. I got on the normal route on the public bus for school, but I took a few detours, and I just got out of the county and I have no idea what I'm doing." She had been speaking slow at first, almost unwilling, but by the time she was finished with her statement her previously calm and collected tone had turned into a full out anxious ramble. It was out of character for her, both of them knew that. And quite frankly, that scared the hell out of Chase.

"Woah, slow down there, doll face. Why are you leaving town? What the hell happened? I swear to God, if your dad-" Chase's concern began the dangerous transition from concern to anger, but Sage cut him off before he could finish his most likely vulgar threat.

"No, it's not him. Well, technically it is, but not entirely." she says, backtracking on her white lie before continuing her statement in an effort to diffuse Chase's obvious rant that was about to occur. "I just need to get away from here. I've been thinking about it for a while. CPS was going to drop in any day now, and I'm not going back to any of those foster homes. I just.. I just needed to tell someone where I went."

There was silence on the other end of the line, and the guilt that had been tugging at Sage's conscience erupted in a string of words that she had been holding back.

"I'm sorry I haven't called in a while, and I know I only do when I need help. It's stupid and reckless and idiotic, I know, I just need to do things on my own but I can't stay anymore, and-" her voice wavered, almost giving way to an involuntary crack that would surely turn into tears if she didn't stop where she was.

"Stop it. I knew what I was getting into a long time ago. I'm your best friend; it's what I'm here for right?" Chase tried to throw a laugh on the end of it, but it sounded strained and odd even to him. "I'm coming, too. My dad has been back recently, and the only thing I'm doing here is being another mouth to feed. I'm practically an adult now anyway, right?"

"No way. Your family needs you. Your mom, Joey, Clara; I'll be fine. I've done it for 16 years, a few more out here isn't going to kill me." Sage tried to add a bit carefree amusement to her tone but she failed.

"Don't argue Sage. My attendance record sucks anyway. Let me guess, you're in the outskirts of Amiston, right? The public busses hear normally don't cross city limits farther out than that." A sigh was the response he received.

"See you soon then." Chase said, his tone irritatingly chipper to Sage.

The click of a disconnected line signaled his goodbye.