Chasing Cars

Chapter Fourteen

Follow Charleston? Into her lair? No thanks! I'm living proof that Charleston's office is not a place where anyone wants to go. Ever. I wouldn't consider it humane for prisoners to be taken in there.

When the sound of Charleston's heels on the hard floor began to fade, Sue appeared from wherever she had been residing. "What would she want us for? I just got here!" I asked aloud, wondering why I would be needed - again - in Charleston's office. 

"Maybe she noticed you leave and come back," Sue said quietly, not meeting my questioning gaze. That could very well be true, but why would she need Sue? I considered the possibility of Charleston knowing about my and Sue's phone call. 

But then I noticed something about Sue. She was staring at the floor, not looking up. When she spoke, her voice was quiet and dull, not full of life like it was all the time. She knew something. I knew she did. There was no way she was just as confused as I was. I rolled my chair in front of her, blocking her path.

Since she wasn't looking up, Sue almost tripped over me before she looked up at me. "What?!" she exclaimed, raising her arms in annoyance. I narrowed my eyes at my friend. "What do you know? What happened?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Sue asked, still feigning confusion. "Don't give me that. Why are we going to Charleston's office? What happened? Something obviously happened, and I know it's not because I left. I would've gotten a call from Mom about it by now."

"Stop interrogating me! Don't you have drugs to deliver or something?" she snapped, stepping past me and walking ahead, still looking down. But I was still for a moment longer, just watching her go.

"I don't deliver them..." I whispered. Sue knew that mentioning my parent's horrid "job" was not something to be mentioned, and especially if it involved me. She knew I didn't want anything to do with their business. She knew it and she made a promise to never speak of it unless she had a genuine question about it. But she used it as a comeback on me. A bigger offense than anything I had ever done to her. She used it and proved to have no regrets about it, as she was still walking, now much further ahead.

I wasn't going to the office. Not with Sue. Not with Charleston. Not with anyone. I had been there before, and I was never going back. My gut was telling me to leave again, to hurry out the door before Sue or Charleston could come stop me, but at the same time, my mind was telling me to get Sue back first. Whether or not she offended me, she was my best friend. I couldn't let anything happen to her. 

Stay? Go? What do I do? I looked at the ceiling, as if looking for God's opinion on this decision. But not even he could help me in this moment. Because sooner than later, Charleston would stick her head out the office door, looking for me, and if I was still rooted to the floor like I was, then my chances of actual survival this time probably weren't looking too good.

Just then I heard a voice behind me. "Karev?"

Slowly turning around, I found Andrew standing in front of a closed classroom door. "What are you doing?" he asked. His eyes looked similar to Sue's. The look was hard to read, but it almost looked like...shame? Regret? My confusion was growing like a tumor. What had happened while I was absent?

"Charleston wants me." I answered coolly. If Sue wouldn't say anything, I was sure Andrew wouldn't either, and I didn't need a second person blaming me for something my parents were up to. 

"What?!" the look on Andrew's face vanished, and it was replaced with cold, hard fear. "You okay..?" I asked, moving a little closer toward him and raising a questioning eyebrow. I felt much more confident about asking questions when the unreadable look was not on his face.