Sang knew going against her step-mother was useless. It would only bring more punishments- more bruises to hide and more questions from those who seen them. But still, she can't see the old Sang Sorenson that looks back at her through the mirror any...
Okay, so not an ending to the cliffy, but you know... It's a chapter. So don't hate me too much.
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~ Chapter Five ~
~A~ Report
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Kota scowled as he grabbed one of his dark green strips of paper back from Gabriel's curious hands. "No peeking, you miscreant." Smiling, Gabriel put up his hands in the universal signal of 'I'm innocent', before dumping the handful of carefully folded notes into the big bowl full of similarly colorful papers.
Gabriel shook the bowl, mixing them. Kota watched as his mind wandered to the boy that had consumed his thoughts for the last two days. Seth Sorenson. Sixteen, green eyed, blond haired- and a complete and total mystery. Kota knew he was like his brothers in a lot of ways. He knew Seth was abused like Nathan and afraid of people, like Gabriel had been when he first entered elementary school.
He was smart though, Mr. Blackbourne had informed Kota last night when he had called to inform their Lead they were interested in a side-project at their Ashley Waters job. Straight A's in his old school records and even though he had only been at school a few days, already the Maths teacher had made notes about his satisfactory marks in class. Mr. Blackbourne had also told him that he was working the other side of Seth's 'investigation'- as Mr. Blackbourne put it- to gain his trust and gauge his reactions to being pulled into the Academy's fast pace.
Kota was happy Mr. Blackbourne had also taken his own interest in Seth. Truthfully, if it hadn't been for Mr. Blackbournes cool reassurances when he was a kid, Kota probably wouldn't have found the Academy- or his brothers. If Mr. Blackbourne could reassure Seth like he had reassured Kota, he was sure they could help Seth with whatever his home situation was like.
North grabbed a stick of celery and peanut butter from the table, scowling at the screen Victor and Luke were battling it out on. There were also carrots and a number of fruits mixed in with all of Luke's unhealthy treats. Kota was glad this time he had actually included good foods. The last time North had brought back fruit and veggies for their sleepovers, the vegetables had ended up in the trash and the fruit had become milk Jello.
Kota had had to give them both 'the team lead face' to get them to stop yelling at one another.
"Where's Seth?" Gabriel suddenly asked, breaking Kota from his thoughts. Kota looked around, but as North had mentioned, neither Seth nor Silas were in the room.
Nathan stood by the back doors, though, leaning close to the slightly jarred space. There was a tight look of surprise to his face, but when he caught Kota's eye, he straightened up and that look of confused determination settling over the tight mouthed face he had adapted recently.
Kota didn't know why, but Nathan had been walking around with that look all day. It was one he hadn't seen before, but knew it was a cousin to the one he wore when dealing with her father. It really stumped Kota as to why he would look that way, but he wasn't willing to pry into Nathan's head when he really wasn't ready to talk about it. He knew that Nathan would come to him when he was ready.
Kota just hoped it was soon.
"Nathan?" North called when he too, noticed Nathan standing by the glass patio doors.
Nathan shook his head. "Seth and Silas are outside. They're talking about Seth's family."
Everyone seemed to pause for a long, silent moment. They were all on the same page about wanting to help Seth. They had talked about it the night before, when Nathan had offered up the idea of having them all over at his place. No one had really come up with a plan of action, but they had all agreed on one thing.
Friends help friends.
"Leave them be." Kota had opened his mouth, but it was Nathan who had spoken. He moved forward, taking a seat on the couch just besides Gabriel.
Surprised, no one said anything until it became almost too awkward to do so. And then, Luke went back to playing the game and North shoved the celery stick into his mouth and turned towards the kitchen.
Kota turned back to the table, where his phone was lying face down next the pen Gabriel had been using to fill out the Keep papers. He wondered how long it would take for Seth to trust them completely.
They wanted to help, but if he didn't start trusting them, it would be impossible for them to help Seth with his parents. No one deserved to be in that kind of situation- even if Seth assured them it was because of the drugs she was taking. It was still abuse, no matter what excuse she had.
"Alright-y, boys," Gabriel grinned as he caught their attention. Time to draw!"
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Call me the cliff master if you will, but I guess it's better than nothing. :) Hate me if you will!
