I drove home quietly, preferring to dream up all sorts of vicious punishments for Liam to listening to music. I still didn't understand why he had locked me in the locker. Had it been for Sadie, his own private amusement, or did he truly think I was gay and that he was doing me a favor? I wasn't completely sure but I supposed it didn't really matter. What was done was done and so Liam was going to feel the brunt of my wrath.
I stormed into my house and was about to head up to my room when I heard my mom call, "Nate! Come here for a moment, darling."
I walked into the kitchen. Thankfully, Jerry was nowhere to be seen. "How did your game go?" Mom asked. "You sure are late getting back. Did you go out with the guys and have a good time?"
I choked a little on that. "Something like that," I said. "The game went well. We won and I scored a bunch of goals."
"Great!" Mom said. "I'm sorry I couldn't have been there. You know how hard it is for me to get off work. "
Yeah, except she and Jerry had always managed to get off work for Aaron’s games.
"Your brother called to find out how the game went,” Mom said. "He asked me to remind you that you need to pick up Sadie's sister Caroline tomorrow morning and take her to the middle school for her debate club."
"On man," I said instinctively, ready to start whining. Then I remembered Gus. Perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea to spend a little more time around the Anderson family. I might pick up some clues about whether Gus was really my father.
"Yeah, I'll do it," I said. I watched my mother’s face to see what sort of reaction she would have to what I said next. "I saw Mr. Anderson the other day by when I cut his lawn," I said. "He mentioned that he wanted to get in touch with you. I've got his card around here somewhere. I'll find it and give it to you. I didn't realize you two knew each other. "
"Yes, we're old friends from high school,” Mom said calmly. "How is he?"
I shrugged. "It's difficult to tell," I said. "He seemed healthy enough when he was talking to me but doesn't have his hair back or anything yet. Beyond that I'm not sure. You should get together with him and ask him yourself."
Mom just nodded. "I'll have to get together with him soon," she said.
I watched her for another few moments try to see if she would reveal anything else. She didn't.
"Fine then," I said. "Good. I should probably get some sleep if I'm going to wake up early to drive Caroline to school."
"Don't you want any dinner?" Mom asked.
I looked at the kitchen counter and saw that she had already set out a nice dinner for me. "Yeah, thanks," I said. "I'll just take it upstairs with me."
"Oh, okay," she said, sounding disappointed. "Good night then.”
"Night," I mumbled as I grabbed the plate and ran upstairs. I wanted to do some Facebook stalking of Liam to see if I could find anything that would help me get my revenge.
As I searched through his profile, however, I realized that it was surprisingly hard to think of revenge on the spot. I wracked my brain for all sorts of intricate ways to get back at Liam but the only thing I came up with was punching him right in the face. That's what I really
wanted to do. I finally gave it up and went to bed. I decided I would do whatever came to mind on the spot. If that was pummeling Liam with my fist, well, so be it.
When my alarm clock woke me up the next morning I groaned and rolled out of bed tiredly. I threw on a shirt and shorts and plodded down to the kitchen where I grabbed a banana and headed out the door. I finally looked at the clock again as I was driving to the Andersons’ house. Crap, I was 10 minutes late. Oh well, I figured 10 minutes wouldn’t make that much of a difference.
When I arrived the front door flung open and a girl who looked to be about 13 or 14 ran down the steps. I looked around to see if Gus would follow her out but he was nowhere to be seen.
The girl opened the passenger door almost shyly. “I'm Caroline," she said. "Are you Nate?"
I remembered what Gus had told me about Caroline watching me from the window. She knew very well who I was but to point that out would embarrass her. Instead, I just nodded and said, "Yeah, that’s me. Hop in."
The girl jumped in eagerly and set her backpack down between her knees. "Thanks so much for doing this," she said. "My dad really appreciates it. My aunt has to drive him a long ways to a special doctor to get checked out on Wednesdays so this really helps us."
"Yeah, no problem," I said. I backed out of the driveway and headed towards the middle school.
"So I heard you like soccer," Caroline said.
"Yeah," I replied. "Do you play?"
"A little," Caroline said. "Sadie tried to teach me but I'm just not as good as her. I stick to things like music and debate club."
Poor girl. She was probably going to be one of those nerdy girls in high school. Although, who knew? She looked a lot like Sadie, so maybe she would turn out to be hot. Hot nerdy girls were still hot.
They were a few moments of silence. I didn't really know what else to say. My mind wasn't fully functioning at 6:30 AM.
“Do you like Lakeville?” Caroline finally asked.
I thought about EL Diablo and Liam and Bryson and everyone else would
had been so crappy to me there.
"It's okay," I said neutrally.
There was another moment of silence. "I like your brother," Caroline blurted out.
"What?" I asked.
"Your brother," Caroline said. "I like him. He seems nice."
"Oh yeah," I said. "He's a great guy. I miss him. It would have been kind of fun if he had still been here this year. I've never been in the same school as him. I guess you probably feel the same way with Sadie graduating next year. You guys won’t have a chance to go to the same school either."
"Ha," Caroline laughed. "I think that's probably for the best. Maybe brothers could go to the same school together but not sisters. We get on each other's nerves too much as it is. I wonder whether it’s the same between a brother and a sister. Do you have any sisters?”
The question maybe me jump a little. I looked sideways at Caroline to see if she knew something about Gus and my mom. She was looking at me pretty innocently, though. If she had any inclination of what I was thinking she kept it to herself.
"No," I said. Then I realized Caroline had just opened the door for me to ask some questions about her family. "How about you?" I asked. "Do you have any other siblings?"
Caroline shook her head. "Nope," she said. "It's just Sadie and me. My mom passed away when we were little so we are the only kids my parents had."
"I'm sorry to hear that," I said. "Do you at least have any cousins in the area? They can be sort of like siblings sometimes."
Caroline shook her head again. "My aunt Julie is pretty close to our family but beyond that all my relatives live
kinda far away," she said. "I guess that makes me a bit nervous about coming to high school next year. A lot of people have older brothers and cousins at the school to look out for them but I’ve just got my middle school friends."
"Don't worry about it," I said. "High school isn't so bad. I should know
, I've been to two with them now. Plus, you know me and I'll be there next year. I'll look out for you."
It was a kind of thing that I figured a big brother would say to a little sister. Caroline seemed to think of it differently, however. She gave me a surprised but pleased look. We are just pulling up to the middle school when she reached over and touched my arm. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "That means a lot.”
I stopped the car and she stroked my arm gently. I knew what that kind of touch meant. Caroline had a crush on me and clearly thought I was reciprocating. I prepared myself for the difficult task of setting her straight but just then she opened the door.
“Thanks Nate!” Caroline said excitedly, got out, and slammed the door behind her.
I swore at myself as I drove off. That little incident was going to come back to bite me. Oh well, the next time I saw her I would clear things up.
I decided to head to the high school. I would be there early but that was okay, I didn't really feel energetic enough to work out or do anything else. At least I would get a prime parking spot.
I got to the school and pulled into the front parking lot. As I did I noticed three guys in letter jackets strolling towards the school. My eyes immediately fixated on one of them. Liam. My anger returned with a vengeance.
Liam glanced over and caught my eyes and then, to my shock, he looked away again as if nothing had happened. He actually had to nerve to lock me up in a locker with another dude and then act as if it were no big deal. That was it. I slammed on the brakes, screeching the car to a halt, and leapt out.
The three guys glanced at me with startled expressions. I made sure they didn't have a chance to react. I ran around the hood of my car and launched myself at Liam. His eyes widened with surprise as I slammed into him, executing a perfect football tackle that swiftly brought his body to the ground. I sat on his chest and started raining blows down on his face.
The other guys started yelling and jumped on me. The four of us rolled around on the pavement swearing and punching and kicking. It was like one massive whirlwind of violence.
"Hey… Hey!” someone else yelled but I ignore the sound. My mind was overcome with rage and the only thing I wanted to do at that moment was to slam my fist into Liam’s face.
“Hey! Boys! Cut it out!” the newcomer yelled.
One of the guys looked up and swore. He extricated himself from the mess of fists and sprinted away.
"That's enough!" A moment later someone was pulling us all apart.
“Crap,” Liam said. I glanced around and saw that a middle-aged man wearing decidedly teacher-esque clothing was glowering down at us. I gave up fighting. It was one thing to fight with students but fighting with a teacher was a death sentence.
Liam and his friend who hadn’t been quick enough to get away stood up.
I followed suit.
“Names,” the teacher barked.
“Nate Caldwell,” I said grudgingly.
“Simon Brown,” Liam’s friend said.
Then Liam glared at me and wiped away some blood from his nose with the back of his hand. “I’m Chris,” he said. “Chris Hall.”
Less than 10 minutes later I found myself in the principal’s office. I'd never been in this particular principal’s office but I knew how the game was played. I was looking at a minimum three-day suspension or, given my record, potentially expulsion.
Principal Everett sat down at her desk and looked at me over the rims of her glasses. “Nathan Caldwell,” she said. “I’ve been looking at your file. It seems you were recently expelled from
Southcrest Military Academy for..."
"Funny business with the commandant’s daughter," I supplied helpfully.
"I see," Principal Everett said. She didn't seem amused. "So, do you want to tell me what the fight in the parking lot was all about?"
"It was all a big mistake, that’s all,” I said. “I thought that Chris was his twin brother Liam. They’re identical, I guess. I’m sure you can understand how I made the mistake.
“Yes, but that still raises the question of why you wanted to attack a student at all and whether you might still do it given that you have not succeeded in injuring your intended victim,” the principal said.
She had a point. I would definitely still pummel Liam if I got the chance. “I’ve learned my lesson,” I lied. “I’m very sorry.”
The principal sighed. “Do you know what would happen if you attacked a person two years from now when you’re no longer in high school? You’d be thrown in jail. Have you ever heard about the Thin Skull Rule? That means if you punch someone and they have preexisting condition which you didn’t know about, but which they die from because you punched them, you’re guilty of murder.”
I frowned. “What?” I asked in confusion.
“You cannot fight!” she said in exasperation. “If you do, you could end in jail for a very, very long time.”
“Okay, I get it ma’am,” I said. “I’m very sorry. Like I said, it was all a big misunderstanding.”
“Yes, well, it seems that Chris agrees,” Principal Everett said. “He made a rather impassioned plea to me not to punish you.”
That was definitely a new twist.
“Seriously?” I said.
“Yes,” she said. “Chris has told me a few things about Liam and under the circumstances I understand his concern. I hope you know how important it is to Chris that you do not tell anyone how Liam offended you, however that was.”
Chris didn’t want me to tell people what Liam did to me? Well, this was unorthodox, but that much was fine with me. I didn’t care about embarrassing Liam; I just wanted to hurt him. I shrugged. “Sure. So... should I go back to class?”
"Oh, you're not going back to class," the principal said. "I’ve decided to give you a break from extended punishment but I’m not going to let you go back into my school the same day you've been fighting. There is a mandatory one-day suspension for fighting on school grounds. I'll speak to your teachers and ask them to let you make up the work. Now, leave the premises."
The rest of the students in the school were just beginning to arrive as I got back in my car and drove away. I hadn't had the courage to ask the principal what the policy on one-day suspensions was but I was almost certain that Jerry and my mom were going to be notified. That was going to make for some very awkward conversations at home.
I started to drive back to my house and then paused. Why would I go there? There was nothing to do there but wait for my parents. If I was going to get in trouble, I might as well do something worthwhile beforehand.
I slowly pulled over the side of the road and stopped. I could do anything I wanted to do. What would it be? Go to a movie? Kick the soccer ball around? Work out?
And then something that Caroline had said suddenly occurred to me. Gus was at his doctor’s office today. Caroline and Sadie were at school. That meant that no one was at the Anderson residence.
What if Gus had some evidence that I was his son in his house? Maybe he had a few old photos or had clipped a newspaper article about me from the paper or maybe he had a letter from my mom. If there was any evidence that I was his son, it would be in that house. I would never have another opportunity like this when I knew for sure that no one else was there. If I didn't seize the moment now, it would be lost.
I pulled a u-
ey in the middle of the street and headed towards the Andersons’ house. I was going to find out once and for all who my true father was.
I drove to the street that the Andersons lived on. I parked under a tree across from the house and slid down in my seat. I glanced over at the house. The lights inside were off and there were no cars in the driveway. It certainly seemed as if no one was home.
I looked around the street. It was just a quiet day in suburbia. A woman was walking down the street with a baby stroller and a dog but beyond that there was no one in sight. I waited until she passed the house and then I studied the house some more. There was no sign of any movement inside at all.
I got out of the car and walked to the house. I looked through the windows by the front door. I still couldn't see anyone inside. Well, it was now or never.
I had never broken into a house before but I figured people in this peaceful little town wouldn’t be too cautious. I tried the front door just in case someone forgot to lock it. No luck.
I looked under the mat in case the key was there.
Still no luck.
I casually walked around the back of the house. I looked around for a lock box or some hiding place for a key, like a pot or a high ledge. As I was looking around I noticed a strange-looking rock sitting on the ground just at the edge of the deck. That was an unusual place for such a big rock. I bent down and tapped my finger on it. It was most definitely not a real rock. I picked it up and sure enough there was a flat bottom with a latch in it. I slipped the latch open and the house key came out. Bingo!
I let myself in the house and then called out, "Hello?" No one answered. "Hello? I saw this door was open and I just want to make sure someone's home." Still no answer. I was good to go.
What to do now? Truth be told, I haven't given it a lot of thought. Well, if I was going to find some photos or files of me, it was probably going to be in the desk or file cabinet of some type. Did Gus have an office or den in the house? If so, I thought I should start by looking for it on the top floor. I would get that out of the way first so later if someone did come home I could dart out the back door on main floor instead of getting stuck upstairs.
I walked upstairs as quietly as possible and then realized that it was silly to tiptoe when no one was home. I looked in the first door I came too. I saw a plethora of stuffed animals and other girly things. That must be Caroline's room. I figured middle school girls probably still had a lot of their old childhood stuff. I kept going. The next room I saw had numerous posters of athletes on the wall. That would be Sadie’s room. I kept walking and then all of a sudden stopped. I knew I shouldn't but I just couldn't help myself. I walked back and stepped inside.
Soccer trophies adorned the bookshelves of Sadie’s room and I realized now that all of the posters were of soccer players. There were a number of female players including one of the whole U.S. national team but there were a number of men as well, including an enormous one of
Cristiano Ronaldo with his shirt off. I grinned. I wondered how much my brother enjoyed that looking down at him as he made out with Sadie.
I glanced at the papers on her desk. It was only fair after all; I had caught her snooping through my room last year. I didn't find anything exciting though, just some papers for school work. I opened the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a wrinkled sheet of paper with a list of names on it.
A couple were circled. All the names were names of boys that had gone to Lakeville and I saw some familiar ones. Sam Queen. Dylan Myers. David Reagan. Oh, and at the bottom of the list there was the name Aaron Caldwell. Someone had underlined it several times and drawn hearts next to it. My grin grew. Sadie always acted like a tough sports chick but it seemed she was just a mushy girl at heart.
I looked around a little more but I didn't see anything else of interest. I didn't go through her clothes. That would just be creepy.
I was walking out of the room when I suddenly spotted a pink photo album barely visible in the open drawer of Sadie’s nightstand. Curious, I pulled the book out.
The pages inside the book were filled with photos of Aaron. Some were of him and Sadie outside, swinging on the swing set or playing soccer or,
ew, kissing. Others were of Aaron by himself. I smiled as I looked through the photos of him. I liked to think of him relaxing and enjoying himself.
I flipped the page and found some pictures of Aaron making funny faces at the camera. I laughed out loud. Aaron could seem so serious at times but I knew he also had a fun-loving side. As I looked at the photos I began to realize how much I missed him and how much I had lost by not being around him over the past several years. I was pissed that Jerry had kept us apart. We were siblings and siblings should grow up together. There was something about siblings that was sacred, like a friend that you knew would be with you for the rest of your life.
I flipped to the last page in the book and my eyebrows rose surprise. This is not one of Aaron at all. It was of me. It was one of my old profile pictures from my Facebook profile. Why would Sadie have a photo of me in the album? It didn't make any sense, unless...
She still liked me. That must be it. This wasn’t an album about Aaron; it was of the guys that she liked. Most of album was filled with pictures of her boyfriend, naturally. It seemed that there was enough room for a tiny little photograph of me as well, however. Sadie’s mind might be filled 90% with Aaron but I had the other 10%. I knew that our romantic connection had lasted all of about 10 seconds but it seemed that for whatever reason it was still something that Sadie didn’t want to forget.
I closed the book slowly and set it back in the drawer. I would have to think later on what all this meant for me and Sadie. For now, I still had a job to do.
I walked back down the hallway and found Gus’s room. It was pretty small for a master bedroom and clearly had no storage files or a desk or anything of that sort. I gave up looking upstairs and went back down to the main floor. It didn't take me long to find Gus’s office there.
There was nothing special about the office. Diplomas hung on the wall and a laptop computer sat on Gus’s desk. There were photos of Gus and the girls and another woman – presumably Sadie’s mother – on a small table along one wall. There was no indication of a long lost son, however. I sat in Gus’s desk chair, which faced the wall, and began rummaging through the files in his desk. Travel. Work. Taxes. Insurance. Ah, bingo - the personal file. I opened the file and began sorting through it. There were some documents about the girls – birth certificates, newspaper clippings, school reports. I found some documents about Gus’s wife’s death, including an obituary from the newspaper. There were no clippings or birth certificates of any sort about Nathan Caldwell.
Disappointment and resentment began welling up within me. I suddenly realized that I actually wanted Gus to be my father. He seemed like such a nice person, so totally different from Jerry. Most of all, it would have finally given me closure. My frustration started building and my anger boiled over. I had made a complete mess of the day – attacking the wrong Hall this morning and then breaking into someone’s house. I was a complete idiot. I slammed the door shut in frustration.
“Turn around,” a voice said behind me. “Do it slowly. I’ve already called the police.”
My head whipped around in shock. Gus was standing directly behind me and holding a golf club like he intended to hit me with it.