Rhythm & Clues: A Young Adult Novel (18 page)

Krystal’s eyes fluttered closed, and she yawned again. We slipped out so she could rest.

“Your mother’s amazing,” Gavin said when we got in the car.

I swallowed. “That’s not the word I would have used.”

He ignored me. “She’s so down to earth.”

“That’s the painkillers talking.” I shifted the wheel and pulled out of the parking lot, leaving the bright lights of the hospital behind.

“She loves you.” Gavin twisted Isla’s thumb drive over in his fingers. With his computer broken, I wasn’t sure how he’d even open the files.

My tongue is thick and heavy in my mouth. “She was just pretending because you’re here. Trust me, for the past sixteen years I’ve never felt like she loved me.”

“She gives you space. Lets you do what you want. Make your own mistakes. That’s love.”

My pulse pounded in my ears. I didn’t respond to Gavin, just turned the volume up on the radio to blot out my beating heart.

After I exited off the highway and onto the side road that would lead us to the Tully’s house, I asked him, “Are you scared?”

His fingers drummed on the dashboard to the beat. “I’m feeling a lot of things right now.”

“Like?” I pried.

“Well, scared is definitely one of them. Also pissed at Sabrina. And I’m strangely happy at the same time. For you, because I hope your relationship with Krystal improves after this. And I’m confused. So yeah, a lot of conflicting emotions. Not sure which is strongest.”

“Okay, Mr. Vague.” I took my eyes off the road for a moment to smile at him. “Best friends, right? You can tell me. What are you confused about?.”

He flinched, pulling his hand back from the dashboard. It took him a while to answer before he said, “When I figure it out, I promise you’ll be the first to know.”

We rounded his corner, and even from a few yards away, I could see Chuck and Josephine pacing in the driveway.

My fingers stilled on the wheel. “Uh oh.”

He buried his head in his hands. “Keep driving.”

“Don’t tempt me.” I hit the gas.

His eyes popped open. “I was just kidding.” He sighed. “I have to face them.”

Despite my better judgement, I inched forward into the driveway. Chuck marched toward us. Josephine hung back by the garage.

The front door opened. Framed in the screen door, crosshatch marks distorting her features, Sabrina peered out.

Chuck wrenched open the passenger door. It always got stuck, so the force of his pull nearly unhinged it. I didn’t realize he was so strong.

His eyes glared red, reflecting the lights from my car. Gavin stepped out without looking back. I knew I should drive away, get out while I could, but I didn’t want to abandon him after he’d stood by me all night. Bubbly pop music blasted from the car, in sharp contrast to the rage radiating from the Tullys.

“Where have you been?” Chuck folded his arms, bouncing on his heels.

“The concert,” Gavin said fast. “I’m sorry, but—”

“Don’t lie to me!” Chuck’s nostrils flared as he spoke.

“I’m not!”

“Where did you go
after
the concert? Are you sleeping with her? Is that why you’re sneaking around?”

I gasped, clasping a cold palm over my mouth. That was the last question I expected.

Gavin seemed taken aback too. “What? No! Did Sabrina say that?”

Josephine stepped forward. “Gavin, we warned you. We told you to stay away from her.”

I got out of the car. Gavin had rescued me tonight with my mom, it was my turn to do the same for him. “What’s the big deal? We didn’t do anything wrong. No drinking.No drugs. No anything else inappropriate.” I winced as Chuck’s question flooded back to me. “He deserved a night of fun. He’s in prison here.”

Chuck wheeled on me, his eyes so venomous I stumbled back a step. “This is none of your business,” Chuck said. “Stay out of it.”

“Stay out of our lives. We’re just trying to protect him.” Josephine pinched the bridge of her nose in her fingertips. “And between you and your mother—”

“My mother?” My gaze went to Sabrina, lurking behind the screen door. Suddenly it all made sense. Sabrina must have provided the missing information given to her by my dear friend Isla. A lump formed in my throat. “Right, because I’m a product of my parents and that makes me a terrible human.”

Gavin glared at his sister. She slunk back into shadows on the porch.

“Listen, Mom, Dad, I understand if you’re upset about the concert, but the hospital? Moxie needed—”

“Hospital?” Josephine crooked her neck at me, like maybe I brought some infectious disease with me. But this solidified one thing, Sabrina hadn’t divulged the location of our real whereabouts. I wasn’t about to celebrate.

The song blasting from the car changed from a love ballad to a 90s pop song. “
Earplugs stuffed into my ear
.
Drown the world so I can’t hear.
”

Josephine screamed. “Oh my God! Turn this song off. Turn it off!” She clutched her chest. Chuck sprang for the car, leaving Gavin in his wake, and tried to wrench open the door again, but it stuck.

“
And though the quiet sounds so clear
.
My mind is what’s really closed.
”

I had no idea what was happening or why anyone cared about a stupid song that made no difference in this conversation. It’s not like I busted out the Macarena-style dance everyone always did to this song. “
But then I met you, and I’m not confined
.” Maybe he hated the words, because they spoke the truth about the situation, and he didn’t want us to see how very real they were.

“No,” I said, crossing my arms like an immature teenager. “I know you’re devout and think regular music will somehow damage Gavin’s purity or something, but depriving him is only making things worse.”

“
The beats pulsed and the notes aligned
.
Music playing to a tune you designed.”

Chuck sucked in deep breaths to gather his composure. “This song! Just turn off this song. Please.”

I raised a brow at him in defiance. “No. Gavin likes this song,” I said even though I had no idea if that was true. The song wasn’t important. Rebellion was. “And he likes me too. So he should be allowed to see me if he chooses. And I don’t mean
sleep
with me.”

Gavin nodded frantically. “You can trust me, Dad.”

“
My heart is what’s now exposed.”

“This is harassment.” Chuck veered toward the garage, pulling something out of the pocket and pointing it at the door. The garage door jerked to a rise, a humming noise drowning out the music playing from my open window.

He clutched Gavin’s arm and tugged him into the garage. Gavin followed like an obedient puppy. After her family disappeared, Josephine walked slowly up to me, her heels clicking on the tar of the driveway.

“
Because I’m breaking free of silence. Sound surrounding me.”

“I know you think you’re saving him. But you’re not. You’re only making things worse. We gave up a lot to give Gavin a normal life. If you care about him at all, you’ll leave him alone.” She stalked off toward the garage, flipping a keypad and punching in numbers. The door fell shut behind her.

My hands balled into fists. I stalked back to my car ready to listen to the song just to defy them, only to see a shadow growing larger as I approached.

“
You brought the music to my life. And we found harmony.”

“What happened?” a girly voice asked behind me, absent of its usual cheer.

“Don’t talk to me,” I said, not even bothering to turn around to face Sabrina in person. The chorus blasted, building to a crescendo.

She dodged around me and stepped into my line of vision. “I didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand. I just didn’t like that Gavin was sneaking out, and going to a club of all places. I just thought—”

“Sabrina, save it. You used me to get your parents to allow you to go to boarding school. And now you fucked everything up because you heard a few bad rumors about me. What were you thinking?” Seriously, I thought I’d never hate anyone as much as Isla but she was looking like the patron saint of friendship tonight. “Stay out of my life, and I’ll stay out of yours.”

Present Day

A
dull pain throbs in my finger as Isla heads to my house. Which is in entirely the wrong direction of the Krystal’s old hospital room. But Isla wouldn’t know that of course. I lean toward the front seat, putting my hands on both head rests. “Hey, Isla. Before we go to my place, there’s a detour I have to make.” I wave my injured finger at her. “My finger is killing me. I think I should get it checked out at the hospital.”

“Right!” Sabrina catches on. “The hospital. Yeah, I think we should get that looked at.”

“Hospital? Déjà vu two weeks ago.” Through the rear-view mirror, Isla’s eyes search mine for something. She sighs, and then clicks on her blinker and veers off at the next exit.

Sabrina bites her lip. “How is your mom anyway?”

A grimace tightens my lips. “She’s fine. Still can’t work.” Fine isn’t exactly true. Somehow, with her being out of commission, I gained more household responsibilities. Cooking and cleaning for two instead of just myself, like we’re a real family. Only with roles reversed.

At the hospital, I fight back the emotions that swarm like charging bees at me when we step over the threshold. The stale scent threatens to make my knees buckle but I combat the sensation by picturing Gavin. He needs me to be strong. I hold my bruised finger snug in my palm so the girls won’t see how trivial the injury is. “Sabrina, while I get this checked out, did you want to go visit your friend? You know, the one staying in room three-twelve?”

She stiffens before spinning on her heels to go search for the next clue.

“You have a friend here?” Isla takes a step toward Sabrina. Behind her, a TV blasts the local news and the people in the waiting room shift in their seats, restless. “I want to meet your friend!”

Before I can stop her, she trails off down the hallway behind Sabrina to find some random person lying in Krystal’s old spot. Or maybe an empty bed.

I don’t actually need to get my finger checked out so I head to a payphone to try Ty in 90C again.

“Ty’s shack of love,” he says in his familiar greeting.

I laugh to myself. “Hi, I called earlier and—”

“I remember. I’ve been waiting for you, my love.”

“I’m sure you have.” I check down the hallway for the girls, my feet tapping impatiently. “Any updates?”

“No teens with flowy hair came by, but some older guy did. He had flowy hair, like on the cover of a romance novel. Does that count?”

I perk up. Chuck Tully had hair but I wouldn’t exactly call it flowy. More like…receding. “What did he want?”

“Entrance to my room.” He makes a sound like an incorrect gameshow buzzer. “Access denied. Only the ladies get inside.”

“That’s it? He just left?”

“No. He wouldn’t leave until I threatened to call campus security. I would have fought him off myself, but I prefer to preserve my precious hands.” He lowered his voice. “For video games.”

“Thanks, Ty. Listen, I’m going to give you a number you can reach me at from now on. Call if anything else comes up.” I give him Isla’s phone number. “Oh, and I may stop by tomorrow. Are you going to be around?” Just in case we end up at 90C, it can’t hurt to get this guy on our side.

“Bring yogurt!”

I take that as a yes do a mental eyeroll. A few minutes after I hang up, the girls shuffle down the hallway. Sabrina lowers her head while Isla gabs her ear off. At least she’s not wallowing about her fight with her dad.

I meet them halfway and plead with Sabrina’s eyes. She flicks hers toward Isla in the universal sign for
we’ve got a nosy eavesdropper in our proximity.
So I switch gears. “I spoke to Ty. He said some older guy stopped by, but he didn’t let him in.”

“Who’s Ty?” Isla eyes both of us.

Sabrina’s eyes widen. “Older guy?” Sabrina ignores her.

“I think he may have been hot with flowy hair. Ty sounded jealous.” I mull over the romance novel comment.

Sabrina shrugs. “It could be nothing.”

But something told me this wasn’t a coincidence.