“C’mon, let’s go.”
“What?” Kate looks up. “Go where?”
Intertwining our fingers, I pull Kate with me down the hallway. I’m not really sure where we’re going, I just know that I need to get her alone, if only for a little while.
We climb the staircase, and I peek into every classroom we pass by. Most of them either already have people inside or will have pretty soon, but when we come to the end of the hallway, I see the door that leads to the rooftop.
Bingo.
Looking around to make sure nobody’s watching, I push the door open. The door’s rusty, and I have to put in more strength, but it finally gives, opening with a loud squeak.
“Where are we going?” Kate asks, looking around curiously.
“Rooftop.”
We slip inside the narrow, dark hallway and slowly start climbing up.
“Are we even allowed to go up there?”
“Not really.” I grin at her.
“Emmett Santiago, you’re going to get us into so much trouble.”
“Only if we’re caught.”
When we get to the top, there is another door. Praying that it, too, is open, I push the doorknob and sigh in relief when the door swings open.
Looking over my shoulder at Kate, I wink. “C’mon. We don’t have too long.”
Turning around, I twirl Kate into my arms. Her body collides with mine, and I have to place my hands on her shoulders to steady her.
“You know, this reminds me of that scene in one of the High School Musical movies.”
I frown, trying to remember which one she’s talking about. “Wait, that lanky dude with long hair?”
I’d like to say I haven’t watched them, but during the winter Miguel, Becky, and I usually have movie nights. Each one of us gets to pick a movie on rotation, and Becky takes immense pleasure in forcing us to sit through every single girly movie she can find.
Kate giggles. “Don’t be mean.”
“I’m not mean, I just call it as I see it.”
“I find the fact that you know just who I’m talking about amusing.”
“Don’t get too excited. When we were younger, Becs made us watch all kinds of crap.”
She glides her hand over my chest, brushing away some nonexistent lint.
“Oh, really? I guess I’ll have to ask her more about those days. What else did she make you guys do?”
“Not if I get to her first.”
“What are you going to do? Get rid of her so she can’t tell?”
“The idea might have crossed my mind.” I place my palm over hers, stopping it from moving. As much as I love to see a real smile back on her face, I know we have to talk about the real reason we came up here in the first place. “What happened with your mom, Kate?”
Her mood falls like a deflated balloon.
“I told you, she just showed up here yesterday. Out of the blue, which is nothing new, really.”
Kate shrugs and turns her back to me. I let her go, seeing that she needs her space. She goes to the edge of the rooftop, her hands leaning against the metal fence as she looks at the sky.
“Why didn’t she come here with you guys in the first place?”
“Work.”
Her answer is flippant, but something about the whole situation keeps bugging me. I move closer, standing just behind her, able to feel her warmth but not touching her.
“Why did you come here?”
Kate’s body turns rigid, and I know I’ve asked the right question. Something about the way they came here in the first place kept nagging at my mind, but I always brushed it away because I just wanted to get to know her. Have her know me.
It takes everything in me not to place my hands on her and pull her in for a hug.
“If you don’t want to tell me…” I start slowly, wanting to give her a way out, but more than that, wanting her to share this with me. I want her to trust me as much as I trust her.
“No, it’s okay. It’s just…” Kate sighs and runs her fingers through her hair. “There was an incident. Back in our old school.”
Her throat bobs as she swallows, her tongue darting out and sliding over her lips.
“What kind of incident?” I ask slowly, unsure if I want to know because there is something in her tone… Whatever she’s about to tell me, it won’t be pretty, and I’m not sure if I’m ready for that.
“Our mom, she’s, well… self-centered. Reckless. Selfish. Take your pick.” She shrugs. “The fact is, she always puts herself and her dreams over everything and everybody else—Penny and I included. She never could accept that Penny is blind. She just ignored it. As if her blindness would disappear if she didn’t address it.”
The more she speaks, the tighter the knot in my throat becomes, and this is just the beginning.
“Anyway, I always made sure to take care of Penny. Help her the best way I knew how, which wasn’t much, but still. We tried our best.”
“Didn’t somebody notice?”
Did somebody ask if they needed help? Anything?
“They did, but there was little they could do about it. She wasn’t a bad mother, she just was never meant to be one.”
Silence falls over us. I’m not sure what to say, how to take this pain she’s feeling away. But before I can even try, Kate continues.
“And all was well, as long as we went to the same school. I made sure to take care of Penny, kept her under my wing, you know? But then I went to high school…”
Her voice trails off, and I can feel the hairs at the back of my neck rise.
“Kate, you don’t have to…” I step closer, putting my hands on her shoulders, unable to hold myself back any longer. I have to touch her. Have to do something.
I have a feeling I know where this is heading, and I know I won’t like it one bit.
Kate shakes her head but doesn’t push me away.
“I’m not sure when the bullying started. Not sure how I hadn’t seen it before.” She shakes her head. “I was so damn stupid. Clueless.”
“Don’t say that.”
“How can I not?” She turns around to face me. Her hair is a mess, and her voice starts to rise as tears fill her eyes. “I got caught up in my own things. My friends. A cute boy in my class. The schoolwork. Me, me, me. I’d become just like our mother, without even realizing it.
“I didn’t see that the girl that had been my friend, our friend, had decided she was better than us and turned her back on my sister because her new friends didn’t like Penny. They were the ‘in’ crowd, and Penny was just… good ol’ Penny.” Her hands ball into fists as tears stream down her cheeks. “The worst part? Penny never said anything. Not a fucking thing, for God only knows how long. She kept quiet while we still hung out with her at our building complex; when we invited her into our home. Days? Weeks? Months? I don’t even know because I never saw it.” She sucks in a deep breath and closes her eyes. “Not until I found Penny in our bathroom, holding a razor to her wrists while bawling her eyes out.”
“Oh, Katherine…”
Fuck staying away.
I pull her into me, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing tightly. At first, she is limp in my arms, but then she slides her hands around my waist, her fingers holding on to my shirt as she starts to sob in earnest.