Chapter 60
CHAPTER SIXTY
ASTRID
After fumbling with my phone, I slipped into my car and tried to turn it on, but my keys were nowhere to be found. I checked my pockets, then the passenger seat, then my pockets again, only to come up empty-handed.
Where the hell are they?
“Astrid!” Cairo shouted from his car.
I glanced over to see him dangling my keys, then jumped out to grab them.
“Do you want me to drive you?” he asked. “You look …”
“Like I’m going to have a panic attack?” I asked, slipping back into his car. “Yes, I am, and, yes, I’d like for you to drive me, if you don’t mind missing first period. I don’t know why, but I have this really bad feeling in my stomach.”
Something wasn’t right. I just knew it.
My phone sat on my bouncing thigh, Diya’s messages on the screen.
Diya: Astrid.
Diya: I need you.
Diya: Please, come now.
Something about those words sent a chill up my spine. He sped out of the Dunkin’ parking lot and headed straight for Redwood Academy, driving through the parking lot to see if Diya was here.
But she wasn’t, and neither was Calix.
“Fuck,” I murmured. “He found out.”
“Who? Calix? About what?”
“About Diya being pregnant.”
“Diya’s pregnant?” Cairo asked.
Guess he doesn’t know as much as I thought …
“Yes, but you can’t tell anyone, okay? She’ll kill me …” If Calix hasn’t killed her yet.
“Who’s the father?” Cairo asked. When I didn’t respond, Cairo glanced over at me for a brief moment, pulling to a stop at the Stop sign. He began driving once more, his eyes turning from confusion into shock. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“You can’t tell anyone!” I said, turning toward him and grabbing his hand. “Please.”
“I won’t, but their stepdad?”
“I know,” I whispered, spotting their house in the distance. “I know. I know.”
Once Cairo parked out front, I leaped out of the car and headed with him up the front walkway to the door that was wide open. Calix was shouting inside, his voice echoing out the front door. And it sounded like … crashing and screaming.
“Calix, stop!” Diya shouted.
I hurried into the house, my heart pounding so hard that I could feel it in my throat. My stomach twisted into ugly knots. I ran up the stairs, my mind racing with possibilities as to what was happening—none of them good.
When I reached Diya’s room, she was standing on her bed, with her stepfather on one side and Calix on the other. Calix was screaming, shouting at his stepfather, not having noticed me yet. And the poor man already had a black eye forming from Calix.
“Diya!” I shouted, pushing past Calix to pull her off the bed. “Get down.”
“Thank God you’re here,” she cried. “Calix found out. He found out!”
Before she could get caught in the middle of Calix unleashing on her boyfriend—Can I even call him that?—I tugged her into the hallway and away from the drama. I ushered her over to Cairo, who stared at me through wide eyes, as if he didn’t know what to do.
“Stop him, Astrid.” She sniffled. “Please. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
“Astrid, what do you want me to—” Cairo started, but I ran back into the room.
Calix had crossed the bedroom, shoving his fist into his stepfather’s face. I wrapped my arm around his waist and yanked him back as hard as I could, giving myself enough space to slip between them.
“Calix, stop!” I shouted, waving my hands back and forth so he’d see me.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Calix snarled at him, coming back with another swing.
But when he saw me, he stopped his punch and pulled it back, staring down at me through fury-filled eyes. They softened, and then he turned around and stormed straight out of the room. A moment later, the front door slammed closed.
“Where’d he go?” I asked, running into the hallway.
Cairo had his arm awkwardly around Diya, who was sobbing uncontrollably. “I don’t know.”
I hurried down the hallway, then the steps. “Well, I’m going to find him.”