Chapter Twenty-two
Kal
Kal had hoped Ireland would change her mind and contact him.
She didn’t.
It had been nearly a week. The gossip had pretty much died down, though he guaranteed it would pick back up if any of the involved parties returned to school. Asha, Bailey, and Cooper had rallied around him—not that he was surprised. They were his friends. Okay, he was a little surprised about Bailey. And when he wrote a new song for Ireland and asked to practice it with them, no one turned him into the latest joke. They practiced the song with him, and on their last run-through, when it sounded near-perfect, Asha gave him a sad look that did not vibe at all with her normally sunny disposition. “That was really beautiful, Superman.”
“It’s a hit for sure,” Cooper agreed. “It hits all the right feels.”
“We should definitely play it tomorrow night,” Bailey said.
Kal scoffed at that. “Too bad she’ll never hear it, huh?”
“Don’t say that, Superman,” Asha said. “You never know.”
He did know. Ireland had made it clear.
“Let’s go again,” Bailey said, not one to wait around for sentimentality.
They ran through it several more times.
“Definitely a hit, man,” Cooper said when they’d finished and were packing it up for the night.
“As opposed to a hitman.” Bailey socked Cooper’s shoulder on her way past him and laughed when he scowled at her.
“Thanks, Coop.”
“I know it doesn’t feel right at the moment. But not telling would have felt worse. Believe me.”
Kal understood what Cooper meant. Cooper had known about Mara and Rowan and hadn’t told. He said he regretted it. Kal probably would have regretted not telling too.
He maintained that he would right his wrongs as much as possible. He had apologized to Ireland, but he hadn’t apologized to Mara. Since Mara and Ireland still weren’t coming to school, he decided he needed to go to them. Well, not to Ireland because she didn’t want to see him. But he would go to Mara. He would explain himself. He would apologize, and then she could forgive him. Or not. Whichever it was, he would have at least done as much as he could, right?
He hated how much he hoped he would see Ireland while at the Washington’s house. Maybe if she saw him face-to-face, she would want to talk to him. Not that that was why he was going to Mara’s house, but it would be a nice perk of going.
Kal checked his phone. It was still early enough to go see Mara. It wasn’t even four in the afternoon yet. He put on a nicer shirt and smoothed down his hair. He told himself he wasn’t doing it to impress Ireland, but because dressing nice to apologize was just polite.
When Kal arrived at Mara’s house, he worried he might throw up. “You’re not here to talk to Ireland. Stop being ridiculous.” The self-talk didn’t motivate him as much he would have wanted. He approached the door and sucked in a deep breath of courage before pressing the doorbell.
Jade, Mara’s little sister, answered. “Hi, Kal. Ireland isn’t here.”
He could have kicked himself for feeling such intense disappointment. He stomped down the feeling. “No problem. I’m actually here to see Mara.”
“Okay. But you have to stay here while I check with her if it’s okay.” She shut the door on him before he could agree to her stipulation. He waited on the front step until the door swung open again. This time, Mara stood in front of him, not Jade.
She didn’t smile or say anything. She didn’t invite him inside. She leaned against the doorframe and raised her eyebrows in a look that clearly said, “Get on with it.”
“Hey, Mara. I bet you’re wondering why I’m here.”
“I am curious adjacent.”
“Right. Well ... I wanted to say I’m sorry. I never should have gone to Mr. Wasden for help without talking to you about it first. I don’t have an excuse, aside from the fact that I think Rowan is a skeeze, and I worried what he might do next.”
“You’re right. You should have talked to me.”
“I know. I just ...” He sat down on the step. “It’s been a long year.” He told Mara about Brell and everything that had happened leading up to her funeral and his emotional breakdown after the funeral. It was all information he was finally ready to share. He wished he could tell Ireland, but she wasn’t talking to him. And he needed to explain it to Mara so she’d understand why he’d barged into her business the way he had. As he talked, Mara sat next to him on the step.
By the time Kal was wrapping up all the events, Mara didn’t look mad anymore. “Asha told me it wasn’t my job to save people,” he finished. “But after losing Brell, it’s hard for me to see it any other way. I’m just sorry to involve you in my issues. I’m sorry it caused you trouble.”
“That was a good apology, Kal. I accept. You’re forgiven. The truth is that I wasn’t handling the situation very well on my own. I should’ve told someone right at the beginning. But how do you bring up such a thing, right? I mean, I guess you know because you did bring it up, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t. I don’t think I would have. And that wasn’t good for anyone. You telling was actually the right thing to do even if it made me mad.”
“What’s going to happen to Rowan?” Kal asked. “If you don’t mind me asking. And you don’t have to answer. It’s fine if you don’t.”
“Well, what happened to me could have been worse, right? I wasn’t sure pressing charges was the right thing to do. But I decided to go ahead and do it. I have evidence and a witness, and it’s better to have stuff documented to help keep it from happening to anyone else. He’s being charged with misdemeanor sexual battery. Tinsley’s peeved. She says I did it all to spite her. As if. Like I’d get myself attacked just to spite someone. Right.”
“Sorry.”
“I know. You said.”
“When Ireland told me you were the lipstick writer, she was freaking out because she worried she’d said the wrong thing when she responded. She hadn’t meant to say it was Rowan who hurt you. She’d spoken in generalities. She just slipped up and said Rowan was a troll. I put it together after that. She didn’t mean to tell me. So even if you decide to keep being mad at me, don’t be mad at her. Please.”
“Hold it. Ireland knows about my writing on the mural? She knows about the lipstick?”
“Yeah, but you know that, right? You have to know that the mural conversation was between you and her, right? I mean, she didn’t know it was you at first. She just figured it out.” With his every word, Kal realized he’d been wrong. Mara hadn’t known. Kal wanted to bang his head against the ground. He had done it again? “You didn’t know,” he said flatly. “Awesome times zero.”
Mara stayed quiet. She wrapped her arms around her legs to ward off the cold.
“Don’t hate her. Don’t hate me. I mean, it’s okay to hate me, but don’t hate her. Ireland legit cares about you.”
“Huh. And you legit care about her, right?”
Kal’s head bobbed in agreement. “I do.”
“Sorry she’s not here.”
“Where is she?”
“Visiting her dad in jail.”
Out of all the things Kal thought Mara might say, that was not anywhere on the list.
“I wanted to go with her, but someone needed to stay home with Jade, and Ireland said she wanted to do it on her own. I didn’t think she should go. It’s not like she owes that guy anything. But she feels like she needs to, so ... anyway ... sorry she’s not here.”
“It’s okay. I came to talk to you. She doesn’t want to talk to me.”
Mara made a sad, sympathetic tsk . “Maybe you could write her a letter or something.”
“Already did.” He picked up a loose pebble from off the porch and flicked it so that it skittered down the stairs. “She told me not to write back. So I wrote her a song, but she’ll never hear it. But I guess it’s fine because the band likes it, so we’ll at least get some play out of it.”
“That’s perfect!” Mara jumped to her feet.
“Perfect would be her hearing it, not a crowd at Geppetto’s.”
“I can get her to Geppetto’s.” Mara was practically doing jumping jacks in her excitement.
“How?”
Mara smirked. “She wants me to forgive her as much as you want her to forgive you. I’ll tell her I really feel like pizza.”
“Lots of kids from school will be there. There always are.”
She tilted her head to the side. “What do I care? I can’t stay home forever. Better to get the public viewing done at Geppetto’s instead of at school Monday.”
Kal stood and blew on his hands to try to warm them up. “I appreciate the gesture. Really. But, Mara, I don’t want her to be where she doesn’t want to be. We’re good, okay?”
She nodded and hugged her arms to herself.
“Go inside before we both freeze to death.” He shooed her toward the door and made his way to his car, grateful he had seat heaters. The visit with Mara had been a success. He had been able to apologize, and she had forgiven him. He couldn’t ask for more than that. He wanted to. Of course he wanted to.
But he couldn’t.
He wouldn’t.