ONE NIGHT AFTER rehearsal, my mom and dad were waiting for me in the kitchen. They asked me to sit down. I knew it was serious because my mom poured herself a glass of tea and didn’t add any sugar cubes or have any cookies with it. She said, “I’ve heard some things from my students, Soraya. What have you been telling people?”
I was kind of speechless. I thought she knew. I was all, “It shouldn’t have to be private. I hate how we don’t talk about these things. We just let them bottle up.” My mom and dad looked at me like I had transformed into a unicorn before their eyes.
“What are you talking about?” my dad said.
I went, “I’m talking about why Amir ran away.”
They looked at each other this time, like they had missed something. My mom straightened her back and said, “Do you know why he ran away, Soraya?” And my dad went, “If you know something, you need to tell us.”
I was stuck. I realized my parents might not actually know. Or if they did know, they were testing me.
Word was going to get back to them eventually, through one of mom’s nosy students or someone else at Amir’s school. If this Jake person had found out about Amir and Jackson, then other people probably knew, too. It was only a matter of time. It was either going to be a stranger or me. Amir was never going to tell them.
So I did.