THAT PERSON IS ALL I can think about the next day. Though I question myself if I really saw someone. I mean, a person doesn’t just disappear. Granted there was an alley nearby he or she could’ve gone down. But it really did seem like they just vanished. My brain has got to be playing tricks on me. People don’t just vanish. I walked up and down the street afterward, looking for the phantom person and not seeing him.
I don’t know. I just don’t know. Could it have been j_d_l?
“Remember that situation I was telling you about?” Kyle asks me, and I glance up from my lunch. “Bucky?” he reminds me.
“Yeah.”
“Somebody really roughed him up.”
I eat a fry. “You don’t say.”
Kyle’s eyes narrow, just a fraction. “Did you already know that?”
“Nope.”
He doesn’t immediately respond, then he lowers his voice and says, “I wish I would’ve been the one to do it.”
I’ve never heard Kyle talk that way before. I take a big gulp of water and wait for whatever he wants to say next.
Instead he takes a step back. “Well, then, see you around.”
“Yeah, see you around.”
I watch Kyle walk away, feeling for the first time ever something off about him.
After school Justin makes sure Daisy is busy on her phone and whispers to me, “Bucky got beat up.”
I whisper back, “Mean people deserve that.”
His hazel eyes do that wide, innocent thing. “Annie said her brother isn’t going to be living with them anymore.”
“That’s good.”
“I told my teacher about the drugs.”
I smile at him. “I’m proud of you, Justin. I know that was scary.”
“My teacher said Bucky’s going to be in a lot of trouble with the police.”
“Yes, he will. Especially if you encourage all your friends to speak up too.”
I shift gears and pull onto Route 7 as Daisy keeps talking on her phone and Justin goes to looking out the window.
“Did the Masked Savior do it?” he asks a couple minutes later.
“I don’t know.”
“Lane, I think I might be scared of the Masked Savior.”
I snap my gaze over to him. “What? Why?”
“He used to be cool, but I heard he beat up some people who didn’t deserve it. That doesn’t sound right to me.”
I come to a stop at a red light as guilt nestles itself in. The last thing I would ever desire to do is scare my little brother. “Justin, listen to me. You can’t believe everything you hear. Rumors are just that. Gossip. Plus, this Savior person only targets bad people and definitely not kids. You’re not bad. You shouldn’t be scared.”
Justin doesn’t say anything else and goes back to staring out the window. I shoot him a worried glance, trying to figure out if I should say something but not really knowing what.
We get home a few minutes later, and Victor announces, “Gramps is coming to visit!”
This elicits a grin from Daisy, a hoot from Justin, and a deadpan expression from me. Let’s just say Gramps, Victor’s father, has never been my favorite. . . .
“Son, I’m telling you. There’s just something off with Lane,” I overhear Gramps say to Victor.
“She’s fine. She’s different, that’s all,” he defends me. . . .
“When’s he coming?” I ask.
Victor’s face brightens. “Tomorrow!”
My brother and sister explode with enthusiasm.
“For how long?” I ask next.
“A whole week!”
This is so not what I need right now.