He remembered sitting on the edge of the bed for a while, trying to control his dizziness. He was too tired to feel embarrassed. He decided to lie in his vivid eyes, just to wait until the morning, which was a good ten hours away. A lot could still happen at that time. At one point, awakened from sleep, he had the impression that someone was standing at the door of his room, as if he could not decide whether to go inside.
Later, after some time, he had this impression a second time. But he couldn't remember if he had gotten out of bed to see who was at the door. He couldn't even remember if he even tried to get out of bed. He remembered nothing. And now he was almost at school. The problem was, he felt guilty. He had broken almost every household rule the night before, starting with the lie about going to Will. It was his best friend. He was seen regularly at Will's house, spending with him almost every other Saturday night. Mother may have liked him, but she hid it from her father. By involving Mike in this plot, Alan had hoped to gain a little more time, for he had never expected his mother to call his friend's house so quickly. But that part of the plan backfired. Unfortunately, that was not the end of his crime. First of all, he broke the ban on leaving the house. And he was found in the car park with Will while they were drinking. Apparently, a year earlier, he broke windows in the school building and had the theft of a neighbor's car on his conscience.
His parents weren't that bad. Usually, at least. Especially the mother. Besides, he couldn't call his father bad either, if, of course, he was at home. Maybe Veronica did ask for a ride to the school. If she really persuaded her mother to leave the house in the morning, she must have gone shopping from the school. Or she was sitting over coffee in a pastry shop. His mother came over from time to time. The first lesson, history, turned out to be hard work for Alan, and the second, math, was even worse. There was nothing he could focus on, struggling against the nagging headache.
- How would you answer that question, Alan? the teacher turned to him.
He didn't even dare meet his eyes. During his lunch break, he ran into Mike, who said angrily:
"Jesus, you could at least warn me to cover you." Even while I waited, I would come up with a fairy tale for my mother.
"sorry man," Alan replied. - You had a row?
- As soon as I got back. Alan slipped out of the cafeteria and called home, hoping he could somehow pacify his mother by explaining how sorry he was. Then he wanted to ask for permission to return home, hiding himself from indisposition. He knew the concerned mother would agree. She couldn't be mad at him for long, knowing that her son was not feeling well. Usually she made a tasty soup for him. He hung up on the fifteenth ring, suspecting he had dialed the wrong number. He tried again, but to no avail. He did not know his father's work number by heart, moreover, he was most often out of town and would have to wait for someone from the control room to call in to get the number of the motel where he rented the room. After class, he was standing in front of the school with a group of friends when William pulled up in his Kawasaki.
"Sorry about the slip-up last night," he said. - Jesus, your old man is a nice number.
"That's right, nice," he replied.
- What happened when you got home? he said as if he already knew the truth. Alan shrugged and shook his head, not wanting to talk about it.
- What happened to your sister? Will asked.
- What was going to happen?
- She got sick and stayed home?
It turned out that Veronica was not at school that day. William admitted openly that he wanted to quietly ask her how serious the consequences were threatening him after yesterday's party and for how long he would be grounded, because he hoped they would go somewhere together on Friday, or even better on Saturday, when his friend Kevin promised to organize the whole a box of beer, which would be nice to hang out with, wouldn't it?
Alan ran home. He didn't even ask Will to give him a ride, even though he had come on a motorcycle. And he did not notify the teachers that he would not be in the rest of the lessons. He hurried as if someone had been chasing him, repeating in his mind all the way: If only her car was in front of the house, only her car was there.
his family home, but his mother's car was not there. And as soon as he opened the door and gasped, he began to call first mother, then sister. Moments later, he began to tremble with fear, unable to control it.