Page 20 of Always a Roommate
That didn’t sound like the Shane I knew, but then, maybe I didn’t know him at all. “What’s your name, kid?”
“Trevor.”
“Well, Trevor, I was just heading out.” I wasn’t, but he didn’t need to know that. “Would you like a ride to school?”
“Oh, no. I’m okay. I have my skateboard.” He gestured to the board at his feet.
The school was across town, way too far to skateboard, and I wasn’t sure how far he’d come this morning already. “Don’t be silly. Let me just grab my purse.”
Trevor didn’t protest as I led him to my car, but he didn’t say much either. There was a world-weariness in his eyes, and I couldn’t help wondering what circumstances put it there.
If he was homeless… we were about halfway to the school when I turned into town. “Sorry, Trevor, but I’m starving. Do you mind if we run through a drive thru on the way there?”
He shook his head, one hand going to his stomach.
Pulling up to the menu, I looked sideways at him. “Would you like anything?”
“No, thank you.” But his eyes said something different.
I ordered three egg sandwiches, two hash browns, and orange juice. “I’m really hungry,” I told him.
Once we got the food, I watched him eye it. “You know, I don’t think I can eat all this after all.” I handed him an egg sandwich. “Don’t want it to go to waste.”
He took it, slowly at first, but the moment he unwrapped it, he practically inhaled the thing. I held out the second one, and he didn’t turn it down, eating it just as quickly. He nibbled on the hash brown, and I could tell he was trying to slow himself.
When we pulled into the parking lot, I got out with him. “I’ll walk you in. I need to speak with Mr. Kelly.”
Classes hadn’t started yet, but a few students had begun trickling in, walking through the halls like they didn’t have a care in the world. Trevor, on the other hand, walked with hunched shoulders and his eyes fixed firmly on his feet.
I’d been at the top of the food chain in high school, class president with a lot of friends. But my best friend had walked these very halls while trying to hide, so I had always been overly conscious of the kids to whom high school was tantamount to torture.
And I hated it.
I followed Trevor to Shane’s classroom, and we found him sitting at his desk, his head over a notebook full of bullet points. He looked up when he saw us, his eyes rounding with surprise.
I smiled weakly. “Trevor, can you wait here for a moment?” I jerked my head to the hall. “Shane, I need to talk to you.”
He followed me without a word, and I shut the door so Trevor couldn’t hear us.
“What’s going on?” Shane glanced back at the door, watching Trevor through the window.
“The kid showed up at our place this morning, looking for you. He said it was for an assignment, but…”
“But what?”
“You don’t go to a teacher’s home for an assignment. Plus, he looks like he hasn’t showered in a week. And…”
“And?” Worry deepened his frown.
“He’s starving. I picked us up some food on the way here.” A handful of kids walked by, and I dropped my voice, leaning closer to Shane. “I’ve never seen anyone eat so fast.”
Shane rubbed his eyes, a curse hissing out from between his teeth. “I knew something was wrong. Last week, I found him sleeping in my classroom when I got here.”
“Homeless?”
“I don’t know. I asked the principal, and she told me Trevor’s father was sick.”
“And his mom?”
