Page 22 of Evil King

Cherri unlinked her arm from Avery and shoved her away. “Okay, that’s enough of Avery.”

The teacher walked into the room, closing the door behind herself, and clapped to bring everyone to attention. “Okay, everyone. Find your seats. The bell will be—” Mid-sentence, the bell to start class rang. “It rang. Well, let’s get started.”

Cherri gave me a final smile and then turned to walk back over to her seat, but Avery lingered. She looked over at Cherri, and when her back was turned, she slid me a piece of paper that I could see had a phone number on it. Avery winked at me and then walked back to her seat. For half a second, I was infuriated. Cherri hadjustintroduced her as her best friend, and she immediately slid me her number, but when I unfolded it, I saw a very simple message under the number.

Trust me. She wants to talk more. Give her a call.

I looked over at Avery, and she smiled at me, made a call motion, and then pointed at Cherri. I grinned. It was Cherri’s number. I finally had Cherri’s number.

The rest of the day seemed to drag on and on because I had a reason to rush home now. Without having to worry about being seen by someone, I could actually just talk to Cherri and catch up. It was everything I’d wanted to do since I first got back. Sicily gave me a few pointers on how to show up for Tuesday’s wacky hair day and supplied me with a can of colorful spray that would wash out easily so that I could show a little more enthusiasm for the school’s spirit week. When the final school bell rang, I didn’t break stride leaving class, getting in my mom’s car, and immediately heading back home.

I spent the first part of the evening getting my schoolwork done and enjoying dinner with my mom, and when all of the responsible parts of my evening were finally over, I retired to my room, entered Cherri’s number into my phone, and pressed the button to video chat with her.

The phone rang a few times, but then it picked up, and when Cherri saw my face, her confused expression melted into a warm, excited one. “Well, hello there.”

“Hey,” I replied. “I got your number from Avery. I hope that’s okay.”

“Ordinarily, I would chew her out for giving away my phone number, but given that it’s you, I’ll make an exception.”

Behind Cherri was an expensive-looking vanity with several bottles of makeup stacked on top of it. Definitely not her bedroom of old. “Is that your bedroom?”

“Oh, yeah.” There was some movement—I imagined as Cherri stood up—and then she pulled the camera a little further back from her face and did a spin, giving me a shot of her nice bed, desk and computer, vanity, and oak dresser. “Not how things used to be, huh?”

“Not at all,” I replied. “What’s it like down it South Postings?”

“You know.” She grunted a little as she moved to sit back on her bed. “It’s a little weird. This house is huge, and sometimes, I actually miss being more cramped. It takes me a full two minutes to get down to Gus’s room. I almost liked it better when he was right next to me, you know?”

I remembered the year I spent with Nathan, my dad, and my dad’s evil wife, Alicia. Some of the things they did—all eating dinner in their own corners of the house, almost never interacting with one another, calling and texting each other when they wanted to talk instead of just walking out to where the person they wanted to talk to was—seemed so odd and cold to me. My mom and I were so close, and our place wasn’t very large, so I was used to always being close. I got what Cherri was saying exactly.

“That makes sense. You guys are all so close,” I replied to her. “Knowing your mom, though, she probably doesn’t let you guys go too long without some family activity.”

She rolled her eyes. “Ugh. You’re so right. All summer she was all, ‘Come on kids, let’s get up at five o’clock and go to the farmer’s market.’ Or she was like, ‘Come on, let’s go to a theme park.’ It would have been borderline annoying if she didn’t get so adorably excited every time.” She turned her head to the right and grinned. “Hey, bud.”

“What are you doing?” I heard a kid ask, and though I could guess who it was, the voice sounded so much older.

“Wait. Is that Gus!” I yelped.

Cherri motioned. “Come here. There’s someone I want you to see.”

“Is it Avery?” he asked with excitement, and I snickered.

“Not dumb, is he?” I asked.

Cherri giggled. “No, he is not.”

Cherri shifted a little, and then Gus popped into the frame. He was so much older than the last time I saw him. He was just a kid before, but he looked like a little person now. His blond hair had grown out, and his blue eyes had gotten even bluer.

He smiled the second he saw me. “Deon!”

My jaw dropped. “Hey! You remember me?”

“Yeah!” He laughed. “Where did you go?”

Cherri winced a little at the question but also seemed a little intrigued by the answer. “I had to go away for a little bit, but I’m back now,” I responded.

He nodded, more satisfied with that answer than Cherri seemed. “Will you come over and hang out soon? I have my own room now, with a basketball hoop in it!”

“Wow. Yeah! I promise I’ll come see it sometime,” I responded.

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