A Silent Scream [1]

(Malory)

Mrs Bev is on the phone when I get to her office during break. She gestures to the seat in front of me but I refuse to sit. She ends the call and rests the phone down to look at me, smiling.

“Lloyd. How may I help you?”

“I’m here on Davidson’s behalf,” I tell her.

Over the weekend, I’d brainstormed what I was going to say to Ron and Olivia –and to anyone else who was inevitably going to ask about Kyle.

“Have you now?” She raises an interested brow.

“He’s sick. He won’t be here for at least another week.”

“Are you certain he’s sick?” She asks me. “Am I to just take your word for it?”

“Davidson and I are trying to cooperate. It’s difficult and he’s still a nut, but we’re trying. He told me he was sick. I didn’t want to believe him so I went looking for him. You know as well as I do that I wouldn’t ever vouch for him.” I assure her. “He’s sick.”

And that, kids, is how you tell a lie.

“It’s true that you’d never really vouch for him...” she says. “Very well, then. Thank you for the report. As long as he’s ill, your records will not be affected –especially seeing as you’re showing up for rehearsals. He will need to bring a signed excuse, however, stating that he was ill. Take that message to him for me, will you?”

“Sure,” I say. I leave.

Olivia and Ron are sitting on a bench outside the office, waiting for me. When Olive sees me approaching, she stands.

“So?”

“She said it won’t affect our records –as long as he’s ill. He has to bring a note though.”

Ron gets anxious. “I really think we should go the extra mile and check up on him... I feel guilty as the best friend.”

Someone hold this poor kid and wrap him in a blanket. He deserves a better best friend who would share important things with him. I don’t understand why Kyle never trusted him –Ron is one of the most trustworthy people I know.

“Don’t worry, Ron. I’ll keep an eye on him. After all, Bev seems to like the idea that I’m checking up on him. She thinks we’re actively cooperating outside of school. It works out in my favour. You’re doing a good job as the best friend already. It’ll be fine.”

“You piss him off, Malory,” he says. I feel kind of attacked. “You both piss each other off. And you checking up on him all by yourself does not make me feel any less guilty that I can’t help at all.”

“Okay, whoa. Breathe,” Olivia says, surprised by his change in attitude.

“We’re actually cooperating right now,” I say to him. “And anyway, Ron, it’s not like this is the first time in his whole life he’s gotten a fever. He’ll be fine. Jeez, you’re such a mom.”

He rolls his eyes at me. “Who’s going to be there for him if I’m not? You? His uncle?” The way he says it makes me bite my bottom lip. I can’t help myself. “The one who leaves the country for two weeks at a time and returns for two weeks at a time, regularly? Some kind of family, Kyle has. No wonder he doesn’t trust people when they’re genuinely trying to be there for him.”

“He’s on two-week rotations?” I inquire, curious. “What does he do?”

“He’s an investor in the Forex market. Deals with foreign exchange, stocks, commodities, real estate, oil, all that jazz. He goes all over the world, apparently –to seminars, workshops, whatever the hell. He’s never home. Always busy. You’d think you’d have a little more free time making all that money. I guess he works extra hard.”

Maybe if Kyle’s uncle is gone I can help him. I can go over to the house and help him.

“That’s the most I know. Kyle told me that quite a while ago. I don’t know if things have changed,” Ron says.

“So the brat doesn’t tell you when his uncle is leaving or not anymore?”

He scoffs. “Na. I don’t bother to ask, usually. He’s the one who decides to make a random statement about it sometimes. After all, he’s the one who avoids the family topic.”

The bell rings for the beginning of fifth period. Olivia beams at the sound.

She switches her glances between Ron and me saying, “I’ve got math now, I’ll see you both at lunch.”

“Okay,” Ron and I say simultaneously.

We watch her hurry off.