Quiet

Chapter 11 - Irreconcilable Differences

On the way back to Setagaya, no one speaks in the car except Sophia. And even she gets the message to shut up.

She and I are in back. In the dark. My head rests against the window. If my mother thinks I'm depressed or disappointed, maybe she'll badmouth my father later.

Those fangirls lied. I know he didn't touch them. Yet I was quiet. Thinking about that, I'm a lifeless husk in the backseat of Mr. Lombardi's beautiful car.

Unless they aren't the girls who were with Cynthia. Unless there are other girls who went to his place.

Things moved too fast. I should have defended him. I could tell my mother right now... I should... right now...

I move my head off the window and tuck my hand into my coat pocket. The edge of Margot's business card digs into my palm. I'm going to call Margot, my father's assistant, but I won't tell my mother.

***

The next day, a few of my friends at school who know about the dinner with my father ask how it went. They're satisfied with a few details. "I don't know when I'll see him again. My mother's still weird about it," I say.

My first few classes pass ordinarily. Some thoughts about my father and mother and those stupid girls distract me, but I'm always distracted for part of class. I'm not an intellectual like Cynthia and her guys. Except with languages, I guess. And Joel Susugi fan fiction, which doesn't count as intellectual.

I admit. I daydream a little about my father's small smile, that he might know Joel Susugi. I'm just as silly as those Gears fans who mobbed my father.

Around ten in the morning, Margot sends a message. It must be the first thing she deals with when she starts work. She suggests we meet in person. Between classes, I reply: How about lunch tomorrow?

She writes back immediately. Don't you have school on Fridays?

I wasn't thinking, but my mother was careful at breakfast. She's afraid to push me too hard, because she can see I'm different right now. I'll tell her I need time to think and process, that I want a day off from school.

This is more important, I write to Margot.

Okay, let's meet, Margot replies. I have a favor to ask you too.

***

After we drop off Sophia at her lesson, I tell my mother I want to take tomorrow off from school. Her silence is abnormal and so golden. If she refused, she would say so immediately, so I just listen to her movements as she starts the car. I pray she's not creating an excuse.

"Okay," she says. "But..." She trails off and looks lost.

I set the stage for leaving the house too, to secretly meet Margot. "I just need to think and relax. That's all."

***

I'm not home very long when Cynthia calls. "Makiko, what went wrong with your father?"

"How do you know?" I'm in my room, still in my school uniform. I'm not angry, just surprised. Actually, irritation buzzes around inside me ready to bite. "Those fangirls told you, didn't they? They were the ones who went to his apartment with you, weren't they?"

"I haven't talked to them. I talked to your father. He wants to meet me for a few minutes tonight. He wants me to help him fix things with you."

"You told him we're friends?" I shed my school skirt and move around the room with the phone to my ear.

"No."

"Please don't."

"I won't."

I don't want my father to know I let my mother drag me away even though he's innocent and the girls lied.