The Long Haul

Chapter 10

Ah, there it was. Jay knew just how to smoke the kid out of her hole. He jogged down a few more rows to where he heard the voice. "Ah-ha!" he exclaimed as he jumped in front of the row where she was, to which Alexa erupted in giggles.

"You found me!"

"Of course I did. I'm the hide 'n seek champion. Now let's go." He held out his hand for her to grab.

"You're really good," she praised as she gripped onto his hand. "What's this place?" she asked with the curiosity of any Kindergartener.

"It's an auditorium," he explained, hoping this incident wasn't going to make him late for class since he still had to drop her off.

"Oh cool. I like it."

"Well you can't come here again until you're in high school. Got it?" He glanced over his shoulder to drive his point home that she can't be running around hiding in here again.

"But that's forever."

"Yup," Jay replied simply as they exited into the hallway.

"Okie dokie, JJ," she replied with an innocent and happy grin that only a young child could produce.

Jay blinked hard a few times, throwing the memory back into his vault. He secretly missed the days when things were so simple with her - she just accepted whatever he said with a smile and moved on. It was a harsh reminder that he wasn't dealing with an innocent Kindergartener anymore. She was now a mysterious and wholeheartedly sarcastic teenager.

The debate was wrapping up and sadly, Alex hadn't made her way back into the auditorium, no matter how hard he had tried to manifest it to happen.

Shortly after, the debate officially concluded and everyone started making their way to leave. Jay's blindspot forced him to get one last confirmation, so he made a beeline to the debate team's coach.

"Hi, Jay Halstead," he held out his hand to shake.

"Mike Spitler." He returned the shake, having no idea what was going on. When he didn't speak, the coach asked, "What can I do for you, Jay?"

He took a deep breath, knowing this was the end of the line - his last hope. "Alex Halstead - is she part of the debate team?"

Mike paused for a second, trying to see if the name was familiar at all. "No, she's not. I don't think I know her."

Jay nodded, clear disappointment on his face. "No chance she'd been part of it earlier and quit?"

"No, sorry. I've been coaching for four years - she's never been part of the team."

Jay nodded in appreciation, seeing no reason to take up more of this poor man's time. "Thanks, Mike. Sorry to bother you." He shook his hand again and then took off toward the exit, his head hanging low. All the facts were staring him right in the face - she clearly wasn't physically present and the coach had confirmed that Alex had never been part of the team. It was all the evidence anyone would need to conclude the obvious. However, there was that one sliver of optimism that Jay's head was hanging onto for dear life. The one sliver that there was an easy explanation that wouldn't turn this into the cluster it was about to become.

So like any rational person, he needed a third confirmation on whether this was true or not. As he headed out to his car, he pulled out his phone and typed out a text message.

What time is debate over tonight?

His finger lingered over the send button for quite some time. His gut already knew what the answer would be, but his heart wouldn't let him believe it without evidence. Finally, he forced himself to send it.

It didn't take her long to reply, and when she did, he felt his stomach drop into an abyss of disbelief.

Over in about an hour or two.

He quickly replied to try and smoke out the truth. That long?

It was a matter of seconds before Alex replied like it was nothing. Yeah, we're up in Highland Park, so it'll take a while for the bus to get back.

Once he was in his truck, he placed his hands on the steering wheel and then rested his forehead on top of them. Damnit. Now there was no question about it - she'd lied to him about joining the debate team, and she'd been lying over and over about it. Knots pained his stomach as he realized that he could no longer refute the evidence that was clearly staring back at him. He would be even more of a fool if he tried to do so.

He started up the engine and peeled off toward Erin's apartment. He needed to relieve some stress before he could figure out what the hell to do about his lying little sister.