"You two are adorable," Cal beamed and clapped as he motioned for us to spin in circles, making sure we weren't forgetting anything. "The last first day of school for my girls."
"Excuse me," Amber interjected, jutting out her chin & glowering at her boyfriend. "Don't you dare start sounding like my father. It's a huge turn off."
I snorted while Cal smirked. "You love it when I say dumb things & you know it." She punched his arm in response.
Walking away before they could start making out in front of me, I grabbed my bag & keys. "I'll meet you in the car in 5," I yelled back to Amber without turning around. Her response was muffled.
I stomped through the door & practically slammed it before coming to a halt in the hallway. I was going to have to pass Thomas in the lobby if I went down the elevator. It took about 3 seconds of pondering what his face would look like when I passed and what kind of awkward conversations would take place before I turned around & walked down the stairs. At least walking down them was better than walking up.
I nearly had a heart attack when I hit the bottom step and my phone began seizing in my pocket. The thing nearly buzzed it's way out of my pants before I was able to answer it. "What's wrong?"
"Crystal," Kayla laughed loudly, loosening some of the tightness in my chest, "why does something always have to be wrong when I call you?"
"No reason," I closed my eyes with a quick prayer of thanks & took a deep breath. "What's going on?"
"Guess who finally HAS A BOYFRIEND?!" She squealed the last few words three octaves higher than I'd ever heard her squeal before. "He asked me out last night. Well, not really. He kind of just told me that he's like to ask me out. I asked him why he was waiting & get this: he said that he wanted to ask my dad's permission first! Isn't that just the cutest thing! I told him that it wasn't necessary & my dad wasn't old fashioned & wouldn't care a bit, but he said that he cared & it mattered to him, so I drove him home right then & there so he could meet my dad & ask. I can't believe I did that. It's so forward! But he said that he loved meeting my parents so spontaneously & -"
I listened to her ramble for the better part of ten minutes as I walked to my car & sat there, waiting for Amber to join. She hardly noticed when I stopped responding, as she didn't need my encouragement to keep going. "So now we're official & I don't have to keep wondering if I should be going out with other people or like, saying I have a boyfriend or something... because now I know that I have a boyfriend or something! Isn't that exciting? It's all because of YOU!"
That wasn't quite true. Kayla was known to be quite forward on her own & probably would've just done exactly what I had done for herself, had I not been there... but I verbalized my agreement. "I'm so glad that it all worked out for you, Kayla. You deserve the world & I think he wants to give it to you on a silver platter."
She sighed softly. "I know right? Is it too early to say that I love him?"
I laughed out loud at that. She quickly retracted her statement. "I mean, I obviously don't LOVE him, because that would be ridiculous. We've only been dating for a few weeks & I could never fall in love with someone in a few weeks. Never."
At that moment, Amber opened the other door & swung herself into the vehicle. I quickly explained to Kayla that I had to go & was extremely happy for her & would talk to her later that day before hanging up. By the time the key was in the ignition, Amber had fixed up her hair & makeup in the passenger seat. "Thanks for waiting."
"Didn't really have another option," I joked, which began the barrage of back & forth comments between Amber & I that always seemed to put me in a better mood.
By the time school was over, I was anxious once again. There was a high chance that Jacob would refuse to see me. I couldn't tell if I hoped or feared that the door would be shut in my face.
I had a plan, though. The moment I walked through the door, Kayla inspected my eye & nodded her approval. "Third day is supposed to be the worst. How are we feeling today?"
"Slightly better, actually. Swelling is almost completely down. It's just bruised at this point." She sat down once more & pushed a coffee across the table into my hands. "Aww, you shouldn't have!"
"You've earned it," she chuckled. "Jacob's been quite the handful."
"It's not his fault." Mostly. It was mostly not his fault. She shrugged & handed me a sticky note with all the boys & their locations. Jacob was back in his room. So was Zack.
"Zack has been asking about Cal."
"I think he's coming today? I'll call him & confirm."
"Great! I think that's about it. Why don't you get started with Zack and I'll just call you if anything else comes up?"
I nodded, taking a swig of the coffee. I was gonna need it today. She waved me off & stared intensely at the computer once more. So, I took off in the direction of Zack's room. He would've been moved back to his cell by now. On the walk there, I shot Cal a text asking what his schedule looked like and whether or not he had time to come. He responded within seconds with a dozen heart emojis & the words "I'LL BE THERE" in entirely capital letters.
"Crystal!!!!" He sang my name the moment I knocked. Chuckling, I opened the door & braced myself for impact. He came in hot & gave me a giant, one armed hug. "How are you? How was school? How is Cal? Can he come back today?? I wanna show him how good I can do at Flappy Bird, because you only need one thumb for that game!!" I rolled my eyes playfully & stuck my tongue out, walking him back into the room and shutting the door with my foot.
"Funny you should ask... You'll have a visitor sometime today! Maybe two, depending on what Cal's girlfriend decides to do. She might come too!"
Zack got a funny look on his face. I couldn't tell quite what it meant, but he jumped on the bed and fist pumped in the air. "He was telling me about his girlfriend the other day! I can't wait to meet her." He babbled on about all the people he'd seen since getting his cast & how he had wanted people to sign it, but the facility wouldn't allow permanent markers outside of the medical wing. Apparently, Mackey had given Zack the highest of honors and was telling people that he was a hero in the cafeteria fiasco, so the younger guys were giving him some respect now. "All I needed was a broken arm and suddenly, I'm the coolest kid in this place!" He ended his stories with a giant grin. I couldn't resist laughing and gave him some knuckles for extra encouragement.
"You were pretty brave," I told him. "Not even the big guys stood up to that kid. But next time, maybe we should just grab a security guard? Or Alex?"
Zack looked at me, incredulous. "The security guards were busy, Crystal. And Alex could have done something if he wanted to. I just felt bad for the new guy," he admitted more quietly. "I know what it feels like to get picked on."
The mood of the room changed. He shifted slightly and pulled away from me. "I talked to psych yesterday. Someone came in here & said they wanted to see how I was doing. The guy said that he knew you."
I simply gave a nod, encouraging him to continue as I held my breath.
"He asked me how I was feeling and all that basic stuff, so I told him the basic stuff. Then he let me talk about how I felt about the facility and the people here and the routine and all this stuff. He said that he didn't care what I said. I just needed to say what I thought was true... which was kind of cool, honestly. I told him that I was bored & that the people could be mean and the people in charge don't really seem to care. I told him that I wanted to get out as soon as possible, but I'm not sure where I'm going afterwards."
"What did he say?" I pried. Zack shared willingly.
"He told me that there were good and bad people in the facility, same as there are good and bad people in the world. The people in charge are good and bad too. He said that it's important to find the good in all people, even the bad people, but to spend our energy on people who spend their energy on us so we are always getting refilled. It kind of sounded like what you're always telling me. Be kind to everybody without giving pieces of your soul away to everybody, right? Because God wants us to love them like God loves us?"
My breath caught in my throat. Yes, that was exactly the message I had been attempting to gently get across all this time. I nodded slowly, unable to speak. Zack caught my eye and smiled.
"I like that. I'm glad he came in. I just think it's crazy... because I love people a lot, and you say that God loves me more than that. I don't do things perfectly, so if God loves me perfectly and way more than I could ever love anybody else... I don't know what to do with that information," he huffed a laugh. "It almost makes me uncomfortable to think about."
I couldn't help but agree, laughing discreetly through my nose. "You don't say?"
He shrugged. "Guess I'll figure that one out later. Anyways, I do feel a little bit better now. Solitary sucked, but Cal made it okay."
I let him ramble on for a bit, just spending time with the kid. It'd been a while since we'd had an opportunity to bond and if Cal was going to be coming for my brand as Zack's favorite older person, I was going to have to up my game.
By the time I was about to leave, a guard was came to the room. "Zack has a visitor," the man said gruffly as the door swung open. Zack jumped off the bed and let out a WHOOP, to which I held out my hand for a high five.
"Tell Cal that I said hi! I'm going to visit some of the others," I told him, walking to the doorway with him. The guard took him by the shoulder and I waved as they turned down the hallway.
I spoke with Mackey for a bit, along with some of the others on the second floor. Most of those boys were here for an extended period of time and had become familiar with the system. Their crimes ranged from vandalism and gang activity or drugs to repeat offenders with multiple crimes of violence. The routine of the facility was meant to give them a place to get help, medication, and to decompress from the stresses of life outside these walls. These boys were carrying on with school through online classes and were able to socialize with each other relatively often, given they finished their assigned chores, classwork, and therapy sessions.
When I couldn't delay it anymore, I dragged my feet to the infirmary. The doctor was, as expected, a new physician. He told me that Jake had been moved back to his third floor residence for the time being. He was recovering well and had taken his pills this morning.
I set to trek up the three flights of stairs, but as luck would have it, I ran into Mark on the second flight. He immediately tackled me in a bear hug. "Crystal, oh my goodness, how are you?" He squeezed tighter.
I pat him awkwardly on the back until he loosened his grip. "I'm alright, I'm alright." Chuckling, I allowed him to check out my bruises. "It's not even that bad, honestly. Everyone is making a huge deal out of nothing."
He stuck his lower lip out and rolled his eyes. "Let us make a big deal out of you, Crystal. For goodness sakes, you try being the hero one time and suddenly you've got a humility complex. Just let us CARE about you, please?" I couldn't help the grin or blush that followed his question and immediately punched him lightly in the shoulder.
"How's Jake doing?" With those words, Mark's demeanor changed drastically. His shoulders caved in and his face fell. "That bad, huh?"
I held my breath when Mark didn't answer immediately. "He's... doing alright. I went in to help him eat this morning and he asked me to leave after he got a few bites down. I didn't want to push him." Mark shot an apologetic look my way, but I waved it away. "He's been real quiet since then."
Nodding, I thanked Mark for his report and continued back up the stairs a few steps before pausing. "What are you doing headed down this way, anyways? Don't you have a shift to complete?"
Mark looked up at me sheepishly. "I was going to surprise Kayla... Just for a quick second. There's nothing interesting happening on that floor and I've already been here for a few hours. I'll be back in a second. Will you be okay?"
I affirmed that I would, in fact, be alright and gave him a half-smirk. "Sneaking away to see Kayla? How adorable."
This time, it was his turn to blush. "I swear, if you tell her that I'm seeking out excuses to see her at work, I will tell her that you don't like Captain America."
"A blatant lie!"
"She'd believe me," he whispered conspiratorially. "I know it."
Chuckling, I turned away and waved him on. "Enjoy your time." He scampered down the stairs and I finished my climb, finally coming out on the third floor.
The floor was eerily quiet, especially without Mark there. I tiptoed my way to the door and knocked.
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A/N
Thank you for your patience, my lovely people! Here's the filler before the meeting... What do you think his response to her presence will be??