Page 18 of Homecoming

“Shit,” I curse as soon as it has switched on again.

“What?” Cash asks immediately.

“I have ten missed calls from Mom and a bunch of messages, but none of them tell me why she wants me to call. Have you guys got anything?” I explain.

Cash tenses, “Probably. Hang on.” It only takes him a moment to turn his phone on, and then he sighs, “Yeah, I’ve got the same.”

“Me too,” Jensen replies, with a frown, “my dad never messages, and definitely doesn’t call this much.”

“Mom’s been ringing me too,” Rafe signs. “Although, none of her messages say anything about why. They just say call me.”

“Your mom has rung me,” Luc says to me, with his eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Kat has messaged me as well,” Luc adds.

Neither of them seem to be surprised that their own parental figures, whether that’s Luc’s parents or Riot’s aunt, have messaged them. In Luc’s case, that’s a good thing; I think we would all be incredibly worried if they had. In Riot’s case, though, his aunt is absent more than she is around.

“She did?” I reply. “Alright, let's get on the road and then I will call mom back. If they have tried to get hold of all of us then they probably want to talk to all of us, so it will be easier through the car so everyone can hear anyway.”

Everyone mutters their agreements, all looking confused as I start the car and pull out of the driveway. Once we are on our way, heading down a long stretch of road, with fields or trees on either side, I press dial and the sound of ringing comes through the speakers.

“Trick!” Mom exclaims as soon as she picks up.

Her voice sounds excited and nervous all at the same time and I have absolutely no idea what is going on. I don’t even have a vague inkling.

“Hey, Mom, sorry I didn’t answer; you know what it gets like at games,” I reply. Hoping that she is not going to be too pissed and isn’t about to ground me.

“I honestly don’t care,” she replies excitedly, shocking the shit out of me. “Are the guys with you?”

“Erm yeah, of course they are,” I reply, sounding as confused as I feel.

“Am I on speaker? Can they all hear me?”

“Yes, mom. You are freaking me out now,” I reply.

Luc interrupts, “You are freaking us all out.”

“Sorry, sorry,” she replies. “It’s just, I’m freaking out a bit myself, we all are.”

“It’s amazing news!” Kat yells.

“Mom?” Cash questions.

“Hey, Baby,” Kat replies excitedly.

I feel like we are just going to carry on going around in circles, especially now that we know that Kat is there too. Considering she wanted us to call her back so urgently she is taking a long time to tell us why she wanted us to call in the first place.

“Mom, what is amazing news? Why did you call us?” I ask firmly.

“Ever’s back! She’s at school now,” Mom replies.

The car swerves.

I manage to correct it before we hit a tree, and I am very grateful that we are on a reasonably empty road.

“What?” Jensen asks, his voice hushed.

“Ever is home, she’s back,” Mom repeats.

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