Page 73 of Chasing Infinity

The rest of our visit goes smoothly. We get our donuts and coffee, and sit at a small table in the corner. I remain quiet as my parents talk, picking at the donut in front of me. I take small bites, not really having an appetite anymore, but I can’t help myself—the donut isdelicious. As much as I want to finish it off, my stomach is churning in knots, and I can’t get myself to eat it.

My father clears his throat, and my attention snaps to him. I swallow thickly when I notice the thunderous expression on his face. “Are you done, Son?”

I dip my chin and nod my head quietly.

My father scoots his chair back as my mom goes to throw away our trash. I follow my father’s lead, standing up next to him.

“Stand up tall, Noah. Quit looking like you’ve been defeated. You’re a McCoy.No onedefeats you. “

“Yes, Father,” I murmur and straighten up my spine. Maybe if I show him I’m making an effort, he won’t be so mad when we get home. I haven’t seen Addison since we sat down, but I can still feel her watchful eyes on me.

“We’ll discuss what happened here today at home, do you understand?”

I nod, my hopes falling. My response must be good enough for my father as he grunts at me and then takes long, powerful strides out of the café, my mother and I following closely behind him. I try to keep to myself the rest of the afternoon. My goal is to avoid my father at all costs and hope my mother will be able to talk him out of whatever punishment he’s coming up with.

Declan McCoy’s directions were clear, don’t be an embarrassment.

Then Addison Parks had to come in and start running her mouth, and now I’m the one in hot water. She doesn’t even know what kind of damage she’s done.

When we get home, my father sends me to my room right away, saying we’ll discuss things later. I sullenly shuffle up the stairs to my bedroom and close the door behind me. Sighing, I flop onto my bed and reach for a comic book. There’s nothing else I can do than wait the day out and hope my father forgets about the whole thing.But I’m not naive enough to think that my father will let this mishap go unpunished.

* * *

The following day at school, Parks surprises me by sneaking up behind my locker door. When I go to shut it, there she is, frizzy hair and all, nearly scaring the life out of me. I startle but quickly morph my features to glare at her. “What do you want?” I expect a witty comment right back, but I’m surprised when I find her looking at me as if she’s trying to solve a 1000-piece puzzle. I drop my head back with an irritated groan. “What, Parks?”

She takes a moment to respond, but eventually, she says softly, “Your dad is kind of mean to you, isn’t he?” I register that she’s talking about the fiasco at her family’s café yesterday. I frown and shut the locker the rest of the way, letting it slam closed before narrowing my eyes at her.

“Why would you say something like that? My dad isn’t mean to me.”

She gives me a look that obviously saysNice Trybut instead of verbalizing what she wants to say, she just presses her lips together. “I’m sorry he treats you like that.” Then she turns on her heel and skips away.

I stare after her, shifting my backpack up on my shoulder and trying not to wince at the bruising that my father left from his firm grip yesterday. It took a few hours after we got home, but my father eventually came knocking at my door, leather belt in hand. To be honest, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, especially given my behavior. But Addison never needed to know any of that. I try my hardest to make sense of what just went down with her just now. Parks acting like she was concerned about me? I must be in a fever dream.

I finally shake my head and roll my eyes, deciding that I’ll never be able to fully understand what goes on in that girl’s head. I don’t know what type of game she’s trying to play this time around, but I’m not going to get involved.

My dad isn’tmeanto me. He’s juststrict.

Right?

As much as Addison Parks would like to think so, she doesn’t know everything, and I don’t need her opinion. She’s barely been in Willow Heights for a year, so where does she get off, acting like she knows what goes on in my life at home?

“What was that all about?” Jordan asks as he comes to stand next to me, following my gaze and looking down the hallway

I glower after Addison’s retreating form. “Nothing. Just Parks and her stupid mind games.”

“I heard her say something about your dad,” Jordan keeps prodding.

“Yeah, just leave it. It’s nothing,” I try to brush him off. When he continues to stare at me, I glare right back before snapping, “Fine, my parents made me go into her family’s little café or whatever yesterday. She got to see Declan McCoy in all his freaking glory, okay? That’s it.”

“Okay, Noah, don’t bite my head off,” Jordan held his hands up in surrender. “I was just curious.”

“Well, don’t be. It’s none of your damn business.”

“Jeez, you’re touchy today.”

“Shut up. Let’s just go to class so we can get today over with. I’m tired of being here already.”

Jordan, thankfully doesn’t push me any further than that. We walk down the hallway to our homeroom, and I take my seat between Jordan and Caleb. I don’t say a word as I pull out my history book to get ready for our first class. I hate starting my day with an interaction with Parks. Messing with her was fun most of the time, but this morning was different.

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