Julian shrugged. “Come on, that’s our bus!” He broke into a run.
As they walked up the street to Mr. Yu’s house, they talked about the weirdo on the bus who’d been giving out religious pamphlets and talking about Armageddon.
“Guess what, Kageki. The world’s going to end tomorrow!” Kageki rolled his eyes. “What religion do you have mostly in Japan?”
“Um … well, Buddhism and Christianity. But the Christians are more here, of course. So basically, in Japan, this is most common,” he shaped his hands into the sign of prayer with his fingers out stretched, “and here is more this,” he made the sign of prayer with his fingers crossed over each other.
“Cool,” Julian said, making both signs. “My mom’s Buddhist.”
“Really?” Kageki sounded surprised. “How come you didn’t know that already then?”
“I don’t live with her. With Satya.”
“You call your mom by her name?” Kageki asked as he followed Julian into his room.
“Yeah,” Julian shrugged. “It’s her name, right? She says she wants to be addressed as a person, not as a role.”
“Okay…?”
“Her full name is actually Satyagraha.” Julian flipped open his laptop and signed onto Facebook. “Look, here she is.”
“Mmm … she’s kissing that woman!” Kageki said. “Does your mom … like girls?” He leaned forward to take a closer look at Satya’s profile picture.
“Um, she likes both,” Julian explained awkwardly. “Look …” He searched for another picture. “This is her boyfriend Luigi. He’s awesome. I got a scholarship from the Demidovskis for tuition at the academy, but I still had to pay homestay fees, and he paid them.”
“But … he’s not your father?”
“No, he’s been with Satya for less than a year,” Julian said, switching pages. “This is my dad, Will … and my half-brother River, and his mom, my dad’s girlfriend, Daisy.”
Kageki stared at the picture, puzzlement creasing his face.
Julian flopped onto his bed after dinner and phoned Will.
“Hey,” he said, trying to keep his voice down. The walls were so thin that everyone could hear him if he used his normal voice.
“Hey, how are you? Daisy’s just out taking River to his soccer practice, but you can call later if you want to talk to him.”
“No, I wanted to talk to you, Will. I need to know if you want to come to the performance or not.”
“Well, Jules, I don’t really know. It depends on your grandparents … I’m not sure if they are going to buy us tickets.”
“But they’re not coming, right?”
“No. I’ll get Daisy to phone them tomorrow.”
“They’re your parents, you should call them,” Julian pointed out. “Anyway, goodnight Will. Love you.”
“Sure thing, buddy,” Will said. He hung up.
Chapter Nine
Kaitlyn Wardle
Really happy to be having RAD class again tomorrow!!
Kaitlyn tucked her essay into her bag, the mark facing in so no one could see it.
“Bus pass?” the driver asked, stopping her. She blushed, got it out, and made her way to the back of the bus. No one else from the academy was on the bus. Weird, she thought. I didn’t think I was catching the later bus. Kaitlyn looked out the window and saw Michael and Chloe come flying down the street to the bus. The driver opened the doors again and waited for them.
“Where’s everybody else?” Kaitlyn asked when they’d sat down next to her. “Are we catching a different bus?”
“No, they all got a ride with Anna,” Chloe said as she unpacked her lunch.
“Her mom picked her up from school today,” Michael elaborated. “I guess they just didn’t have enough seats for you. Yum, can I have one?” he asked Chloe as she got out her baby carrots. She held the bag out to him. “Aren’t you eating any lunch, Kaitlyn?”
“I’m not hungry,” Kaitlyn said, turning and looking out the window.
“Are you sure?” asked Chloe and held out her bag of carrots. “You can have some of these if you want.”
“We’re just concerned about you,” Michael added.
“I’m fine,” Kaitlyn answered sharply, sending them a look that was scary enough to shut them up. “We have RAD class today right?”
“Yeah, we’ve got Mrs. Mallard,” Michael answered. “You’ve had her before, right?”
“Yeah. She’s coached me on all of my exams. I think she’s going to put me through my Solo Seal this year. “
“Wow, you’re doing that really young,” said Michael. “Even Leonie didn’t do it when she was that young.”
“I know,” Kaitlyn said with a smug little giggle. She pulled out a Ziploc bag of trail mix.
“Oh, so you are eating lunch,” Chloe said with an exaggerated tone of relief. Kaitlyn glared at her.
Kaitlyn got off the bus and moved quickly toward the academy, putting enough distance between herself and Michael and Chloe that no one could accuse her of being with them.
Everyone was sitting in the hallway eating and stretching. Tristan was munching on a sandwich, chewing exaggeratedly, facing one of the security cameras. “Look at me! I’m eating bread!” he told the camera, pointing at the sandwich in his hands and opening his mouth wide. “I think I might have a Coke next!” Alexandra, Delilah, Grace, and Jessica giggled at him. They kept their lunches out of sight of the security camera, though.
“Where’s Angela?” Jessica asked.
“I dunno,” Delilah said and shrugged.
“Who cares?” Anna asked, laughing. “I wish she’d just go away and never come back!”
“She looks like a horse, but ugly and fat!” Alexandra chimed in.
“No, she looks more like a groundhog,” Grace said.
“I think she’s half and half,” Tristan said, turning his attention away from the camera. “The size of a horse, and the brain and body type of a wart hog.”
“Nice,” Anna said, laughing. Kaitlyn nervously walked past them, trying not to attract their attention. But she couldn’t escape Anna’s notice. “Oh, look who finally got here.”
“Yep,”
