The Art of Us

Chapter Twenty

Kal

Kal’s phone rang, and he nearly dropped it in his rush to pick it up. “Hey, Ireland. You home okay?”

“Sorry, man. It’s not Ireland,” Cooper said. “I just dropped her off.”

“Oh. Okay. Well good, I guess. What about Mara though? I don’t want to get into the details, but it’s not a good idea for her to be on her own right now.”

“A little late to be worrying too much about the details, my dude, because pretty much everyone knows ’em now.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Tinsley was apparently in Wasden’s gallery when you decided to chat him up. She heard everything.”

“Everything?”

“If you’re asking if we all know Ireland lived in an outhouse, or if we all know that Rowan assaulted Mara, then yes. Everything. And when Rowan brushed her off tonight, Tinsley went off the rails and spilled everything she knew. It was so much drama.”

“Oh no.”

“Yep. That’s why I’m calling you. Your girl is not impressed. She asked me to call because she said she gave her word that she would let you know she got home safely, and that, unlike some people she knows—she meant you when she said that, by the way—”

“Yeah. Got that.”

“Anyway. She said that unlike some people she knows, her word matters. So I’m giving you the message. The other part of the message is that she doesn’t want to talk to you, so don’t call her.”

Kal’s heart plummeted into his stomach and then tanked into the floor from there. “What have I done?” he said.

He hadn’t exactly been asking for an answer but Cooper gave one anyway. “The words she used were ‘betrayal of trust.’”

“Very helpful.”

Cooper made a clicking noise with his tongue. “I got you, man. Dude, I’m starving.” Cooper morphed from one conversation to another like he hadn’t just punched a hole in Kal’s emotional life raft. “All that drama meant no clams. I went hungry and expecting to eat. Stupid Rowan messed up my dinner.”

Kal couldn’t focus on Cooper’s hunger pains. He was trying to see around the blind panic in his own head. Ireland knew that he’d told not just one secret but all her secrets. What must she think of him?

“Did she mean like she didn’t want me to call tonight, or she didn’t want me to call ever?”

“It sounded kinda like ever. Can I be real for a minute though?”

“I don’t know. Can you? Talking about being hungry doesn’t feel very real.”

“Tell that to my stomach. Anyway, she might be mad right now—and the night was pretty ugly—but someone needed to tell the truth about that guy. I begged Mara to let me tell what I knew, but she was worried about dragging her family through something, so I backed off. This is her deal, right? It’s not my place to get into it without an invite, or at least, that’s what I thought. But whatever happens now, the truth is out. Truth isn’t a bad thing.”

“I hope you’re right, ’cause it’s looking pretty bad at the moment.”

“I feel that. Don’t call her tonight. But definitely call her tomorrow.”

They hung up, and Kal agonized over the different ways he could apologize so Ireland knew he meant it. “I never should’ve told Wasden.” It didn’t matter how many times he said it out loud; he had told. The truth was out.

Somewhere in the middle of the night, he decided that though he couldn’t call her, he could write to her. He spent the rest of the night crafting an email. He told her everything—from the first time he saw her taking the pizza, to following her into the woods and seeing where she was living, to watching her sketch and admiring her kindness for other people. He told about the skeezy things Rowan had said about her and other girls and how he worried that she was going alone to the woods, where no one was waiting up for her to know if she made it home safely or not, and that was why he had told about that.

His telling about Mara was more complicated. But Kal tried to explain. He apologized over and over, hoping that one of those apologies stuck. After that there was nothing to do but hit send, turn out the light, and go to sleep.

He didn’t sleep.

He thought about all the ways he could’ve explained better or where he explained too much. He finally got up and went downstairs to forage for food. His grandpa was there. “Good morning,” his grandpa said.

“Is it?”

“Come walk with me, and I’ll show you.”

Kal went walking with his grandfather. The frigid air made his nose run, but it cleared his head.

His grandpa talked about his grandma and asked about how things were going with Ireland. Kal figured he had nothing to lose by talking now, so he told everything. His grandpa was a good listener.

When Kal was done talking, his grandpa said, “You should have asked her what she wanted to do.”

“I know that now.”

“Give her time.”

That phrase made it sound like maybe, in time, she’d forgive him and everything would all be okay, but Kal wasn’t so sure. He waited all day but heard nothing back from her. Every time he considered writing or calling her, he put his phone down and walked away. He had to respect her choices. That was what his grandfather told him. What Cooper told him. What his mom told him. Kal was pretty sure if he explained the situation to the guy at the checkout counter in the grocery store, the advice would be the same.

That night, she wasn’t at Geppetto’s. On Sunday, she was still radio silent. On Monday morning, he waited for Mara’s car in the student parking lot, but the little Fiat with the eyelashes on the headlights never made an appearance.

Rowan wasn’t in school either. But the rumors about what had happened between him and Mara were on every whisper in the whole school.

“Police showed up and now he’s in juvie.”

“He’s transferred schools.”

“No. Mara’s transferred schools.”

“Mara’s being sued for libel ... or maybe it’s slander?”

“Ireland lived in a bathroom.”

“Not just any bathroom. It was an outhouse.”

“So weird.”

With every whisper, Kal’s heart sank lower. What had he done?

Mr. Wasden didn’t have any more information than anyone else, but he’d declared that even if he did, he couldn’t tell him.

And despite all the rumors in school, Kal figured no one there knew anything more than he did. Probably less.

“Proud of yourself?” Emily stood blocking his way to his physics class.

“Not in the least.” If his honest response surprised her, she didn’t show it.

“You really screwed up Mara’s life, Kal.”

“So I figured. I’m really sorry.”

“She had to make a statement to the police, you know. Her parents are going crazy with the whole situation, and she’s stuck living with a girl that you planted in her house like some spy.”

“Ireland is not a spy. Mr. Wasden and Mara’s parents arranged that. Not me.” Kal considered going around Emily but stopped. “Is she okay?”

“No. I just told you. She had to talk to the police. There’s this whole thing.”

“Talking to the police is not a bad thing. He hurt her. There should be consequences. And anyway, I mean Ireland. Is she okay?”

Emily put a hand on the hip of her canary-yellow miniskirt. “You did not just ask me to verify the well-being of the spy.”

“She’s not a spy, Emily.”

“Whatever.”

She finally moved out of his way so he could get into his seat on time, even if she didn’t give him any of the information he wanted.

Kal’s physics teacher seemed to not care Kal didn’t feel like talking because she kept calling on him. “Describe heliocentrism.”

Kal looked out at the people. Emily was in the class and giving him a flat stare. Several other people looked curious. He already had a type of infamy for being in a band, and now he was connected to the situation between Rowan, Mara, and Ireland. He cleared his throat and gave a response so he could sit down and mope in peace. “Heliocentrism means the sun is at the center of our solar system, not the Earth. Planets go around the sun. It replaced the idea that Earth was the center, helping us understand our place in space.”

Kal moved back to his seat and heard a few muttered comments about Rowan or Mara from people who seemed to think the world revolved around one or the other depending on whose side the person was on. How Mara was being called out confused him. And Rowan running around a track hardly made him worth being the center of anyone’s universe.

Since Ireland and Mara were both absent from school, only four members of the art club were left to try to wrap things up with the mural. The detail work required to blend everything while still letting each piece of work stand on its own took way longer than Kal had imagined. If Ireland had been there, they would be swapping puns about chickens or elephants or whatever came to mind or they would be playing would-you-rather games.

Kal missed her.

He was agony walking.

He hated knowing Ireland was out there in the world and hurting and that it had been him who caused the pain.

Would Mara’s parents kick Ireland out of the house because of all that had happened? Would she end up homeless again? Not like it was Ireland’s fault that Rowan hurt Mara, but Ireland was part of all the rumors taking place.

And Mara. How was Mara in all of this? Kal’s eyes kept going back to the flower garden she and Ireland had created on the wall. Ireland had wanted to help Mara. And Kal had screwed it all up.

His phone buzzed with a message from Ireland. His hands shook while he swept his finger over the screen. “Kal, I appreciate you telling me the truth. But I don’t think I can trust you. You promised you wouldn’t tell. But you broke your word. I know this is my fault too, but maybe that’s the problem. Maybe us both being at fault means we’re a toxic match.”

That was the whole message.

A toxic match.

Kal scrubbed his hand over his head as his brain put those words on repeat.

He had screwed everything up for everyone. He saw the custodian pushing a garbage can on wheels down the hall. He’d even screwed things up for her by letting Ireland be mad at her. But that was one thing he could apologize in person for. He hurried to catch up to her. “Hey, um, Janice.”

She stopped and leaned on the can while she waited for him to speak.

“Sorry to bug you.” He stopped. She didn’t know Ireland had ever been mad at her. Was he making things worse by bringing it up? “Just wanted to say you do a great job. Thanks.”

Janice pursed her lips in confusion before she said, “You’re welcome.” She patted him on the shoulder and started walking with the rolling can again.

Kal breathed a deep, cleansing breath and went back to work on the mural. The issue doesn’t revolve around me, he thought. It revolves around Mara and Ireland. He would work to fix things a little at a time.

It wouldn’t change what happened, but maybe it would change how everyone felt about it. Maybe it would change how Mara and Ireland felt about it.

Maybe it would change how Ireland felt about him .