When Luke arrived with food from Bob’s, Kota pretended to get a phone call that there was a lecture at the university he forgot he volunteered to help host.

“Want to go with me, Sang?” he asked.

It was very unlikely I’d stay without him at that point, but I had a feeling he knew we needed to get out of the house. “Yes.”

“It’ll be good for the two of you to go out,” Erica said. “Take her someplace nice after.”

Kota turned to Luke. “I’ll drop you off at the diner, or at home, if you’d want?” His tone was awkward, and I had a feeling he was asking Luke not to refuse the offer.

“Uh, sure,” Luke said. He picked up our containers of pancakes. “Let’s take this on the road.”

Leaving the Lee house felt like escaping. I dressed quickly in jeans, a simple T-shirt that I was sure wasn’t mine, and wore one of Kota’s green hoodies.

We piled into Kota’s sedan, with me in the front seat and Luke taking food containers into the back. “Please tell me I can eat in the car,” he said. “And where are we going?”

“Hang on a second,” Kota said. He buckled his seatbelt and started the car.

In moments, we were pulling out of the drive. I sensed we were just waiting until we were out of visual range.

Kota released a long breath, almost making a whistling sound with his lips in an o shape. “I am so sorry about her.”

“What happened while I was in the bathroom?” I asked.

“I was gone for two minutes, and we’re already in trouble?” Luke asked, a blond eyebrow raising.

Kota quickly went over Jessica showing up to tell him Nathan was kissing Sang in the bathroom. Then he caught us up about Nathan and him discussing it out on the front lawn, and how they fake fought to make it look like Kota was angry with Nathan.

“We didn’t know how else to handle it.” He pushed a palm against his cheek, rubbing, but focused on the road. “Can I ask you something?” he asked me.

“Sure.”

“Nathan didn’t...really...make you do anything, right?”

I gasped. “No! Of course not!”

He released the wheel shortly to wave his hand at me. “I trust him. I do. But...I have to ask. Not that I don’t trust him, but we all make mistakes. So if you ever feel pressured to do something you don’t want, like going out with me if you don’t feel in the mood...”

I conceded. “I know you wanted to get out of the house. I did, too. And maybe it’s a good thing right now.”

“I’m not sure where to take you.” He looked over at me. “With Volto out there and the chance of being followed by one of Mr. Hendricks’ guys...” He checked the rearview mirror. “Speaking of which...”

There was a dark sedan behind us, similar to Kota’s car. I didn’t recognize it, and we all paid attention to the cars on Sunnyvale Court. When we turned right, it followed. It was too close, too obvious it was following.

We were all quiet, watching the car as Kota drove into another neighborhood and made a couple turns.

Eventually, it turned off, either we were spooked and wrong about it, or the driver realized we knew and stopped following.

I breathed out a sigh. “For a while, I forgot about Mr. Hendricks.”

“Maybe that’s good,” Luke said. I turned to look at him. His usually cheery disposition had darkened into something much more serious. “It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. And you were supposed to be resting. Doc’s orders.”

“I can’t be restricted to rest forever. I feel better.” I looked back at him. “I mean, things are better than they were. By a lot.”

“We’ll all lay low for a few days,” Luke said. “This will blow over, too. It’ll be fine.”

Kota’s phone on the dash rang. He handed it to me. “Answer it?”

I blinked rapidly. Me?

I slid my finger across the screen to answer the call and put it on speaker.

“Kota,” Dr. Green’s voice came through immediately. “Tell me, who takes a man’s fine, leather notebook out of a section of notebooks clearly set aside as pristine...”

“Dr. Green...” Kota said, sounding exasperated.

“...examples of fine notebooks and scribbles a shopping list on the front page?”

Kota shook his head, and the corner of his mouth tilted up in a small smirk. “Mr. Blackbourne did this?”

“My mother. But do you know what Owen said?”

He dropped the smirk and winced during his response. “That they are... just notebooks?” Kota replied.

“He said it was good for me! That I’d never write in them because I treat them like Bibles.”

“I don’t know—”

“I just like them. I’ll write in them one day when my handwriting doesn’t look like a toddler still learning ABCs. They are way too nice for shopping lists.”

“Be nice to your mom,” Kota said, looking over at me.

“What?” Dr. Green blew a raspberry into the phone. “You’re sounding more like Owen every day. And not in the fun way.”

“Well, my mom just caught Nathan trying to kiss Sang,” Kota said, glancing at me once more before refocusing on the road.

“Oh.” Dr. Green was quiet for a couple of moments. “Oh...Bad.”

“Yeah, bad,” Kota said. He caught him up on what happened. “I don’t know what to do. I lied to her, but I can’t tell her about...I mean...”

“About Nathan also wanting to date Sang?”

“Yeah. We can’t tell her that. Right?”

“Why not?”

Kota snorted once and looked at me. “Tell him.”

“I don’t know what to do,” I said.

“Oh, is pumpkin there?” Dr. Green asked. “Hi pookie.”

“I’m here, too!” Luke said.

I made a small chuckle but refocused. “I don’t know her that well, but if she knew, what would she say?”

Dr. Green spoke, “She’d probably...think it was a phase, yeah? You should tell her.”

“It’s not like you’re telling your mom,” Kota said.

“Good point,” Dr. Green said. “I don’t even know if I should.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment. It was strange to consider what was happening. We were facing a reality. I’d nothing to lose with my family, because they didn’t want me. But Kota...would Erica or even Dr. Green’s mom...would Mrs. Midori ever understand? What about Uncle?

“It’s all part of a decision we all have to make,” Dr. Green said. “In a way, it is just like the Academy. We decide how much to tell people, have precautions for those who may abuse their knowledge we exist. In a way, we’ve been preparing for this sort of situation.”

It surprised me he’d be so open about Academy talk on the phone. Maybe something changed in the rules lately? I’d been out for a bit but they knew better than I did about security measures.

“It’s not really the same,” Kota said.

“Isn’t it?” Dr. Green asked. “What persona do you feed your mother when she asks about school? About where you were some weekends? When you were playing drums in a bar until four in the morning or helping Luke do...things?”

“You play drums?” I asked.

“Long story,” Kota said and shook his head. “But my mom will be around me. And the rest of us—”

“Not forever,” Luke said. He opened a container and started poking at his pancakes. “Won’t we be pretending to go off to college soon?”

Kota mumbled something. “I don’t know what we’re doing.”

“Luke’s right,” Dr. Green said. “You all may be moving on, and probably pretty quickly. When it comes to the Academy, we don’t go into details about it, so it will be the same with the fullness of whatever this relationship is.”

“More secrets,” I mumbled. We had many secrets surrounding us. For some reason, this felt different. It was Kota’s mom. She’d done so much for us. Didn’t she deserve some honesty?

Or was telling her about this just like telling my own mother about it? Were some things really best left a secret?

Kota pressed his lips together a little but didn’t say anything.

“Pumpkin,” Dr. Green said in a more subdued tone, “it’s what we signed up for. We do it with the Academy. You don’t have to agree to this now. But even if you decided...if you picked one of us...we would always be in the Academy. And we’d always have secrets. Everyone does.” There was a small chuckle. “I could tell you some whoppers I’ve overheard from nurses...”

“Not right now,” Kota said. “But if there isn’t anything else we need to do today, do you think it’s safe enough for us to go somewhere?”

“If you don’t take her out, I will.”

Kota sighed. “It’ll look weird if Sang doesn’t come back with me tonight, but also, I don’t know if she should. I’d like to smooth things out with my mom.”

“I’d have her come here tonight, only...” Dr. Green paused. “I’d risk it. Want to come over tonight, Sang?”

“I think we’ve got enough trouble with parents right now,” I said. “Not that I don’t mind meeting your mom, or seeing you.” It wasn’t just meeting her. Dr. Green was older than me by a couple of years. Would she say something about me being younger?

“Aw,” Dr. Green said.

“I’d be tempted to just go to a movie or something, but we’ve already had someone I thought was following us,” Kota said. “I’d prefer to go somewhere we can lie low anyway.”

“Then you know where you need to go,” Dr. Green said. “Take her to Victor’s. Just in case someone is following. No more taking chances. We’re getting close on Mr. Hendricks.”

“We are?” I asked.

“He’s getting restless,” Dr. Green said. “We’ll fill you in at school on Monday.”

“Woot!” Luke said. “Victor’s! I love his house.”

“You like the ice cream,” Kota said.

“I do,” Luke said. He reached out to my shoulder and held it, supportive. “It’s the cure for everything.”

“Doctor approved,” Dr. Green said.

After Dr. Green was off the phone, I settled into the seat, relieved to be going somewhere other than the Lee house. I hated feeling like I needed to avoid the place after that morning.

I glanced at Kota on occasion, checking in with him. He smiled at me on occasion, but it seemed the thing with his mom was really bothering him.

Do we tell her? And how much did we dare to tell her?