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appointment is in an
hour.”
    He’d been able to get an
office downtown in a building filled with other cosmetic doctors.
His practice opened for business last month. I’d always been in awe
of my dad’s intelligence. Even with a wife and kid, he’d been able
to get through medical school. He was thirty-three now and a
handsome guy. I imagined he’d eventually remarry now that he’d
settled into private practice.
    “ Got all your homework
done?” he asked uncomfortably. It’d been years since he’d had to
parent full time and the last was when I’d been in the third
grade.
    “ If I said no?” I teased
him.
    For a moment he looked
unsure, then his face melted in a smile. “Get to school,
brat.”
    Ten minutes later I parked
my Jeep in a spot close to a side entrance of the main building. It
was chilly this morning and I’d had the heater on full blast during
the drive to school. Gray clouds painted the sky and my weather app
said there’d be AM snow showers. I grabbed my thicker winter coat
from the backseat and shrugged it on over the lightweight cropped
jacket.
    I’d arrived at school a
half hour early and had time to kill. I wandered inside, passing in
the hallway a few teachers and students, none of which I knew
personally. The lounge area by the cafeteria had diner-style booths
which weren’t very comfortable but provided a place to hang out
when not in class or during lunch. The dimly lit area was decorated
in the school colors of green and yellow gold.
    Hefting my backpack onto a
dark green laminate tabletop, I slid into the bench seat. I took
out my used copy of The Scarlet
Letter and began reading where I’d left
off yesterday. We’d have a big test on the book in class next week
and I hadn’t finished it yet.
    The story was sucky and
depressing. I wished we had a cooler English teacher who’d picked a
better book for us to read. This was the same book kids my age had
been forced to read for decades. Surely something less boring had
been published in the last century.
    The thud of another backpack hitting the
table’s surface caused me to flinch and suck in a breath of alarm.
I let it out and assessed the guy taking the seat across from me.
He put his elbows on the table, templing his fingers in front of
his lips. His pensive gesture and expression were
unnerving.
    “ Um, yeah?” I curtly
asked.
    The three feet of table
between us provided me with a limited sense of security. So did the
pepper spray in the front pocket of my backpack. It was a definite
violation of school rules, but I didn’t give a damn. If I ever
needed to use it I’d deal with the consequences like a big
girl.
    A grin spread from behind
his fingers. “I thought that was you. Saw you, but your hair is
different. Looks good.”
    My face must have
expressed my confusion because he brought his hands down and leaned
back. “You don’t remember me?”
    Looking him over, he
seemed familiar. His black hair was buzzed short and he had a small
spacer in one ear. At his left wrist, a hint of tattoo peeked out
from the sleeve of his thermal shirt. His features hinted at a mix
of Caucasian and Asian ancestry.
    I copied his casual
position. “You’re from my old school.”
    “ You’re totally guessing,
aren’t you?”
    I nodded in
answer.
    He held out a hand. “I’m
Kara’s brother, Gage.”
    Since his hand was
stretched out patiently, I cautiously placed my own in it, shaking
once and pulling away. “I’m Gianna.”
    There wasn’t much
resemblance to Kara and I figured they were half-siblings. Kara and
I had been friends for awhile when we were little, but I didn’t
remember her brother.
    His hand disappeared with
the other one under the table and he gave me a small smile. “Well,
I don’t blame you for not remembering me. We never had any classes
together since I’m a grade older and the last time we talked was
when you came over to play with Kara in elementary
school.”
    At the mention of my old
school, I wondered