The Blood of a Nightlock

Chapter Four

"What was high school like for you?" I asked as Dad moved around the kitchen, cooking his "Secret Spaghetti Sauce" as he called it.

He lifted his eyes to mine. "It was a little different."

"Well you went to a boarding school, right?"

He nodded as he slowed down his movements. It was like he was apprehensive about the question.

"You had to live there, right?"

He lifted his eyes from his chopping. "Yes."

"What was that like?"

"Different."

"Dad!" I smiled at him. "Come on!"

He smiled and went back to his chopping. "It was weird. You saw your friends more than you saw your family. You spent every single day with the same people," he leaned towards me, "even the ones you didn't like."

"So if you had a girlfriend and you broke up...?"

He put the knife down and emphasized his words. "Every. Single. Day."

"Sounds like hell." I said.

"Oh, Wrenny, you have no idea. But, it also was nice because you were with your friends constantly."

"Did you always want to be an accountant?" I asked.

He began cutting again. "No. I wanted to do other things."

"Like what?"

He shrugged as he added some onion to his special sauce and moved on to cutting peppers. "I wanted to be..." He thought about it. "A cop."

"A cop?" I asked with a smile. "You?"

His eyes slid to mine. "Why are you saying it like that? You don't think I could be a cop?"

"I dunno, I don't see you wearing a uniform and pulling people over."

"Think of it more like SWAT and not patrol."

"Okay," I considered it, "I could see that. Is that why you train so much?"

"It's good to stay sharp, Wrenny."

I nodded. "Is that why we train?"

"I want you guys to be able to protect yourself. It's important. You never know what's out there or what could happen. I mean someone could snatch you on the street, you have to know how to defend yourself to get away."

Isla let out a squeal and hurried into the kitchen. We both stared at her and her best friend Jasmine who followed behind. "Drake just texted me!" She said as she and Jasmine jumped up and down. "Do you think he likes me? Do you think we'd be cute together? What do you think his best feature is? I think it's his eyes. He has to like me right? That's why he's texting me?"

"What did he say?" Jasmine asked.

Isla held up a hand and cleared her throat, reading from her phone she said, "he said, 'Sup?'"

Dad and I shared a look as he mouthed the word, "'Sup."

I smiled at him.

The room quieted for a few brief moments. I watched the two girls lean over Isla's phone hanging on to every minute that it took Drake to text her back. Dad slipped and almost cut himself when they started squealing again.