A/N: This is the sequel to the short stories “Ethan’s Key” and “Jack’s Ring,” both available in my profile.

PART THREE

Chapter One: Confiscation

Laura sat in the living room, the TV on, but not really paying attention. The VCR clock told her that it was a quarter after midnight, and her son still wasn’t home. She checked the phone to make sure it wasn’t off the hook, checked her cell phone to make sure she hadn’t missed any calls. Nothing. Ethan just wasn’t home, and hadn’t tried to call her.

What if something had happened to him? He could be hurt – he could be dead and no one would know. Would police officers be able to identify him if he couldn’t tell them who he was?

What if he wasn’t hurt, but he had gone to some wild party and was passed out in some stranger’s house? He didn’t have a cell phone, no one to call his mother if something was wrong. Chance knew the number, but what if he was passed out or too drunk to care? Kids aren’t careful – they’re reckless and stupid, and whenever they play around with things they’re not ready for, someone always gets hurt.

But what if he wasn’t passed out? What if he was afraid to call his mother drunk. What if Chance tried to drive him home? Or worse, he tried to drive himself. He had a permit, but it was no good without an adult in the passenger seat. So he wouldn’t drive himself. Would he?

What if he just didn’t call? What if he didn’t care? He just blew her off. It was like a slap to the face. How could he do that to her? She had given up everything – her home, her life, her job – just to make sure he was safe, and he repaid her by staying out late, worrying her to death…

At one o’clock, she went to bed, but she didn’t sleep. She listened to the house – every little noise making her snap up and look out the window. Was he home yet?

She finally fell asleep at 2:24, but Ethan still hadn’t come home.

In the morning, Ethan came downstairs, fresh out of the shower and looking dead tired. He grabbed his lunch off the kitchen counter and started to head out.

“Hey,” Laura said, masking her anger as much as possible. “What time did you get home last night?”

“About eleven,” he replied nonchalantly.

Laura’s jaw dropped. “You just lied to me!”

“Gotta go,” said Ethan. “Chance is waiting outside.”

“Well, come straight home after school!” Laura shouted at an already closed door. Before she could even get out to call him back, Ethan was speeding away down the street in the passenger seat of Chance’s car.

“Come on,” Ethan whispered into the ringing phone. “Pick up.”

Two…three…four…five…six rings.

On the seventh, Jack picked up.

“Hello?” he asked, out of breath.

“Out of shape much?” Ethan joked. He knew very well that Jack’s morning run only ended at 6:45. He had probably only just gotten inside. “What’s up?”

“You know, you calling every morning gives me an incentive to run faster? What kind of school starts at seven?”

“Harrison started at 7:30.”

“Yes, and by then, I had already gotten in and taken a shower before picking you up.”

“I miss you.”

He heard Jack’s sigh blow through the speaker. “I miss you, too. How are you getting on? Is everything alright?”

“Yeah,” Ethan said. Jack could hear the shrug in his voice. “I’m failing a couple of classes, but–”

“Oh, just a couple?” Jack snapped. “You’re not to call me any more until they’re back up, do you understand? I won’t have you flunking out of school because you’re spending so much time on the phone. I’ll see you at Christmas, I promise. I love you. Goodbye.”

“But – wait!” Ethan stuttered. Too late. The line went dead. “God damn it!”

“You shouldn’t have told him,” Chance chuckled. “You knew he’d flip shit the second he found out.”

“Shut up.”

“Hey!” Chance shouted, slamming on the breaks in the parking lot of the school. “Look, if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have spent the summer with him, and you wouldn’t be talking to him every morning now. Just show some respect, huh?”

Ethan rolled his eyes and got out of the car. “Fine,” he said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “I’ll find my own ride from now on.”

In first-period chemistry, he got back yet another failed test, in second-period English, he wrote half a page on the two-page essay assignment because he hadn’t read the book, and in third-period world history, he turned in his hastily-copied, half-finished homework. He forgot an assignment or two every once in a while, but this was an exceptionally bad day. He skipped out on math, hiding in the bathroom on the opposite side of the building. He pulled his phone out of his pants pocket. Class was half over. After that was lunch, and then study hall, Spanish, and choir. Not so bad. But if he walked home, he wouldn’t be able to talk to Jack. Not that the asshole would answer his calls for sure, anyway. Where did he get off telling Ethan not to call him until his grades were back up? He was the one who gave him the stupid phone in the first place. Well, fine. If he was going to act like he didn’t care, Ethan would force him to show it. He may be able to tell him not to call, but Ethan was willing to bet that if he did, Jack wouldn’t be able to hold to that. He went to the menu and selected Jack’s number. It was stored without a name. Pressing send, he raised the phone to his ear.

“I know your grades aren’t back up yet,” Jack said automatically when he picked up. “Is everything alright? You should still be in school.”

“I know,” Ethan said. “Um…I’m kind of skipping class.”

“Ethan, I told y—”

“Look, listen to me, okay? I had a fight with Chance, and I…it’s just been a shitty day. I needed to talk to you.”

Jack’s voice softened. “This isn’t going to be easy, Ethan. But I love you, and if you need me, I’m here. Just don’t get into any trouble over me.”

“I won’t.”

“Are you coming at Christmas? Actually, I can get away any time you like. Do you have any breaks coming up?”

“We have a week off later this month. Fall break.”

“We’ll have to be careful, but I’ll make it up there. How’s Laura acting? Are you allowed out much?”

Ethan shrugged. “She doesn’t really care what I do as long as she doesn’t find out about it.”

“Well, that’s Laura for you,” Jack growled. “I hate to come between the two of you, but that woman flies into a fit the second she thinks something is out of her control, but she doesn’t give a damn what’s best for – I’m sorry. I shouldn’t say things like that. Is there a hotel near your house? One it would be easy to walk to?”

“There’s one on G Street. It’s a couple blocks away. It’s not as nice as some of the lodges, but those are mostly out of town in the mountains.”

“I’ll see about staying there. Remind me closer to time when your break is, and then we’ll have Christmas when school lets out for that. Make up with Chance before then, if you don’t mind. I don’t know what the two of you are fighting about, but I’m sure it’s absolutely ridiculous.”

Ethan smiled and started to reply, but the door opened, so he quickly whispered, “Gotta go!” and hung up.

He flushed the toilet for good measure, just in case it was a teacher, and left the stall.

“Phone,” came the voice immediately. A teacher Ethan didn’t know, an older guy with a dark ponytail.

Shit, he thought, digging it back out of his pocket and handing it over sheepishly.

“Sorry.”

The teacher laughed, leaning against a sink. He looked sort of sleazy to Ethan, but that could have just been the situation. “Don’t apologize to me,” he said. “What class are you in?”

“Algebra,” Ethan replied. “Mrs. Long.”

“Alright, come on,” he said, holding the door open for Ethan. “I’ll walk you back. Your parents can come pick up the phone after school.”

Ethan panicked. There was no way his mother would miss the number. She didn’t know he even had a cell-phone. “Um…can I just pick it up? My mom works late, so she can’t really come in to get it.”

“Nice try,” the teacher said, patting him on the back. His arm lingered around Ethan’s shoulders a few seconds too long, and he had to surpress his gut-reaction to shove him off. “I have to take it to Principal Reed. He’ll call your mom and let her know it’s here. What’s your name?”

Ethan considered lying, giving Chance’s name instead, but this guy might know him. No good. He had to tell him. “Ethan Sears.”

“Alright, Ethan, this is your stop,” he laughed at the door to the math room. “Mrs. Long?”

The old lady looked up from her desk. The class was in the middle of a quiz.

“I kept Ethan late to work on a project. I hope you don’t mind. It was acrylic, so we had to get through with it before the first coat dried.”

Pulling out a sheet of paper, Mrs. Long said, “Thank you, Mr. Winchester.”

“Ethan, if you could come up to the art room before you leave today, I’d still like to talk to you about a couple of things with your project.”

Ethan nodded and took his seat, pencilling in his name on the quiz Mrs. Long handed him. He was too freaked out to really look at the problems. He was grateful that the guy had lied for him, and all, but what could he possibly want to talk to him about? Mr. Winchester…it sounded familiar – he had probably heard the name a thousand times over the announcements, but that wasn’t it.

More urgently, he thought about the phone. Would his mother look through it? What would she do when she found out that he had been talking to Jack? He wasn’t sure at all that he had deleted his last few texts or voicemails.

He shook his head.

No. She would definitely look through it, and she would definitely know.

By the end of class, he hadn’t filled out a single problem.