Voyage of the Defiance

Chapter 1

1

“What’d you do this time?” Tisha whispered, leaning forward in her seat so that she was closer to Makayla.

Makayla rolled her eyes and turned to scowl in the direction where the English teacher was talking quietly with the principal, Mr. Wallace, at the entrance to the classroom. She knew the other students were glancing at her as well.

Everyone had heard the principal’s quiet question when he asked if Makayla Summerlin was in the class. She ignored Tisha as she tried to hear what Mrs. Ruiz and Mr. Wallace were saying. Her stomach dropped when the door opened again behind him to reveal a School Resource Officer from the Sheriff’s department.

“Oh, man, you are in deep sh…,” Tisha started to say before she leaned back when Mrs. Ruiz, Mr. Wallace, and the deputy all looked in their direction.

“Miss Summerlin, please come with me,” Mr. Wallace requested, staring at Makayla.

Makayla slowly slid out of her seat and turned, ignoring the bursts of whispers from the other students. Some were chuckling while a few called out jokingly for her to say hi to some of the other students at the Detention Center. She drew in a deep breath as she bent to pick up her backpack off the floor next to her desk.

“I’ll call you later,” Makayla muttered under her breath to Tisha.

“Good luck,” Tisha replied with a sympathetic look.

Makayla nodded and finished stuffing her notepad and book in her backpack before picking it up and slinging it over her shoulder. With a defiant glance at the principal, she stepped over the backpack belonging to the guy sitting next to her and walked to the front of the room.

“You’re not in trouble,” Mr. Wallace assured her, loud enough to be heard by the class.

Makayla just shrugged. She knew she hadn’t done anything and really didn’t care what the other kids thought. She had learned back in middle school how to handle those that tried to mess with her. She, Tisha, and three other girls, Laura, Debbie, and Audrey, had perfected the art of smacking down anyone who messed with them.

Her friends were the only ones who made life fun anymore. They had known each other since primary school and had made a pact when they moved into middle school that they would watch each other’s back. So far, they had done a pretty good job of it.

She brushed her long, dark brown hair back from her face as she walked by the teacher. Mrs. Ruiz shot her a sad, sympathetic look before she turned back to the students in an effort to quiet them down.

Good luck with that, Makayla thought as she glanced at Mr. Wallace through her eyelashes.

She pushed past him and out the door when the deputy opened it further. Schooling her face into a blank mask, she walked quietly between the two men. Her mind swirled as she tried to think of anything she had done to get not only the principal’s attention, but the cops.

Her stomach twisted as a dark feeling of dread surged through her. She glanced at the deputy walking beside her. He didn’t look back, but there was something in his stance that told her he was there on serious business. She wiped her suddenly damp palm against her faded blue jeans.

“What’s going on?” she asked bluntly as they neared the double doors leading into the office, unable to contain her curiosity any longer. “I haven’t done anything.”

Mr. Wallace paused as he opened the door and glanced at the deputy beside her before he looked away. He gave her a stiff smile and motioned for her to go ahead of them. Makayla’s eyes narrowed when his gaze didn’t quite meet her eyes.

“As I told you before, you are not in trouble,” Mr. Wallace said. “We’ll meet in the conference room.”

The suspicion that something was seriously wrong deepened the closer they got to the small conference room. The room was tucked in the corner of the hallway next to the guidance counselors’ offices. The door was open and she could see Mrs. Evers sitting at the scarred table.

Her eyes swept the room as she entered, noting that only the guidance counselor assigned to her, the principal, and the deputy were there. She shrugged her backpack off and dropped it on the table before sliding onto one of the worn, padded chairs. Mr. Wallace cleared his throat as the deputy closed the door behind him.

Her eyes shifted around as a sense of panic began to build deep inside her. She glanced from one person to the other before turning her head when Mrs. Evers reached over and gently touched her hand.

“Makayla, I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this, but…,” Alma Evers paused for a moment before she spoke in a low voice. “It’s your mom…,” she said quietly.

Makayla felt a cold sweat break out over her. She clutched her trembling hands together and glanced back to where the School Resource Officer was standing. She could feel the blood drain from her face and for a moment she was afraid she might actually pass out.

She opened her mouth, but it was as if someone had suddenly wrapped their hands around her throat. She swallowed again and began shaking her head in denial. A sob rose up, but she pushed it down.

“Is she…,” Makayla finally forced out in a trembling voice. “Is she…?”

Makayla lowered her head as tears burned her eyes. She couldn’t say the word that was choking her. She couldn’t voice the fear that her mom was… dead.

“No… She’s not dead, but she is in the hospital. She was found unconscious early this morning by a co-worker,” Mrs. Evers said, glancing at the deputy again.

Makayla turned her head when the man standing next to the door straightened and cleared his throat. She drew in a deep breath and waited. A part of her had always wondered if this day would come, while another part denied that it would ever get this bad. Her mom had a bad habit. She was addicted to painkillers, anything to numb her life. Makayla knew it and did what she could to protect her mom, but it was no use.

Her mom had begun seeing a new guy a couple of months ago. Makayla didn’t like him. He was just as bad as her mom and she suspected he was helping supply her mom’s habit.

“Where is she?” Makayla asked in a low, husky voice, glancing at the deputy’s name tag before looking him in the eye.

“Tampa General,” Deputy Masters replied. “Do you have any other family here?”

Makayla shook her head. The only family she had was a grandfather that she hadn’t seen in years. He lived over on the east coast of Florida. All she remembered was there had been a huge fight as her mom packed her in the car. She had been six at the time.

“My grandfather… My mom’s dad lives over in Fort Pierce, I think,” she said. “We… He and my mom had a big fight years ago. I haven’t seen him since.”

“Can you please write down his name?” he asked.

Makayla watched as he pulled a piece of paper and pen out of his pocket. He stepped up to the table and handed it to her. She pulled it toward her with trembling fingers. Writing down her grandfather’s name, she paused and bit her lip, looking up at the deputy with troubled eyes.

“I don’t remember his address,” she whispered.

Deputy Masters reached down and took the paper from her hand, glancing at it before he gave her a small smile of understanding. He tucked the paper and pen back into his left breast pocket and nodded to the principal. Makayla swallowed and stood when Mr. Wallace and Mrs. Evers pushed back their chairs and rose.

“Don’t worry about it,” Deputy Masters replied. “We’ll notify him of the situation.”

“Makayla, do you have any friends you can stay with?” Mrs. Evers asked.

Makayla paused as she picked up her backpack. Her mind went to the five girls that she hung out with. Each of them had their own problem. Tisha’s mom and dad were in the middle of getting a divorce and Tisha was being bounced back and forth between their two homes. Laura’s mom was out of work and Laura was the only one working at the moment. Debbie’s parents were super strict, and in Makayla’s opinion more than a little strange. Audrey was the oldest of six kids and shared a room with three of her younger sisters in a small, three bedroom house.

“No,” she admitted with a shake of her head. “I can stay….”

Her voice faded when she thought of her mom’s new boyfriend, Rob. There was no way she could stay at the apartment they shared with him. She would be better off sleeping in her mom’s old car.

“I want to see my mom,” she said suddenly, looking at the deputy.

“Give me a minute,” Deputy Masters said, opening the door and stepping out as he spoke softly into the radio attached to his left shoulder.

“Makayla, if you need to talk about anything,” Mrs. Evers began to say awkwardly.

Makayla breathed a sigh of relief when the door opened and the deputy nodded to her. She grabbed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. Suddenly the room seemed smaller, more suffocating than she remembered.

“Thanks,” she muttered, walking around the table.

“I’ve gotten permission to take you to the hospital,” Deputy Masters informed her as she stepped out into the hallway. “They are also notifying your grandfather of the situation.”

Makayla nodded, not looking at the other students sitting in the outer office chairs. She pushed open the door to the front office and stepped outside into the early afternoon heat. It was the end of May and already getting hot.

A surrealistic sense of being disconnected from what was happening washed over Makayla as she walked along the wide sidewalk. She glanced around the huge grounds of the historic campus. She only had another couple of weeks to finish her junior year at Hillsborough High School. She paused for a moment as she walked by the statue of the school’s mascot, her hand automatically reaching out to touch the hard, bronze surface. Some of the athletes said they touched it for good luck before a game. She wondered if there might be just a touch of good luck in it for her.

“Makayla,” Deputy Masters called in a quiet voice.

Makayla looked at him and swallowed. She knew her eyes were bright with unshed tears. She could feel them burning.

I won’t cry, she whispered silently to herself. I won’t. I’m tough. I have to be if I’m going to survive. Don’t let anyone know you are hurting. Don’t let anyone see you are weak. They will only use that against you if you do.

She nodded and straightened her shoulders. Gripping the strap to her backpack tightly between her palms, she followed Deputy Masters out to the patrol car parked out front. Sliding into the back seat, she stared out the window with sightless eyes.