Free period

Connor retreated to the last holdout of the stressed high schooler - the bathroom. He'd got a free period, a legacy of having given up on geography after finishing the required credits early, and so he sat down in a cubicle with his head in his hands and tried to sort through what had happened. Three girls - four if you counted the lady driver and anyway shouldn't he say women or ladies since two of them were adults, real adults not stuck in high school - had acted oddly towards him today. He didn't know how to process it. It had to be, Connor reasoned, linked to the other weird thing going on in his life. His father.

He decided to demand answers. Also, the phone seemed safer than talking to any of the girls, or ladies, face to face.

He pulled out his phone and called his father. It was answered only after the fourth ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Dad. I need to know now. I've... there's been some odd things. Is this related to what you want to talk about? Is the thing with Joan, or this lady this morning -"

"Yeah. It sounds like it. Look, you're not in any trouble are you?"

"No, but-"

"They're not in trouble? Just embarrassed they acted strange?"

"What? How do you-"

"As I said, I can't explain on the phone. This is pushing it. Just relax, hang tight. I'll tell you tomorrow. Just stay out of trouble!" With that, Connor's father cut the line.

Connor stared at the phone for a minute, then it beeped at him. A message from Joan - "See you after this class just blow off the last one OK? Meet at my car." It was pretty typical of Joan to refuse abbreviations, even in a text.