twenty
Lightning flashed and thunder boomed overhead when I pulled into the parking lot at school. I hoped it wasn’t an omen of what was to come. It was already a dreary nasty day. I wished I was at home in my sweats reading a good book.
Surprisingly, even though I talked to Mom for a bit this morning, I was fifteen minutes early. At least it wasn’t foggy today. Rummaging in my bag I pulled out a breakfast bar and ate it really quick, chasing it with some old bottled water that was in my car. Crumpling up the paper, I shoved it into my glove box. That is where I put all my trash, and emptied it when I remembered. Lowering my visor, I checked my teeth for food remnants. Something hit my car, and I snapped back up my visor, my heart pounding. The passenger door opened. In pops a wet head and smiling green eyes. “Can I hang for a minute?”
“God,” I gasped, holding my hand to my chest.
“You remembered my name.” He lifted his brows, waggling them.
“You are so not funny.” I made a face at him.
“Oh no, don’t tell me you weren’t hoping to see me?” He frowned.
“Oh, yeah,” I deadpanned. “I’ve been waiting on baited breath.” My heart picked up pace in spite of my attempt at sarcasm.
“Amber…” He gave me a wounded look. “It hurts ...right here.” He padded his chest.
“Yeah, right,” I tried to sound serious but ended up laughing anyway.
“She laughs,” he said.
“Yes, she does,” I agreed.
“Music to my ears,” he said and gave me another one of his heart stopping smiles.
His eyes turned serious. “I was afraid you’d forgotten about me.”
“Not likely,” I said and then wanted to kick myself.
“Ha!” he laughed. “I knew I was unforgettable.”
“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.” Not able to keep a straight face, I ended up smiling.
“Where you been?” he asked, suddenly.
My brows creased. “What do you mean?”
“We had a date…didn’t we?”
“When?” I asked, not sure what he was talking about. Obviously, I would have remembered that.
“Last night…” His eyes flickered strangely.
“What?” A feeling of unease washed over me.
“In your dreams…” His brow hitched up a notch, but his face stayed deadly serious.
“You were in them so…” Oh my God, what was I saying?
His lips turned up into a slow knowing grin. “I thought I saw you.”
“Yeah, right,” I scoffed and then an image of him grabbing me and pulling me into the darkness popped into my mind—remembering a bit of my dream. I shifted uncomfortably. “What did you dream about?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Me, you and…” He waggled his brows again.
“Oh.” I grabbed my messenger bag and pulled the strap on my shoulder.
“Gee, that was …Ow,” he said, his brows creasing.
“Oh stop.” I swatted his arm playfully. He grabbed my hand and held it in his. His hands were hot, just like in my dream. I pulled my hand away. “So did you hear about Glinda?”
His face turned serious. “Yeah,” he said, shaking his head. A lock of hair fell over his brow; he pushed it away.
“Where were you?” I rushed out before I lost my nerve. “Weren’t you with her?”
“I was but I left and she went with some other people from out of town.”
“Why would she do that?”
“How am I supposed to know?”
“Well, I thought you two were like…together.”
He pointed at his chest. “Me and Glinda?” he scoffed.
I shook my head up and down, unable to voice my biggest fear.
“No way,” he said, shaking his head adamantly in refusal. “It’s not like that with us. We’re just friends.”
“It looked like more than that to me.”
“Well you need your eyes examined.”
A wave of relief rushed over me and I immediately felt bad. “What is it like then?” I couldn’t help asking.
“Not like that…” He rubbed his face and dropped his hands. “I was doing her a favor.”
“A favor?” I didn’t understand.
“Yeah, there was some guy there she didn’t want to be near… so she asked me to …you know…play along.”
“Oh.” That made sense.
“Don’t tell me you thought…” He shoved his hair back, his brow furrowed. “Listen, I wanted to dance with you, but, you know, friends watch out for friends.” He shrugged.
Gee. That was great and all and a relief but what about me? I wanted to say but didn’t. “Are you going to see her?”
“I was there yesterday.”
“You were? But I thought she couldn’t have visitors.”
“Who told you that?”
“Um…Viktor,” I said.
His eyes narrowed. “When did you see him?”
“We had this paper to do, so…”
“Oh.” His lips thinned, like he was angry.
In the distance I could hear the bell ringing. “I guess we better go…” I wanted out of the car before it got even more awkward.
“Yeah,” he agreed. He turned to open the door and then stopped and looked back over his shoulder. “So you want to come with me to see her, after school?”
Crap. “Ah…I’m already going…” I hesitated.
“Let me guess, you’re going with Viktor.” His eyes glinted.
“Well he asked,” I rushed out, feeling like I had to defend my actions.
He stared at me with an unreadable expression on his face. “Have fun.” He jumped out of the car. Before I could say anything, the door slammed in my face.
Irked, I pushed out my door. “I will,” I yelled. This time the only sound that greeted me was another roll of thunder and a bolt of lightning streaking down from the sky. Neither looked like good signs of what was to come.
twenty one
School went faster than I expected. Before I knew, it was time to go to the turtle’s class, i.e. Ms. Campbell. I hovered outside the door, reading the text again. Crap. Mom needed me to drop off some stuff from the store before I went to the hospital. I glanced inside the classroom. Viola was kicking my chair that I was luckily absent from. What was her problem? Gawd, I almost wished I could skip but I had the paper we were supposed to turn in inside my messenger bag.
“Something interesting,” a deep voice whispered over my shoulder. I turned and Viktor was standing behind me, looking really good—as usual.
I waffled on the threshold to the classroom. “Not really. Mom just wants me to pick some stuff up at the store before we head over to the hospital.”
He lifted his brow. “Is she expecting company again?”
“Who knows,” I said, and stuffed my phone back into my bag. “Do you mind?”
“Sure, that shouldn’t be a problem.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“I guess we better get inside.”
“Yeah.” He smiled down at me and my heart did a little flutter thing. I was getting used to it. Between him and Vincent, my heart was flipping all over the place.
He held open the door as I walked through. I could feel Viola’s eyes on me once I entered the room. I felt like flipping her off but didn’t. Edging to my chair, I pulled it forward a few feet to make sure it wasn’t in kicking distance anymore and sat down.
“Good afternoon class,” Ms. Campbell’s nasally voice screeched out. “I hope you finished your papers because we are having a pop-quiz on the material you should have covered this weekend.”
A loud resounding groan emitted from the room.
She passed out a stack of papers to me. “Take one and face it down on the desk and pass the rest back behind you.”
“Okay.” I grabbed the stacks of papers and took mine and tried to pass the rest back. Viola didn’t take them though. I turned to hand them back. She reached out bu
t didn’t grab hold and all the papers fell over the floor.
“Ms. Davis,” Ms. Campbell bellowed. “Pick them up please and hand them back.”
The class erupted in laughter. I glanced over my shoulder at Viktor who thankfully wasn’t laughing. Cleaning up the papers and stacking them together in a messy pile, I walked to Viola’s chair, dropped them on her desk, and stood there. Grudgingly she took one and handed the rest back, giving me an evil glare. I wanted to poke her in the eyes. I sat back down.
“You have thirty minutes,” Ms. Campbell, said. “Time starts… now.”
I turned back around but my paper was absent from my desk. I glanced around and everyone was diligently writing answers down. I lifted my hand but Ms. Campbell’s back was turned writing on the white board at the front of the class. Standing up, I walked to her.
“Ms. Campbell,” I said, my voice squeaked.
She turned around, a nasty expression on her face. “What is it Ms. Davis?” she practically snarled.
I instinctively took a step back. “I can’t find my paper.”
“Here,” she snipped. She shoved past me and lifted up a paper.
“Thanks.” I took the paper and walked back to my desk. Viola was giving me a snarky look. I sat back down and started reading the test. Not able to help myself, I glanced over at Viktor. He had his legs kicked out and was writing down his answers. He glanced up at me and whispered something I couldn’t understand.
“What?” I mouthed.
“Ms. Davis,” Ms. Campbell screeched.
My body tensed and I turned toward her.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” I said. Everyone was snickering.
“Do you have something you want to share?”
“Ah, no,” I muttered, embarrassed.
“Well I suggest you get started on your own quiz then and stop making eyes at Mr. Roth or would you like to go to the principal’s office?“ She gave me a sharp look, her bulgy eyes bugging from behind her glasses.
Another eruption of snickers resounded in the room. “I’m good,” I squeaked. I wished I had a rock to crawl under. Lifting my hand, I blocked my face and concentrated on answering the questions.