Forks Read online

  “A picture would last longer.” He lifted his brow as if daring me to say something.

  I cringed and moved my hair over my face.

  He snickered.

  For the rest of the class I made a point not to look at him. It was hard though. I had a feeling he was watching me.

  The movie droned on, and combined with the warmth from all the bodies piled into one room, my eyes drifted shut.

  I could hear the movie playing. Claire Danes was crying. I knew this movie by heart so I didn’t need to look at the screen to know what part they were at. Something cold slid over my neck. My eyes snapped open. Turning around, I looked into the gray eyes of one of the Sparklers. The one named Viola. She gave me an evil glare and my heart thumped erratically.

  “Leave off, Viola,” “The flash” warned.

  She made a face and settled back in her chair.

  I turned back around and leaned forward, glancing under my makeshift hand shield. He was glaring at Viola, like he wouldn’t mind killing her.

  At least he didn’t look like he wanted to kill me…now.

  The lights snapped back on.

  “Now class,” Ms. Campbell said. “I want you to write a paper on the similarities and differences between this film and original and pose arguments for both.” She shuffled over to the white board and wrote two columns down. “I want your papers at the beginning of class Monday,” she said, as a reminder.

  A loud groan resounded in the room.

  “We will draw names to choose partners, like the last time.” She lifted a bowl off her desk. “I took the liberty of filling out the names of each student on this side of the room. The opposite side will choose.” She shuffled forward. The bottoms of her orthopedic shoes made a sharp squeaking noise against the tiles, like the players on the court at a basketball game.

  “Good luck, Ms. Davis.” She gave me a cold smile and held out the bowl.

  Reaching out, I picked a piece of paper.

  “Do not look.” Her eyes flashed. “Yet,” she finished.

  I felt sick. A cold sweat broke out on my forehead. It seemed to take forever for everyone to grab a piece of paper. Finally, Ms. Campbell waddled back to the front of the room. “Now open your papers,” she instructed.

  Opening up my piece of paper, I stared down at the name.

  “Who is your partner, Ms. Davis?” Ms. Campbell asked.

  “I’m not sure who this is.” I waved the paper.

  “Just read the name.” She sounded irritated.

  I tensed. “Ah…it say’s…” The name blurred before my eyes.

  “Let me see that.” She ripped the paper from my hand, her old snaggled nail scratching me in the process.

  “Wonderful,” she tittered. “Viktor will be your partner.”

  I didn’t know if it was wonderful or not. I had no idea who she was talking about. “Who’s that?”

  Exhaling loudly, she stepped back and pointed.

  I turned and my worst nightmare came true.

  He smirked. “Hey partner.”

  “Ah…” I looked around the room hoping this was some kind of mix up. “Ms. Campbell,” I said, standing. “Can’t I be paired with someone else?”

  She glared at me. “No, Ms. Davis, you may not.”

  And that was the end of that. She turned. The hem of her swirly print skirt was jacked higher in the back and swayed with each step she took as she waddled slowly up to the front of the room. I turned to sit back down. My chair skidded across the floor. I stumbled. “What the…”

  Viola, the she dog sparkler snickered. “What’s wrong newbie?” She pursed her glossed lips. “Can’t find your seat?”

  “I told you…” Viktor stood and with lightning speed he was across the aisle, his hands pressed to her desk. “Leave off,” he growled, hovering above.

  The bell rang.

  Quickly, I grabbed my messenger bag off the floor and shoved my books inside. A few of the other kids in class were laughing and talking with each other about where to meet or exchanging phone numbers. I pulled my strap on my shoulder and stepped into the cluster, trying to get out of class. Someone grabbed my arm. I looked down and Glinda was standing next to me, her cherubic face alight with laughter. “You are sooo lucky,” she gushed.

  “Why’s that?” I asked, and since when was she in this class, too?

  “He is really smart and cute.” She let out a breathy sigh. “I am teamed up with Tucker, he smells.” She wrinkled her pert nose.

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it. “You want to switch?”

  Her face brightened and then she looked over my shoulder. “No.” She frowned and shook her head, making her curls bounce around her face.

  Letting out a pent up breath, I pulled my hair out of my jacket.

  “You smell better today.” Her eyes glittered strangely.

  “Thanks…I guess.” I frowned.

  “Hey you…”

  I turned and there he was, towering over me.

  “I have a name,” I snapped.

  “And that would be?” His brow lifted.

  “Amber.”

  “So Amber, you want to give me your number?”

  “Not really.”

  “Fine by me,” he said, and without a backward glance, he walked past me, right out of the room.

  Glinda gaped at me. “Why’d you do that?

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged, not wanting to tell her the real reason—he freaked me out.

  She giggled. “You’re funny.”

  “Why’s that?”

  She shook her head and her china blue eyes widened. “No one talks to him like that.”

  “Well, there is a first time for everything.” I took a step forward.

  “Stop!” She hit my arm.

  I looked down at her. “What’s wrong?”

  “We should go out sometime.”

  “Um, okay.”

  “Great!” She bounced in place. “What are you doing this weekend?” She grinned.

  “Um, I guess working on this paper.”

  “Give me your number.” She pulled out a marker and pushed up her sleeve.

  Again, I noticed the tattoo on the inside of her left wrist, except now it reminded me more of a bat, with jagged teeth and red glowing eyes. I blinked and looked again. It was back to being a little black bird. Weird.

  “Ah, how bout giving me your number.”

  She jutted out her lip, making a pouty face. “Okay,” she breathed and grabbed my arm. Before I could say anything, she jerked up my sleeve and scribbled her number on my arm. “Call me anytime.”

  “Oh—kay,” I said slowly and pulled my sleeve back down.

  “Oh and make sure you wear something nice for your date.”

  “I’m not…”

  She nodded her head up and down. “Yes you are…you just don’t know it yet.” She winked and stepped into the hall.

  Following her out, I stepped into the hall. “I’m not going anywhere…” I said, but she was already gone.

  The rest of school passed in a blur and was pretty uneventful, which I was glad for.

  After the last bell rang, I gathered my books from my locker and headed out the large glass doors. There was another downpour. The rain hit the ground so hard it bounced back up off the sidewalk. Fog hung low to the ground, creeping across the lawn. A group of “sparklers” pushed through the doors past me while I waited under the eaves. Unlike me, seeking cover from the rain, they pulled off their jackets and danced into it, laughing with their arms up above their heads. Like I said before…there were some strange folk around these parts. Pulling my hood up, I waited for them to dance away.

  Finally, the last of them disappeared around the side of the building. I took a step forward but then stopped. I had a feeling someone was watching me. Slowly, I turned around. Leaning against the column behind me was Viktor. A gust of wind blew his long coat outward. Again, it reminded me of a large wing.

  Taking a breath, I stepped forward.
“Um…so ah…”

  “See something you want?” He pushed off the column and took a step toward me.

  “What? No!” I shook my head.

  He laughed and brushed past me.

  “Wait!”

  He stopped and turned. The rain beat against him, wetting his hair, reminding me of the color of black ink. “Yes?” His brow hitched up a notch.

  I walked out into the rain. It was deafening. “I think we got off on the wrong foot,” I shouted.

  “What foot might that be?” He pushed his hair away from his face. There was a small scar near his left eye.

  “The wrong one, obviously,” I snapped sarcastically, tugging my hood up further.

  “I don’t have time for this.” He started walking.

  I raced to catch up. It was hard though. He had long legs, and mine weren’t short exactly, but a lot shorter than his. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be…” I sidestepped a huge puddle.

  He stopped. “You didn’t mean to be what? A bi—h?”

  “Hey,” I cut him off, wiping water from my face. “You’re the one that said I had a death wish.”

  Stopping abruptly, he turned. Water ran down his face but it didn’t seem to bother him. “Where are you from?”

  “The east coast…why?”

  “Well that answers that.”

  “What?”

  “You don’t have a sense of humor… obviously.”

  I gaped at him.

  “See.” He lifted his brows.

  “I’ll have you know,” I flustered. “I have a perfectly good sense of humor but you …”

  He leaned forward.

  “What?” he breathed in my ear.

  Warmth spread over my face.

  I couldn’t think. My thoughts jumbled. Not able to say anything coherent, I merely shook my head.

  He pulled back and sighed deeply. “I’ll call you.” And then he took off, leaving me staring stupidly after him in a downpour.

  “But you don’t have my number.”

  Pulling into the Thriftway parking lot, I climbed out of ole Peggy Sue, right into a huge puddle. Water sloshed over my shoes, up to my calves.

  “Son of a ...”

  I stomped through the puddle up to the store and grabbed a cart. Once again, I was squeaking as I pushed through the sliding glass doors into the warmth of the store. I smelled fried chicken. My stomach rumbled as I headed to the back. A man in a brown raincoat stood off to the side, watching me as I squeaked past. I almost said, “Take a picture, it lasts longer” but then remembered that is what Viktor said. I still didn’t know what happened to Vincent. I was kind of hoping to see him here.

  How pathetic is that. It’s Friday night so he probably had something better to do than hang out in the grocery store. It still didn’t stop me from hoping he would make an appearance.

  A big sign that said “meat” hung over the case as I pushed my cart up to the beef section. I grabbed three large New York Strip steaks, then headed over to the fresh vegetable section and picked out three good-sized backing potatoes and put them in a little plastic bag. I knew I needed to get a vegetable but my mom didn’t say what kind, so I ended up getting some fresh green beans and a bag of slivered almonds to make almandine. I had one last thing to get. She wanted a cheesecake for dessert, so I headed to the bakery, which was on the other side of the store.

  There were a couple different kinds to choose from—Cherry, Strawberry or Blueberry. I decided on the Cherry—it looked the best out of the three. Placing the box in the bottom of my cart, I made my way back to the front checkout stand. I passed a candy display. On a whim, I grabbed a few boxes of Red Hots and tossed them in the cart.

  The girl Sandy from yesterday was the cashier at the checkout again. Today I noticed how pretty she was and immediately felt a stab of jealousy. Grabbing up one of the blue plastic separators, I placed it on the black conveyer belt and unloaded my groceries. Three kids bounced up and down like little monkey’s in the cart in front of me. There was a girl and two boys, who looked like twins. The mother sighed loudly, pushing her short black hair behind her ears and then lifted out two gallons of milk.

  I grabbed a magazine and flipped through it, waiting my turn.

  “Suzie put that back!”

  The little girl had her hands full of candy and gave her mother a toothless grin. She tossed her stash up with the other groceries.

  “That’s enough, Suzie!”

  The little girl giggled and ran back to the front of the cart and climbed in.

  “Did you want this too?” Sandy asked the woman, lifting a Twix bar in the air. She smiled at the little girl. She had full pouty bee-stung lips, heavily coated with lip-gloss.

  “Yeah, ring it up too.”

  “Thank you Mommy,” Suzie said, clapping her chubby hands.

  “You won’t get that until after you eat all your dinner. Understand?”

  Suzie nodded her head enthusiastically. “Yes Mommy.” She ducked her head around her mother and looked at me.

  I smiled.

  Her eyes glittered strangely and she smiled. I could see two sharp teeth on either side of her mouth.

  A shiver ran up my spine. Taking a step back, I butted up against someone. “Sorry.”

  A hand pressed into my back.

  “Not a problem.”

  I turned around and the man in the raincoat from earlier was standing behind me. His gaze flicked over me almost hungrily.

  He didn’t even have any groceries. Pervert.

  I stepped closer to the woman. She looked over her shoulder at me. She made a face. “Steven, come around the other side.”

  Completely embarrassed, my cheeks bloomed with color. I lifted my magazine higher.

  “Daddy!” Suzie jumped up and down in the cart as the woman pushed her cart out of the way.

  “Excuse me,” the man, Steven, said. His body pressed up against mine, as he pushed too closely past me. I felt violated.

  “Back so soon?” Sandy asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, digging out my credit card.

  “You just moved here, right?”

  “Yeah, I did.”

  “Where from?” she asked, her perfectly drawn on brow hitched up a notch.

  “I’m from the east coast.” I never said where I was from exactly, since no one seemed to know where Sunshine, Maryland was anyway. It was easier being evasive.

  “Oh.” She chewed on her lip like she was debating whether or not to ask me another question. “Are you in school?”

  “Yeah, I go to Forks High School.”

  “I used to go there.” She leaned forward and said, “Before I was asked to leave.”

  “Oh.” What was I supposed to say to that?

  “So is that how you know Vincent?” Her pale face turned a light shade of pink at the mention of his name.

  “I guess.” I dug further in my bag and grabbed out my keys. Was this the Spanish inquisition?

  “He was here not too long ago.”

  “He was?” I didn’t mean to sound so excited.

  She frowned. “Yeah, he stopped in to see me.”

  “Oh.” My face reddened. “That’s cool.”

  “Yeah, we go way back.” She dropped the steaks into a bag and slammed them into the cart a little forcefully.

  “That’s nice.” I felt sick.

  “Yeah, it is.” She dropped the cheesecake. “Sorry.” She made a face that was anything but sorry. “Do you want to go get another one?”

  “Nah, it looks all right.” That was a lie. The cherries were smushed up against the cellophane top.

  “That will be fifty six dollars and twenty three cents.” She tapped her bright blue nails on the register.

  “I charged it.”

  “Oh.” She hit a few buttons, the register made a clicking noise as the drawer popped open. She slammed it shut. “You want your receipt?”

  “Yes…please.”

  She ripped it off the register and handed it out to me. />
  Taking the receipt, I shoved it into my bag. “Well, thanks.”

  “No problem.” She glared at me.

  “See you.”

  “I’ll see you,” she said. It sounded like a threat.

  Feeling strangely unsettled, I pushed my cart out into the rain. This time I left the cart on the sidewalk and carried my bags. The rain was hammering by the time I made it to the car. Throwing open my door, I jumped in.

  “Ahhhhhhhhh!”

  “Whoa, calm down.” Vincent held his hands up.

  “What are you doing in my car?” Even as I said it, I felt a rush of excitement.

  “I was waiting for you.”

  “That is so not cool.”

  “Hey, you left your doors unlocked.”

  Did I? “That doesn’t mean it’s an open invitation to get inside.”

  “It’s not?” He shrugged.

  “No its not!” I leaned over and put my bags in the back seat. “You almost gave me heart failure.”

  “Almost?” He lifted his brows, smiling. “You need me to give you mouth to mouth resuscitation?”

  “No.” My lips twitched. “I think I’ll survive.” It was hard being mad at him, especially since I was hoping to see him, anyway.

  “So, why were you waiting for me?” I fiddled nervously with my keys.

  “I was hoping you’d give me a ride.”

  “Let me guess, your ride left you here and went back to…”

  “Yeah, something like that,” he cut me off and looked out the window.

  Dead air spread between us.

  “Um, I can, I mean, sure. I’ll give you a ride,” I babbled, suddenly feeling nervous.

  “Sweet!” His face brightened and he put on his seatbelt.

  “Alrighty then.” I put the keys in the ignition and started the car. Peggy Sue sputtered and then groaned to life… barely. She sounded sick. Stupid car.

  “So what did you do today?”

  “I went to school.” I turned on the windshield wipers and the lights.

  “Oh.”

  “Where were you?”

  “I had some stuff to take care of.”

  “Like?”

  “Just stuff.” He rubbed the tops of his jeans. Something red was on his left thigh. “Can we get out of here?” he asked, sounding anxious.

  “Okay.” I put the car in reverse and backed out, quickly.