Forks, Book Two Page 5

  By the time I made it downstairs, the halls were pretty deserted except for a few straggling students who were hanging out near one of the lit glass cases that held trophies and pictures. I kept my head down as I passed them and made my way down the long darkened hall to the end, then turned left. My locker was in the middle of the hall and the doors that led outside were about twenty or so feet away.

  A pungent smell resonated in the air coming from the opposite end of the hall where the Biology Lab was located. The smell reminded me of when I was home in Sunshine, Maryland and had to dissect a pregnant frog—, which was disgusting.

  Setting my bag on the floor, I grabbed my lock and twisted the dial with my combination, 3 to the left, six to the right and all the way around back to 9 and jerked it down until the little metal latch released. Quickly, I grabbed my history book and shoved it down in my bag. Lifting my bag, I put it on my shoulder and shut my locker again. Reattaching the lock, I twisted the dial a few times.

  The sound of running footsteps echoed down the other hall, accompanied by laughter, which sounded weirdly like Glinda. The sound of footsteps grew louder, like whoever it was, was coming my way. Pulling my strap more firmly on my shoulder, I had every intention of leaving but something held me in place, curiosity maybe?

  “Curiosity killed the cat,” Mom would always tell me when I was trying to see something I shouldn’t, “but I’m not a cat,” I would always say back to her and now, I was saying that very same thing to myself.

  “I’m not a cat.”

  Another giggle echoed down the hall, coming closer. Instead of leaving like I knew I probably should, I stepped behind the column that jutted out about two feet by my locker and hid. Thankfully, this hall wasn’t overly bright, so it was almost impossible to see me while I was on the other side of the column.

  “Wait,” a small voice said, and another peel of giggling laughter followed.

  Yep. It definitely sounded like Glinda. What was she doing down here and more importantly who was she with? I couldn’t help but wonder if she was with Jeremy.

  After a few moments of hiding out, even though I was curious, guilt started gnawing deep in my belly and I began to feel bad because I knew it wasn’t right to spy on one of my only friends.

  Taking a breath, I made up my mind to reveal myself and took a step to leave my hiding place. I stopped just as quickly and jerked back behind the column. My heart jumped into double time and pummeled against my ribs as I leaned around to look. The back of the girl faced me but even from this distance, I could see her blonde curls. The boy grabbed her hand and pulled her back against one of the lockers. Not missing a beat, she dropped her bag. It had a huge neon green #biteme slanted across the front. Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around the boy and kissed him with gusto. The boy wasn’t Jeremy, though, like I had thought. It was another boy…and not just any boy, either.

  It was Vincent.

  Completely freaked and appalled at the same time, I quickly stepped back into the shadows and pressed my body against the column. Shaking all over, I bit my trembling lip and tried not to cry.

  I had no idea how long I was trapped in the prison of my own making. Each time I heard Glinda giggle my stomach did another involuntary swoop. I felt sick and betrayed at the same time. By the sounds drifting down the hall, I could hear quite well what they were doing. Gross. I heard someone else come down the hall. Thank the Lord. I was given a reprieve from the swapping spit fest they were happily having with each other.

  Holding my breath, I waited a beat and then peeked around the column. Hand in hand they ran in the opposite direction and slipped inside the Biology Room. Once the door swept shut, I stepped out of my hiding place and ran as fast as I could to the doors that led outside.

  Pushing through the doors, I ran outside into another torrential downpour. Feeling numb, I hiked my bag on my shoulder and walked out from under the overhang. Rain fell from the skies so hard it stung my face but I didn’t lift my hood like I normally would and I didn’t bother dodging the puddles, either. Instead, I walked right through every single one as I made my way to my car.

  seven

  Blissfully numb, I drove through the torrential downpour. My wipers were going a mile a minute, knocking sheets of water off the windshield. The rain was getting harder and I couldn’t see any longer. Mechanically, I pulled over to the side of the road. Killing the engine, I grabbed my keys and climbed out of my car. Walking around the side, I made my way down the muddy hill and stepped into the gully. Water swirled around my feet. Holding my stomach, I bent over and promptly threw up.

  It was dark by the time I got home. Ken’s squad car was in the driveway. Still feeling pretty numb, I climbed out of Peggy Sue and made my way inside. The heat from the house hit me as soon as I opened the door as well as the distinct smell of an Italian restaurant.

  “Hey, kiddo,” Ken called cheerily from the kitchen as he leaned back and looked down the hall at me. He was wearing Mom’s frilly apron, holding a wooden spoon in his hand.

  “Hey,” I called back as I shut the door and dislodged my sopping shoes from my feet on the striped rug by the door.

  Mom popped up behind him from who knew where. “Amber, what took you so long?”

  “The rain was coming down too hard so I had to pull over until it let up,” I said automatically.

  “I hope you turned your hazards on,” Ken put in his two cents. “Accidents happen all the time here like that,” he informed Mom, as she clung to his back.

  “Yeah, of course,” I lied.

  “Good thinking,” he told me and then turned towards Mom. “She’s one smart cookie.”

  “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” she boasted and snuggled closer to his back.

  Really? I hoped that wasn’t the case because if it was, I was screwed. While they were preoccupied with their cuddle session, I headed up the stairs. Stopping off on the second floor landing, I grabbed a washrag and two towels out of the linen closet. Turning, I dropped my bag on the floor beside the table. The lamp was on and the dim glow illuminated one of Mom’s freaky statues. Crossing over to the bathroom, I stepped inside, shut the door, and twisted the lock.

  After the hot water ran cold, I finally, albeit reluctantly, got out of the shower. With one towel on my head and the other wrapped around my body, I picked up my wet clothes along with my bag and headed upstairs.

  Stopping outside my door, I draped my wet clothes over the hamper and then opened the door to my room. Nothing in my room had changed since I left this morning but everything else had.

  Still feeling blessedly numb, I got dressed and blow-dried my hair. It was only when I sat down on my bed beside ‘E’; (the teddy bear Ken had given me when I was sick) did the full weight of what happened today settle in on me. Lifting the bear, I hugged it and curled tightly into a ball and only then did I let the tears I had been holding in run freely from my eyes.

  “Amber, dinner’s ready,” Mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

  I wanted to tell her I wasn’t hungry but I knew that wouldn’t go over too well. And besides, now that I had cried out all my tears, I found that instead of feeling sad, I was now mad. Mad that Glinda hooked up with Vincent. Mad that Vincent had pretended to like me and then hooked up with Glinda and even madder still that neither of them thought that was something I might need to know. I felt stupid, embarrassed and yes, angry. At myself, Glinda, Vincent, Viktor—at my Mom for moving here and I found I was even a little mad at Ken, too. Although, I wasn’t sure why I was mad at Ken because he didn’t do anything wrong but that is how I felt.

  “Isn’t this delicious,” Mom said as she set her fork on top of her spoon and twisted until the noodles were all balled up on the fork tines.

  “Yeah, it’s great,” I lied once again staring down at my plate. I had no idea how it tasted. It was like my taste buds were on the fritz just like the rest of me.

  “It my mother’s recipe,” Ken boasted as he dug in and took
another large bite of his pasta.

  “Really?” Mom turned in her seat, her forkful of spaghetti forgotten as she gave Ken her undivided attention.

  “Yes, her mother taught it to her and when I was old enough, she taught me as well.”

  “That’s just great,” I grumbled to myself. I wasn’t even listening to what they were saying. Instead, I was having a heated debate in my own mind.

  “Amber Regina Elisa Davis, mind your manners,” Mom warned.

  “Huh?” I looked up into her red face, wondering what had happened.

  “Apologize to Ken, this instant!” She smacked her napkin on the table with gusto and the glasses shook.

  “What did I do?”

  “You were being disrespectful.” She leveled me with an icy glare.

  Was I? “Oh-kay,” I said slowly, looking between Mom’s red face to Ken’s blank one. “Sorry, Ken, I didn’t mean…” Traitorous tears filled my eyes.

  “Amber, are you all right?” Ken’s expression turned concerned, which made me feel even worse.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said acting like I was fine. My stupid lip started to tremble and an onslaught of tears welled in my eyes.

  “Hey, Kiddo, what’s wrong?” Ken reached forward and touched my hand with a concerned look on his face.

  Reflexively, I pulled my hand away and set it in my lap. “What?” I snapped, not meaning to.

  Ken’s face reddened.

  “I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I just don’t…”

  Mom’s face turned concerned. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

  I sniffed and wiped my nose with my sleeve. “It’s nothing. I just don’t feel very well.” That was true enough. I felt horrible but it wasn’t from the flu.

  Mom reached forward and pressed the back of her hand to my head. “You do feel a little warm,” she added in her motherly voice I heard so little of and then she pulled her hand back.

  “You poor kid,” Ken said with a conciliatory tone, which made me blubber even more.

  I nodded, sniffing as they both blurred before my eyes.

  “Go upstairs and get into bed,” Mom told me in her stern motherly voice.

  “Yeah, Kiddo, you get some rest,” Ken added and then lowered his voice to Mom, “I heard there’s a nasty flu going around.”

  “I’ll get you some ginger-ale and check on you in a minute.”

  “Kay, Mom.” I stood from the table. “Thanks for dinner, Ken,” I told him, feeling like the biggest jerk on the planet. “I really am sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it. Just get some rest.” He reached out and patted my arm in a fatherly gesture. “I hope you feel better.”

  That did it. The dam broke. Tears slipped from my eyes, down my cheeks. “Thanks, Ken.”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “I’ll be up in a minute, honey.”

  “Kay, Mom.” I sniffed and wiped the tears from my face as I made my way back to my room.

  eight

  Two days passed and I was still faking the flu. Mom and Ken both were being so nice, acting all motherly and fatherly, but I knew I would have to go back to school sooner or later, but I was pushing for later—that was the plan until Mom announced at dinner that if I wasn’t better by tomorrow she was taking me to the doctors.

  So when my alarm went off the following morning I forced my unwilling body from bed and went to get ready for school. On the bright side, it was already Friday and we had a three-day weekend. Now all I had to do was keep a low profile and get out of school before I had to see anyone. Unfortunately, there was a flaw to my brilliant plan since I had two classes with Glinda, so I wasn’t too sure how I was going to pull that off.

  Taking my time getting ready, I tried to look really good and even blew my hair straight and wore one of my nicer sweaters I only wore on special occasions. I was hoping to give a little payback to Vincent if I somehow saw him. Make him see what he was missing out on, which was ridiculous, really, considering I told him that I couldn’t date. I didn’t mean it of course. I was just trying to buy myself some time, so I could make up my mind. That wasn’t fair either, at least not to him, but it made me feel better, saying it, so I stuck with it.

  When I got downstairs, Mom was already on the couch drinking coffee and reading one of her books.

  Making a beeline for the kitchen, I tossed out a quick, “Hey Mom.”

  “Amber!” Mom screeched.

  Shoot—I skidded to a halt. “Yeah.” I turned.

  She pulled off her glasses. “Are you feeling better?”

  “Yep. Much.” I quickly turned to flee.

  “What’s your hurry?”

  “Just want some coffee before I leave.”

  “Oh, all right,” she sighed and slipped back on her glasses, resuming her reading.

  Getting a to-go cup from the cabinet, I poured some coffee, got a breakfast bar, threw some pretzels in a bag, and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, then headed out of the kitchen to the door.

  “See you later,” I told her, as I pulled my bag on my shoulder and grabbed the keys off the hook.

  “You sure you feel better?” She kept her glasses on this time as she peered at me from over the back of the couch. Again, she reminded me of a little owl.

  “Yeah, tons,” I said with meaning, surprised that I actually did.

  “Drive safe,” she called out and then resumed reading.

  “Will do.” I slipped out the front the door and into another dreary-drizzling fog-filled day. “Great.” My good mood slid quickly back into the dark pit of depressionville.

  nine

  When I got to school, I pulled into my normal spot. The parking lot was still pretty empty, which seemed weird until I glanced at my clock and noticed I had somehow gotten to school twenty minutes early. Pulling down my visor, I did a quick makeup check, reapplied my berry lip-gloss, and checked my makeup just in case I saw Vincent. Satisfied I still looked good, for me, I snapped my visor back up and immediately jumped in my seat.

  Viktor was standing right in front of my car. My stomach did a little involuntary flip. He looked really good, even for him, which was nearly impossible and yet, he somehow managed it. I gave him a sheepish smile.

  The corners of his lips pulled upward into a slow mouth-watering grin.

  Relief flooded me. I didn’t know what I was expecting but at least he wasn’t giving me an evil glare like he was in my dream. I gave him what I hoped was a warm smile in return.

  It seemed to work, because he stepped off the sidewalk and made his way over to my door. His hands were shoved in his faded blue jeans and he was wearing a dark gray sweater with a pristine white t-shirt underneath.

  Quickly, I rolled down my window.

  He leaned down. “How’s it going?”

  “It’s going.” My eyes slid to his lips and once again, I was envisioning a bit too clearly, what it would be like to be kissed by him.

  His eyes crinkled, like he was about to laugh. “Where have you been?”

  “I’ve been sick.” I added a cough for effect.

  His brow hitched up. “You’ve been sick.” He gave me a look like he didn’t believe me.

  “Yep. That’s what I said.”

  “What was wrong with you?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I had a bug.” A flash of annoyance shot through me for no apparent reason other than the fact that he looked like he didn’t believe a word of my lies.

  “Do you feel better…now?” His eyes were alight again, like he knew I was lying.

  “Yep, much.”

  This time he did smile, a real one and my belly did a full somersault. “I’m glad.”

  “Thanks.” Nervously, I picked at a dark spot on the steering wheel and a piece of the vinyl came off. I tried to stick it back on but it didn’t work.

  “Amber,” he said on a breath of air that sent shivers sliding over me.

  “Yes?” I gulped as I looked back to his beautiful face.

  “I w
as wondering, I mean, if you really are feeling better…”

  “I am.” Didn’t I just tell him that?

  “Do you want hang out tonight?” he asked quickly…unexpectedly.

  What? Keep it together, I told myself. “Um, sure.”

  “Cool.”

  The wind whipped in the car, ruffling my hair. His face loomed just above mine and again I could see how flawless his face looked with the exception of the small scars by his left eye and lip. “So what did you want to do?”

  “I want to take you somewhere.”

  A shiver of unease slid over me. I shook it off. “Oh—kay,” I said slowly. Not even sure why I was agreeing to go out with him. I hadn’t even talked to him, other than a word or two since the Jason episode. “I just have to check with my mom but I don’t see there being a problem.”

  His eyes glittered strangely. “I’ll pick you up at seven. Is that all right?”

  “Yep,” I gulped. “Seven sounds good.”

  His lips slid upward into a slow dazzling smile and my heart made another little happy skip as the black cloud that had been hanging over my head from Vincent and Glinda’s betrayal evaporated.

  The warning bell rang. How had 20 minutes gone by so fast, I thought to myself.

  “See you later.” His smoldering gaze locked on mine.

  “Kay.” I found it hard to take a breath. Not able to keep eye contact with him, I turned away to grab my bag. “Hold on a sec,” I told him as I dug a pen out of my bag to jot down his number, just in case, but when I turned back around, he was already gone.

  ten

  When I got to class, I was only three minutes late but that didn’t matter. The teacher gave me a hairy eyeball and marked me as tardy anyway. “Nice of you to join us, Ms. Davis,” the teacher said sarcastically. He reached up and caressed his beard, which I hated—he seemed to enjoy it too much.