01 Untouchable - Untouchable (10 page)

I heard a noise behind me and then,
“Mr. Faultz, what would you like to read?”

“
Annabell Lee,” he
answered.

“
Very good, begin whenever
you’re ready. When he’s done, I’ll expect someone else’s hand to go
up. You have the floor, Ryan.”

He took a few steps forward
as if he were heading to the front of the classroom and then
stopped short just past my desk and turned around and began reading
the poem. He was very good at being a dramatic reader, but the way
he recited it gave me the creeps. Every time he said the name
Annabell Lee, he drew out the Anna longer than the rest of the
name. I never looked up, but it felt like his eyes were locked on
me during the whole reading. The poem wasn’t that long and he
eventually sat down, to the applause from the other students, and
then the next person rose and began.

“
Was that as good as your
Raven?” he whispered.

I nodded, but refused to
turn toward him. He said nothing for the rest of the period, but
every once in a while I could feel my hair being moved and I knew
he was playing with it.

There was no sense in
trying to avoid a conversation with him when the bell rang because
I knew he’d be stuck to me like glue so I might as well try to get
some answers. I picked up my books, ignoring that he put out his
arm as an offering to carry them.

“
That’s okay,” I
refused.

“
Why don’t you have a book
bag like everyone else?”

“
I don’t know, I guess
because there are only four classes a day instead of seven so
that’s not too much to carry.”

“
True, but why won’t you
let me carry your books for you?”

I rolled my eyes.

“
Are you that afraid that
Evan will get mad and try to beat me up?” He gave a sardonic
laugh.

“
I don’t think it would be
a matter of trying. I think if you get too pushy he might—or I
might.” It was supposed to come out threatening, but it sounded
hollow.

“
You? Would you jump in and
sacrifice yourself if it looked like he was getting the worst end
of things, too?

I nodded.

“
Very tough,” he smirked.
“But not the wisest thing to do; jumping on a guy that is. Some
guys don’t follow the rules about never hitting a lady.”

“
I might turn out to
surprise you. How about you? Do you follow that rule or is
everything fair game in love and war?”

“
I love how you talk,” he
said, breaking off my train of thought. “You aren’t a drama-queen,
but yet you leave the drama up to the person listening. Very
clever.”

“
Why are you in Pensacola?”
I blurted.

“
I told you, I’m joining
the Air Force after high school, remember? Eglin is practically
next door.”

“
A lot of guys join and get
assigned to Eglin, but that doesn’t mean they all move here
first.”

“
True, but they may not have
all the opportunities that I have.”

“
Like what?”

“
Money,” he answered,
looking away from me.

“
Why do you even want to go
into the military? You don’t seem the type?”

We turned the corner for
the locker rooms. He gave a slow smile, “It’s the only legal way to
kill someone.”

That sent a chill down my
spine. “Why would you want to do that?” I looked him in those ice
cold blue eyes with as much courage as I possessed.

“
Everyone has their reasons
behind what motivates them—mine are private.” He turned and headed
toward the guy’s locker room.

I felt someone grab my arm,
Jewels was standing there.

“
Hey, you know I don’t
think that is a very good idea after this morning, unless you want
to see them get in a fight.”

“
No, I don’t.”

“
Good because I like Ryan,
and I don’t want to see him get that perfect nose of his
broken.”

“
I think he’s dangerous,
Jewels. Don’t try to get too close to him.”

“
Ha!” She
laughed. “You’re a fine one to talk. Evan is like a ticking time
bomb and you are warning me that Ryan is dangerous? I think Ryan
talks a good game, but Evan
is
a good game. And, girlfriend,
Evan really likes you.”

“
You think so?” I felt he
did too, but I didn’t know it was that apparent to
others.

“
Oh, yes. You seem to be
the only topic he cares to discuss when you aren’t
around.”

I was trying to hold back the smile
that felt like it was going to tear my face apart if I didn’t let
it out.

“
It’s kinda creepy though.
Definitely stalkish,” she added.

“
Please, if there is a
stalker here, it’s Ryan. Do you know he was at my youth group last
night and I never saw him? And then he said he went by my house and
saw me and Evan sitting in his car?”

“
That is cree…ooh, how was
the car?”

“
Jewels,” I laughed, “You
are impossible.”

Evan was good through gym
and, just as I predicted, he stayed close by me. Ryan (with a
little help from Jewels) stayed away.

Chemistry wasn’t so bad
because Ryan couldn’t sit near me. When the final bell rang, I was
out of the room before anyone else and headed for my car. I beat
Evan, Ryan, and Jewels. I was aching to see Evan before I left, if
for no other reason than to look at his face and know that he was
now closer to me than even my best friend, Jewels. Yet, I was
afraid of the implications of falling for someone. I’d been friends
with several guys and thought I liked a couple of them, but it was
nothing like I felt when I was near him.

I found myself imagining
what it would be like to kiss him, really kiss him. But that
terrified me to the core. It was like some deep, dark emotional
chasm that I might fall into and be irreversibly lost. I’d seen it
a lot last year as girls I have known all my life suddenly took
notice of particular guys and then BAM! It was like they were from
another planet and all they could talk about would be how they
could spend every waking moment with these guys they’d fallen for.
That to me was scary—like turning zombie scary.

CHAPTER FIVE

The parking lot topic for
Friday, besides the weekend, was what we were going to agree to go
see tonight at the movies. There were thirteen of us that stood
around after school, discussing the options. With the exception of
Evan and me, most of the girls wanted to see the latest romance,
and the guys were out for guns and guts. Neither he nor I had a
preference. They finally decided on the latest scary thriller which
was a little of both. I was certain that I could have told them the
plot before seeing it; guy meets girl, killer enters scene,
blood-guts-gore, killer is vanquished, guy gets girl, killer not
really dead, end of movie. It was definitely not something I would
have picked, but for the sake of the group reaching a
consensus
before
I was late picking up Kimmy, I caved. The showing for 7:15
was agreed upon and the group broke up.

“
Great, I’ll see you at the
movies,” I told Evan as I prepared to crank up and
leave.

“
Whoa, wait a minute. We’re
going together. I’m picking you up at your house. I’d like to talk
you into dinner, too. You pick the place.”

“
Evan, I’m used to driving.
It’s like a control thing, I guess, but I like being able to head
home when I want to. The group sometimes decides to do other things
that I don’t like doing.”

“
You are really worried
about this being an actual date, aren’t you?”

“
N—no. I told you, I’m used
to driving…”

“
Fine
then,” he seemed to relent, but then continued, “I’ll pick you up
at 6:45
and
you can drive my car. Fair enough?”

I wanted to tell him that
it was not fair enough, because he was making it hard for me to
weasel out of. “I keep the keys,” I retorted, hoping he’d give me
an excuse to say no.

“
Fine.”

“
No dinner though. I’m
eating before I leave the house.”

“
Fine, but
a snack after the movie,
if
you are willing, won’t be out of the
question.”

“
Fine,” I replied,
mimicking his short response.

“
And, you are my date
tonight, got it?”

I opened my mouth and sat
there like an idiot. He reached in and pushed my chin up to close
my mute argument.

“
You will be my date
tonight. End of discussion,” he turned away and got in his car,
smiling the whole time. He was gone as the word, “Fine,” finally
came out of my mouth.

“What’s my curfew tonight?
Ten or eleven o’clock?” I asked Matt. I purposely asked him because
Bev was too lenient on me. Matt had this whole ‘dad’ thing going on
lately so I was likely to get an early end to my night if he made
the decision.

“
I don’t think you have a
curfew for the nights without school the next day,” he seemed
confused. “Besides most seventeen-year-olds don’t like curfews, do
they?”

“
I do,” I beamed, hopeful
that he would take a hint.

“
Leese, that is exactly why
I trust your judgment. You know your limits. I don’t want you to
make it too late, but I won’t be mad if it’s one in the morning.
Just be safe, okay? God knows your mom couldn’t handle the stress
if anything happened to you.”

I knew that was true. Mom
was so fragile right now that the tiniest thing might put her in
the mental ward. I didn’t want to be that ‘tiny’ thing—that’s why I
was here.

At 6:45 sharp, I heard the
sound that sent my heart racing; Evan had pulled in.

I walked out on the porch
to see him standing beside the open driver’s door.

“
Do I need to come in?” He
asked.

“
No, they’ve already met
you, so they’re cool about tonight.” I walked carefully toward the
vehicle. It was a very distinct threshold I was getting ready to
cross over. There was still something about him that caused me to
be afraid, but I was to the point where my curiosity and desire to
be close to him were slightly more overpowering. But, one wrong
move on his part and the balance would quickly shift.

I put out my
hand.

He smiled. “You know this
isn’t your bug. The handling is different, it’s not a four speed,
it’s six.”

I never changed the slight
smile I wore on my face as I extended my hand.

“
You’re sure you can handle
it?” He looked worried for once.

I opened and closed my palm
to signal that I was growing impatient. “I drive and I hold the
keys, all night.” I reminded him.

He resigned with a sigh and
carefully placed the keys in my palm.

I slid into the driver seat
as he walked around to the other side. I put the key in the
ignition and pressed down the clutch. “Are you ready?” I asked him,
still wearing my barely visible smile.

“
Please, don’t wreck my
car,” he whined softly.

My smile got bigger, “You’d better put
on your seat belt.”

He obeyed, but the worried
look intensified.

I turned the key and the
engine purred quietly to life. I left it in neutral and revved the
engine, watching the tachometer move smoothly to the right and back
down.

“
You’re not in gear,” he
pointed out. He must have thought I was trying to make the car
move.

“
I know that, silly. I’m
just getting a feel for it.” I put the car in reverse and backed
carefully into the street, then dropped it in first gear and took
off in a flawlessly smooth motion. “I love the instrument panel,” I
said as I worked my way through the gears. I could see out of the
corner of my eye that he was starting to breathe again. “How hard
have you pushed it?” I looked over, hoping that his knuckles would
soon get a little color back in them from gripping the seat so
tightly. “The transmission is tight.” I continued my one-sided
conversation. “Well that’s odd,” I muttered.

“
What? What’s
wrong?”

“
If you stay this quiet the
whole time I’m driving, then tonight is gonna be a cinch!” I
started to laugh. “Evan, I can handle your car.”

“
Just not the owner,” he
said, finally relaxing in the seat and letting the color return to
his knuckles.

That was when it dawned on
me that it might have been better to have him gripping the seat in
terror.

We pulled up to the light
where the two-lane road turned into four. As I sat there waiting
for the light to change, the sound of a classic engine came roaring
up beside me. It was Ryan and Jewels with Nate and Natasha in the
back seat. They pulled up with big grins on their faces until they
saw who was in the driver’s seat.

“
Ah, crap,” Evan
muttered.