Candid (True Images Series) (25 page)

That night, my cough got worse and
a heaviness
settled on my lungs. I had
a hard
time breathing and coughing was painful. Tuesday, I felt so weak and sore from coughing that I didn’t feel like going anywhere. My fever had come back too. Unfortunately, my mom dragged me out from under my blanket, stuffed me in her car, and took me to the doctor. My flu had turned into bronchitis.

And so the week went by. I lay on the couch with a humidifier inches from my head, a drugstore worth of meds in my system, and nothing to do but think about how miserable I was.

The homework that Marisol and Parker had brought over sat untouched on the coffee table in front of me. I occasionally considered working on it but always drifted back to sleep. I kept Lee’s blanket wrapped around me constantly because it made me feel close to him somehow.

When the blanket wasn’t enough, I got out the picture of us that I’d so carefully kept hidden from my mom. I kept it with me while she was gone to work, and put it away again before she got home, knowing she would get really steamed if she saw it – no matter how sick I was. This worked until Friday.

My cough had finally eased up enough to let me sleep better, and I was so exhausted that I slept longer than I’d meant to. I didn’t wake up until my mom was home, leaning over to check on me. I roused myself from the drowsy world I’d been lost to all afternoon, and panicked when I remembered I hadn’t put the picture away.

“Are you looking for this?” my mom asked.

I was doomed.
“Uh, yeah?”
I glanced at the clock, surprised she was home and saw that it was already after five. I must have been out hard.

“Do you want to explain this for me?”

“It’s just a picture, Mom. We took it that day we did the photo shoot. We all took pictures like this. You saw them.”

“I never saw this one, and it’s pretty obvious why. You knew I wouldn’t like it.”

“What’s the big deal? It’s just a pose like the others.”

“Just a pose.
Ok, sure. Like I can’t see the way you’re looking at each other. There’s so much… well, dang it
!...
passion between you it scares me to death. I knew you liked each other, but I had no idea it had gone this far.”

“It hasn’t gone anywhere. You won’t let it.”

“And you want me to believe, after looking at this, that you guys haven’t been physical with each other?”

“No! We haven’t been. And you’re right, we want to. Oh, not in the way you’re afraid of. But yeah, we want to touch and hold hands and kiss each other. What is so wrong with that?”

“Nothing, if it stops there. But it doesn’t Sienna! That’s how you got here.”

“It doesn’t have to be like that, Mom. You know what? He kissed me that day, after we took that picture. I liked it so much it made my bones melt. But you know what? We decided to stop and do things your way so you’d trust us. We haven’t kissed again and that was weeks ago. And believe
me,
it hasn’t been because we haven’t wanted to. But we have something called willpower, and Lee has more than his fair share of it if you ask me.”

“Well you know what? I don’t trust the will power of a couple of hormonal teenagers. So, I’ll tell you what. You aren’t grounded anymore.”

That did surprise me. It didn’t make any sense at all. “What?”

“You heard me. You aren’t grounded anymore. You can go hang out with friends. You can have friends over here.
But not Lee.
You will not see him outside of school. And you’re going to have to find someone else to spot for you at the games too if you want to keep taking pictures.”

If a vise had clamped on my heart, it wouldn’t have been any more painful.
“But why, Mom?
Why would you do that! We haven’t done anything wrong.”

“I want to keep it that way. Your feelings are way too involved here and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“
You’re
hurting me – something Lee would never do. You don’t know him, Mom.”

“I know everything I need to know. This conversation is over, Sienna.”

My mom left me then, disappearing into her room. She didn’t care that I was sobbing my guts out, or that she’d just ruined everything for me. Anger consumed me, and I had only one thought: to see Lee.

I didn’t give myself time to consider the consequences of my actions. Besides what else could she do? In minutes, I’d thrown on some clothes, grabbed my coat and her car keys, and was out the door.

It was hard to drive with my eyes flooded with tears, so I made a determined effort to control them. I didn’t pay much attention to anything so it was a miracle I didn’t run any red lights or speed past a cop doing radar. I made it to Lee’s house faster than I should have and was ringing the doorbell before I’d had time to wonder if he’d even be home.

Lee’s mom answered the door, and she took one look at my face and pulled me inside. She didn’t say anything, just led me to the couch and said, “Do you want to see Lee?”

I nodded, grateful she understood. Truthfully I was feeling really awkward and embarrassed about coming over here almost hysterical.

“He just got home from practice. I’ll go see if he’s out of the shower yet.”

She disappeared up the stairs and less than a minute later, Lee came down them two at a time. His mom hadn’t come back, for which I was supremely thankful.

“Sienna, what is it?” he asked coming over to me, his face taut with concern.

He looked so good, his hair wet and spikey from the shower and a plain white t-shirt contrasting with his dark good looks. I’d wanted to see him for so
long,
it was almost painful now that I was. When I flung myself into his arms, he received me willingly and held me close. I began crying again, clinging to him and unable to say anything.

“Sienna, please, can you tell me what’s wrong? You’re scaring me to death. Is your mom ok?”

I realized then how tragic I must seem. Well, it
was
tragic to me. “She’s fine, except that she’s totally freaked out on me. She found that picture and we had a fight. Lee, she says I can’t see you anymore!”

“Wait, we aren’t seeing each other. I mean, we aren’t dating or anything. What do you mean?”

“I mean that I can’t be around you at all, except at school when she can’t do anything about it. I’m not grounded anymore. I just can’t be with you, ever.
As in permanently.”

“Over a picture?
I hate to say this, Sienna, but your Mom is crazy.”

“I know. What are we going to do about it?”

“I don’t know yet. But she can’t keep us apart completely. There’s lunch, and the two hours we have together at school.
And the games.”

“No, not the games.
She says I can’t take pictures anymore if you’re spotting for me.”

“Wow! What is her problem? Does she think I’m going to have my evil way with you right there on the sideline?”

“She doesn’t want us to spend any time together. She’s says we can’t control the
passion
we feel for each other.”

“Passion, huh?
Why do I feel like a character in one of my mom’s romance novels?”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed a little, though it sounded pretty soggy. For a moment, though, it eased the tension that was choking me. “It would serve her right if I didn’t cover the games. Mr. Greeley would have to do it and it would mess up her love life too.”

“Yeah, well, I was going to talk to you about that. I was hoping you’d get Mr. Greeley
do
it anyway.”

“But why?”

“Here, come sit down.”

I followed him back over to the couch and perched on the edge. He didn’t sit down with me, but paced in front of the fireplace for a minute. He was obviously worried about something. Finally he figured out what he wanted to say and came to sit next to me.

“Ok, remember the threat you got? That note in your locker?”

I nodded, remembering the other reason my life really sucked right now.

“Well, I showed it to Principal Duncan. I wanted it to be documented in case something happened to you. He was as concerned as I was because he knew what a hornet’s nest you’d stirred up at school. When you were out sick on Monday and I got your locker combination, it was really so I could check your locker. Sure enough, there was another one.”

“What did it say?”

“I don’t remember exactly, but it mentioned the football game and how you were going to eat turf or something. I showed that one to the principal too, and we decided that we needed to find out who was dropping off the notes. I was sure it was Caleb, but nothing could be done without proof. So, Mr. Duncan agreed to turn one of the hall security cameras to your locker and keep an eye on it.”

“Wow. Did you find anything?”

“Well, since you were out sick all week, there wasn’t a single note left. I had almost given up, but I checked one more time today before I went to practice. There was a note, and there hadn’t been one an hour before, so I knew about when it had been dropped off.”

“What did that one say?”

“It said, ‘You’re safe for now, but you’ll get what’s coming to you.’ Principal Duncan played the security video back and saw the guy who stuffed the note inside. It wasn’t Caleb.”

Great.
Someone else had it out for me. “Who was it then?”

“He said it was a kid named Billy Hammons.”

“The water boy?”

“Yeah.
I think Caleb put him up to it, but once again, I have no proof. Duncan questioned Billy, but he just said someone had been leaving the notes in his locker in an envelope with ten bucks and a note to drop them in your locker. He never read the notes and had no idea who they were from. But I’m as sure as anything that it was Caleb.”

“Did I really mess up his life so bad?”

“Well, think about it. He’s lost his girlfriend, the whole school knows he’s a douche bag, and his coach is hacked off about how he treated his daughter. Yeah, I’d say you messed his life up pretty bad. Of course, it was really all because of his choices, but like you said before, he doesn’t see it that way. So, I would love it if you wouldn’t take pictures at the game anymore, especially if I can’t be there to keep you safe. From his notes, I think he plans to get his revenge there. He’s probably realized how easy it was to run you over at that game early in the season.”

“I can’t believe he’d do that. Don’t worry, though. I don’t even want to shoot the games anymore. I don’t want to do anything anymore. I just want to curl up in a hole somewhere and wait till graduation.”

Lee smiled at me, just a gentle lifting of his lips. “Well, if you do that, you might not graduate, which is the only way we’ll ever get to date each other. Now, since I’m guessing your mom doesn’t know you’re here, how about if you get on home before she comes over here with that shotgun of hers?” He pulled me up off the couch as he spoke, and I didn’t resist because it gave me an excuse to wrap my arms around his neck.

“I don’t want to go. This is the last time I’ll be able to see you like this.”

“It won’t be the last time. You’ll see.” He ran his hands slowly up and down my back in a way that he probably meant to be comforting, but which ignited a completely different response in me.

“Kiss me. Please,” I begged.

He looked doubtful, but tempted. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. I’m tired of trying to get my mom to trust me. She never will, so why should I try?”

“I’m sure there’s a good reason somewhere, but I can’t think of one. Not with you looking at me like that.”

When his lips found mine, I was furious that we’d been denying ourselves this magic for so long. What could be wrong about this? His lips were tender as he pressed slow, lingering kisses on mine. It was the sweetest feeling imaginable, but I wanted more. I kissed him back with an urgency I didn’t fully understand.

He pulled back and looked down at me, thoughtfully. I saw a storm of emotion in the deep brown pools of his eyes, and longed for it to crash over me. Unfortunately, he was stronger than I was. “We should stop, Sienna. Your emotions are pretty intense as it is.”

“You just don’t like kissing me,” I sulked, though I knew it wasn’t true. But I was disappointed and needed reassurance. He laughed softly at me and I hid my face against his chest so he wouldn’t see the telltale smile pulling at my mouth.

“You know that’s not true,” he said.
“ I’m
so crazy about you I can’t think straight.”

“I’m having the same problem, but I thought it might have been because of all the meds I’m on.”

His raised my head so he could see my face and considered my drowsy eyes for a moment. The torrent of emotions I’d just been through had left me with no strength to fight the fatigue that was closing down around me.

“You can’t drive like this. Let me get my mom.”

A minute later, Lee was driving me back home in my mom’s car while his mom followed behind us. When we pulled up in the driveway, my mom was sitting on the porch, holding both her phones. Her expression had been lined with worry, but when she saw who was with me, it darkened with anger.

Both of us would have gotten blasted with the lecture of the century right then, if Lee’s mom hadn’t gotten out and walked up to the porch ahead of us. Our moms were talking, and I cowered in the car, watching.

“Here are the keys,” Lee said, holding them out to me. I took them reluctantly and he dropped his hand onto my knee, squeezing it in reassurance. “I’d better stay out of the way. Get better, Ok? I want to see you on Monday.”

I nodded and said, “If I’m still alive.”

“Relax. My mom’s pretty good at calming people down.”

“She’s wonderful. You’re so lucky.”

“So are you, Sienna. Your mom loves you. She’s just overprotective, and after that kiss you gave me, I kind of think she has reason to be. She’s obviously got a wild child on her hands.”

I slugged him half-heartedly and we both got out of the car.

Lee went and got in his mom’s car. I walked slowly up to the porch, my mom’s glare weighing me down with every step.

Mrs. Franklin rubbed my shoulder and said, “Feel better, Sienna.”