Ceaseless (9 page)

              
Gee smirked in my direction. Pagan reached for the button on her shirt. Oh yeah.

              
Then the bathroom door 
opened
 and out came a very visible Gee. “So
,
 you bitches 
have fun
?” she asked
,
 
interrupting 
Pagan
’s
 
shirt 
unbuttoning
.
  Dammit
,
 Gee.

              
“Miranda had a wonderful time. I suffered through and Miranda owes me big time.”

              
She really didn’t enjoy it… and she was unbuttoning her shirt again.

              
“Jay wasn’t that bad. He just started the night off asking another girl out while waiting on Pagan to arrive.  We walked up on it. Pagan handled it brilliantly and comi
cally but he still look
ed
 like
 an ass.”

              
Jay had asked someone else out? Did the guy not see what Pagan was wearing? Damn. I might not have to worry about this at all. He was an idiot. The last button on Pagan’s shirt came undone and she dropped it to the floor. I moved so that I could sink down on the bed and watch.

              
“She’s excited about 
Friday
 night. She won’t admit it but 
I can tell
,” Miranda said
, 
picking up Pagan’s discarded shirt and throwing it at her.

              
“You change your mind about guys in a band?” Gee asked. I wasn’t sure what she meant but I’d ask her as soon as she got out of here.

              
Pagan lifted one shoulder and I prayed by all that was holy that she’d take off that pink bra. This may be invading her privacy but I was Death
,
 dammit
.
 I should get some privileges.  “I decided to not judge a book by its cover. Can’t hurt to give 
Dank Walker a 
chance
.”

              
“He may want more than a 
chance
,” Gee murmured for my ears only.

              
Pagan began to unbutton her skirt. Yes, please.

              
“I’m 
gonna
 go
 
shower. Y’all feel free to talk about me because I know you will,” Pagan informed them 
and walked
 into the bathroom just before her skirt slid down her legs and hit the floor. I was tempted to follow her in there
,
 but 
that would be 
wrong. She would be furious if she knew. I glanced over at Gee who looked ready to crack up laughing at me.

The hauntingly sweet music played over and over again in the darkness. I couldn’t open my eyes but I wasn’t scared. I knew I was safe. The words soothed me and eventually I fell back into a deep sleep.  Bright blue eyes that glowed against the night were the last thing
s
 I remembered.

              
“GET UP! Y
ou are like the sleeping dead
. I swear. Get your
 lazy
 ass up. We have class in ten minutes,” Miranda was yelling at me while pelting me with her pillow.

              
I groaned,
 rolled over
,
 and blocked the onslaught 
of her feather pillow. “I’m awake
. You can stop now.”

              
“It’s about time. I tried everything else. I’ve been awake for over an hour. Your stupid 
alarm clock
 made sure I woke up. How you slept through that annoying beeping is beyond me.”

              
“I slept through the alarm clock?” I asked sit
t
ing up and squinting my eyes from the sun
’
s rays. It was after eight
 o’clock
. I wasn’t going to make it to 
my 
Literature 
class 
on time. Crap. 
Great first impression.

              
“Yeah
,
 you did. That’s like happened, never. What did you do
,
 take a 
sleeping pill
?”

              
I stood up and stretched. 
“No I just slept really good,” I paused and thought about the strange darkness and the music. The voice and the song… “There was this song,” I said then stopped. Miranda would think I’d lost my mind.

              
“No time to talk about song
s right now. Here
,
 throw this on
 and go brush your stinky teeth. We 
gotta
 go. Good thing you look hot without makeup.”

              
Miranda shoved a pair of shorts and a shirt into my arms
 a
nd 
pushed me 
into 
the bathroom. I guess I wouldn’t tell her about my song. 
Although
,
 
I wanted to tell someone.

              
Dank wasn’t in literature class. I was disappointed he hadn’t shown up and 
carried 
my book
s, 
but
 relieved 
because
 
I
 could
 focus on my work.  Being able to listen and focus
would insure I passed this course
. Day one and we already had an assignment.  We also ha
d to work in groups. Not my thing. 
Three girls and three guys
 per 
group.
 We had to read three different works of literature about self-destructive men. Then we had to write a female point
-
of
-
view paper and a male point
-
of
-
view paper on exactly how the males in the assigned stories were self
-
destructive. W
e also had to identify 
w
ho
 
we could 
relate them to today and 
describe how this self-destruction affected 
politics.

              
I shoved
 my books into my bag 
and
 headed to the board to read the group 
assignments
.  Each person in our group had an 
email address
 beside their name so that we could contact each other once we’d read 
the first 
book
, Ethan 
Frome
. 
I was a step ahead. I’d already read it. The line was dwindling 
because 
several people left without looking.  I walked up and scanned the list for 
my name
.

Keith 
Fromer

Pagan Moore

Jessi
 
Gilheart

Jackson 
Driver

Maddy
 
McGowin

Dank Walker

I stopped reading the names and glanced behind me. How was 
Dank’s
 name on here? He wasn’t in this class. Was he? The girl behind me cleared her throat in an irritate
d
 manner.  I took a quick picture of the people in my group and their 
email addresses
 
with my iPhone and moved
 out of the way.

Had Dank skipped class?

Dank

              
By the time I was finished with souls, I was too late 
to go to 
literature class with Pagan. I hated I’d missed 
an opportunity 
to sit by her but I’d stayed late last night 
to 
s
i
ng her to sleep. 
That 
was something I missed. I couldn’t bring myself to leave until I knew she was sleeping peacefully.

              
The doors to the English building opened and Pagan came walking out with a frown on her face. I didn’t like for her to be unhappy. I walked out of my hiding spot and into her path.

              
“Oh! Dank. You’re here.
” She seemed surprised.

              
“Yeah. Were you hoping I’d dropped out?” I asked teasingly.

              
Her frown faded and she beamed up at me. That was better. “I was curious as to why you missed your first day of literature.”

              
She’d seen th
e
 list. We’d be spending study time together too. The more time I could get with her the better. Now that I knew she wasn’t real
ly
 impressed with Jay I could breathe a little easier.

              
“I was out late. I’ll catch up.”

              
“I’ve got notes. 
I 
have some time before 
I meet Miranda
. If you want to go get some coffee or just go over to a picnic table I could give you everything that you missed,” she offered.

              
I would prefer we go somewhere more private but that wasn’t a possibility. I’d never be able to explain how it was I could sneak into her room so easily and I didn’t have a room for her to sneak into.

              
That was s
omething I really needed to 
rectify
. I needed a place to at least appear as if I lived
 there
. She was going to be curious and until I knew she loved me I couldn’t tell her who I really was. 
I didn’t think she’d accept me if I explained my existence any sooner.

              
The library. It could be secluded if you went to the right places. “What about the library?” I asked. Her eyes lit up.

              
“Perfect. We need to get you a copy of 
Ethan 
Frome
 if you haven’t already read it.”

              
We could pretend I needed the copy of Ethan 
Frome
. “Let’s go get
 that
 book,” I replied.

              
Pagan nodded and started to walk toward the library
.
  I took her 
book bag
. I hated seeing her carry it around. It looked so heavy on her shoulders. “I got this. Lead the way.” I told her when she looked back at me. She blushed and mumbled a thank you 
as she headed 
toward the large stone three
-
story building that I knew had a very quiet 
and 
secluded top floor. I’d checked it out already.

              
I 
opened
 one of the large double doors and let Pagan walk inside. “Go to the top floor,” I whispered to her and nodded toward the 
staircase
 to our left.

              
Pagan didn’t argue. She did as instructed and I followed behind her. The view of her cute little bottom in the shorts she had on today was making this idea an even better one.  She reached the top floor and glanced back at me. “Where to?”

              
“There is a study area
 in the back that 
is 
usually 
empty so we can talk
 without disturbing anyone
,” I explained.

              
No one was back here. If they were I’d been prepared to convince them to leave.

              
“Do you have another class today? This was it for me.” Pagan asked as she 
pulled out a chair and sat down.

              
“I’m done for the day too
,
 so no need to hurry,” I replied. I wanted all the time I could get up here alone with her.

              
“Okay good,” she smiled and pulled out her literature book and a notebook.  “My handwriting can be sloppy
 when I try to write fast
.  I’m supposed to be getting a laptop in the mail next week. Mom is sending it to me. 
Until then
 I have to scribble everything down.”