Duality: Vol 1, Melancholia (A New Adult Paranormal Romance) (8 page)

I looked at him.  “What was that all about, anyway?”

Kootch sat down and pulled on one of his socks and then one of his hiking boots, letting his pant leg bunch up at the top of it.  “When we were kids, she got hit with a rock that went flying over my fence into her yard.  That part was true.  But it wasn’t me who threw the fucking thing, so she’s blaming the wrong guy.”  He banged his foot down a few times, getting the boot all the way on.

I thought about that for a few seconds as he picked up his second sock.  “Who threw it?” I finally asked.

Kootch froze in the middle of pulling on his second boot.  He stared at the locker doors, saying nothing.

I laughed a little.  “Hello?  You in there?”

He went back to pulling on his boot.  “Yeah, I’m here.  I don’t know who threw it.”

“But it came from your yard?”

“Yeah.”  He sounded defensive.

“And you were in your yard when it happened.”

“Yeah!”  Kootch stood up and opened the locker door so hard it banged back against the others.  “So?”  He scowled at me for a second before going back into the locker.

“So … you must know who threw the rock, right?”

“Yeah, I know.”  Now he just seemed sad.  He pulled out his backpack and dropped it on the ground.  Then he buttoned and zipped his jeans, not looking at me.

“Hey, if it’s a big secret, no big deal.  I was just curious.”  I quickly got undressed and grabbed my jeans.

After a long pause, Kootch finally responded.  “It was my asshole dad, okay?  He threw the fucking rock.”

My pants were only halfway up, but I stopped trying to get them on as I processed that bit of information.  I wasn’t sure I understood.  “Your dad?”  I pulled the jeans the rest of the way up, securing them as I stared at Kootch.

“What can I say?  Guy’s a dick.”

I grabbed my shirt and fumbled around with it, trying to find the opening for my head.  “He threw it on purpose?  At a girl?”

“Nah, man.  Not at Jasmine.  At
me
.”  Kootch looked up, a flash of pain in his eyes.  It made me feel sick to my stomach for him.  His status as a Miserable suddenly became a lot easier to understand, assuming I was reading his expression right.

“Your dad threw a rock at you, missed, and it flew over the fence and nailed Jasmine in the eye.”

“Next to her eye.  But, yeah.  That’s pretty much what happened.”

“Holy shit.   Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Kootch smiled without humor.  “Yeah, tell me about it.  I felt like shit.  Still do, and it was like ten years ago or something.”

I pulled my shirt on over my head, not looking at him anymore on purpose.  There was no need to get things heavier than they already were.  But I had to say something.  Kootch was obviously torturing himself over the whole thing.  “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah, well, it felt like it.  Maybe I shouldn’t have ducked or something.”

“That’s stupid.  No one takes a rock to the face if they can help it.”

Kootch stood, apparently done talking about it.  “Want me to wait for you?”

“No.  Hatcher wants us sitting apart on the bleachers.  I’ll see you out there.”

“Later.”  Kootch grabbed his backpack and left the locker room.

I sat down on the bench and pulled on my socks and shoes, thinking about what had happened.  For some reason out on the basketball court, Kootch had dropped the angry Miserable act for a while and livened up.  He was actually laughing and teasing the girls, which was so not like him; usually he was too angry to do anything but make sarcastic or rude remarks to people.  But then when we were in the locker room again he was back to being unhappy.

He must really like that Rae girl.  That was the only explanation.  Maybe being around her made him forget how unhappy he was when he was around me.  I guess it’s possible that love can be stronger than any power I might have over someone’s emotions, even though I don’t remember actually seeing that in action before.

I decided then and there that I had to encourage that connection between them.  Kootch was one of the hardest guys to shake; he’d hung on to me no matter how much I blew him off or was rude to him.  And over the weeks he’d been around me, he’d slowly gotten more and more depressed, his moods darkening to the point that I was really starting to worry, hence my hiding out in the bathroom earlier today.  Maybe if I could help him fall in love with Rae, he’d lighten up and not want to be around me so much.  And not be as sad and depressed.  I couldn’t have another kid’s suicide on my conscience.  One success and two near-misses were more than enough, thank you very much.

I jerked the laces of my shoe really hard, making the knot as tight as I could.  It seems stupid, but I always made sure that nothing could slow me down, not even untied laces.  When it was time to run, I had to be ready to run.  A shoe tripping me up could be the difference between getting away and having an out of control Miserable going ballistic on my ass.  That was never fun.

I got up and took my backpack out of the locker.  After pulling my lock off the door and dropping it into a side pocket of my bag, I left the room and went out into the gym.  I walked over to the bleachers and took a spot halfway up, about six rows down from Jasmine.  Before I turned to face the court, I gave her a nod.  I meant for it to be an apology, but I wasn’t sure she took it that way.  She scowled at me and stuck out her tongue.

My plan was to sit there and zone out for the rest of the period, dreaming of the log cabin I was going to live in up in the mountains one day, when my thoughts were interrupted by a wad of paper hitting me on the side of the head.

I turned to my right.  Kootch was gesturing from down the bench, pointing at the crumpled up paper at my feet.

I rolled my eyes.  Apparently he was back to being Happy Caden and now wanted to chat.

I bent over and picked up the paper, opening it up and smoothing it out over my leg.

Meet me after class.  We need to plan this detention.

I just faced forward and shook my head,
No
.  The only plan I had was to take off as soon as that bell rang so I could disappear in the crowds.  I had three more classes before the end of the day, all of them without Kootch or Jasmine in them.  Hopefully, I wouldn’t see that Rae girl either.

Another wad of paper hit me, this time in the chest.

I whipped my head sideways and scowled at Kootch.  “Stop!” I whispered loudly.

“Mr. McNamara!”  Mrs. Hatcher was yelling across the court.  “Eyes front!  No talking!”

I waved at her and bent over, picking up the paper casually and waiting until she was turned around before opening it.

U have to help me w/R.  Do it.  Don’t B a pussy.

I flipped Kootch off, not even looking at him.

A minute later another piece of paper hit me, this time in the side of my nose.  I let it drop to my feet, ignoring it and Kootch.

“Dude!” he whisper-yelled.  “Better pick it up!”

I sighed heavily.  Reaching down, I grabbed the paper and opened it.

Wait 4 me or I’ll tell everyone u were checking out my junk in the locker room.

I laughed.  I couldn’t help it.  Kootch was totally mental.  I looked over.  “Fine.  Dick.”

He smiled enthusiastically and gave me a thumbs up.

I sensed a movement out of the corner of my eye and looked over.  Rae was sitting above us, several rows back.  She was staring at me.

I turned away, but not before I caught her smiling.

My face burned bright red.  I could feel it on my ears too, so I leaned over and put my forearms on my legs, lowering my head down so she wouldn’t see me.  The last thing I needed was some Miserable hooking herself to me when Kootch was hot on her tail.

Why does life have to be so friggin complicated?
  I twisted my arm and stared at my watch, willing time to go slowly for a change.  I really didn’t want to go to my next class with Kootch next to me, listening to him plan how he was going to get Rae to go out with him.  All I could think about was how soft her body had been under mine, when I landed on her like a completely uncoordinated moron.  I’d felt her soft chest push up into mine for a few seconds, and she’d smelled like flowers.  The memory of it made my blood stir and my body heat up.

Oh, shit.  Think un-sexy thoughts, think un-sexy thoughts!  Old ladies!  Mrs. Hatcher!  Smelly dogs!  The fat lady next door! 
It wasn’t working.  Images of Rae beneath me assailed my mind.  I had to shift in my seat to get comfortable as my jeans grew too tight in certain places.

I don’t know what made me do it.  I should have just stared at the fugly gym teacher and gotten control of myself.  But I was stupid and looking for trouble apparently, because I turned around again.

Rae had her hands folded under and propping up her chin, her elbows resting on her bent knees.  She smiled again when she caught me looking and waved her fingers at me.  The dimple caved in and she winked.

I turned around fast. 
Oh, shit.  I’m in trouble.

I jumped up without thinking and grabbed my bag, holding it in front of my waist to hide my shame.

“Where are you going?” Kootch whispered loudly.

I didn’t respond.  I just leaped down the benches in front of me, banging them loudly as I went, and took off running when I got to the gym floor.

“Malcolm!”  Mrs. Hatcher was yelling.

“Gotta go, Mrs. Hatcher!” I shouted as I ran out the double doors and into the hallway.  “Emergency!”

Throwing my bag over my shoulder, I pumped my legs and ran as fast as I could through the lobby area and towards the main doors leading into the school.  I had to put some distance between Rae and me.  She was so pretty, so innocent, so nice.  And Kootch liked her.  I had to make sure she stayed safe, and the only way I could do that would be to keep her the hell away from me.

I kept going until I got to the bathroom nearest my next class.  I shut myself up into a stall and hung my backpack on the hook inside it.  I sank down onto the toilet seat and leaned against the wall of the stall.

Reaching up to trace some graffiti there, I contemplated my current situation, trying to figure out how I was going to avoid Rae when I had two weeks of detention in the same room as her, not to mention at least two classes.

Nothing was coming to mind.

Chapter Ten: Rae

I WAS SO HAPPY, I had a really hard time not smiling my head off.  In all the schools I’d gone to, this was the first one where I’d had such amazing luck right off the bat.  I had not just one, but possibly two Neutrals in classes with me, and they were already my friends.  Maybe even three Neutrals.  It was kind of hard to tell with Kootch. But even so, Jasmine and Malcolm … it was too awesome to think about; if I did, I was bound to get all excited, and then the Rainbows would get crazy. 
Deep breath.  Relax.

Malcolm took one look at me and went running out of the gym.  I have no idea what I did to make that happen, and truth be told it did sting a little to be so obviously rejected; but it was good news, because it meant he wasn’t attaching himself to me.

I sighed at myself, admitting that of course the one time a guy didn’t glom onto me I suddenly felt the need to have him do exactly that.  I guess I’m destined to be miserable, no matter what happens.  People attach, I hate it.  People run, and suddenly I want to date them.

Date them?  Do I really want to go out with Malcolm? 
My face burned at the idea.  Having him touch me
had
been just a little amazing.  And seeing him close up and unguarded like that had shown me that he’s actually really, really cute.  There was something about him that was so attractive to me, but I couldn’t put my finger on what it was.  Probably it was the fact that he was the one guy in the whole school who wanted nothing to do with me.

Mrs. Hatcher blew three short blasts on her whistle.  “That’s it!  Bring it in!  Put your balls away and get dressed.”

Several students laughed when a guy yelled, “You heard her … put your balls away!”

I got up and walked down the bleachers, catching up to Jasmine as she strolled towards the doors leading into the lobby area.

“So where do we go for detention?” I asked.  I was secretly thrilled to be punished like this.  I’d never received detention before, no matter what I’d done.

“There’s a big classroom for all detention given to people in our grade, right next to the library.  You have your schedule?”

I dug into my purse and handed it to her.

“You have Fine Arts as your last class.  I’m just down the hall from you.  Meet me outside the door, and I’ll walk you there.”

I took my schedule back and slipped it into the outside pocket of my purse.  “Thanks.  I was a little worried I’d get lost.”

“Don’t thank me now.  You’ll probably wish you were wandering the halls instead of being in detention later.”

“That bad, huh?”

“Boring.  Mind-blowingly dull.  You can actually feel yourself aging as you sit there. There’s no talking, no breaks, no eating.  Nothing but sitting there and studying.”

“Sounds like you’ve been there before.”

“I like to speak my mind.  Some people don’t appreciate it like they should.  Doesn’t affect my grades, though, so I can’t complain too much.”

Her comment reminded me that I wanted to ask her about the valedictorian thing, but I lost my nerve.  This friendship was so new and fragile, I didn’t want to do anything to mess it up.  Besides, if I worked really hard at it, it’s possible I could screw up my grades enough that she’d be back on top where she belonged.  That was the only fair thing to do.  I didn’t deserve to be number one when most of my grades had just been handed to me.

I resolved then to do whatever I could to bomb a few of my classes.  Starting with Phys Ed.  I’d take a page out of Malcolm’s book and go for the zero. 
No more basketball for me.

“What are you so happy about?” Jasmine asked, glancing at me before she grabbed the handle leading into the main area of the school.  As she pulled the door open, the bell rang signaling the end of class.  “We have two whole weeks in detention, thanks to Kootch and Malcolm.  Trust me, that’s nothing to smile about.”