Eden (7 page)

“Was there something you wanted to talk about?” Eden asked, looking up at me.

“Not really,” I answered truthfully, “It is just that when we are together in the lunch room I feel as if every eye is on us and all of the students are thinking, ‘what is that beautiful girl doing sitting with that dork?’ I wanted to be away from all of that and enjoy my lunch with you in peace.”

As I was speaking I could see the tension in her face melt and an innocent smile spread across her face.

“You are so sweet,” she said, her face flushing with color.

I felt horrible misleading her like I was, but I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want to break up with her, not only because I didn’t want her to get mad, but because I really liked her. I wanted to be with her, even if she was a freak, but if someone was looking for her, I didn’t want to be found with her. I may sound like a coward, but the truth was if I was found, the trail would lead to my friends and family and I didn’t want anything to happen to them because of me.

“Eden,” I began, “Are you sure about us?”

“Why?” she asked, concern evident in her eyes.

“I feel so inferior to you,” I explained, “You are so beautiful and I am so ordinary. Before you, no girl would even give me the time of day. It is like learning to drive in a Lamborghini.” We both laughed at my analogy.

The speech was not only to give her an excuse to break up, but it was also how I had been feeling since we first met. I had no experience with girls and here I was with the most beautiful girl in our school. It didn’t matter how dangerous it was to be with her, just the fact that she wanted to be with me didn’t make any sense.

“Maybe ordinary is just what I was looking for,” she said with a devilish smile.

I returned her smile unenthusiastically. Why couldn’t I just break it off with her? Sooner or later she would realize that she could do better than me and dump me anyway, so why not just end it now and fool myself into believing that it was my choice?

The answer was simple – because I couldn’t. Somewhere deep in my heart, I believed that Eden really did love me; I believed that we could make this work no matter how dangerous it might turn out to be for me.

“Are you sure everything is alright?” Eden asked as if she could detect the inner struggle I was having, “You look like you have something on your mind.”

“I was just thinking about tonight,” I lied. It was the first thing that popped into my mind.

“Don’t worry,” Eden said, misinterpreting my concern, “You need a guys’ night out every once in a while, I understand.”

I just smiled weakly and nodded my head in agreement, not sure of what to say. Off in the distance I could hear the bell ring signaling the end of lunch.

“We’d better get going,” I suggested.

“Ok,” Eden agreed gathering up her garbage.

“I’ll see you in class,” I said heading for my locker after depositing my trash in the garbage can near the court. Eden waved goodbye and headed off.

Watching her go filled me with a feeling of relief. I had to break up with her, yet she was so beautiful and sweet that when I was with her nothing else seemed to matter. For once I perceived being in the same classes as her as a drawback rather than a boon. I had to do something, continuing like this would only make it harder for me.

For the rest of the day I did my best to busy myself in class so that I wasn’t able to pay much attention to Eden. When the final bell rang I mumbled a farewell to her and set off for my locker. I was really looking forward to spending time with my friends tonight. It would be a relief not to have to think of ways to avoid contact with Eden, if even for one night.  On my way to the school bus, I ran into Matt.

“So are we all set for tonight?” I asked with real enthusiasm.

“We sure are, we’re meeting at Kyle’s at six tonight,” he informed me, “So, make sure you do your homework early.” He added with a grin.

“Yes, mother,” I replied in a disgusted tone.

“Just making sure you do it,” Matt explained, “You know your mother always calls my mother when homework doesn’t get done because we went out the night before; it gets us both grounded.”

“Ah, Pizza Heaven,” Matt said, as if to himself, “Tonight we’re getting a Carnivore Special.” That’s what my friends and I liked to call the Meat Lover’s Pizza.

My mouth watered at the thought of all the different kinds of meat piled high on the thick-crusted pie. Why Matt was even talking about a pizza that we would be ordering hours from now I will never know, but Matt is the type of person that talks about what he is going to have for lunch at seven in the morning.

“Damn it,” Kyle exclaimed as he stepped onto the bus right behind us.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I got tons of homework tonight,” he muttered.

“Does that mean you can’t go?” Drake asked appearing behind us.

“Heck no,” Kyle laughed, “it just means more homework that’s not getting done.”

“You could come over to my house afterwards,” Matt offered. “If we each do half the homework, we could copy each others answers and do it in half the time.”

That was the benefit to having classes together. The only friend that I could do homework with was Eden, and that wasn’t going to happen. Fortunately, I didn’t have much homework tonight, so it wasn’t a big deal. My heart groaned as I thought about Eden, but it was quickly squelched by the knowledge that tonight I was free. I would be with my friends, my time occupied. Luckily I hadn’t told Eden where we were planning to go, so there was absolutely no danger of running into her.

Coming back to reality, it seemed that Kyle and Matt seemed to come to an agreement of sorts over their homework plans for tonight. My homework was different than theirs, but maybe I would join them tonight as well. I didn’t need the help, but I could use the company for as long as I could get it.

I didn’t know how long it would take Eden to get home. She said that she often left school later than the rest of the students, so that she could avoid large crowds, but a cab didn’t have to stop frequently to unload students like a school bus did. I hoped that I would beat Eden home. Just a few days ago I was insanely in love with this girl and now, I was afraid to see her.

It’s funny how things turn out sometimes.

8

Racing from the bus stop, I barely noticed my surroundings as I headed for my house. Even if Eden was outside waiting, I wanted it to seem like I hadn’t seen her. It wouldn’t be like I was being rude because at the speed I was running, I could barely see anything around me. It was because of this, I almost plowed right into Sir Strolls-a-Lot.

“Yo, boy, where’s the fire?” Sir Strolls roared, stopping me dead in my tracks.

“Just heading home,” I told him.

“Well, slow down, son,” he reprimanded me.

I didn’t answer him. No one really liked the old man; most people just tried to ignore him. It usually wasn’t hard to ignore him because he didn’t often speak to people, but for some reason something seemed to be on his mind today.

“Do you know who bought this place?” he asked me, nodding his head towards Eden’s house.

“No, I don’t,” I lied, but I thought to myself, was I really lying? I really didn’t know anything about Eden.

I didn’t like the fact that Sir Strolls seemed interested in who was living in this house now. He never seemed to have shown any interest in his neighbors before, other than the occasional scolding that he gave to us kids.

“Ok,” he said, walking away, “Stay out of trouble, boy.”

Again, I didn’t reply to him. The nerve of him, he wasn’t my father. Why did he think that he could tell me what to do, especially when I wasn’t even doing anything wrong? All of these thoughts running through my mind distracted me and I failed to notice Eden staring at me from her living room window.

              After entering the house, I was immediately greeted by my mother.

“Is that old man still out there?” she asked glancing past me and out the window.

“You mean Strolls?” I answered, “How long has he been out there?”

“Most of the afternoon,” she told me, “He’s been just walking up and down the street and stopping in front of Eden’s house. It was really creeping me out.”

Why would Sir Strolls be so interested in who bought the old Logan place? It had me worried. Strolls couldn’t be a government spy sent here to bring Eden back to whatever laboratory she had escaped from. He had to be around sixty years old and he’s been living in the neighborhood for years. Maybe he noticed something strange about Eden, too? It could be dangerous if he told someone about her. I had to find out if he knew anything.

“Where are you going?” my mom asked as I headed back for the front door.

“I’m going to see what that old guy is looking for,” I told her.

Before she could stop me, I quickly headed back outside and across the yard to confront Sir Strolls. He glanced over at me when he saw I was approaching.

“What are you looking for?” I asked him.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he replied distracted.

“Why are you so interested in the new neighbors?” I tried again nodding my head in the direction of Eden’s house.

“Who says I am interested in anything?” he said in a hostile tone. “Ain’t no law against going for a walk, is there?”

“My mother says that you have been watching the neighbor’s house all afternoon,” I countered.

“Your mother is exagerating,” he said in a flat voice, as if that would end the conversation.

He looked as if he had no intention of moving. Obviously, Sir Stroll’s presence meant that Eden’s taxi had yet to arrive and I wanted to get rid of him before it did. I couldn’t say why, but for some reason I didn’t want him to see her.

“Well if you aren’t watching the house, why don’t you keep walking?” I asked getting irritated.

“Don’t sass me, young-un,” Strolls answered, “I’m going.”

I stood at the foot of my lawn and watched as Strolls walked away. He didn’t glance back once to see if I was still there, as if he knew that I wouldn’t move until he disappeared from view. After he did, I quickly ran back into my house. I didn’t want to run into Eden.

Slipping back inside, I found it strange that she hadn’t arrived home yet. Even if Eden had left school after all the other students, it shouldn’t take this long. Maybe she stopped off somewhere to do some food shopping or something. I wasn’t sure why it concerned me; it was not like she couldn’t handle herself.

“Did he leave?” my mother asked me as I closed the door.

“Yeah, he’s gone,” I told her.

“That’s good,” she said.

“I’m going out tonight,” I said, realizing that I hadn’t told her yet.

“You’re going to Eden’s again tonight,” she stated it more like fact rather than a question.

“No,” I replied, “Actually, I’m going out with Matt and the other guys.” I could see the surprise in her eyes.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To Pizza Heaven,” I informed her, “so you don’t have to make dinner for me.”

“Ok,” she agreed, “Let me give you a few dollars for pizza then.”

She reached into her purse and took out her wallet.

“Will twenty be enough?” she asked withdrawing a twenty dollar bill.

“That’s plenty,” I assured her, taking the money and placing it in my pocket.

I turned and hurried upstairs to do the little homework that I had before I headed over to Kyle’s. If I finished it all maybe I could go back to Kyle’s after Pizza Heaven and play some video games instead of heading to Matt’s and doing homework. The video games would serve as a greater distraction. I was supposed to call Eden tonight after dinner, the later I arrived home tonight, the better my excuse would sound in the morning for not calling.

It was almost six when I finished all my homework. Quickly grabbing my jacket and heading downstairs, I yelled out a goodbye to my parents. My mother yelled out a response in return, but I was already out the door. I quickly sprinted across the yard and towards Kyle’s house.

I got to his house in a few minutes, knocking on the door I found that I was the last to arrive; Matt and Drake were already inside playing video games.

“What took you so long, At-smell?” Matt yelled from the couch, “It’s getting boring kicking Drake’s ass in every game.”

“Shut up, fat boy,” Drake growled, “we ain’t done yet!”

“Yes you are,” Kyle said grabbing his jacket, “We’re leaving.”

Grumbling to himself, he reluctantly grabbed his jacket and joined us at the front door.

“Winner and still champion,” Matt gloated.

“I should make you pay for my dinner tonight, loser,” Matt continued.

“Please,” Drake replied sarcastically, “I’d have to win the lottery if I wanted to afford that.”

Drake dodged the punch that was flung at him and laughed.

“Stop playing around, I’m hungry,” Kyle complained, ushering us all outside, “Let’s go.”

Still laughing, we made our way down the front yard and into the street. We were so preoccupied that none of us noticed the black car parked down the street start up as we crossed the road.

We started through the large parking lot shared by the nearby local businesses when the car pulled along side us and the driver rolled down his window and shouted over to us. He had on a pair of dark sunglasses and his hair looked greasy, like it was gelled back. He looked mean and something didn’t seem right about him, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what. It seemed like he was ready to burst out of the car, like he had trouble sitting still, like he was being confined in the metal cage.

“Hey, kid,” he growled to all of us, “Come here.”

“What do you want?” Matt asked cautiously.

“I just want to ask you guys some questions,” the man said sounding like something out of a bad gangster movie.

“What is your question?” Matt asked, but didn’t move any closer to the car.

“Do any of you know of a new girl in the neighborhood?” he asked, “She’d be about the same age as you guys.”

I got a terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach as I replied, “What kind of girl?”

“An Asian girl,” he stated flatly.

My biggest fear seemed to be coming true and I didn’t know what to do or say. How did they find her so quickly and who was this guy? Where was he from?

“No,” Drake answered for me, “there’s no new girl that we know of.”

I was relieved to find that my friends weren’t going to sell Eden out.

“This isn’t a big town,” Kyle offered, “if there was a new girl here our age, we would have met her already in school.”

“Well, aren’t you just a wellspring of information,” the driver smiled sarcastically, “Thanks for the tip.”

With that the car pulled away and continued through the parking lot.

“Do you think he was talking about Eden?” Matt asked when the car was out of sight.

“Who else could it be?” Drake replied, “I wonder who that guy was. Maybe we should have told him the truth; he could have been a relative of hers or something.”

“No way,” I assured him instantly, “Eden never mentioned anyone like that. That guy seemed slimy like a crook or something. Please don’t tell anyone about Eden, I don’t want her to get in trouble or hurt.”

I didn’t know what else to say. That guy could have been from the government looking to retrieve Eden. If he knew that we knew her, who knows what could happen to us.

Luckily all of my friends agreed that guy hadn’t looked nice and it had been a good idea not to say anything to him; but I couldn’t tell them my real fear that there could be more people looking for Eden because that would mean telling them the whole truth about her. There was no way that they wouldn’t think I was insane if I told them about Eden’s super human strength and my theories. It wasn’t like I could walk up to her and ask her to show off in front of my friends; and short of that there was no way to prove to them what I had seen.

Entering the restaurant, we all proceeded to a booth in the back of the restaurant. Matt made his way to the counter to order our dinner. He was well known in this establishment due to the fact that his mother hated to cook and as a result, often ordered out for dinner.

“Hey, Matt,” the middle aged man behind the counter greeted with a smile, “What can I get you guys?”

“Hi Al, we’d like one large Meat Lover’s,” Matt replied.

“One?” Al asked in surprise, “is that going to be enough for all of you?”

“It will have to be,” Matt said in defeat, “we only have enough for one pie and drinks.”

“Tell you what,” Al offered, “I’ll give you two for the price of one.”

“Wow! Thanks!” Matt beamed in surprise.

“What can I say?” Al shrugged, “I hate to see young men go hungry.”

“Me too,” Matt agreed with an innocent smile of pure joy.

He made his way back to our table with the good news.

“That’s why we let you order,” Drake stated with confidence, “your mother is like a freaking V.I.P. here.”

We all laughed at Drake’s observation; it was true without a doubt. She ordered from Pizza Heaven at least twice a week, sometimes more. It was a wonder that Matt had wanted to eat pizza yet another night this week.  As we waited for our pizzas the conversation quickly turned back to the subject from a few minutes earlier.

“So what do you guys think that guy wanted with Eden?” Kyle asked in a conspiratorial whisper.

All eyes immediately turned to me. As her boyfriend, I guess it was only logical that I would be the most likely to know the answer, but I wasn’t about to explain about Eden’s abnormalities, so I feigned ignorance.

“I have no idea why some creep would be looking for her,” I replied, “she never spoke about where she came from. Maybe he is some acquaintance of her parents or something.”

“That can’t be it,” Drake spoke up, “If he knew her or her parents, he would have asked if we knew Eden Sinclair. He didn’t, which means that he didn’t know her name.”

It was a brilliant deduction by Drake and most likely true. If the creepy guy had known Eden, he would have asked if we knew her by name. That means that either the guy wasn’t from the government or that Eden wasn’t her real name. This was getting too confusing and dangerous. I had been expecting people to come looking for her, but not so soon.

“That’s a good point, Sherlock,” Matt added, “Even if the guy hadn’t known Eden’s first name, if he was a friend of her parents, he still would have known their last name.”

“Either way, it sounds like your little lady is in some kind of trouble,” Drake concluded, “Maybe you should ask her about it.”

“Yeah, I’ll do that,” I said, even though I knew that there was no way I was going to.

We were still waiting for our pizza when we all noticed this lady enter the restaurant; we noticed her because we were young teenage boys and she was a hot, young blonde in her early twenties. She sat down in a booth, facing us, and flashed us a smile. The smile was meant to be warm and seductive, but it came across as cold and menacing. It was not a nice smile to say the least.

“Who the heck is that?” Drake asked in a mixture of fear and desire.

“Never saw her before,” Matt confirmed.

“Dude, she’s smoking,” Drake whispered in awe, referring to the fact that the blonde was unusually attractive.