Exaltation (16 page)

Chapter Fifteen

Nervousness was not something Raven was familiar with; her bliss gave her a calm Zen zone she lurked in which helped her deal with any and every oddity in her life.

Somehow this boy was different. She felt the urge to run from him but at the same time she felt the need to help him.

Magnet, pull, repel.

He had a familiar vibe about him, the same one she felt around all the members of her family, the coven.

“No,” she said finally, to answer his question.
God he is gorgeous
, she thought as she looked up at him.

She couldn’t help but wonder if it was this dark, enigmatic thing he had going for him or if it was something she could see in his eyes trying to break free. “This is new,” Raven said as she reached for his cheek. The barely noticeable beard he had before was now the real deal. It made him look older, but less like a jock. One point for the mystery boy in Raven’s book.

“You don’t like it?” he asked with a wry smile.

Raven made a face. “Usually don’t kiss boys that remind me of my father, mucks with the vibe and all.”

A warning bell was going off in her head. REGRETTABLE.
Hartley Raven BellaRose, you are playing with fire!
Maybe so, but she wanted to figure out what that pain and struggle was about which she saw in his clear blue eyes.

“You always kiss boys and run away?”

Not good. Raven knew he either thought she was easy or a tease. She was
neither
. Right then she could kill River for her wild ideas.

“Do you always feel girls up in the hallway when you don’t know their name?”

“Feel you up?” Rydell said with a dark laugh. There was not a doubt in his mind this girl was as innocent as a summer rain if she thought he had done that to her in the past.

“You know what I mean.”

“It’s a tight hall.” Right as he spoke someone pushed him from behind and his arm clasped around her waist. “See what I mean?” The words breathed against her neck, warm chills cascaded down Raven’s entire body. Fiery prickles followed. She felt them both tense at the close contact.

God he smelled good. What kind of cologne was that?

“I do,” Raven said as she removed his arm. “Look, man, you were a victim of a teenage high, you were in my way when I was in a good mood. I’m not the kinda girl you think I am.”

“What kinda girl do I think you are?”

Bad kisser probably.
Raven angled a glare up at him. “You don’t even know my name.”

“Raven BellaRose.”

“Impressive.”

“Not really, you have a rep.”

“I didn’t burn or flood anything. I was just in the area.”

He laughed. Raven glanced up. He looked even hotter when he laughed. His blue eyes shined.

“I’m at a disadvantage, Mr. mystery boy.”

He drew his brow together, clearly questioning if that was a true statement.

“Rydell King.”

Raven pursed her lips.

“What, you haven’t heard of me?”

“Are you on the hit it and quit it list or something?” Raven asked with an arched brow.

I surely am in some dimension of space and time
, “One girl at a time.”

“And how many hours does it take you to burn through a girl?”

Raven was almost sure he blushed as a wayward thought seemed to cross his eyes.

“It’s been a minute.”

“Good to meet you, Rydell,” Raven said as they climbed the stairs and she walked double time to her first period class.

She was in her seat long before the warning bell rang. She had enough time to look for a good song on her iPod. She wanted that sensation she felt in the Veil back more than ever, that peace.
Rydell. I kissed a boy without knowing his name.
Raven turned crimson.
And he was so
good
at kissing.

The girl next to Raven tapped on her desk. Raven looked up in time to see the teacher making the motion to tell her to pull out her headphones. As soon as she did Raven heard her say, “Welcome to the class. Miss BellaRose.”

When she turned to erase the board, a note was slid around from behind Raven. It read:
what song is making you blush?

Raven glanced over her shoulder and turned beet red. Rydell King was sitting behind her and he had
shaved.
He ran the back of his hand over his cheek, as his lush lips curled into a smirk. Raven turned around at the speed of light.

Her nervous tick was to flip her hair over her shoulder and when she heard the long strands brush across his desk she was
mortified.

What was it about this boy that makes me send out all the
wrong
signals?
she thought with a curse.

Raven never heard another word the teacher said.

When the bell rang she took her time getting her things together. She only had to go across the hall and wanted to make sure Rydell was going in the opposite direction. She waited and waited…and waited. He never moved. Finally, Raven grabbed her bag and stood.

She wasn’t sure how he did it, but all at once he was right before her, blocking her path.

“How did this happen?” he asked as he reached for her white streak.

Raven held a breath as she felt his warm hand against her neck. Normally she would have said something sarcastic but he wasn’t hitting on her. His brow was furrowed and a protective stare was in his eyes.

“Dye.”

He moved his head side to side. “No dye has ever touched this hair,” he said as the strands moved through his fingers.

What is this silk barrier between us…surely not a spell?
Rydell thought to himself. How he could touch her and not really feel her was blowing his mind.

“Do you moonlight as a hairdresser?” Raven asked in the hardest tone she could muster.

“Nope. Just not blind. What happened?”

“Bad first date. Kinda turned me off to the entire idea of them. Especially when it comes to trusting boys.”

He seemed angry all at once. Raven was pretty sure it wasn’t directed at her and was glad it wasn’t. He looked downright fierce.

“What did he do to you?”

“Ah, you know, the usual,” Raven said as she moved her hair away from his fingertips. “He wanted more than I wanted to give him in more ways than one.”

“Did he,” he said as his jaw clenched.

If he only knew the rest…he’d probably run like hell away from me,
Raven thought.

The next class was starting to pile in so she made her way out. She spotted Soren walking down the hall with his schedule in hand, looking from door to door. Raven grabbed his book bag and pulled him back toward where they were supposed to go. She looped her arm around his like he was the most prized possession she had because she could still feel Rydell’s eyes on her.

She sat in the back corner with Soren next to her. And damned if Rydell didn’t stroll in right after them. Instead of sitting in front of Raven he sat on the opposite side of Soren.

Rydell started some kind of conversation with Soren about cars that Raven was sure was lost on him. The only wheels Soren cared about were ones at his feet, whether that was a board, bike, or skates.

This was shaping up to be the longest day of Raven’s life.

That point was backed up when Rydell strolled into third period. Some guy was already sitting in the back corner so Raven had to sit one up from where she liked to be in the room. Rydell sat behind her, one row over.

Before Soren sat down he leaned into her ear. “Can we sit by the door? By the way, I
hate
this school.” 

Raven glanced around him toward the front seats, but they were already filling in.

“Too late. What burned you?”

“Just stay close to me,” he breathed as he sat down across from her.

Rydell was right behind him but chose not to try and start another conversation with him.

Kimberly popped down in the seat in front of Raven. “You’re in here now? River had this class before. Now she’s in my second. Shame,” she said as a huge grin spread across her face. “I was hoping I could get her to tell me more about your mystery boy. Does he really taste like sin or was she just playing it up—did you chicken out?”

Right then Raven heard Rydell try to cover a laugh with a cough.

“What?” Soren asked.

Raven glanced to him. From the corner of her eye she saw Rydell leaning back in his desk, slanting to the right and failing miserably to hide his grin. The boy in the back corner was apparently failing to hold in a laugh as well.

Kimberly was oblivious. She noticed them laughing but had no idea why. She glanced around Raven and her eyes went wide.

“Hey, Dagen.” Her flirtatious smile emerged then. “Good karma helping Kade out with his car. Too bad you guys couldn’t come in second at the rink, too.”

The boy cleared his throat before he answered. “I would agree. I was hoping my boy would show up to help us get everything running right but at times he can be
sinfully
distracted. He was focused at the field though. Kade will win soon enough. Mark my words.”

Raven wanted to crawl into a ball.  Soren turned sideways in his seat and leaned into the aisle, not to talk to Raven but in some way to block her view of Rydell. Raven felt a wave of vim encasing her and glanced to Soren.

Soren was usually mellow in school, lost in his own world, but today he was all too aware of his surroundings. He mouthed the words. “Got you,” to Raven.

She guessed he thought his vim would protect her from humiliation. And sadly he was wrong.

Something clicked in Kimberly’s eyes as they shifted between Rydell and Dagen then to Raven. The bell rang and she turned around stiffly in her seat.

Five minutes later when the teacher had her pass back papers she handed Raven a note that read :
OMG I SO did not mean to embarrass you! But now I HATE you. Dagen and Rydell are the top two on the girls’ hot list —meaning untouchable list! P.S I heard Soren would be on that list by the end of the day—him and some other new guy that Stephanie saw in the office this morning.

Before the day was over Raven figured out she had every class with Rydell except for fourth and sixth. He was even in Berries’ class.

Conveniently, Raven remembered why Berries’ class gave her the creeps. He had cameras! Not ones that were recording his lecture but ones that were aimed at the class—too weird.

The rest of the week went by in a haze, mainly because Raven was knee deep in make up work. Berries must have sent a lynch mob after the twins and her.

Some of the classes they traded were the same courses but different teachers, and the teachers were not fond of the fact the girls had pulled one over on them.

Of course Berries was the worst. Every lecture he would stop a few sentences in and ask Raven a condescending question as if she was too ignorant to know what he was talking about.

It was in his class that Raven actually loosened up around Rydell. He was bold when it came to Berries. After the first day he started answering the questions before Raven could. Berries would turn beet red, obliviously furious at Rydell but he never reprimanded him. Instead he would make comments like, “Miss BellaRose do you know the answer or should I ask your boyfriend again?”

The girls along with Soren had been on edge all week. Raven asked them over and over if they felt prickles and they said they didn’t but they felt them coming, as odd as that sounded.

Ash was on the hunt. She claimed something had changed from last Friday but she didn’t know what. Apparently the worst vibe she felt was Monday morning, but it had been fading ever since then.

Raven only had two shifts that week at the rink; one was Thursday and the other was Saturday. Raven had never been so happy for Thursday in all her life.

The rink always closed an hour earlier on Thursdays to get the center ready for the weekend. Soren was her ride there. The twins were doing ‘research’ meaning they were hanging out with Miss Sherri. Miss Sherri never meant to gossip but if you managed to get her to talk about the ‘old days’ you were in for a wealth of info.

She was Miss Thelma Ray’s cousin—so the girls had it in their head she was around when Berries was, and they wanted all the dirt they could find on that man. As far as they were concerned he crossed them and now they were building their deathblow up.

It was slow, so it took Raven no time at all to finish her work up at the rink. Soren still had a good two hours. He and some other boys were building a new ramp in the auditorium. Which meant Raven had two hours to skate and blow off some steam—and hopefully find her happy place.
Bliss bubble here I come.

She turned the lights down, then found a slow haunting playlist to blare simply because that was her mood. It didn’t take her long to lose herself. She moved through an entire track of music and felt the weight of school falling behind her. Along with the other dark drama about her past and future.