Fated Dreams (Book One In The Affinity series) (22 page)

“You know, Logan, I like the new you.” I laughed as I climbed in the front seat; he sat in the back
behind me. “You shocked the hell out of everyone at our table today.”

“Yeah, their
mouths were wide open, watching you chat with people and not knocking anyone’s
food off their tray,” Lucas agreed with me.

“Hey, I’m not
that bad,” Logan protested, punching the back of my seat lightly.

“Yeah, you
are,” we both said at the same time. Lucas started his car and pulled out of
the parking lot.

At his house, Luke showed me more defensive
moves while Logan made us supper, a spicy chicken with rice that was really
delicious.

I hit the heavy
bag for two minutes longer this time, and after supper, I went home with my
arms feeling like they were wearing hundred-pound weights

After Lucas
dropped me off, I went up to my room to do my homework.

I had just
opened
Pride and Prejudice
—I had yet to finish it—when I heard a SMASH.
Something sharp hit my face. “Ow!” I whined, touching the spot on my cheek
where it stung. I pulled my hand back and saw blood covering the tips of my
fingers. Broken glass lay across the edge of my bed and floor. There was a
large hole in the center of my window. And on the rug was a big rock the size
of a fist.

I gently
tiptoed over to where the rock was lying, trying to avoid the glass, and bent
down to pick it up. On the rock, there were words written in black marker that
read: “YOU BELONG TO ME!”

Cold fear ran through my body as I rushed
to the window to look out, but the sidewalk and street were empty, with the
exception of Mrs. Emerson who was walking her poodle, Yonkers. And I didn’t
think she would have the strength to whip a rock up twenty feet. She was eighty
and full of arthritis.

I picked up the
rock and stuffed it on the top shelf of my closet. I needed to hide it. My
defense mechanism, denial, wouldn’t really work if I told someone. If I kept
this to myself, I could pretend it wasn’t really happening.

Looking in the
mirror, I wiped off the blood from my face with a tissue. It left only a small
cut, hardly visible. Then I yelled for my dad.

It only took a
few seconds before I heard him coming up the stairs.

“What is it,
Sarah?” He wandered in carrying a half-eaten apple, wearing faded jeans and a
plaid shirt. My mom followed behind him, looking more polished, still wearing
the suit she wore at work today.

“I was doing my
homework, when a branch from that tree smashed my window. It must be windy
out.” I pointed to the large, towering oak that stood on the front yard.

They both
looked down at the glass on the floor. “Are you sure this is from a branch
Sarah?” my dad asked suspiciously, kicking a few shards with his sock-covered
foot.

“What else
could it be from?”

He peered
outside and then shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, I’ll go get some plywood to put
up for now.”

He hurried out
of the room while my mom and I cleaned up the glass. “That is so weird; I can’t
believe a branch could reach the window. Are you sure nothing was thrown
through it?” my mom asked me, glancing around the floor.

My hand shook,
holding a big shard. “Not that I saw, if there was I couldn’t find it.” I would
probably go to hell for lying so much.

To be sure that
we got all the sharp pieces of glass, we quickly vacuumed the rug as my dad
nailed a piece of plywood to the window frame. “Well, that’s all I can do
tonight. I’ll call someone tomorrow to come and put a new window in.”

“Okay. Thanks,
Mom and Dad.” The thought of being alone left me uneasy.

“You’re
welcome. Good night, honey.” When they shut my door behind them, my room felt
oddly sinister. I noticed every shadow my small lamp created, and I heard every
sound coming from outside.

With hands that
shook, I put my books away. My teachers would just have to understand I wasn’t
in the mood to do my tedious homework after the vandalism and threatening note.
Not that I would tell them this. I’d figure out a different story tomorrow,
another lie, just what I needed.

I closed my
curtains and made sure my remaining window was locked before crawling into bed.

I dreamed I was
walking through the woods at night; the only light was from the faint glow of
the moon. The wind made the trees sway wildly. I thought I heard something over
the roar of the wind, but whenever I turned to look behind me, I would see a
dark figure skulking behind a tree.

The next few days went by quickly. Lucas
continued to drive me to and from work and school. If he couldn’t, Logan did, with Lucas’ car. Logan was excited. He was getting his car back on the weekend
and talked about how much he was going to drive it, where he was going to go,
what girls he would take in it.

I preferred the
days Lucas drove me, and I wouldn’t have to listen to Logan’s endless
jabbering.

Friday night after school, we were headed
for a round of paintball, and then to Charlie’s Diner to eat afterward. It was
a favorite spot for most of the kids at our school.

“Hey, does this
vest make my hair look darker?” Emma asked, posing in front of me with her
paintball gear, which consisted of a bulky black vest and clear protective
eyewear. While she goofed around, the guys were choosing who would be on what
teams.

“Emma, will you
give it up already, I love your red hair.”

“Fine, then
let’s trade,” she said, sticking out her chin at me. I groaned and shook my
head.

“Okay, Sarah, I
guess you and Emma are on my team.” Lucas reached around Derrick, taking my
hand to pull me toward him. I grabbed Emma, and the three of us stood waiting
our turn.

When the arena
was free, the six of us plowed in, scrambling around trying to hide from one
another. There were small walls and different equipment designed to give cover
from the other teammates.

Since I was
crouched down under some kind of black metal bridge, I heard a lot of shooting
and cursing, but I stayed where I was, afraid to be shot.

After about ten
minutes of waiting I peeked through a hole and saw Andy sneaking past. I jumped
up and shot him right in the center of his chest. It felt awesome taking out
the cockiest member of the other team. “Yahoo!” I shouted, giving away my
position.

My celebration
ended quickly when Derrick came up behind me, shooting me in the back, causing
a burst of pain similar to the feeling of being pinched. Damn, that was going
to leave a mark.

I spun around
and saw him smiling at me. “How could you do that, I’m your best friend!”

“This is
paintball! Every man for himself,” he laughed and took off, ducking down behind
a wall.

“So, I guess
this gives us a chance to talk,” Andy said, leading me to a small set of
bleachers at the edge of the room. We sat on the top row, giving us a complete
view of the arena.

There was a
wall standing alone covered in graffiti. Brightly colored paint spread across
almost the whole surface; names, cities, and even movie titles. From up here on
the bleachers, I could see the top of Lucas’ head as he crawled on the other
side, stalking Kyle, who didn’t notice him. He was staring out a small hole on
the other side of his wall.

“I’m really
glad you and Luke got together. I miss hanging out with him, but he is so much
happier now,” Andy said. I nodded absently as I watched the scene below. “I
have a feeling he’s had a thing for you for a while. I’ve asked him about it,
but he wouldn’t tell me. Did he ever say anything to you?”

I didn’t know
how to answer him. I knew Luke had been dreaming about me. That could affect
how he saw me, since it did with me. All he said was that he was drawn to me
and had been for some time.

“Nope.” I
stared ahead, watching my friends stalk each other.

“He keeps
things to himself a lot.” He fiddled with the trigger on his long black paint
gun.

This got my
attention. I turned to look at him. “Tell me about it,” I said dryly.

He laughed.
“You noticed, have you?”

“Well, I have a
feeling he might be hiding something from me, but we haven’t talked about it
much.”

“It’s probably
nothing. I know he loves you, I can see it.” He stretched out his legs onto the
bench in front of us and placed his gun beside him.

I sighed,
leaning back against the bench behind me. “I know.” And I loved him. It was
hard to believe that after only a few weeks I could feel this strongly for
someone. The overwhelming feeling of intense love was so familiar. I had felt
it once before in a dream the night Lucas fell asleep at my house. I remembered
thinking at the time it wasn’t possible to feel that way, but in only a few
weeks it was there in every waking moment.

We watched
quietly while Lucas snuck up to Kyle and shot him, royal blue paint splattering
on the center of his back. I couldn’t hear what was being said, but I was
pretty sure I didn’t want to. Whatever Kyle was saying made Lucas laugh
hysterically.

“You know,
Sarah, you’re dating a cheat,” Kyle grumbled, climbing up the bleachers to sit
on the bench in front of us. He shoved Andy’s legs out of the way so he could
sit down.

“Poor loser, do
you see me bitching about a girl taking me out?” Andy asked, leaning toward
Kyle.

Kyle didn’t
turn around, just continued to watch the game. “Not yet, but you will.”

I was having
fun. It had been awhile since I had done something like this, well, maybe
never. But I was sure that since I was dating Lucas I’d be dragged to more
adventurous types of activities—if Andy and Kyle had anything to say about it,
we would. I loved the feeling of shooting someone with paint. The gun was the
size of a real one, and when I held it in my hand, I felt like a spy. Except a
special agent's gun probably wouldn’t have a canister full of paint screwed on
top of his. But when I pulled the trigger, the feel of the paintball exploding
out of my weapon was exhilarating. Getting hit wasn’t quite as much fun though.

I looked down
to see where Emma was and spotted her creeping up slowly and quietly to the end
of a wall where Derrick was huddled. I think he knew someone was coming, since
he stood at the end of the wall waiting.

She must have
thought the same thing, because she turned around and went the other way,
crawling on her hands and knees while her gun hung on her back, coming at him
from behind. She stopped when she was about four feet away from him and pulled
the trigger, splattering bright red paint right between his shoulder blades.

“Bull’s-eye,
did we win?” I asked, throwing my hands in the air.

“Ah…no, you’re
up here, you lost. Now it will be between Emma and Lucas. There can only be one
winner,” Andy explained, like I should know the rules.

“Come on up
here, Derrick, with the rest of us losers,” I stood up and yelled at him while
he stepped slowly toward us.

His face held a
timid grin. “I can’t believe my girlfriend shot me.”

“It’s
paintball, remember, every woman for herself.” I laughed.

“Ha ha!” he
said dryly as he took a seat on the bench in front of me, beside Kyle. Kyle
held up a fist and Derrick bumped it with his.

Andy stood up
on the bleacher beside me, cupped his hands around his mouth, and yelled, “Come
on, Lucas, you can’t let a girl win!” I pulled him back down so he wouldn’t
give Lucas any hints to where Emma was.

Emma took out
Lucas right in the chest. He was stalking her from behind. She must have sensed
him, because she suddenly whipped around, taking him off guard. Her red paint
splattered on his chest and face.

“Wahoo!” She
yelled from below, doing a little victory dance, waving her arms in front of
her and shaking her butt, all the while chanting, “I won, I won.” She was
rubbing it in just a little.

“Okay, let’s
eat,” Andy yelled, ignoring Emma’s dance. He seemed to be a bit of a sore
loser.

A half hour later we all settled into a
large table at Charlie’s. We sat in front of a window, near the back of the
restaurant, eating burgers and fries. The air smelled of grease and coffee.

“That was so
much fun,” Emma said, after swallowing a bite of cheeseburger. Since we left
the arena, she couldn’t stop grinning. I looked around the table and smiled.
Everyone’s hair was messy with splotches of red, yellow, and blue paint.

“Yeah, good
idea bringing the girls, Andy,” Kyle mumbled with his mouth full of burger and
a spot of blue paint on his forehead.

“Well, we can
take Sarah again, but Emma’s not invited.” Andy was smiling wickedly at her.

She looked up
from her food. “Sore losers,” she said, sticking her tongue out. With a wide
grin, she tossed a fry, hitting him right in the eyebrow. It stuck briefly to
his skin then slid down his face, falling onto the table.

A look of shock
crossed his ketchup-streaked face, and then he smiled, grabbed a handful of
onion rings from his plate, and lifted his hand.

“You throw
those onion rings, Andy, and you’ll be washing my dirty pots for a week,” Lucy,
Charlie’s wife, said. She was standing with a tray of dishes in one hand, and
the other hand on her hip. Her reddish-brown hair was in a messy ponytail. She
had light blue eyes that often held humor. She seemed to enjoy the students
coming here, and she knew most of us by name. I didn’t think she’d remember
mine though; I hadn’t been here in a long time.

He gave her a
sheepish grin. “Sorry, Lucy.”

“You better be.
Oh, and Emma, I saw that.” She pointed a crooked finger at Emma before
disappearing into the kitchen.

I had been
holding my breath, trying not to laugh, but when Lucy walked away, I couldn’t
hold it any longer. The rest of the group joined in with a loud explosion of
laughter.

After we
finished eating, we made sure to put our garbage away; we didn’t want to make
Lucy any angrier than she already was. We said goodbye to our friends and then
Lucas took me home.

“Can I come in
for a while?” he asked after he pulled into my driveway.

“Sure, we can
watch a movie.”

We took turns in my shower scrubbing the
paint off of our hair and face.