Hunted (2 page)

"I
was serious, by the way, Adri. I don't think that you hit Janessa for
me or anything, but it's actually worked out pretty well. Her uniform
is basically ruined. I mean, she could still wear it, but I don't
think anybody would be watching the game."

Cindi's
expression was so mischievous that it drew a smile out of me despite
my best efforts. My smile made her smile in turn and then she pushed
open the main door.

"Janessa
could always use one of the loaner uniforms, but Miss Winters is kind
of pissed off at her for all of her drama over the last couple of
weeks, so she's going to be out of commission for at least a few days
until she gets a new top ordered. Which means…I get to be the
one at the top of the third pyramid!"

"Um,
congratulations, I guess?"

"You
guess? This is the hugest opportunity ever. I'm only guaranteed the
spot for tomorrow's game, but if I do a good job there's no telling
what might happen. I might manage to bump Janessa out entirely."

I
shook my head at her. "I still can't explain your fascination
with flying. The idea of being thrown twenty feet into the air and
just trusting that someone on the ground is really going to catch me
doesn't sound fun at all."

"You
should try it sometime, Adri."

I
snorted. Actually I was snorting a lot lately. I needed to watch
that. I wasn't exactly gunning for a boyfriend or anything, but I
didn't want to end up being repulsive to everyone around me.

"I'm
not exactly flyer material, in case you haven't noticed. Janessa was
quick to remind me today, just in case anyone else had forgotten that
stupid nickname you gave me."

Cindi
didn't look repentant very often, but she looked sorry this time.
"I'm really sorry about that. I should never have given it to
you in the first place, and I definitely should have made sure that I
never used it around anyone from school. It doesn't actually apply
any more though."

"What
do you mean?"

"Gosh,
sometimes I seriously question the fact that we're the same gender.
Do you mean you really haven't noticed how much weight you've lost
lately?"

"I
haven't lost any weight, Cindi. You're still the skinny one in the
family."

"Seriously?
Have you looked at yourself lately? Your clothes are all practically
falling off of you now. Honestly, that's probably part of why Janessa
came at you like that. She's pretty self-conscious about her body and
you're pretty much the same size as her now. You should come work out
with the squad, you'd totally be flyer material in like a month."

I
turned and grabbed Cindi's arm, pulling her around so that she had to
face me. "Is this some kind of joke?"

"What
the freak? You're turning into a total head-case lately. No, it isn't
a joke. Seriously, look at yourself in the mirror sometime, you've
totally thinned down."

Cindi
was a lot of things—not the least of which was a spoiled
brat—but she'd never lied to me when it mattered, so I let her
go, somewhat mollified.

"That
doesn't make any sense. I haven't changed anything. I'm not eating
any differently, I'm not exercising, there's no reason for me to be
losing any weight."

Cindi
shrugged. "Well, I guess you're just lucky then because you're
definitely losing weight lately."

We
started walking again and I once again wished that we lived somewhere
else. We were well past the hottest part of the day, but even now the
humidity made any kind of exercise unpleasant. I could already feel a
trickle of perspiration running down between my shoulder blades and
it wouldn't evaporate until we made it home and got into the
air-conditioned and de-humidified air inside.

Another
month or two and the temperatures would drop, but we'd be lucky if we
got all of a full week of nice weather before the snow and extreme
cold arrived. Living in Minnesota meant you constantly had to worry
about either heatstroke or frostbite, which would have sucked badly
enough all by itself, but we lived close enough to the school that
Cindi and I had to walk there and back all winter through the worst
of the cold. If the temperatures dropped far enough sometimes Dad
would run us into school before he had to leave for work, but that
just meant we had to hang out at school for the better part of an
hour before classes started.

As
much as I hated the heat, I hated the bitter cold even more, so I
decided I should be appreciating the weather today rather than just
dreading the rest of the walk home. I knew that Mom was going to
freak out once I got home, so I tried to think about something other
than the events from school, but I couldn't seem to get Mrs. Bauer's
words out of my mind.

We
were nearly home before I broke the traditional silence in which
Cindi and I usually made the trip.

"Were
you the one who told me that Janessa cheated on her history exam?"

Cindi
looked at me oddly. "We never talk about the squad. I mean, we
hardly talk at all as it is, but we never talk about the other
cheerleaders because you think that they're all a bunch of stuck-up
idiots."

"I
know that, I'm just trying to figure out where I first heard that
she'd cheated. Maybe you were talking to someone on the phone and I
just overheard your conversation."

I
got another odd look as Cindi shook her head at me. "My phone
has been broken for almost two weeks, you know that. I've been
restricted to just texting people with my iPod since I dropped it in
the parking lot while doing stunts with the other girls. Besides, I
never even considered that Janessa might have cheated. I just figured
she'd conned some poor sap into helping her study for it."

"I'm
pretty sure that she really did cheat. The way that she attacked me
was crazy. It was about more than just the fact that she doesn't like
me."

Cindi
shrugged. "You're probably right. Cheating would be more
Janessa's speed than any form of studying, even studying with a
nerd-assist."

"So
where did I hear it then if not from you?"

"I
don't know, Adri. I didn't think that you really talked to anyone
else. Maybe you dreamed it."

It
was like she'd reached out and slapped me. I'd been less shocked when
Janessa had hit me. I gasped, but Cindi just rolled her eyes at me
and kept walking. I thought about trying to explain my reaction to
her, but it was just too crazy to try to put in words.

I
had
dreamed it, and now that she'd raised the possibility,
even in jest, it was like a set of floodgates had opened up. I'd been
having a ton of really weird, specific dreams about people lately,
and almost every dream was about someone I knew.

I
didn't have an explanation, but if there really was something going
on inside my head other than just run-of-the-mill dreams, then I
needed to figure out a way to keep the dreams from ruining my waking
world. If I didn't keep the two separate then I was going to end up
in all kinds of trouble. People wouldn't just ignore a girl who spent
time inside of their minds.

If
they really believed that I was capable of knowing their deepest
secrets then I'd be lucky to make it out of high school alive and
sane.

Mom
came unglued on me when I finally made it home. She was going on and
on about suspensions and me being grounded. It was looking pretty bad
right up until the shiny red timer on the fridge went off. That was
the signal reminding her that she needed to do something with the
photos that were being developed in her darkroom, or her cave, as we
jokingly called it. She said our conversation wasn't over as she
disappeared into the specially-designed rotating door that prevented
light from getting inside the room, but I knew I was safe now. As
long as Cindi didn't stir things up, Mom probably wouldn't even
remember that I'd been in trouble.

Once
Mom got buried in a photography project it was pretty much guaranteed
that she would ignore anything less catastrophic than the house
burning down, so I only needed to worry about Dad now.

Mom had the beginnings of dinner laid out on the counter, but
past experience had shown that if we just waited for her to finish
it up we might not eat for hours still. Cindi and I washed our
hands and started grilling the chicken and cutting up the green
peppers so that the food wouldn't go to waste. It looked like
Mom was planning on tacos, but sometimes she took us by
surprise. Once the chicken was started cooking I pulled out
Grandma's recipe book and double-checked to make sure that we
actually had all of the ingredients on hand.

It
looked like we were safe, so Cindi and I fell into our normal rhythm
of cooking interspersed with breaks to study whenever we were waiting
on something. It was actually nice. We'd been filling in for Mom so
long now that we didn't need to talk about what we were doing when it
came to a meal like tacos. It meant that we could be together and yet
still have some space inside our own heads.

I
had to hand it to Cindi. She was a cheerleader and all, but she did
work hard to keep her grades up. In fact she was probably doing
better than I was. It was another reason to hate her. She was skinny
and pretty and smart and I was just me. I didn't really hate her
though. She was my sister and I was proud of her, even if I wished
from time to time that the talents and looks had been split up more
evenly between us.

Dad
got home early, which is to say about the time most normal dads got
off of work. He didn't say anything about my fight as he walked through
the door, which gave me some hope that maybe Mom had forgotten to
call and tell him about the incident.

He
kissed Cindi and me each on the forehead and took a deep breath.
"Those tacos smell really good, girls, thank you for cooking
again tonight. How's your homework coming?"

Cindi
smiled up at him with a warmth and brightness that exceeded anything
she displayed even out on the football field. If she ever figured out
how to bottle that expression she'd be very rich and dads all over
the world would suddenly be wondering why they'd purchased their
little girls a sports car and twenty-thousand dollars' worth of new
clothes.

Dad
had built up a little bit of resistance over the years, but even he
struggled not to give in when Cindi really poured it on.

"Homework
is fine, but I have really good news. I'm going to get to be the top
of the third pyramid for the game tomorrow night."

That
earned her a frown from both of us. Dad was frowning because despite
having agreed and signed something like half a dozen liability
waivers, he was still not completely onboard with the idea of his
baby girl being thirty feet up in the air with nothing but a couple
of irresponsible teenage girls between her and a serious injury.

I
on the other hand scowled at her because she was getting unacceptably
close to bringing up my fight with Janessa. She made a 'calm down'
gesture at me when Dad bent back down to pick up his briefcase, which
mollified me somewhat.

"What
about you, Adri? How are your studies coming?"

Pretty
poorly to be honest, given that I had missed the last hour of school
and therefore my chemistry class, but I wasn't about to tell him
that.

"I'm
doing okay. I'll be glad for this semester to be over though."

This
time it was me he frowned at, but his expression wasn't so much
disapproving as it was worried. "Don't wish your life away,
Adri. Someday you'll look back at high school and wish you'd enjoyed
life. Trust me, things only get more complicated and hectic the older
you get."

I
shrugged in response, which was about as safe of a route to go as
possible. His smile seemed to say that he knew exactly what I was
thinking, but he let things rest there.

"How
long has your mom been in her cave?"

Cindi
checked the antique metal clock on the kitchen wall. "Half hour,
forty-five minutes maybe."

Dad
nodded and headed down to Mom's cave. His voice floated up the
staircase from the basement so we could hear him despite the
distance. "Nikki, the girls have dinner ready to go. Are you
where you can stop and join us?"

I
heard something bang into something else and then a muttered oath
from Mom. "John, you're home? I wasn't expecting you for another
half hour at least. I'm right in the middle of something. You and the
girls will have to start dinner without me, I guess."

I
heard a longsuffering sigh out of my dad and then he came back into
the kitchen and helped me set the table. Dinner went about like
normal. Cindi dominated the conversation while Dad and I watched in
bemusement at the way she managed to talk nonstop about so many
different things without ever seeming to have to pause for food.

I
was actually starting to relax by the end of the meal. My headache
even disappeared right up until Dad leaned back in his chair and
patted his stomach. "The tacos were excellent, girls, thank you
very much for stepping into the breach once again. Cindi, would you
mind doing the dishes tonight while I talk with Adri?"

It
felt like my head was going to explode. I didn't hear much else for
the next few minutes, but all too soon I found myself sitting in the
tiny guest bedroom that doubled as my dad's office. Cindi and I had
been begging Mom and Dad to let one of us move into the guest bedroom
so that we didn't have to share a room any more, but it was one of
the few things that Mom had held firm on. She kept telling us that
Dad needed a space of his own just like she had her darkroom and had
refused to budge despite an epic amount of pleading from Cindi.

"The
school called your mom today, Adri. You were in a fight. What
happened?"