Maverick (Maverick Academy Series) (19 page)

Upon arriving, Whit noticed several people
looking at her and whispering. Some were laughing as well. Mark stayed by her side and tried to distract her by telling her about some upcoming sporting competition, but she couldn’t concentrate. She kept hearing whispered comments about Nolan and her in the biology room. She had never done anything remotely gossip worthy. Until now, it would seem.

She was so caught up in the fact that everyone was talking about her
and thinking about Nolan that she completely forgot to tell Mark about her new ability to move things with her mind.

Chapter 20

Saturday nights at Maverick were a lot different than Whit thought they would be. She’d assumed that because the dorms were monitored, students would spend evenings hanging out with friends or watching movies in the television rooms. Not that those things didn’t happen, because they did, and Whit thought they were fun. Then again, she’d been a loner for so long that it just felt good to have friends again. When it came to Saturday nights, though, she was also squeaky clean compared to the majority of the Maverick students. They wanted something a little more diverting and “satisfying,” as Rory had put it. Whit wondered exactly what that meant. She had an idea, but was too embarrassed to ask Rory to clarify.

This particular Saturday
there was a midnight party in the woods beside the school. Whit had been at Maverick for a month, but this would be her first party. She wondered how they kept from getting caught, not only at the party but also sneaking in and out of the dorm. Ellie had made it sound like that wasn’t even in the realm of possibility when she first moved in.

When it came down to it, a
fter dealing with all the staring and whispering at the run this morning, Whit wondered if she even wanted to go. She knew it would be worse at the party, especially if Nolan was there. And she knew he would be. He had a reputation for being a good time guy, in every possible way, which was exactly what he wanted.

On one hand, she wanted to avoid him
. If they were seen together or in the same vicinity, it’d make the rumors worse. On the other hand, he had blindsided her with that kiss and she was confused. What did it mean? Was she just another girl to him or was Mark right? And how did she feel about him? She thought she understood him a bit better after what Mark had told her. But would seeing him untangle her thoughts and feelings or just make her confusion worse? If she didn’t clear this up, she would have to deal with him in class on Monday. They were lab partners, so dodging him was out.

A little before midnight
, she dressed in jeans and a sweater. It wasn’t like anyone was going to see her clothes, since she had to wear a coat over them to stay warm. It had gotten cooler around here, especially in the evenings, so Whit grabbed a knit cap along with a pair of mittens. As she headed to meet Rory and Ellie – who she hadn’t seen all day – she decided to hold off on telling them about her new ability. At least until after she talked to Mrs. McFaddin. They would ask questions that she couldn’t answer and for tonight she just wanted to have a good time.

As she walked down the hallway, she began to get nervous and
started questioning if going to this party was smart. What if they got caught? Sneaking around had never been her forte, and she felt nervous about the whole situation. Why couldn’t she make herself have visions about certain things? If she could have a vision about whether or not they were going to get caught,
that
would be helpful.

Once Ellie had approved of Whit’s attire, the girls took the stairs to the second floor. Whit followed behind them anxiously,
but at the same time she couldn’t deny that she was a little bit excited. It was her first time really sneaking out, and the adrenalin was rushing through her body. Their way out ended up being a window in the stairwell. How had she never noticed it before? It was already open, she guessed that all the girls were sneaking out to the party that way. Ellie gracefully climbed out and shimmied down the tree that grew right next to the window. Rory leaped through the window and immediately jumped straight to the ground. Whit was stupefied – it was at least a 15-foot drop. Then she remembered that Rory was a bonecrusher, which meant she was physically stronger than normal people.

For her own part, she
scrambled into the window and immediately regretted looking down. Rory and Ellie smiled encouragingly from below, and she slowly inched her way onto the tree. She got to the trunk and tried to get situated, but slid several feet down before she got a good hold. She gasped and grabbed a branch tightly, succeeding in climbing the rest of the way without further injury. When she got to the bottom she peaked at her hands, but the stinging that had instantly followed the slide had already began to fade. She turned and grinned sheepishly at her friends, and the threesome quietly made their way into the woods using a well-used hiking trail.

Déjà vu hit Whit
as she curved around the trail. This path was so familiar. She thought back to the Saturday runs, wondering if they’d used the trail at some point. She couldn’t remember ever coming this way, but knew she’d definitely been here before. Then she realized why she recognized it. The dream where someone was watching them. But in the dream, either Ellie or Rory had used a flashlight to get them to a party. Did that mean the vision would still happen in the future, or could it be that the flashlight had just been forgotten? Whit tried to see if anyone was in the woods around the trail, but it was just too dark. The only sounds were their shoes crunching over twigs and leaves, and their hushed voices.

Before she knew it, they were standing in the small clearing from her dream.
There was a fire and about twenty-five people huddled around it, talking and laughing. Whit glanced around once more, trying to see if anyone was watching from the woods, but she couldn’t see into the dark that surrounded them. She must have been looking around for several minutes, because when she turned to say something to Rory and Ellie, they were both gone.

Whit felt chilled and t
he fire was giving off such warmth that Whit automatically started moving closer to it. She noticed a few girls eyeing her as they whispered, and knew the rumors were still making the rounds. One even pointed at her, before stifling a laugh when she noticed Whit watching her.

It embarrassed and infuriated her that people were talking about her.
And lies no less. After overhearing several comments about her and Nolan, she couldn’t stand it any longer. She rounded on the latest rumormonger to set them straight.

“That is a lie
! Nothing happened and you need to shut up,” she snarled.

The girl was completely caught off guard and backed away with her hands raised.
Whit glanced around the fire and saw that everyone close by was eyeing her curiously. She sighed and knew she had probably only made the gossip worse with her explosion. Rolling her eyes, she went in search of Rory and Ellie.

Rory was drinking a beer and flirting with a guy Whit didn’t know.
Someone had managed to get a few cases of beer, which boggled Whit’s mind. How had they gotten beer to such an isolated school? Most of the people mingling around the fire were drinking, but Whit had never had a beer, and didn’t really want to start tonight. Knowing her luck, she would get drunk off one and then totally embarrass herself, thereby making the gossip about her juicier.

As she was looking for something else to drink, a
high-pitch squeal from across the fire drew her attention. What she saw made her heart drop. There was Nolan and, of course, he had his arm looped around another girl. At that moment, the girl turned around and Whit’s breath caught. It wasn’t just any girl with Nolan, it was Darby. Whit stumbled back and right into Rory. Before she could fall, Rory grabbed her arms and laughed.

“Hey, some people are gettin
g a game going. You want to play?” she asked excitedly.

“What’s the game?” Whit asked
. She would do just about anything to get away from the vision of Nolan with Darby, but if they were playing a drinking game, the answer was going to have to be no.

“It’s spin the bottle,” Rory grinned. “So, you in?”

Whit wasn’t too surprised by Rory’s willingness to play a kissing game. She always seemed to be trolling for guys, but it was entertaining to watch. Whit gazed back across the fire at the happy couple and made up her mind.

“What the heck, l
et’s go make out with some cute guys.”

Chapter 21

Before the game could begin, the group decided that instead of spin the bottle, seven minutes in heaven would be more fun. Whit had gone to a few parties, but always hung out with her friends. She’d never hooked up with anyone, and she certainly hadn’t played any of these games. Rory pulled her into an empty space at the circle, muttering about how much fun it would be. As Whit glanced around, she realized that she knew some of the participants, while she’d seen others around but had never spoken to them. Mark and Christopher were also sitting in the circle, and grinned at her when they saw her checking out the rest of the people.

Whit
turned and raked her eyes over the students huddled around the fire, pretending to think about it. She glanced at the couples cuddling on the blankets nearby, and wasn’t surprised to see Ellie and Roscoe cozied up to one another. They really were an adorable couple. Then her stomach lurched when she caught another glimpse of Nolan and Darby. They were on a blanket near the fire snuggling.

Whit couldn’t believe she
’d gotten her hopes up about him. She’d thought since her conversation with Mark that she’d actually thought she was different, but she wasn’t. She was just one of the many girls he’d messed around with to forget about his family falling apart. At the dance, he’d said he liked her. Based on his actions, though, he liked a lot of someones. She had to give it to him though – he was good at making a girl feel special. Too bad it didn’t mean anything.

She had been so lost in her thoughts
that she didn’t realize how long she’d been watching them. Nolan must have felt her stare or maybe glare, because he looked directly across the fire at her. Whit thought his eyes looked sad, even though he was trying to cover it with a smile.

Darby whispered some
thing in his ear, trying to get his attention. When he didn’t respond, she waved her hand in front of his face to draw his gaze back to her. She must’ve figured out where he was looking then, because she glared in Whit’s direction and quickly shot her the bird.

From there it got ugly pretty quick.
A tipsy Rory saw the hand gesture and started calling Darby names, in a rather loud voice. Luckily, the game started at that point, drawing Rory’s attention. Otherwise Whit would’ve had to keep Rory from attacking Darby.

With one last peek at Nolan, Whit turned her attention to a guy everyone called Smurf, who was going over how to play the game.
Basically, people took turns spinning the bottle and then the two picked had to disappear into the woods for seven minutes. Pretty straight forward. Whit had never played, but she’d seen it in several movies. Except in the movies, it was a closet instead of the woods.

Not surprisingly, Rory volunteered
to spin first. It landed on Alec, who was part of Rory’s tall boy gang. The two quickly got up and disappeared into the woods hand in hand. Whit wondered if it would affect their friendship. Could she have made out with Seth and then acted normal, like it had never happened? She didn’t know. What she
did
know was that she didn’t want to mess up her friendship with Mark. He had become a really good friend and she didn’t think she could look at him the same if they spent seven minutes doing who knows what.

S
uddenly someone tapped her on the shoulder and pointed to the bottle laying in the middle of the circle. It was her turn. Whit felt clammy and nervous. She didn’t have much experience with boys, so why would she have thought this would be fun? Someone told her to hurry up, so before she could over think it, she grabbed the bottle and spun it like a top. It started slowing down and eventually stopped on a tall guy with black hair. Whit didn’t know him, but she’d heard someone call him Timothy. He walked toward her and held a hand to help her up. When she accepted it, he pulled her into his side. Obviously he felt comfortable playing this game with a complete stranger. Whit couldn’t say the same for herself, unfortunately.

They walked into the wood
s until they reached an area that was dark, where they stood in silence for a few seconds. Whit didn’t know what she was supposed to do, so she just waited for him to make the first move. On one level, she didn’t want to kiss this guy, but on another she just wanted to forget about Nolan for a few minutes. She felt Timothy’s breath on her lips and knew he was leaning in. Before their lips could touch, there was a burst of light right next to them.

It startled them so badly that they jumped away from each other and Whit let out a little scream.
She whirled toward the light and saw a floating fireball there, floating right next to them, beside her shoulder. As Timothy and Whit watched the fireball, shocked, a figure emerged from behind it and stepped forward.

“Sorry to interrupt
, kids,” Nolan said, keeping his eyes on Whit. “Thought I saw something out here, just came to check it out.” He laughed.