Naomi Grim (4 page)

The Friday of our first week had
arrived. We would have two days off from school before returning to school on
Monday. Weekends. I liked that. In Nowhere, there were no days off. We studied
every single day.

"What are you doing this
weekend?" Paige asked me as we changed after PE

"I'll probably just hang out and
read or something."

"Boooooring," Roxy said.
"You are definitely not doing that. You're going to hang with us. Tomorrow
afternoon we're going shopping. We'll come pick you up."

"N-no. I'll meet you there."

"Why can't we pick you up?"
Ashley asked, taking off her sneakers.

"We just moved and our house is a
mess."

"We don't have to come in,"
Paige said. "We'll just blow the horn and you can come out."

Why were they pressing this? I knew I
shouldn't go, but a huge part of me wanted to. "I'll meet you there,"
I said firmly. "What time?'

"Oneish," Ashley answered,
eyeing me suspiciously.

I followed the girls to lunch, wondering
how much longer I'd be able to pull this off and how the others were going to
feel about this mall trip.

* * *

The halls were filled with excited
students who couldn't wait to begin their weekends. The final bell had rung a
few minutes ago. I stuffed my books in my locker, even though I should have
been taking them home to catch up. Something sharp poked me in the side and I
jumped.

"Sorry, Snowflake," Hunter
said, leaning against the locker next to mine. "Weekend plans?"

"I'm going shopping with the girls
tomorrow afternoon, but that's it."

"Good. I want to take you to the
movies tomorrow night."

I had to think about that. Going to the
movies wasn't a crime, as long as I didn't let things go too far. I remembered
what Roxy had told me about Ashley. Then I told myself that I was only here for
a couple of weeks, so what the hell?

"I'd like that."

Hunter beamed. "Good. I'll pick you
up at eight."

"No. My parents don't let me date.
I'll have to meet you."

Hunter raised his eyebrows. "Okay.
It's the movie theater next to the mall."

"Okay. It's a date."

Bram treated us by picking pizza up from
some pizzeria that ended up being disgusting. I missed my mother's terrific
home cooking terribly. Doyle came over that night.

"So, young Grims. Five days. Don't
worry about the Foragers. We'll take care of them."

"How?" I asked.

"Didn't I just say don't worry
about it? Since there will be no school for the next two days, I thought it
would be okay for you to spend them in Nowhere. I know you miss your families,
and I'm sure they miss you."

Everyone seemed happy about it, but I
didn't want to go home. I had plans. I missed Father, Mother, and Chase, but
that was all I missed about Nowhere. Mother and Chase were probably still out
on assignment so chances were I wouldn't even get to see them. Besides, I was
beginning to like this place.

"No," I said. Everyone looked
at me. Bram sighed and rolled his eyes. "I have plans," I continued.
"I think it's important for us to stay and hang out where the high school
kids do. Maybe we'll learn something."

Doyle stroked his eyebrows thoughtfully.
"That's a good point."

"But—" Dorian said. He looked
awfully homesick.

"No, you guys should stay and hang
out where the kids are, but be careful. Has anyone heard anything pertinent to
the assignment?"

We all shook our heads. I wasn't
surprised. This was the kind of thing people would keep tightly under wraps.
You'd have to be a tight member of their group to get any info.

Doyle stood. "Anyway, it shouldn't
be that much longer. Hang tight. This is going to be a big payday for all of
us."

Once he left, everyone glared at me
accusingly.

"Really, Nay? That could have been
our way home for a couple of days," Dorian complained.

"Ahh, it's not a big deal,"
Bram said. "We can't watch TV and eat whatever we want at home. It'll be
fun. Just the five of us hanging out."

I cleared my throat. "I have plans,
actually." Everyone stared at me again. I was tired of them looking at me
as if I was crazy. "What? You heard what Doyle said. This is what we need
to be doing."

"Great," Bram said.
"Where are you going? We'll all go."

"Fine," I muttered. I didn't
feel like arguing with them. Besides, it was four against one.

"Don't you want to change your
wardrobe up a little bit?" I asked Bram.

He stood in the living room mirror
spiking his hair. "I did. I'm not wearing a hoodie. Besides, the ladies
love this look."

He was still decked in all black: black
jeans, black T-shirt, black leather jacket, and boots. He would be driving us
to the mall, where I would meet up with Roxy, Ashley, and Paige.

The girls were coming out of a lingerie
store when we met them. Ashley's eyes lit up when she saw Bram.

"Hey, Bram. Glad you're here,"
she said, sidling next to him. The girl reeked of desperation. "Bram, I
found two dresses that I like in another store. Can you tell me which one you
think looks best on me?"

"Sure," Bram said as Ashley
led him away from us.

Josh and Dorian wanted to wander off on
their own.

"Keir, you can hang with us,"
I offered.

She looked like she was about to
decline, then she took a deep breath and accepted. I was relieved. I'd feel
guilty about her wandering around the mall on her own.

Keira walked behind the three of us, not
saying a word.

"So, are you from Sacramento,
too?" Paige asked over her shoulder.

Keira was looking at something in the
store display. "What? Oh no, Seattle." She could have at least tried
to look interested in the girls.

Roxy frowned. "Then how do you two
know each other?

"We've been friends since we were
babies," Keira answered. "My family moved to Seattle a few years ago,
but we stayed friends."

Paige nodded. "And here you two
are—moving to the same town at the same time. Isn't that something?" Then
she focused her attention back on me. "That's a really cute scythe on your
chain."

She'd pronounced it wrong, but I was
happy she had changed the subject. "It's sīthe."

"Keira has one too," Roxy
added. "Is that some kind of best friend thing?"

"No," Keira answered before I
could. I didn't appreciate the bitterness in her voice. Then she sat on a bench
in front of a vendor booth. "I think I'll just sit here and wait for you
all to finish."

Roxy rolled her eyes as we walked away.
"Weird. You hang out with her because . . ."

"She's my best friend." When I
turned around, Keira was gone.

* * *

After the awkward mall outing, I spent
the rest of the afternoon picking out an outfit for my date with Hunter. I'd
only been to a movie once when I was following a Fated. I knew you were
supposed to dress up for dates, but I didn't really have anything dressy. I
opted for a pair of white jeans and a pink spaghetti-strapped top. I showered
and changed. My shoulders felt bare, but I thought I looked all right.

I had the urge to ask Keira how I looked
as she lay across our bed reading, but she wasn't speaking to me. I opened up
some makeup packages I had bought at the mall with the girls. I'd never worn
any before. Paige insisted that I needed something to give myself some color.

Bram burst through the door.

I hated when he did that. "Hey!
What if we were changing or something?"

He looked at the doorknob. "If you
were changing, you should lock the door, stupid."

"What do you want, Bram?"

"I want to know where we're
going."

"
I
am going to the movies. I
don't know where you're going."

"If you think you're going on a
date with a boy, alone, you're crazy."

"Yeah, who's going to stop
me?" I didn't have time for his big brother act. I was too busy trying to
decide whether I should apply flamingo pink or peacock blue to my eyelids.

Bram folded his arms and leaned against
the doorway. "How are you going to get there? You think I'm giving you the
vehicle?"

I looked at Keira.

"Don't even think about it,"
she said, her nose still buried in the book.

"Fine, I'll walk."

Bram laughed. "Sure, you know how
far the movie theater is?"

"It's a simple solution, Bram. All
I have to do is call Hunter and tell him to pick me up."

Keira closed her book. "No, you
won't. Humans cannot come here."

"They can't be in the house. Hunter
doesn't have to come inside."

"Don't worry, Bram. Naomi's not
going anywhere," Keira told Bram matter-of-factly. That gave me all the
more reason to want to go.

* * *

At a quarter to seven, I sat on the
couch between Dorian and Josh while they stared at me.

"Would you stop?" I asked.

"You look different," Josh
said.

"You look weird," Dorian
added.

I sighed and focused on the television.

I was engrossed in a murder mystery
movie with the boys, when headlights shone through the window. As I gave myself
a final check in the mirror, Bram flew through the living room and out the
front door.

"Bram, no!" I called, running
after him. But it was too late, he was already off the porch. I followed him.
Hunter was stepping out of his pick-up truck.

"Hey, man." Hunter offered
Bram his hand.

Bram slapped it away.

"Bram!" I cried, embarrassed.

Hunter took a step back. "What the
hell is your problem?"

"You are my problem. My sister's
not allowed to date, and she's not going anywhere with you. So get right back
in your truck and disappear."

Hunter looked at the house. "You're
not her father. If Naomi wants to go to the movies with me, she can."

Bram looked at me. "Tell him you're
not going."
I shook my head. Hunter grabbed my hand and led me to the other side of the
truck. I felt uneasy again, knowing the danger of physical contact with the
opposite sex. I climbed in, and he shut the door for me.

Bram stood back, breathing heavily. I
imagined he was counting to ten like Mother advised him to do when he got
angry. Hunter got back inside and backed the truck out of the driveway. Bram
just stood there watching. I was surprised he had given in so easily. Surely there'd
be hell to pay when I got home.

We saw a horror movie, which I found
hilarious. The entire time I hoped Hunter didn't have the urge to put his arm
around me. Thankfully, he didn't.

"You know, you have a real sick
sense of humor," Hunter said after the movie. "But I kind of like
that."

We drove away from the movie theater,
but not toward the house.

"Where are we going?"

"A really nice place to look at the
stars. Don’t worry, I'm not trying to put the moves on you."

We rode for twenty minutes before
turning down a dark road. There was nothing but one lane with trees on either
side. Hunter made a right and then stopped. We got out and he helped me get
onto the hood of his truck. We lay there, looking at the stars. The moon was
bright enough for me to see him clearly.

"This is my thinking spot. I come
here a few times a week actually," he admitted.

"Yeah? What do you think
about?"

"Life. Where I'm going. Where I
want to be."

The moon shone so brilliantly and I
couldn't take my eyes off it. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not going to be a deadbeat
like my dad. I have to make something of myself. I'm going to do whatever I
have to do to take care of my mom and sisters. My mom works so hard. She has
three jobs. I want to make it easier for her. I just don't want to be like
him
.
That's my greatest fear."

I looked at Hunter. His eyes were
closed. "Whatever you turn out to be, it's going to be something
great." A knot formed in my stomach then. I thought about the 148 kids who
weren't going to get that chance. It didn't seem fair. "You can be
anything you choose." There was a pinch of jealousy in that statement
because I didn't have that choice. I had to be a Grim whether I wanted to or
not.

I wanted to ask him about Ashley. I had
been sure not to tell the girls about our plans earlier. "So, you used to
date Ashley?"

A sigh came from Hunter's direction.
"Yeah, that was the biggest mistake I ever made."

"What do you mean?"

"Ashley was cool and everything,
but then she got crazy possessive and borderline stalkerish. I just couldn't
take it. Even after we broke up, she didn't stop. It's been four months, and
she still thinks I belong to her."

"That sucks." She had a lot of
nerve trying to claim Hunter while throwing herself at my brother at the same
time. I definitely didn't feel guilty about our date. Ashley didn't deserve
Hunter.

"Yeah. If I were your brother, I'd
be less worried about you and more worried about Ashley. Once she sinks her
claws into him, she won't let go."

I doubted Ashley would be sinking her
claws into Bram.

"Anyway," Hunter continued.
"I don't know much about you, but I like that you're just chill. There's
just something kind of mysterious about you that I like."

I looked at the moon again. Clouds had
moved in front of it. I wanted to push them away. "Hunter, I wouldn't get
too attached to me."

"Why not?"

"I-I tend to move around a lot. I
won't be here very long."

Hunter sat up slightly, resting on his
elbow and looking down on me. "Well, for however long you'll be here, I'd
like to get to know you. They do have phones and video chat, you know. If you
move, we can always keep in touch."

Not where I'm going, Hunter.

He touched my scythe charm. I brushed
his hand away. "You shouldn’t touch that."

He frowned. "Why not?"

Not being able to come up with a
believable lie, I shrugged.

"Isn't that the thing the Grim
Reaper carries around?"

"That's a myth. There's no such
thing as the Grim Reaper. Think about it. There are 106 deaths each minute. That's
6360 an hour and 152,640 a day. Do you really think one being could handle all
that?"

Hunter raised one eyebrow. "Okay .
. . most people don't know things like that off the top of their head. That's .
. . different." I realized I shouldn't have said that. Death statistics
were a part of Grim studies, but of course it wasn't normal for a girl to spurt
them out like that.

"What made you get that?"
Hunter asked.

"I just thought it was cool."

Hunter stared at me.
Please don't
kiss me. Please don't kiss me.
He brushed a piece of hair from my face. The
feel of his warm skin on mine made me feel flushed. I grabbed his hand. I
wanted him to kiss me and that scared me.

"What's wrong?” he asked. “Your
hands are freezing."

"We should get home, Hunter."

He looked disappointed, probably
thinking I didn't like him. "Fine," he said, jumping down from the
hood.

As he helped me down, I realized Keira and
Bram had been right. I should have kept my distance. Caring was only going to
hurt me in the long run.

Neither of us said a word on
the way home. Hunter had turned the volume up on the stereo five times louder
than it had been earlier. I felt another knot form in my stomach as he made the
turn into the driveway. I asked myself if this had been worth it. Who knew how
Bram and Keira were going to act, and my date with Hunter hadn’t ended on a
good note.

Hunter threw the car into
park and exhaled.

I put my hand on the door
handle. “Are you mad at me?”

For a few seconds, I
received no response. “Not mad, just disappointed. I always seem to fall for
girls who never feel the same way.”

I felt horrible. I wanted to
tell Hunter that I did like him and the reason he couldn't touch me
actually had nothing to do with him. “Hunter, it’s not that I don’t feel the
same way. You just can’t get close to me. It’s best for everyone. I’m sorry, we
probably shouldn’t have even gone out tonight.”

Just then Bram stepped out on
the porch. In the glow cast from the porch light, he stood there, arms hanging
at his sides, clenching his fists.

“I’d better go,” I said
quickly. I didn’t want Hunter and Bram to have any more problems.

“Night,” he mumbled.

“Good night.”

I heard his truck back out
of the driveway as I made a slow procession to my brother.

I stopped at the steps and
stared up at him. He jutted his chin and looked down on me.

“Did he defile you?”

“Of course not! You think
I’m stupid?”

“Yes.”

“Bram, we went to see a
movie and that was it. You’re making a big deal out of nothing.”

“Am I?”