Shadow Keeper (10 page)

“I’m talking real scary. A big, ratty looking thing tried to bite and claw me to pieces.”

“Ugh! I hate those suckers.” His shoulders shuddered. “So you dreamed that a bunch of rats were trying to kill you?”

“No, just one. A half rat, half man, scabby looking thing.”

“Dang, that is scary. Maybe it’s Mr. Melbourne the English teacher. He kind of looks like a rat.”

“No, it wasn’t him.” I scratched at my freshly shaven neck. “It tried to rip open my throat.”

“I don’t know, X–man. What’d you have for dinner? Sometimes if I eat leftover pizza just before I go to bed, I have really weird dreams.”

“No pizza, but I did eat a whole box of mac and cheese a couple hours after dinner.” I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I figured he couldn’t solve the reason for the nightmare, but talking about it seemed to help. “Whatever caused it, I hope it doesn’t happen again.”

“Maybe your nightmare was caused by a guilty complex.”

“A what?” My head snapped around, and I stared at him. Carson didn’t normally use big words.

“You heard me. You acted like a rat, and now you’re feeling guilty.”

There went my jaw again, letting my mouth gape open. “When did I behave like a rat?”

“Yesterday at Sherry’s,” he clarified. “You were harsh to the new girl. She cried half the night.”

“How do you know?”

“I called after I dropped you off last night.”

“You called Lisa?” I shouted, outraged that he’d gone behind my back.

“No, I called Sherry. I talked to her again this morning before I picked you up. Lisa is still upset.”

“Well, that’s too bad.” I was just as upset as her. “I told you what she said. She claimed my father deliberately burned me with fire for some stupid religious crap.”

“Yeah, I know, but what are you going to do now? You know she really likes you. Sherry said that before we got there yesterday, all Lisa talked about was you.”

“That was so she could find out things about me. She was just using me. The reason she showed up at my house and wanted to meet at the minimart was so she could get my shirt off and look at my bare chest.”

Carson broke into his crazy laugh.

I stared at him in amazement. “What is so funny?”

“You, X–man. You claim the new girl tried to get you naked so she could use you, and you’re the one that got all mad? That’s just funny, dude.”

Chapter Twelve

Sherry and Lisa didn’t show for lunch. Paul claimed they had to attend some cheerleader meeting. I had hoped to talk to Lisa before Spanish. Seeing her in class with a bunch of people around would be awkward. I really didn’t know what I would say, but if she expected me to apologize, she’d have a long wait.

“Where do you want me to sit, X–man?” Carson stood beside Vanetti’s empty desk.

Lisa hadn’t shown up yet, so I tossed my book on the back desk. “I’ll leave the front one for her. If she doesn’t want to sit by me, that’s her choice.”

Just as I slid into the chair, Lisa walked into class. She took a quick glance in my direction before looking down at the floor. Her long hair fell across her face, hiding her puffy red eyes, but it was too late. I saw the pain I’d inflicted.

She hesitated a second before heading for the desk in front of me. I lowered my gaze and stared at her sandals as she walked down the aisle. As if I had no control, my gaze wandered up her bare legs to her denim skirt and pink tee. My heart did a flop when I took in the sight of her. Her shoulders were hunched and her head hung down. She clutched the backpack to her chest. The brave, confident girl of the other day had vanished. She barely made a sound as she slipped into the chair. I scrunched down in the seat, trying to make myself as small as possible.

A spit ball from Carson’s direction tinged me on the arm. When I glanced at him, he put his finger near his eye. With a little wiggly motion, he trickled his finger down his cheek. I turned away. He didn’t need to tell me Lisa was crying. I already knew, but there was nothing I could do.

Mrs. Hayes started class with a lecture about the past tense of Spanish verbs. Or was it the future tense? It didn’t matter, because I wasn’t listening. All I could do was stare at the back of Lisa’s head while remembering how harsh I’d been with her.

She leaned back in the chair, and her left arm dropped to the side. I caught a glimpse of a folded bit of paper between her fingers. Something touched my leg. I glanced down and watched the back of her knuckles draw tiny circles over my jean–clad knee.

I bent forward and slipped the note from her fingertips. Hesitatingly, I unfolded the torn scrap, uncertain if I wanted to read it. Her message might confirm what I already knew: I’d been a big jerk.

As I smoothed out the folds, I read the words printed in neat little letters.
I’m sorry
.

A big grin spread across my face and nothing was going to remove it, not even my declaration that hell would freeze over before I told her I was sorry.

Me too
, I scrawled beneath her printing. Not exactly an apology, but it would put us back on equal footing. I refolded the scrap and hunkered over the desk. My arm slid across the top. I extended my fingers and brushed at her bare arm to get her attention.

She grabbed the note. Her soft, warm fingers wrapped around mine as she took it from me. After a brief moment, the tearing of paper reached my ears. Another note was on its way. I sat up straighter and waited.

Her hand dropped to her side. I could have taken the note from her then, but I wanted to feel the brush of her fingers against my pant leg. I glanced at Carson as I took the folded paper from her. He looked happy too. I unfolded the torn piece and read the contents.

Are we friends again?

My smile vanished.

Maybe I was rushing things, but I wanted her to be more than just a friend. Taking it slow might be a wise choice, but with Lisa, I didn’t know if slow was possible. I didn’t expect a hot and heavy relationship. I just wanted her to be mine—to walk down the hallway at school, holding her hand, and have everyone point and say, “There’s Brendon with his girlfriend.”

Yeah, that’s what I wanted, but it didn’t look like that was going to happen anytime soon.

We never stopped,
I wrote back. After folding the note into a tiny square, I hid it in my right hand. I thrust my left arm out to her with my hand clenched into a fist. She pried my fingers open one at a time and made a little gasp when she found nothing. With my other hand, I poked her in the ribs. She squealed as she jumped in the seat. Restrained giggles made her shoulders shake, but she managed to slip the note from my right hand.

Mrs. Hayes stopped lecturing. “Miss Stratton, is there a problem?”

Lisa’s spine stiffened. As she turned to the teacher, I glimpsed her profile. She looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

Her throat muscles rippled when she swallowed hard. Her lips parted. “
En español, por favor, Señora Hayes,
”
she said in a tiny voice.

Everyone in the room laughed, including me. The shy, new girl was full of surprises. She’d caught the teacher breaking her own rules and had the guts to point it out to the rest of the class.

Mrs. Hayes rephrased her question in Spanish, and Lisa and I quit passing notes.

When class ended, we hurried out the door. Lisa punched me in the arm. “You almost got me busted by the teacher,” she said around her laughter. “I’ve never gotten in trouble before in any of my classes.”

I grabbed her wrist with one hand and slipped my arm around her waist so she couldn’t hit me again. She’d barely tapped me, but I’d take any excuse to put my arm around her. “Are you saying I’m a bad influence?”

“Yes,” she insisted.

I glanced at her face. She had a big smile, but something flickered in her eyes. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

She nodded while nibbling at her lower lip.

“I’ve never been anyone’s bad influence.” My arm eased from around her body. “I was always the good kid, the excellent student, the one the teachers put the rowdy kids next to so they’d straighten out. That’s how I became friends with Carson.”

A little smile played on her lips. “I guess that makes me special then.”

“Absolutely,” I agreed as I stared into her blue eyes.

“You’d better walk me to the next class before you corrupt me any further.”

“Then let’s go.” I took her backpack and slipped my arm around her shoulders. When we got to her class, I turned her to me. “Can we get together again tonight?”

She shook her head. “I’ll be way too busy. My mom texted me earlier. The movers arrived and we’ll be unpacking boxes for the next several days.”

“Maybe I can help. I’ll get Carson to come over and we can lift the heavy things.”

“The movers will do that. We just have to unpack clothes and the smaller things.”

“Then how about this weekend? Our football game is out of town so I’ll get back too late on Friday, but we can go out Saturday.”

“I can’t.” Her forehead crinkled as she gazed at me. “My mom is really strict about who I go out with.”

“Is there something wrong with me?” I asked a little sharper than I intended.

Her body stiffened. “No!” She relaxed a little and her lips twitched. “Except that you’re a bad influence.”

“Shh.” I pressed my finger to her lips. “Don’t let your mom hear.”

She giggled while pulling away my hand. “I’m not that crazy.”

“Glad to hear it. So you do want to go out with me, right?”

“Yes, but I need time to prepare my mom. Just give me a couple of weeks.”

“Weeks?” I blurted out. “Then when am I going to see you again?”

“We’ll see each other in Spanish class. And at lunch,” she added. “As soon as we get settled in the house, I’ll ask my mom if I can invite some friends over.”

“Friends,” I repeated. All the breath seemed to leave my body.

“Yes. You were serious about being friends, weren’t you?”

“Of course.” I tried to wipe the look of disappointment from my face. “Friends it is.”

A couple of big guys about my size stopped in front of us.

“Hey, Alexander,” one of them said in a belligerent tone. “You want to move your girlfriend so we can get into class?”

“Absolutely.” My smile returned as I wrapped my arm around Lisa and pulled her to me. “I don’t want my girlfriend blocking your path.”

Chapter Thirteen

“X–man.” Carson walked into the dressing area with a towel wrapped around his waist. “If you and the new girl made up, then what are you so down about?”

I pulled on a pair of cutoffs. “She just wants to be friends.”

“Dang.” His body flinched. “That’s a hard kick to the groin.”

“But that’s not the worst part. I screwed up and called her my girlfriend.”

“Oh, double kick.” He tugged on cutoff Wranglers and zipped up the fly. “So are you back to not speaking to each other again?”

“I don’t know where we are. I don’t think she noticed what I called her, but if I want to keep seeing her, I’ll have to pretend that being friends is all I want too.” I thrust my fingers through my wet hair to get rid of the excess water. “That might be hard to do with the way I feel about her.”

“I know what you mean, man.” Carson pulled a tee shirt over his head. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew we were brothers in our pain.

I slipped on a white tank. “I guess if I want to keep seeing Lisa, I’ll have to be satisfied with just her friendship.”

“Can you do that?” he asked. “Can you just be friends?”

“It’s going to be tough when I have all those dreams about her at night.”

“Dreams?” His head snapped around so fast that the bones popped in his neck. “Are they hot?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“Come on, man,” he mumbled.

I smiled as I slung the backpack over my shoulder. “I’ll wait for you outside.”

As I passed the office on my way to the exit, the coach yelled for me. “Step in here a minute, Alexander.”

“Yeah, coach?”

“What happened to you at practice?” He flopped down into a padded swivel chair. “You kept dropping the ball.”

“I don’t know. I just couldn’t seem to hang onto it.”

“I know you’ve got it in you. You’ve got the talent. You just have to try harder. I’ve arranged for some scouts from different colleges to come down and take a look at you.”

“I know you have, and I appreciate it.”

Coach tossed his clipboard in the middle of the desk. “You seemed distracted. Are you having problems with school?”

Visions of Lisa invaded my thoughts. “No, not school.”

“Are you eating the right foods? You know too much junk food can zap your energy.”