Shadow Keeper (4 page)

“I like it here.” He hunkered down in the chair, like he wouldn’t give it up without a fight.”

“
Señores
,” Mrs. Hayes said. “
Sólo hablan español, por favor
.”

The teacher insisted we speak only Spanish in her class. I leaned closer and lowered my voice to a whisper. “Come on, Vanetti. I’ll show you how to time your turns better at practice.”

He hesitated for half a second before giving up the desk. Carson headed for the empty seat, but I stopped him. “Not now.” I grabbed the belt loop on his Wranglers and jerked him into the chair. “Sit in front of me until Lisa gets here so no one takes her spot.”

Carson flopped into the chair, but turned around and gave me one of his stupid grins. “There’s your
girlfriend
now.”

I shushed him, then scrunched down in the seat so I’d look relaxed.

While Mrs. Hayes looked over the transfer slip, Lisa glanced around the room. When her gaze caught mine, she started to smile, but the teacher summoned her attention. Mrs. Hayes introduced Lisa to the others in the class, then pointed to a couple empty desks. “
Siéntese, por favor, Señorita
Stratton.”

Lisa started down the aisle to Vanetti’s empty desk. I poked Carson in the back.

The desk feet scraped across the vinyl floor as he climbed from the chair. “Lisa, you can have—”

“
En
español
,” Mrs. Hayes said.

Carson stumbled for the words. “
Señorita, usted,
ah
, tomar,
ah
, mi silla.”

Lisa glanced at me instead of Carson. “
Gracias
.”

Her smile warmed my body. I smiled back. “
Da nada
.”

She slid into the seat. With one hand, she slipped her fingers behind her neck and flipped her hair away from her back so she could lean against the chair. The shifting of her hair fanned her scent in my direction.

I love the way girls smell, so sweet and perfumed. Her scent wasn’t strong, just a hint. Roses were the only flowers I could name, but that wasn’t what I detected. Her fragrance reminded me of some exotic, mysterious flower. I leaned over the desk so my face hovered a short distance from her hair and breathed in deeply. Her scent drifted through the air and entered my brain. Heat zinged through my body.

Giggles and snickers wafted through the air as well as her scent. Lisa turned around and looked at the smirking kids before glancing at me. She yanked her hair over one shoulder “What are you doing?” she asked in a hoarse whisper. “Are you making fun of me?”

I shook my head, but she’d already turned away.

My first instinct told me I’d overstepped her comfort zone. She probably thought I was some stupid caveman who liked to sniff girls. Maybe she was right, but I wasn’t making fun of her.

When Mrs. Hayes dismissed the class, I scrambled from the chair to offer Lisa my assistance. “If you need help finding your next class, I’ll be happy to show you where it is.”

“No, thank you.” Her lips tightened into a grimace, as if talking to me left a nasty taste in her mouth. Without another word, she walked away, her long, blonde hair swaying down her back.

“Wow, X–man.” Carson slapped me on the back. “If looks could kill, you’d be dead.”

Chapter Four

Football practice was brutal. Even after a shower, I still sweated. I tugged on a white tank and pulled the bottom edge over my cutoff jeans. The rest of my clothes were crammed into the backpack except for a hooded sweatshirt. I’d need that after I cooled down.

“Hurry up, Carson.” I slung the backpack over one shoulder and tossed the hoodie across my other. “I want to get home and eat. I’m starving.”

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m almost done.” He stood in front of the mirror trying to get his hair parted in a straight line.

“Why don’t you just cut it all off?” I rubbed my hand over my short, damp hair. “Then you won’t have to mess with it.”

“Don’t rush him.” Paul stuck his foot on the bench and tightened the laces on his shoe. “The hair on his head is all he’s got left.”

“How would you know?” Carson glanced at Paul’s reflection in the mirror. “You been peeking at me in the shower again?”

“Yeah, right.” Paul snorted out a sound of disgust. “Like I want to stare at your hairless butt.”

I shook my head. If the two of them got wound up firing insults at each other, we’d be stuck in the locker room for another half hour. But I had to wait for Carson since he was my ride home. “I’m going outside to cool off,” I said as I headed for the exit.

The outside wasn’t much better. A clammy moisture hung in the air and clung to my skin. The storm we’d had last night blew through fast, leaving mostly clear skies. The temperature pushed back into the eighties, but the humidity lingered. I followed the path around the gym, hoping to catch a breeze when I got into the open.

Just as I rounded the building, I spotted Lisa sitting on the grass near the sidewalk. Her bare legs were curled beneath her, and she stared down at an open book in her lap. She was about twenty feet away, but hadn’t noticed me yet, so I quickly considered my options. I could try apologizing, but I wasn’t really sure what I did to make her mad.

Plan B was to ignore her while making my way to Carson’s pickup, but I’d end up sitting in a hot vehicle while I waited. Backing up without being noticed sounded good, but before I could retrace my steps, the hundred and thirty–five pound quarterback pounced on my back. I landed on my hands and knees in the grass.

“Paul!” I locked my arm around his neck and flipped him over my shoulder. He fell sprawled out on his back on the sidewalk.

Carson broke into his donkey laugh while Paul rolled around on the cement walk, uttering swear words in between groans of pain.

“Oh, crap,” I mumbled. So much for backing away unnoticed.

“Way to go, X–man,” Carson said. “You tackled him with one arm.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Lisa toss her book on the grass. She staggered to her feet while staring directly at me. I brushed my fingers through my hair even though it wasn’t long enough to be messed. The one side of my tank hung down to my elbow. I shrugged it back onto my shoulder and offered Paul my hand. “You need help getting up?”

“Why’d you flip me like that, Alexander?” He continued to groan and swear as I pulled him to his feet.

“You knocked him on the ground, dude,” Carson said.

“You’ve got at least thirty pounds on me.” Paul carefully stretched his shoulders and neck. “I’ve never been able to tackle you before.”

“I wasn’t expecting it this time.” I’d been totally focused on not attracting Lisa’s attention. “Usually, I’m prepared for a tackle.”

“Are you injured?” Lisa forced her way between us.

“I’m not too bad.” Paul rotated his throwing arm.

She wasn’t talking to him. Her back was to Paul, and her gaze was locked on me.

“I saw a raised mark on you about here.” Her fingers brushed over the left side of my chest. “It was blood red.”

“It’s nothing.” I pulled the neck of my tank higher to cover the scar.

“The mark had a distinct shape.” She thrust her fingers beneath the top edge of the cotton fabric and tugged at it.

“I’m not hurt.” I forced the material from her clenched hand.

“She’s talking about the
star
, X–man,” Carson said.

Her eyes widened. “Star?”

When she glanced at Carson, I shook my head at him, hoping he’d catch on that I didn’t want to talk about it. I’ve had that bright red scar for as long as I could remember. Anyone who’d ever swam with me at the creek, or been in the locker room when I dressed for gym had seen the peculiar looking burn on my chest, but talking to Lisa about it seemed awkward.

“Yeah, star.” Carson’s eyes darted from me to Lisa. “X–man’s the star of the football team. The best wide receiver Esparto High has had in a long time. He might even make All American.”

She glanced at me. From the intense look in her eyes, she didn’t buy into his explanation. “Is it a tattoo?”

When she reached for my shirt again, I stepped back and scooped up the sweatshirt from the ground. I slipped the hoodie over my head and smoothed it down my body.

“Don’t put that on.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Take off your sweatshirt. I want to see your chest.”

“It’s customary,” Paul said, his voice heavy with sarcasm, “to ask a guy out on a date before you try to get him naked.”

Her mouth dropped open, and her eyelids widened.

I cringed at the vulgar remark. If Lisa believed I was as crude and disgusting as Paul, she’d probably never speak to me again.

“Isn’t that your ride?” Carson nodded to the orange Hummer flipping a u–y in the middle of the street.

She glanced in the direction he indicated before looking back at me. Her dark blonde eyebrows knitted together while she nibbled at her lower lip. “I’m not allowed to date anyone unless my mom approves of him first.”

When the car pulled to the curb, Lisa dashed to the grassy area to get her book and backpack before hopping into the vehicle. As they drove off, she stuck her head out the open window and looked at me. Her gaze held mine until the car turned left at the end of the block.

“That was weird.” I watched the car disappear from sight. “What do you think she meant by that?”

“X–man!” Carson punched me in the arm. “The new girl wants to get you naked.”

Chapter Five

Even with the bedroom door closed, I heard Daisy barking her head off in the living room. She only carried on like that when someone drove into our yard. The clock on the dresser showed it was after seven. Mom and Stevie were due back from karate practice soon, but Grandma’s dog never barked at them.

My attention went back to the calculus problem. I almost had it solved when light tapping rattled my door. “Yeah, what’s up?”

Grandma peeked her head through the doorway. “You have a friend here to see you.”

A disgusted sigh gushed from my lips as I tossed the pencil on the desk. The visitor had to be Carson. He didn’t believe homework should be done at home, so when he got bored, he’d come over to bug me.

Grandma shook her head to stop me before I reached the door. “You might want to put on something else before you come out. Your guest is a young lady.”

A female visitor wasn’t a surprise. Carson sometimes sent one of his sisters to fetch the homework for government class so he could copy the answers. He didn’t mind getting a D, but he didn’t want to flunk. I glanced down at the raggedy red tee shirt and flannel bottoms. Carson’s sisters had seen me in similar clothes. “Which girl is it? Peggy, or Patty?”

She shrugged. “I’ve never seen her before.”

Her answer threw me back a step. Grandma knew everybody in the entire valley. When she shut the bedroom door, I yanked off my pajama bottoms and pulled on a pair of jeans. The hoodie lay on the back of the chair. I grabbed it and slipped it over my tee. As I headed down the hallway, Grandma’s voice drifted from the living room.

“I don’t believe I know any Strattons. You must be new in the valley, Lisa.”

Lisa
? My breath caught in my throat and I almost choked. After everything that happened at school today, I didn’t think she’d want to ever see me again. Besides that, why would she drive all the way up the valley? Our house stood at the end of a dead end road. We lived in the middle of nowhere with nothing around but an alfalfa field and a bunch of oak trees.

“We just moved here,” Lisa said. “Today was my first day at school. I was hoping to get Brendon’s help with the Spanish homework.”

I walked up behind Grandma, but Lisa didn’t see me because she stared down at her hands clenched near her waist. She wore jeans instead of a skirt, but still had on the blue tee.

Grandma glanced over her shoulder at me before turning back to Lisa. “Here’s Brendon. I’m sure he can help you with Spanish. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get my granddaughter out of the bathtub.”

“Hey, Lisa.” I strolled to her, trying to act casual. “I’m surprised you found my house. How’d you know where I lived?”

She looked directly at me before glancing back at her hands. “I asked some kids in the supermarket.”

I really didn’t care how she tracked me down, but I was glad she did. This would give me an opportunity to explain things without any interruptions from my sometimes obnoxious friends. All the manners my mom had taught me over the years banged around inside my skull. I waved my arm at the couch. “Would you care to sit down?”

“Yes, thank you.”

She sat perched on the edge of the couch, her back stiff and her hands folded in her lap. I sat at the opposite end and slouched back against the cushion. She seemed nervous, so I thought if I appeared comfortable, she might relax a little. Despite my laidback manner, my stomach didn’t cooperate. My belly clenched into a tight knot. I looked for something easy to talk about. “So, you’re having trouble with Spanish?”