Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One (12 page)

Melanie sat in first period English, trying to
concentrate but failing miserably. The bell had rung and interrupted her
conversation with Jeremy, so they had to book it to class. They were late,
which had gotten a Jeremy sneer and her a disappointed look from Mr. Hughes.

It was the same story in second period math.
Tara spent most of the hour trying to get Melanie’s attention, but Melanie
pretended not to notice. She knew she was going to have to tell Tara that
someone had somehow gotten into her phone and stolen the locker combination.
Melanie was
not
looking forward to that conversation at all.

She managed to make it through band and when
class was over, she found Jeremy waiting in the hall outside. He gave her a
smile and held out his hand. She smiled back sadly and took it.

“You ready for lunch?” he asked as they walked
slowly down the hall.

“No. I don’t think I could eat anyway.”

“You want to take off?”

Melanie squeezed his hand. “I would love to, but
I can’t. I can’t run away from this. Besides, after skipping yesterday, I’m
sure the office would call my mom if I left. Then I’d be grounded, which means
I couldn’t see you, and that would totally suck.”

Jeremy smiled at that. “Well then, let’s go to
lunch.”

After buying their food, Melanie and Jeremy
sat down at the table where Tara and Chris were already eating. They all said
hello to each other, and Jeremy and Chris started talking about sports.

Melanie felt a tap on her foot and jerked her eyes
up to Tara’s face. Tara’s eyes darted in Chris’s direction and back and she
mouthed the word “Well?”

Melanie shrugged and mouthed back “Sorry,” as
she shook her head.

“What’s up with you two?”

They both jumped at the interruption. Tara
leaned into Chris’s side and answered his question. “Nothing, babe. Just a
little girl talk. It’s nothing you’d be interested in.”

Melanie let out the breath she’d been holding.
Jeremy leaned over and brought his mouth close to her ear. He exhaled lightly
and a shiver ran through her.

“I’d be interested,” he whispered, and Melanie
blushed as his lips lightly brushed her earlobe.

Jeremy chuckled at that blush and sat back up.
Melanie decided a little turnabout was fair play. She put her hand under the
table and onto his knee. Taking a deep breath for courage, she ran her palm up
his thigh and squeezed lightly.

Jeremy sucked in a breath and she heard a
light growl deep in his chest. It was her turn to chuckle, but as she started
to remove her hand, he quickly put his on top of it and held it there. He kept
his eyes forward, focused on Tara and Chris, but Melanie could only stare down
at her tray. Her heart was beating out of control and there was a fluttering in
her belly that she had never felt before.

“Are you okay, Mel?” Tara asked. “You look a
little green.”

Melanie snapped her head up and looked at
Tara, then at Jeremy. He took pity on her and released her hand after a light
squeeze. She quickly pulled it back into her own lap and cleared her throat.

“I’m, ahem, fine.”

“Are you sure? You look kind of flushed and
sweaty, too.”

“Tara! I’m fine!”

Jeremy barked out a laugh and Tara looked at
him strangely. “Oh, umm, sorry. I just remembered a funny joke Chris told me.”

“Huh? What jo…” Jeremy kicked him under the
table. “Ugh! Oh, yeah, that joke. Yeah that was…funny.”

The bell rang, saving Melanie from the strange
conversation. As she started to get up from the table, her eyes met Sissy’s
across the room. Sissy’s lip was curled in disgust and her eyes were filled
with anger and hate. Before Melanie could break the eye contact, Sissy shook
her head with malice and flounced away.

Melanie glanced quickly at Jeremy to see if he
caught that exchange, but he was busy slapping Chris on the back of the head in
a playful manner.

While they were occupied, Tara quickly moved
to Melanie’s side and whispered, “Don’t forget to ask him.” Melanie nodded and
Tara grabbed Chris’s hand and dragged him out of the cafeteria.

“What was all that about?” Jeremy asked after
they left.

“Okay, don’t be mad.”

He arched a single eyebrow, but said nothing.

“I had to tell Tara something about yesterday.
She could tell I was upset and she wouldn’t let it go.”

“What did you tell her?”

“I didn’t tell her the truth, obviously. Well,
I didn’t lie, either. I just told her that you had a family secret that you
entrusted me with and that I couldn’t share it with her. I told her I couldn’t
break your trust.”

“Okay, why would I be mad? You kept my secret,
just like I knew you would.”

Melanie sucked in a deep breath and released
it. “It was my choice of words, Jeremy. I called it a “family secret.”

“So?”

“Chris is in your family. Now she wants to
know if whatever the secret is pertains to him too. And if it does, she wants
to know what it is.” As she finished, she started rubbing her hands together
and biting her bottom lip.

“Mel,” he said as he grabbed her hands to stop
her from wringing them. “Stop it. It’s fine. You didn’t do anything wrong and
you can tell her that it most definitely does
not
affect Chris.”

“It doesn’t?”

“No. In fact, he doesn’t even know about it.
No one does. No one but me, my parents, and you.”

“But-”

He put his finger to her lips to silence her.
“We can talk about this later, somewhere a little more private. Besides, we
have to get to class.”

As they headed down the hallway, Melanie
started thinking about the rose again. She had to figure out who could have
stolen her locker combination from Tara’s phone. There was only one option.

“I have to tell Tara.”

“Tell her what? About me?” Jeremy asked
worriedly.

“No! No, you can trust me with that, Jeremy. I
meant I have to tell her about the rose. She’s the only one who can help me
figure out how someone got into her phone.”

“You’re probably right. Do you want me to be
there when you talk to her?”

She paused while she thought it over. “No. I
think I better talk to her alone. If she starts to freak out over the thought
of someone invading her privacy, she wouldn’t want to do it in front of you.
Girl pride, and all.”

Jeremy smiled. “Ok, well, girl pride or no,
call me if you figure it out, or if you need me for anything, okay?”

Melanie pulled him forward for a hug and
kissed him on the cheek. “Deal.”

“So?”

“So, what?”

“So, did you ask him?”

They went to Melanie’s house after school and
had been studying in her room for nearly an hour before Tara had broached the
subject. Melanie couldn’t believe she’d lasted that long before bringing it up.
Melanie tried to hide her grin.

“Ask who, what?”

“Mel! Did you ask him?”

“Okay, okay, don’t get your panties in a
bunch. Yes, I asked him.”

“Well?”

“No, the secret does not in any way affect or
pertain to Chris. Don’t worry, your man is not keeping any secrets from you.”

Tara let out a deep breath. “Well, that’s a
relief.” After a brief pause, she continued, “Are you sure you don’t want to
talk to me about it? It seems like you and Jeremy are back on track, but you
were pretty upset this morning.”

“Tara, I can’t. I promised. Believe me when I tell
you, it’s all okay now. We’re good.”

Melanie looked down at her notebook and
pretended to study. She needed to talk to Tara about the rose in her locker,
but she wasn’t sure how to bring it up. She didn’t want to sound accusatory,
but if someone hacked into Tara’s phone to get her locker combination, they
needed to figure out who it was and how they gained access.

“Melanie!”

Melanie’s head shot up at the exclamation.
“What?”

“Oh my God, I said your name like three times.
Where were you just now?”

Melanie closed her notebook with a sigh and
turned toward Tara. “Tara, we need to talk.”

“Why does it sound like you’re breaking up
with me right now?”

“Shut up, this is serious!”

“Okay, okay, what is it?”

“Okay, don’t freak out like I did, but when I
got to school today and opened my locker, there was a white rose inside.”

“Oh! Was it from Jeremy? How romantic!”

“No. It wasn’t from Jeremy, it was from him.”

Tara’s brows wrinkled in confusion. “Who? Oh.”
Her face paled as understanding dawned. “But, how do you know?”

“There was a note attached. It said ‘
From
your Perfect Match, may we meet again soon.’
It was him, Tara.”

“Oh my God! How did he get it inside your
locker?”

“That’s what I want to talk to you about.
You’re the only person who knows my combination.”

“Wait! You don’t think that I…I couldn’t! I
would never…”

“Hold on. Calm down,” Melanie interrupted. “I
know you would never intentionally tell anyone.”

“Intentionally? Does that mean you think I
unintentionally did it?”

Melanie stayed silent, but looked pointedly at
Tara’s phone that was sitting on the floor beside her. Tara looked from
Melanie’s face to the floor and raised her eyebrows. She picked up her phone
and searched the contacts until she came to Melanie’s. When she opened it, she
saw the three digit code under the notes section.

“You’re right. It’s in here. I’d totally
forgotten about it because you’ve never asked me to use it before. So, you
think someone took my phone and stole the information from it?”

“You don’t have a password set up to unlock
it.”

It was a statement, not a question. Tara had
never felt a need to lock her phone. She never had a reason. She never
suspected anyone would invade her privacy and search its contents.

“Melanie, this is all my fault. I’m so sorry.”
Tara’s brown eyes started to fill with tears.

“Hey,” Melanie said softly, putting her hand
on Tara’s shoulder, “stop it. I am not blaming you and I never would. I’m
telling you because we need to figure out who this creep is. This is actually a
good thing.”

“Really,” Tara said flatly.

“Yes, really. It narrows down the number of
possible suspects dramatically. I mean, seriously, how many people have access
to your phone?”

“Let’s make a list,” Tara said as she pulled a
blank sheet of paper from the back of her notebook. She wrote the word
“Suspects” at the top and underlined it. Underneath she wrote “Tara.”

“Really?” Melanie asked sarcastically.

“Hey, you said you wanted to know who had
access to my phone, right?” Melanie shook her head with chagrin. “Anyway, there’s
me, you,” she said as she wrote down Melanie’s name, “my mom. Who else?”

“You might as well write my mom on there too,
while we’re being ridiculous. You’re here just as much as you’re at home. Your
dad, too.”

Tara stared at the paper. “This isn’t much of
a list. None of these people could be your stalker.”

“Stalker?”

“Well, what would you call him?”

“I don’t know. I just never really thought of
it in those terms before. I guess it’s accurate.” She paused and stared into
space for a second. Shaking her head to clear the cobwebs, she continued, “Back
to the list. There’s gotta be someone else. Someone who you feel comfortable
enough with to leave your phone lying around when you leave the room.”

Tara’s face blanched as she stared at the paper
in front of her. She started shaking her head quickly, back and forth, as she
slowly spelled out a name underneath her dad’s.

“Tara, what is it? What’s wrong?” Melanie
asked quickly, her voice rising to a high pitched squeak.

Tara picked up the sheet and slowly held it
out to Melanie. Her hand was shaking violently and she dropped it before
Melanie could take it from her. Melanie picked it up off the floor and read the
name. Her face scrunched up in confusion, then disbelief.

“Chris? No. No! It couldn’t be, Tara.”

Tara sniffed loudly and Melanie got up and
grabbed her tissue from the box on her nightstand. Tara dabbed at her leaking
eyes and blew her nose before responding.

“Mel, he’s the only one besides you that I
hang out with outside of school. I go to his apartment sometimes. I use his
bathroom while I’m there. I leave my phone on his coffee table!!” She jumped up
and started pacing.

“Tara, calm down, please!” Melanie grabbed her
arm and pulled her to a halt.

“Calm down? How can I calm down when my
boyfriend could be stalking my best friend? When my boyfriend tried to
rape
my
best friend?”

She plopped down on the bed with that last bit
and started crying in earnest. Melanie sat down beside her and rubbed her back
soothingly, the same way Jeremy did for her when she was upset.

Could it be Chris?
she wondered.
No. No!
She just couldn’t fathom it.

“Tara, listen to me. I just can’t imagine it
was him. He cares about you and he’s Jeremy’s cousin! There has to be another
person. Someone. Anyone. Calm down and let’s think about this.”

“Oh God! Oh God, oh God, oh God!” Tara chanted
as leaned over and put her head between her knees, trying not to
hyperventilate.

“Tara! What is it? What’s the matter? Talk to
me!”

“Oh God. Oh my God, Mel.” Tara sniffed loudly
again. “Remember,” she paused to wipe her eyes. “Remember the party. After you
left, I overheard Jeremy telling off Sissy outside. I told you about it,
remember?”

“Yes, I remember.”

Tara took a deep breath. “The reason I went
outside. Do you remember?” she said brokenly, between breaths.

“You were looking for Chris, right?”

Tara nodded violently. She looked like she was
going to vomit. “I couldn’t f-f-find him. He w-w-was gone.” She broke down into
tears again.

Melanie’s spine stiffened as a chill ran from
the base of her skull to her tailbone. “He went home sick. Stomach flu.”

Tara nodded again. “He disa…he disappeared
right after y-you left.”