Shadowed Strength: Shadowed Series Book One (5 page)

“Hey,”
Tara said as Melanie climbed into the passenger’s seat. “How’re you feeling
this morning?”

“I’m
good. I really hope I don’t hear that question a million times today.”

“Sorry!
I won’t ask again, I promise. And I’ll level anyone else who dares ask it.”
Tara batted her eyelashes. “Forgive me?”

“Shut
up, you goof.”

The
ride to school seemed shorter than usual, probably because Melanie was filled
with dread at the prospect of facing everyone. Against her better judgment, she
checked her social media pages and found herself tagged in at least three dozen
posts about “the incident.”

The
whole school was speculating on what happened, how far her attacker actually
got, and who it could possibly be. She knew all eyes would be on her today, and
being the center of attention was something she had always found highly
uncomfortable.

Too
soon, they were out of the car and walking toward the big double doors that led
into Baldwin High. Melanie wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but it seemed
all conversations stopped. Much to her mortification, everyone was staring. She
saw eyes filled with inquiry, concern, and worst of all, pity.

Her
first instinct was to flee. She wanted to hide in a bathroom stall until the
first bell, then sneak into class and hide in the back. Instead, she stiffened
her spine, sucked in her gut and held her head high.

Slowly
the noise level picked back up to a normal tone. Melanie made it to her locker
and threw her backpack and the banana inside, but she opened the cola and
chugged it down. Caffeine was a necessity in order to make it through the day.

As
Melanie finished the last of her soda, she felt a presence behind her and
stiffened. She was not ready to answer questions. A glance over at Tara showed
her smiling radiantly at the person behind her. Melanie turned slowly and her
eyes met dark chocolate ones causing her to melt a little.

“Hi,”
Jeremy said quietly.

“Hi.”

“Mel,”
interjected Tara, “I have to go find Chris. I’ll see you in second period,
okay?”

Melanie
nodded stupidly, but never broke eye contact with Jeremy. After what seemed
like an eternity, she started to fidget and grow self-conscious. She finally
tore her eyes away from his and stared down at her shoes.

She
felt a warm finger under her chin and slight pressure as he lifted her head
back up and stared at her face. He brought up his other hand and cupped her
cheeks. Melanie had to force herself not to flinch. Her reaction was partly due
to her traumatic experience, but mostly because no guy had ever touched her
like that, gently, reverently, and with extreme care. Certainly not
this
guy.
The
guy.

“You
okay?” His question was so quiet and gentle she almost didn’t hear him.

Nodding
slowly, trying not to dislodge his warm hands, she replied, “Yes.”

He
held her face for another second or two, then released her. She stumbled
forward slightly at the loss of his touch, then straightened quickly and
blushed. He smiled a lopsided grin and tapped her under the chin with his
knuckles.  

“Glad
to hear it. Let’s get to class.”

Melanie
followed behind him, distracted by her whirlwind thoughts.
What is going on?
she thought.
He was so, so… affectionate for a minute and now he’s all
business and buddy-buddy.

She
decided she had mistaken friendly concern for affection and let it go. Time to
face the firing squad.

They
walked into first period and her eyes lit on her nemesis. When Sissy
looked
up and saw them walking in together, she sneered and rolled her eyes. Melanie
braced herself for Sissy’s usual verbal attack, but it never happened. One look
at Jeremy’s face wiped the sneer off Sissy’s and she quickly looked down at her
notebook as they passed.

Melanie
took a seat and Jeremy sat down directly behind her. She turned to stare at him
with a look of exaggerated wonder on her face.

“What
just happened? Are we in the Twilight Zone?”

He
snickered and then plastered an angelic look on his face. “I don’t know. Maybe
she had personality replacement surgery over the weekend.”

“Mm,
Hmm. I bet,” she said. He gave her a wink and a hornet’s nest erupted in her
stomach.

She
turned around to face the front as their teacher, Mr. Hughes, walked into
class. His icy blue gaze swept the class and landed on Melanie. His eyes held none
of their normal mirth. They were intense, almost angry, then he glanced away.
She shivered in discomfort. He looked back and the intensity was gone and he
was back to normal, smiling with crinkles around his eyes.

“Good
morning, class. Please pull out your copies of
To Kill a Mockingbird
and
turn to chapter fourteen.”

The
class progressed normally enough, with only a few questioning glances her way
when they discussed Scout asking Atticus what “rape” was. Melanie felt eyes on
her, but kept her face down and focused on her note taking.

After
an endlessly long fifty minutes, the bell finally rang. Mr. Hughes called out a
few last minute instructions for homework and students stood and started
shuffling out of class. Melanie glanced up at him and he caught her eye and
motioned for her to come to his desk.

Jeremy
walked up with her and stood by her side. After a pointed glance from Mr.
Hughes, who then nodded his head toward the door, Jeremy mumbled something
about waiting for her outside and walked out the door.

Melanie
watched Mr. Hughes while he organized papers on his desk, put away his pens,
and performed several other menial actions that seemed to serve no other
purpose than to make her wait. She started to fidget and pulled on the hem of
her sweater. This caught his attention and he froze, staring at her hand
twisting and pulling the garment. Realizing her ministrations were baring a
narrow band of her bare belly, she dropped the hem of her sweater and fisted
her palms by her side. This broke his trance and he raised his gaze to her face
with a shake of his head.

He
still didn’t speak, so she asked timidly, “You wanted to see me, sir?

“Yes.
I heard what happened this weekend and I just wanted see if you’re okay.”

“Yes,”
she replied with a slight tremor in her voice. “I’m good.”

“Good.”
He pressed his palms together and formed a steeple with his long, tapered
fingers under his chin. “Do the police have any leads? Do they know who
attacked you?”

“Um,
no. Not yet.”

Mr.
Hughes was making Melanie feel really uncomfortable. Sure, he was her teacher
and it was plausible for him to be concerned, but this whole conversation
seemed off to her somehow. He was staring at her intensely again and seemed to
be waiting for something.

“Okay,
well, I have to get to second period, if there’s nothing else.”

He
paused for another split second, then smiled. “Sure, go ahead.” She turned to
leave.  “And Melanie?”

“Yes?”
She stopped and looked back.

“Let
me know if there’s anything I can do, okay?”

“Sure.
Thanks.” Turning her back on the strange conversation and weird vibes, she left
the room.

Jeremy,
true to his word, was waiting right beside the door with one foot braced
against the wall and his arms crossed. Melanie’s breath hitched at the sight of
him and her step faltered. He immediately straightened and rushed to stand in
front of her.

He
put a hand on either of her shoulders and asked quietly, “What’s the matter?
Did he upset you?”

Melanie
got ahold of herself and sucked in a long breath. His touch was burning right
through her sweater, her t-shirt, and into her skin. The concern in his eyes
made her breath hitch again and she struggled to get her beating heart under
control.

“No,
no, I’m good. It was just weird having him ask about everything. His concern
seemed so out of left field. Do you know what I mean?”

“I
know, it was strange.”

“You
heard from out here?”

He
shrugged. “The sound carries in this old building. Let’s get you to class.”

He
turned her towards the math wing and fell into step beside her. His class was in
the other direction, but she didn’t mention it. It was too amazing, having him
walk her to class. Every third or fourth step, their hands brushed against each
other and she felt the tingle all the way up her arm and then down her spine.
She wondered if he felt anything.

Probably not,
she thought.
Stop being unrealistic, Mel. He’s just being a good friend.

When
they reached the door to her class, he grabbed her hand and yanked her into a
hug. She almost started hyperventilating. He kissed her forehead, turned her
around and gave her a light shove through the door. She was in a daze and
almost tripped over a trash can on her way to her desk. Tara was waiting with a
huge grin on her face when Melanie sat down next to her.

“Oh
my God! I totally saw that!” She squealed with delight. “Are guys together?”

“No!”
Melanie’s denial was a bit too forceful. “He was just being nice. He’s worried
about me, as a friend.”

“That’s
not what it looked like from here.”

“Tara,
please. Stop.”

“Okay.
But just because class is starting. We
will
be discussing and dissecting
this at lunch.”

“Great.
Can’t wait,” Melanie mumbled under her breath as their teacher started droning
on about acute and obtuse angles. Melanie tuned her out and daydreamed about Jeremy’s
soft lips brushing against her forehead.

When
the bell signaled the end of second period, Melanie jumped up and ran out of
class before Tara could stop her. She heard about two words the entire class,
she was so wrapped up in everything that had transpired between her and Jeremy.
She practically ran to her locker, dumped her English and math books and
grabbed her flute.

She
speed walked to the music room for her concert band class, and arrived with no
interference. The hour flew by as she lost herself in Sousa’s
Washington
Post March
and the other pieces the band was set to play in its next
concert.

At
the end of class, she cleaned and put away her flute, packed up her music and
stood to leave. Before she made it to the door, it opened and Stephanie Woods
walked in with a malevolent snarl on her face.

“I’ve
been looking for you,” she spit out. “I should have known I would find you in
the geekiest room in the entire building.” She flipped her blonde curls over
her shoulder.

“What
do you want, Sissy? I’m kind of in a hurry.” Melanie tried to put on a brave
front, but she was quaking inside. This girl always managed to bring her to her
knees.

“I
just wanted to give you a warning, Piglet. Stay away from Jeremy. He’s mine.”

Melanie’s
back straightened. She knew Jeremy wasn’t hers, but she also knew he was
definitely
not
Sissy’s either.

“Oh,
really?” she replied. “I hear it differently. In fact, I heard he warned
you
to stay the hell away from me.”

Sissy’s
blue eyes narrowed. She pinched her face in a very unflattering way as she came
up with a retort. She would never let Melanie have the last word.

“We’ll
see,” she said. “All I have to do is snap my fingers and he’ll be following me
around like a little puppy dog again. You’ll never know what that feels like,
Piglet.”
She stressed the nickname to make the sting sharper.

Just
then, the door slammed against the wall behind Sissy and she jumped with a
squeak as she turned toward the noise. Melanie looked past her and her eyes met
a sight that took her breath away.

Jeremy
stood there, chest heaving and hands fisted at his sides. His beautiful face
was a war of conflicting emotions ranging from concern to impatience to pure,
unadulterated rage. Melanie had to mentally corral her galloping heart and slow
her breathing. She pulled her eyes away to glance back at Sissy, who stood
there putting on a brave front.

“I
was just leaving,” she said huffily.

“You
do that,” replied Jeremy tightly.

As
she tried to flounce by him, he grabbed her elbow and leaned in close to her
ear. Melanie had to strain to hear what he said.

“I
thought I told you to stay away from her,” he bit out through gritted teeth.

“You’re
not the boss of me,” she retorted while trying to tug her elbow from his iron
grasp.

“You’d
be wise to listen to me on this, Sissy. Stay. Away. From. Melanie. I’m not
kidding. This is going to get ugly, fast.”

Sissy
finally succeeded in rescuing her arm from his grasp, and hurried through the
door. Jeremy stood perfectly still, staring at the floor, trying to get his
anger under control. Melanie took a few tentative steps and stopped just out of
arms-length in front of him.

“Hey,”
she whispered. “You okay?”

His
shoulders slumped, he took a deep breath and looked up at her face. “Mel, I am
so sorry! I hate the way she treats you and it makes me want to…to strangle
her!”

Melanie
closed the gap between them and placed one palm on his cheek. He closed his
eyes and leaned his head into her hand. Melanie’s heart skipped a beat and she
started to pull her hand away, but he covered it with his own and held it
there.

“That
feels nice,” he breathed.

He
opened his eyes and she got lost in their dark depths. With one last deep
breath, he clasped her fingers and pulled them away from his face. He gave her
fingers a reassuring squeeze and released her hand.

“Let’s
go to lunch.”

Melanie
released a pent up breath and smiled. “Let’s.”

Walking
through the cafeteria doors, Melanie noticed that the lunch line had dwindled
to a few stragglers. The noise level didn’t decrease and she was relieved that
no one seemed to notice their entrance.

She
scanned the room as they waited in line and found Tara and Chris sitting at
their normal table. Melanie noticed that Tara had saved her a chair, as usual.

Tara
noticed Jeremy walking beside Melanie, nudged Chris, and whispered in his ear.
He glanced over at the duo and grinned. He got up, found an empty chair at
another table and dragged it over next to Melanie’s reserved seat. Tara shot
Melanie a thumbs up sign and waggled her eyebrows.

Melanie
stole a quick glance at Jeremy and was relieved to see he was looking at the
lunch selection, and not at the shenanigans going on at the table. They both
chose burgers and fries with chocolate milk. When they reached the register,
Jeremy paid for both lunches. She blushed and thanked him.

At
the table, Jeremy politely held her chair for her while she sat, then took the
empty seat next to her, his thigh pressed against hers. The contact had her
wound up so tight, she thought she was going to throw up all over her lunch
tray.

She
knew Jeremy and Chris were talking, with Tara chiming in and trying to draw her
into the conversation, but she couldn’t hear anything above the blood pounding
in her ears. She sat there, not eating, not talking, just thinking about that
moment when her hand was on his cheek and his warm palm covered hers.

She
analyzed the entire scene in her head, from start to finish. She rationalized
that Jeremy was just upset. He didn’t really want
her
comfort, anyone
would have sufficed. How could he want
her?
Plain Jane. Piglet. Gal Pal
Melanie.

“What?
Huh?” she stammered, as she felt an elbow nudge her in the ribs.

“You
okay? Why aren’t you eating?” he asked close to her ear.

She
shivered. “I’m sorry. I just zoned out for a minute. I’m not really that
hungry, I guess.”

Tara
piped in, “Mel, you had a soda for breakfast. You should eat something.”

“Yes,
Mother,” Melanie replied sarcastically.

Melanie
picked at her fries and ate a few so the group would stop staring at her. She
glance down at her belly roll and thought maybe she should have chosen the
salad bar instead of the greasy burger and fries. She peeked from under her
lashes at Jeremy, to find him staring directly into her eyes. He smiled and
nudged his knee against hers under the table. She grinned and nudged him back.

Her
phoned chimed an incoming text. She checked it to find it was from Tara, from
across the table.

“
What
is going on w/ u 2?!? I need details, like immediately!”

Melanie
smiled and glanced over at Tara and silently mouthed the words “after school.”
Tara winked with grin and joined back into the conversation between Jeremy and
Chris.

The
rest of the school day passed in a blur for Melanie. She didn’t retain any
information from her last three classes because her mind kept wandering back to
that moment with Jeremy. His face was so warm and soft. His dark chocolate eyes
were so deep and beautiful.

What would it feel like to kiss him?

She
wouldn’t admit it to anyone but Tara, but she’d never been kissed before. Not a
real
kiss, anyway. She’d had that quick peck on the lips from David
Heron in ninth grade, but that was the extent of her experience.

Would Jeremy know I’d never done it if he kissed me? Would he
be disappointed? Probably. I have no clue what I’m doing.
She left her last class with a frown pulling at her
lips.

“Ugh,”
she said aloud and breezed through the double doors into the bright sunshine
outside.

It
was warm for early April in southern Georgia, so Melanie took off her sweater
before walking through the parking lot to Tara’s car. She tied the arms of the
sweater around her waist, looking down as she walked forward and stepped off
the curb.

What
happened next was a blur; she heard a loud noise and at the same time felt
steely arms cage around her middle and pull her back. As she was falling, which
felt like a movie in slow motion, it registered that the noise was a car horn
and screeching tires.

Then
she thought,
Oh, crap, I’m falling,
and the arms around her rib cage
tightened and slowed her fall.

Her
eyes were squeezed shut and her breath was held as she waited for an impact
that never came. She released her pent up breath and opened her eyes. Jeremy’s
eyes stared back at her, really close.

Huh, his eyes are lighter near the pupil, closer to amber
than dark brown,
she thought for a
brief second before the position of their bodies dawned on her and she nearly
panicked.  

She
was leaning back at a forty-five degree angle, wrapped in Jeremy’s strong arms.
He was holding her entire weight off the ground with those arms, and one leg
had slipped between hers to balance the weight of their two bodies. His nose
was nearly touching hers, their faces so close that all she would have to do is
lift her chin to steal a kiss. That gorgeous curl had flopped onto his forehead
again.

“Uh,
thanks,” she said and tried to disentangle herself from him without falling on
her butt.

“You’re
welcome,” he replied and pulled her completely upright, but didn’t release his
grip. His eyes grew tense. “You could have been really hurt, Mel. These jerks
drive like idiots through the lot, and you know it. You have to pay attention.”

Melanie
blushed at being chastised by him. She didn’t know whether to be angry that he
was being so bossy, or flattered that he seemed to care so much.

“Sorry,”
she mumbled.
Why hasn’t he let go of me yet?
she thought.

As
if he heard her thoughts, he released her and took a small step backwards.
“Just be more careful, okay?”

Melanie
saluted like a good little soldier and said “Yes, sir!”

That
put a half grin on his face. He shook his head, then said goodbye and turned
around and walked away. Melanie, carefully checking both ways for traffic,
walked through the parking lot to find Tara sitting in her car with a
dumbfounded look on her face.

“What’s with you?”
Melanie asked as she slid into the passenger seat.

“What’s with me?
What’s with you and Jeremy, is what I want to know.”

“What do you
mean?” Melanie asked, pretending ignorance, buckling her seatbelt.

“Mel, he walked
you to second period and kissed you!”

“On the forehead,”
Melanie interjected.

“Pshht. It was a
kiss. Then you too showed up at lunch together practically holding hands…”

“We were not!”

Tara continued without
acknowledging the interruption. “and
then,
he gave you mushy, puppy dog
eyes all through lunch…”

“What?!?”

“…and don’t think
I didn’t notice the knee bumps under the table. Then, he races across the
parking lot like Superman or something to rescue you from an oncoming car, and
holds you in the classic damsel-in-distress pose for, like, ever. I thought he
was going to kiss you and carry you off into the sunset or something. Now
spill. Every single detail.”

“Wait. Wait. What
do you mean he raced across the parking lot? He was close to me when it
happened.”

“Nope. He was
three rows over and about six spaces down. The only reason I know for sure is
because Chris stopped to talk to him after saying bye to me and I saw them
there.  The next thing I know, Jeremy is running over the top of a car
right next to me and hauling major booty to get to you. I’ve never seen him
move that fast. Never really seen anybody move that fast. Adrenaline, I guess.”

“Huh. Weird,”
Melanie replied.

“You are changing
the subject,” Tara said in a sing-song voice. “Get to it, missy. I want
details, and I want them now.”

Tara started the
car and backed out of the parking space. She put the convertible top up so they
could talk. Melanie told her everything on the drive home.