The Prophecy (16 page)

Caleb
stood also. “You don’t think your boyfriend will mind?”

I
smiled, still playing with fire. “What my boyfriend doesn’t know won’t hurt him,
right?”

FIFTEEN

“Did
you finish your homework?” Adrian asked as I got in the car the next morning.

“Hmm?” I
shoved my bag into to the backseat, a sudden flicker of unease in the pit of my
stomach. Why did he want to know?

“You
said you had a lot of homework last night. What were you working on?”

I
racked my brain. The thing was I hadn’t really had a lot of homework. I’d
finished most of it during study hall. And I was a horrible liar when put on
the spot. “Oh, you know. The usual.”

“The
usual?”

“Math.
Science. History,” I said as he backed out of the driveway, knowing that I was perilously
close to overdoing it.

“We
didn’t have history,” Adrian said pointedly. 

“Oh.
Well. It never hurts to be ahead, right?” I gave him an uneasy and totally
incriminating laugh.

“Sarah,
I called to see if you wanted to go out to dinner with me—I figured you’d have
to eat, right?—and Meg said you were down by the creek. And I thought that was
strange, seeing as how you made such an issue about having too much homework to
do anything else.”

“I took
my books with me. Sometimes I like to study outside. What’s the big deal?”

“It was
fifty-five degrees.”

“So? That’s
not cold. You were wearing shorts yesterday. Lots of people were.”

“And
you wear flannel pajamas in the middle of summer.”

I
turned on him. “I do not! And so what if I did? What’s that got to do with
anything?”

Adrian
came to a stop at the end of the street, and I had to keep from pushing open
the door and throwing myself out onto the road. Breaking a few bones seemed a
lot more preferable to him finding out I’d lied. And he was on the verge of
doing just that.

“Seriously,
what are you getting at?” I bit my bottom lip to keep quiet. Why couldn’t I
just quit while I was ahead?

Adrian
hit the gas so hard I was sure he’d have to peel me from the seat once we got
to school. “The thing is, Caleb told Jasmine he was going to meet you, and—”

My
stomach sank. “And let me guess. Jasmine was all too willing to tell you.”

I
stared out the window, shaking my head. Darn Caleb. And darn Jasmine! When I
got hold of that little brat I’d . . .

My
fingers began to tingle and I sucked in a deep breath, trying to reign in my
temper. Caleb was right. Some of my powers
were
hardwired to my emotions.

“What
were the two of you doing?” he said.

“Nothing.”

Adrian breathed
out through his nose. “Come on, Sarah. I’m not dense.”

I
turned on him then. “Nobody said you were.”

“Then
don’t treat me like I am!”

“Then
stop acting jealous when you have no reason to be!”

Adrian’s
jaw clenched and unclenched repeatedly, and the vein in his neck bulged.

“Caleb
might be my best friend, Sarah, but that doesn’t mean I trust him around you.
He’s got a reputation, you know.”

“It
sounds an awful lot like you don’t trust
me
.”

Adrian pulled
hard into his spot in the parking lot and I had the door open before the car
had even come to a complete stop. I reached in and yanked my bag from the back
seat, knocking Adrian in the side of the head in the process. I opened my mouth
to apologize but closed it again before the words came out. I was too angry at
him to be truly sorry.

“Hey!”
he called after me, but I didn’t look back.

I
barreled through the lobby, practically knocking over some girl as I made a
beeline for the stairs. I was so mad I wanted to throw my bag to the floor and
stomp around and scream. What the heck was Adrian’s problem anyway? Why was he
acting like such a jealous bonehead? I had told him plenty of times there was
nothing going on between Caleb and me, so why couldn’t he believe me?

“Trouble
in paradise?”

Wheeling
around, I found Jasmine leaning against the locker opposite mine. She held her slender
arms crossed, and her glossy black hair draped like silk over one shoulder, as
though she’d meticulously arranged it that way.

“Mind
your own business, Jasmine.”

Her
eyes gleamed. “Someone’s in a mood today. Maybe I should go find Adrian and
offer him my condol—”

Jasmine
didn’t have time to finish her sentence. I flung my hands out in front of me,
and the resulting blast of air sent Jasmine wheeling backward. But because
she’d been leaning against the locker, it only looked like she lost her balance
on those stupid wedge-heel boots she happened to be wearing. Still, it was the
most hilarious thing I’d seen in a long time, especially the way her eyes flew
open and her arms pinwheeled. It didn’t stop her from falling on her butt,
though, and I roared with laughter.

“Are
you okay?” Katie, who seemed to have materialized out of thin air, bent next to
Jasmine and helped her up. “Omigod. Did Sarah
push
you?”

Jasmine’s
coffee-colored cheeks went ruddy with embarrassment. She stood and pulled at the
hem of her shirt and then readjusted her hair. She cast her eyes around. “I’m
fine.”  

“Don’t
mess with me,” I said, pointing a finger at Jasmine, and then at Katie. I
turned on my heel and stalked away, pulling my phone out of my pocket as I did
so.

Where R
U?
I texted to Priscilla.

Her
reply came as I was settling into my desk in homeroom:
Dentist. C U L8ER.

I stuffed
my phone in my pocket. The one morning I needed to unload on my best friend
during the few minutes I got to see her in between classes, and she wasn’t even
at school.

I tapped
my foot against the floor as I waited for the bell to ring. As soon as it did,
I shot from my desk and out the door.

In the
locker room, Jasmine and Katie kept their heads close together, shooting nasty
glances my way every chance they got. I turned away from them and spun the
combination on my locker.

Shyla
came in and plopped down next to me as I was lacing up my sneakers. “Someone’s
in a mood.”

“I am
not in a mood!” I said a little too loudly. “Why does everyone keep saying
that?”

Shyla’s
brows rose to meet her hairline. “I wasn’t talking about you, for your
information, but if the shoe fits . . .”  

Taking
a deep breath I said, “Sorry. I guess I
am
in a mood. Adrian and I had a
fight this morning.”

“Ah, so
that’s what his problem is.”

I peeked
at Jasmine and Katie, who were now standing in front of the mirror messing with
their hair and making pouty looks at themselves. Gross.

“You
saw him?”

“Moping
down the hallway. I waved, but he wouldn’t even look at me.”

“It’s
my fault. He thinks something’s going on between Caleb and me.”

She
gave me a sharp look. “Is there?”

“No!”

Shyla
was very tight-lipped after that. I stared at her. “Is something going on
between
you
and Caleb that I should know about?”

“No,”
she said. But she wanted there to be, I thought.

Coach
Wally hollered at us from the hallway. I hoped he had something boring planned,
like laps around the track. I needed to talk to Shyla.

Clutching
my arms around myself for warmth once outside, I mentally reminded myself that
I should start packing heavier clothes. All I was wearing was a pair of sweats
and a thin t-shirt, and I was shaking with cold. I wasn’t the only one. There
was a lot of complaining going on. The abrupt change in weather had caught
everyone off guard.

Blowing
his whistle to get our attention, Coach motioned with his clipboard for us to
gather around. “We’re running the mile today, folks, and I want to see how fast
you can go. I want you to really open her up.”

“
Her?
”
Shyla giggled beside me. I rolled my eyes, my teeth chattering too much to
actually talk.

“None
of this lollygagging on the track,” he went on.

“
Lollygagging?
”
Shyla muttered.

“Who’s
talking?”

The
entire class went quiet as everyone looked around, no one assuming the blame.
And then Jasmine pointed an accusing finger at Shyla and said “she is.”

“What
are you, five?” Shyla said loud enough for everyone to hear. “You have to
tattle on me?”

“You
can run bleachers while the rest of the class runs the mile,” Coach said.

Shyla
bristled beside me, but she kept her mouth shut. I raised my hand and Coach
took a heavy breath. “What is it?”

“Can I
run bleachers, too?”

Heads
swiveled to stare at me. Running bleachers was practically suicide. I wasn’t in
bad shape, but those bleachers were killer after the first few times up and
down.

“You’ll
have to make up the mile, just so you know.” He looked at Shyla. “So will you.
Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook.”

“We’ll
stay after school,” I volunteered.

This
time people actually laughed. I even heard someone say “suck up” under his
breath. I could feel the anger rolling off Shyla as she glared at me. Coach was
extremely satisfied, though. I doubted anyone in the history of Physical Education
had ever volunteered to stay after school just to run.

As soon
as Coach blew his whistle, Shyla and I set off in the direction of the
bleachers. She elbowed me in the side, though not hard. “Are you mental?”

“Maybe.
But I really need to talk to you.”

“And
you couldn’t just call me up after school and save us the hassle of having to
run bleachers
and
the mile?”

“The
bleachers were your fault,” I reminded her. “And Coach was going to make you
run the mile anyway. Might as well get it over with, right?”

Shyla
started up the stairs at a determined pace, and I followed in line beside her.
“So what did you want to talk about?”

“I have
something I need to tell you. And I don’t want you to get mad at me for not
saying anything before, but Adrian didn’t want anyone else to know just yet,
and I didn’t want him to—”

“Sarah!”
I was glad when Shyla cut me off, because I was starting to suck wind pretty
hard. “Spit it out.”

“Victor
called Adrian!” I blurted.

We
reached the top and immediately started back down. “Did you hear me?” I said
when she didn’t respond.

“I
heard you.”

“Well?”

“Well
what?”

“How
does that make you feel?”

Shyla
laughed, but without humor. “I don’t know, Sarah. How am I
supposed
to
feel? Scared? Angry? Like I couldn’t care less? Like I want to claw his eyes
out? Try all of the above.”

“Oh.”

We
reached the bottom step, paused to take a breath, and started back up. “Why do
you think Adrian didn’t want anyone to know?” I asked, breathing heavily.

Shyla
laughed again. “Because Adrian has daddy issues. He may act like he’s all hurt
and angry, but he can’t let go of the idea that our dad is this wonderful man.
As for me, I gave up believing that a long time ago.”

Shyla’s
breath was barely labored, but I was having a difficult time keeping up. Not to
mention the muscles in my legs were screaming for me to stop. When we get to the
top, I promised myself. Just a few more steps and . . . finally!

I
snagged Shyla’s arm as she turned to make her way down. “Wait a minute. I need
to rest or I’m gonna die.” At least I wasn’t cold anymore.

Shyla
nodded and came to stand beside me. From where we were, we had a clear view of
the lake. It was going to be a sunny day, and much warmer than it was now.

“You
don’t think people can change?”

“Let’s
just say I’ll believe it when I see it.” She turned to me suddenly and asked,
seemingly out of the blue, “So, what
is
going on between you and Caleb?”
 

“Not
you, too,” I said. “It’s bad enough that Adrian thinks Caleb has a thing for
me. I promise I have no romantic feelings for him.”

“No
romantic feelings,” Shyla said. “But feelings regardless.”

I gave
her a look. “But not
romantic
feelings, so you can stop worrying that
I’m moving in on your man.”

“He’s
not my man,” she muttered under her breath, turning away. But not before I saw
the smile on her lips.

I was
dreading second period. I didn’t want to see Adrian. I didn’t want to face him
and apologize, especially because I didn’t think I had anything to apologize
for this time.