Unfaded (5 page)

And that was pretty much it. My friends were satisfied that I was better and aside from the odd questionable look; the majority of the world seemed to be over last night’s action. Besides, no one was interested in old news, especially when there was something new to talk about.

             
“Did you see him yet?” Amber asked.

             
“Who?”

             
Amber rolled her eyes. “The new guy. Sheesh, Mai, where have you been? Everyone’s been talking about him?”

             
Really?

             
“What new guy?” Connor said as he bit into one of my French fries.

             
“My Lord!” Amber waved dramatically across the room towards the rest of the school. “Seriously. Did the two of you spend the entire morning in the janitor’s closet? Wait, don’t answer that, it’s probably true.”

             
“Pfffft. Spend one day doing a dare and no one ever lets you forget about it.”

             
Eugene laughed and Connor gave him a high five. I would have made a mock face at them but I was laughing too hard to even try to look offended.

             
“OK,” I said taking a sip of my drink. “Tell us about your new guy. He must be dreamy otherwise you wouldn’t be this interested.”

             
“Of course he’s dreamy,” Amber said. “He’s in my Biology class. He’s got the bluest eyes and the most gorgeous hair. You’ll have to check him out, Mai. He might actually knock Connor from the top of your list.”

             
“Hey!” Connor wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

             
I laughed.

             
“So where is he then?” Claire asked.

             
Amber scanned the cafeteria. “I’m not sure,” she said. “Maybe he didn’t want to come in for lunch. Oh wait, no. There he is.”

             
I swear; we all glanced over in the direction. Tactful, we weren’t.

             
At first I didn’t see who Amber was pointing towards. Then I noticed the longish dark hair. The kissable lips. It was a pleasant surprise, I didn’t realise until that second, that I’d been thinking about him all morning.

             
“It’s Kian,” I exclaimed, more to myself than anyone else. Unfortunately, everyone else heard me.

             
Amber’s mouth dropped. “You know him?”

             
Connor’s smile hardened. “How do you know him?”

             
“I don’t exactly know him. I met him last night at the shop,” I said. “Remember, I told you about the accident? That was them. Funny, he never told me he was going to be staying in Addison. I got the impression they were just passing through.”

             
“You’re so lucky,” Amber said. “Tell your Dad I want your job.”

             
“You can have it,” I said. “Honest. I don’t want it.” It’s funny how no one listens to you when you’re deadly serious.

             
“He is cute,” Claire said as she watched him with scrutinized eyes. He’d sat down at an empty table and was casually reading a book while eating an apple. It was only then that I realised that we weren’t the only ones watching him. Almost every girl was checking him out and most of the guys were too.

             
“Whatcha think, Mai?” Amber asked. “Hot or not?”

             
Connor sat up straighter in his seat as he watched Kian. When he turned his attention back to me, there was a look on his face that bothered me. Originally I was going to make a comment about how sexy his eyes were but the words died on my tongue.

             
“He’s ok, I guess,” I ended up answering. Connor smiled coldly and put his arm around my shoulder.

             
“You’re blinded by love,” Amber said. “He’s definitely hot stuff.”

             
“The rest of the school sure thinks so,” Claire said.

             
“What am I? Minced meat?” Eugene said. “Come on. Boys right here. Boys who are just as hot and good at basketball.”

             
“Yeah, but you’re not nearly as new and interesting,” Amber said. “We grew up together and I saw you puke in the second grade.”

             
“Why do you insist in remembering those details,” Eugene said. “And I didn’t puke. It was more like spitting up lots of snot. I had a bad cold.”

             
“I remember that,” Connor said. “You were totally messed up, dude. They sent you home and you cried.”

             
“I was seven!” Eugene said. “Seven!”

             
“You’re disgusting,” Claire said but she was smiling when she said it.

             
“He sure is pretty
Besides
,” Amber said, turning her attention back towards Kian. “And that accent. Oh god, I could listen to him all day long. Where do you think he’s from? I wonder what he’s got this afternoon. Please, let there be a god and have him show up in my chem class.”

             
I dipped a fry in ketchup and took a bite.

                                                        *              *              *

              Kian turned up in my last class of the day.

             
Better yet, he had taken the empty seat at the back of the room right next to where I normally sat.

             
“Well, well, well,” he said as I took my seat beside him. “If it isn’t the daughter of the saviour of my Dad’s car.”

             
“And how is it?”

             
“Dead. It gave its last breath sometime this morning while your father tried to give it CPR or whatever it is that saves car lives. Now it is on its way to the great car god in the sky. I shall mourn it always.”

             
I smirked and dumped my bag on my desk. Reaching inside I pulled out my copy of the Canterbury Tales, the latest and greatest novel my class was currently butchering. The second I put it down he reached over and picked it up. He thumbed through it while I unpacked my binder and a pen.

             
“Chaucer huh?” Closing the book, he placed it back on my desk. “I rede that we make, of sorwes two, O parfit joye lasting evermo.”

             
“I’m impressed,” I said and it was true. There probably wasn’t a single kid in my entire school who could have quoted Chaucer from memory. Earlier in the semester, our teacher Ms. Gray had tried to get us to memorize a passage from Romeo and Juliette. More than three quarters of the class were unable to do it. There ended up being a lot of ‘Romeo, Romeo, how ya doing, Romeo?’

             
“I like Chaucer,” he simply said.

             
“Shhhh,” I said. “Don’t let any of the cool kids hear you say that. You’ll end up sitting alone in the back of the cafeteria for the rest of the semester.”

             
He laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

             
I smiled and busied myself for the next few minutes pretending to search for something in my backpack. It wasn’t that I was trying to ignore him. Breanna Johnson had just walked in and was staring at the two of us as if there was something worth gossiping about. I didn’t need it getting back to Connor that I was being cosy with the new boy. Breanna liked Connor and didn’t like me. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d made up some sort of story to try and break the two of us up. Normally this sort of thing didn’t bother me. I was pretty secure in my relationship and didn’t believe for a second I’d ever lose him. But I’d also seen the way Connor had stared at Kian earlier.

             
Kian tapped at the book on my desk. “You must like him too.”

             
“What makes you think that?”

             
He meant Chaucer of course.

             
“Because you’ve got the entire book marked,” he said. “Certain passages that the class hasn’t even read yet. I’ve had the honour of meeting Ms. Gray. She said you’re just finishing up with the prologue and you’ve got parts bookmarked way beyond that. Plus, you recognized my quote. Most girls your age would have just smiled and tried not to look confused. They probably think the Knight’s Tale is that movie with Heath Ledger.”

             
I gave him the best, most deliberate smile I could. “Maybe this is a used book. It could be someone else’s markings.”

             
He reached over and picked up my pen. “Yes, but how many students use green ink?”

             
“OK, you’ve got me, I’m a book geek,” I said. “You’re quite the detective.”

             
“No,” he said. “I just notice things.”

             
The bell rang and Ms. Gray entered the room, her arms full of books. No one read as much as her. I knew this because she lived down the street from me and she spent her summers on her front porch with a different book each day. It was one of the things that made her my favourite teacher. She was probably the only one at the school who truly loved the subject she taught.

             
But today she decided we needed to spend the first part of the class watching the movie version of the book. The class applauded. Anything to get out of reading. Someone immediately turned down the lights and the BBC modern version came on.

             
“So how come you didn’t tell me yesterday that you’d be starting school here?” I whispered. “I got the impression that you were just passing through.”

             
“We decided to stick around,” he said.

             
“If you’re going to spend the semester at Thelma’s motel, ask her to show you their book collection,” I said. “They have just about every single book written. Some of them are first editions too. Really rare stuff. They’ve got more than the public library.”

             
“Really?” he said. “You sound like you know a lot about it.”

             
“Thelma’s like family,” I said. “I spend a lot of time at her place. Book geek, remember?”

             
“I guess we made a good choice then,” he said. “Dad and I have struck a deal with her. We’re renting on a month to month basis. Hopefully this way I’ll get to see more of you.”

             
I had to turn away and go back to rummaging through my backpack. I didn’t want anyone to see the blush that I knew for certain was betraying my cheeks. Of course the room was dark but I knew that Breanna had eyes like an eagle. Sure enough, when I finally looked up, I noticed she was watching me instead of the movie. The look on her face said she had just witnessed something juicy and couldn’t wait to go share it with the rest of the school.

             
I spent the rest of the movie with my face staring straight at the screen. I didn’t dare glance beside me.

             
I loved Connor. I really did. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was hurt him. But if Breanna got her way, that just might happen.

                                                        *              *              *

              I pulled into the shop parking lot a little after four. Dad was out the door before I’d even managed to turn off my car.

             
“What is this about some sort of fainting spell last night?”

             
“Hi Dad,” I said. “It was nothing. I’m fine.” Well, fine enough, aside from feeling like a broken record. I gave him the short version of what happened while we headed back inside the shop, keeping out the part about the weird vision of course. No need to have my father thinking I’m heading towards the deep end of insanity.

             
“You should have woken me up,” he said as he picked up some paperwork and shoved it into a folder. There were some tools scattered across the counter and he gathered them up. “Seriously, Mai, I know you think I’m probably overreacting but you could have had a concussion. We could have at least just checked on you during the night to make sure you were alive.”

             
I made a face. “I’m fine,” I said as I pulled back my hair to try and show him the back of my head. “See! No lumps, bumps, or wide open gashes.”

             
“You can’t blame me for wanting to protect my only daughter,” he said with a gruff voice. Holding the tire wrench in his hands, he looked the part too. When I was younger a lot of boys didn’t want to talk to me in fear of my father. He still looked like the football player he used to be. And a dad with wide shoulders can be terrifying to a teenage boy. It took Connor about six months before he finally came to my house for dinner. I remembered he stammered whenever Dad asked him a question. I didn’t think he’d ever willingly come back again.