Walking in the Shadows (33 page)

“Your story doesn’t have to be Romeo and Juliet
’s,
”
Jaz
replied
,
and
her eyes locked on mine
, sending tingles down my spine.

I move
d back
and she dropped my
arm.

“What do you mean?”
I managed to stammer.

“There’s
the bell
,
we should get to class,
”
s
he demanded
,
turning away from me.

“
Jaz
!” I yelled
after her as she walked away.

She turned
.
“We can talk about it later. I’
m sure that it shouldn’t be discussed here
.
”

“Does anyone else know?”
I whispered as my voice cracked.

“No,
Vera
. I didn’t until
now,
”
s
he answered
,
and her eyes paced back and fo
rth on my face
.

It felt as though she was trying to reason with me and herself at the same time. I nodded my head as I blinked to save the tears in my eyes, and she smiled sadly at me. She didn’t know if it would be okay and neither did I.
Jaz
turned and headed in the direction of her next class with me torn in two directions. I wanted
to follow her and make her swear to never say a word, and I wanted to run towards the police car that was carrying away the one person that knew my darkest secrets as if they were his own.

“Is someone going to tell us wh
at the hell is going on?” I demanded
the second Paul, the chem
istry
teacher
,
walked in the room.

He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.

“I can’t say anything,
Vera
,
mainly because we don’t know anything. It would seem a student here is the one who
thinks they know more,” h
e
said
as he looked at a student behind me.

I turned to see
Lily with a smile on her face.
I
n fact
, she was
the only one smiling in the room.
It took everything in me to not leap across her desk and strangle her. All that stopped me was Jaz’s words repeating in my head.

“A student said something that could get
Mr. Knightley arrested?” I repeated in shock
.

Paul sighed
.
“We don’t know anything for sure.”

When I left class
Jaz
was waiting at my locker.

“Hey,” I mumbled
,
throwing my books into my locker.

“Calm down
!
It’s not like you to wear your feelings on your sleeve
,
and this is not the time—”
Jaz began, but I was too infuriated to let her finish.

“Not the time?
Jaz
! He’
s innocent—I know!”
I retorted as I jammed myself in th
e chest with my finger.

“I know too, but he’s in enough trouble already. You don’
t
need to be in trouble with him,” Jaz
explained
, grabbing my
shoulders and looking me square in the face.

“I don’t care if I get in trouble
!
Everyone is going to find out anyways!”
I exclaimed.

“
Vera
! Be quiet!
” s
he
hissed,
shaking my shoulders
.
“W
ait until you talk to him before you take drastic action.”

I took a deep b
reath
.
“No Romeo and Juliet. I get it
…
Thank you.”

“Will you tell me the truth later?”
s
he asked with a smile.
I could tell from the way she was looking at me that she had reasoned out the fact that he was a teacher and was thinking about how she had solved the puzzle that was my love life.

“Yeah, of course.”

“It’
s all over the school that Lily
is the reason for all
of this. I don’t know what she’s
up
to,
”
Jaz
explained
,
letting go of me and
leaning back against the lockers.

“I thought she was behind it.
You
should have seen the way she was smirking
all day. I wanted to
throttle
her,
”
I replied
,
leaning back with her.

“I would pay to see that,
”
Jaz
laughed
just as
the bell rang
.
“Will you be okay for the rest of the day? No B block today, so we won’t have English Lit.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Jaz
hugged me and then head
ed
to her
next c
lass
, leaving me to gain my composure before going to my Trig class. I took a deep breath and as I turned I slammed right into Lily.
I grabbed her arm as she tried to walk
away from me and
jerk
ed
he
r into the corner
made by the end of the row of lockers.

“How could you lie
like that?”
I demanded
with narrowed eyes as I dropped her arm.

“I don’t know what you’
re talking about,
”
s
he snapped, crossing her arms.

“How could you
ac
cuse an innocent man?”
I pushed, wanting very badly to shake her.

Her lips turned in an angry frown
,
and she turned to leave, but I grabbed her arm
again
. She yanked her arm away from me
,
a
nd I fell back against the wall from the force of it.

“How do you know he’
s innocent?
I saw him where they found Mike,
”
s
he
growled
as she stepped forward and caged me against the wall.

I swallowed
.
“I do Lily
,
and you do t
o
o
. You
never
saw him there.
”

“Well,
” s
he began cocking her head to the side, “
t
hen his
alibi
will check out.”

“You’re
black mailing him?” I shot back
in shock
.
“What the hell did he ever do to you?”

“No
.” She stepped forward so that her face was only inches from mine.
“
I’
m blackmailing the both of you.”

“W…what?”

“You know what I’
m talking about,
”
s
he retorted with a smile.

I threw my hands up. “What the hell is wrong
with you? You’
re going to ruin him!”

Lily
shook her head and ran her finger across my cheek
.
“No
,
Vera
,
you
will
,
and he will never forgive you for letting him do it.”

Her words sliced through me as they were suppose
d
to
so that
I had no more res
ponses.  She walked away smug
while
I stood there fro
zen
. Th
ere was no way I could stay
at school
,
but
I was
afraid
of being ho
me alone because I thought
I would be next. I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket
,
and I fumbled to slide open the cover.

TEXT FROM TAD

I am out. We need t
o talk. Come over after school.

I t
yped
:

Coming now

Tad rushed outside the second I pulled up
;
h
is face said it all.
There was never going to be a happy ending for us, for me.

“Why did you leave school early?”
h
e asked
,
opening the car door for me.

I had tears falling down my face as I
reiterated
what Lily had said.
“
So I’
m the reason for all of this,
”
I finished with a singular sob.

He took my hand
,
leading
me into his apartment
and
w
hen the door was closed he wrapped his arms around me.

“No
—
I knew what I was risking. I just never thought someone would play it
like this.
..f
rame me for murder
.
”
H
e sighed as if the world was on his shoulders.

“She said I would be your rui
n,
” I
whispered
,
looking
up at
him
.
“I did this and you know it. If I had had the strength to just let you go this would never have happened.”

He brushed my hair out of my eyes and shook his head.

“I love you
and I’
m sorry that
the school board won’t like it
,
but right now no one knows.
Kirsten
and Bill confirmed my alibi for the time of the
murder, but they’
ll ask what I was doing the rest of the day and then it will come out. I plan on resigning tomorrow morning before that happens. If I resign I should be able
to find a job at another school.
Bill has agreed to be my lawyer
,
but he says
once you confirm my where
abouts
there
’
ll be no further investigating,
”
Tad explained as he held my face in his hands.

I placed my hands over hi
s and took a deep breath.

“You’
re willing to
sacrifice
your dream job for me?”
I asked, and it felt ridiculously perfect and imperfect at the same time as I waited for the words.

“I don’t have a choice
,
now do I?”
h
e replied with a sigh.

“You’
re going to hate m
e when this is done and through,
”
I retorted.

He placed his forehead on mine.

“Listen
,
the second I decided to spend as much time with you as I
could and
to
forget what logic
wa
s
and go with my feelings
,
I made that choice
,
and I knew it. There was no other choice
,
Vera
—no other choice tha
n you,” h
e
whispered
as he
wiped away my tears with
his thumbs
,
and I couldn’
t help but kiss him. My hands tangled in his hair as the emotions over took us. It was frantic as if he would disappear at any moment
,
and he pulled away laughing.

“I’
m not going
anywhere
!
I’
ll tell them what I have to,
”
Tad breathed
,
kissing me once more.

“You aren’t afraid?” I asked
,
swallowing.