The sound of the bell dragged me away from my depressing musings. Despite Tegan’s urgings, I didn’t even bother to try to hurry to the cafeteria. Avoiding Mark just didn’t seem to matter. He could have my lunch money; I wasn’t hungry. I wondered if Skylar was aware how much crushed hopes, which were probably akin to being heart broken, could help a person trying to lose weight. Not that I really cared about losing weight, but all of this turmoil had certainly helped curb my appetite.
There was no sign of Mark in the hallways, and Tegan and I made it to lunch intact. Tegan tried to cheer me up as we stood in line, got our food and finally sat down to eat. Well, Tegan ate; I mostly shoveled my food around my plate. As much as I appreciated her efforts, they were fruitless.
I was eternally grateful to Tegan for putting up with my tired, grumpy angst ridden butt. I knew I was a far cry from pleasant company lately, but Tegan took in stride, proving her awesomeness as a friend with her patience and support.
The first half of lunch was the usual noisy affair. Because of my moodiness, we’d chosen to sit at a different table, away from Tegan’s other friends. I’d tried to convince Tegan it was fine if we sat with them, but she was still in “cheer Silly up” mode, so I’d relented. We’d taken an empty table near the center of the room. Some other people had sat at the other end after a while, and Tegan was speaking to one of the girls, but I wasn’t paying much attention.
I was pondering the loudness of the room. I’d never really noticed how everyone’s voice seemed to echo off the walls, making it a vacuum of indecipherable sound. It made my already too full head ache. I understood what people meant when they said they felt like their head was going to explode.
As morbid as it was, I wondered what everyone would do if I just suddenly spontaneously combusted right there in the middle of the cafeteria. I realized it was pretty sad that such a macabre thought was the first thing to really amuse me all day. Because she was the one person I felt I could be totally uncensored and shameless with, I was waiting for Tegan to finish speaking with the other girl so I could share my perverse musing. But, before I had a chance, it seemed I slipped into an alternate reality.
Mark Moses appeared out of nowhere. My first thought was he’d come to take my lunch money. It seemed odd he would approach me in the cafeteria with so many witnesses, but he sat down in the seat across from me.
Tegan’s attention was quickly averted from her conversation, and she and I shared a nervous glance. Despite his threats, I’d told Tegan about what I’d witnessed between Mark and his dad and the consequent conversation I had with him afterward.
Tegan wasn’t all that surprised. “Tierney said she’d heard rumors about Mark’s dad,” she explained. “Apparently, the claim is Mark’s dad is meaner than him, but, kind of like with Mark, there’s never been enough proof to do anything about it.”
“How is that even possible?” I wondered.
“Mark would probably be the best person to ask about his dad,” Tegan shrugged, “and it’s not like he’s going to trust the police who have gone after him in the past.”
I could see her point, but I hadn’t been able to forget the exchange. “Even though Mark’s an asshole, I can’t imagine what it must be like living with that guy.”
“They say his dad’s a drunk,” Tegan frowned.
I didn’t doubt that for an instant. Even though I didn’t like Mark, knowing the kind of man he lived with made it harder for me to hate him like I had before.
The fear I had for him that had faded, just slightly, resurfaced quickly at the sight of him at my lunch table. If he wasn’t here for my lunch, had he come to threaten me into silence once again? It certainly wasn’t necessary. I’d only told Tegan, but I knew without a doubt she wouldn’t tell anyone either.
I didn’t know why he was there or what he’d do, and I found little relief in the presence of teachers throughout the cafeteria. I often thought they were just as intimidated by Mark Moses as I was.
However, when Mark spoke, it wasn’t to threaten or demand money. Instead, he actually smiled without menace—an odd expression on his usually stony face—as he cocked his head to the right and said, “So, my sister’s kid likes that Harry Potter crap you seemed so keen on. I went to her house for Thanksgiving, and I watched one of the movies. Something about a goblet?”
He raised an eyebrow, as if waiting for me to clarify. It took me a minute to find my voice as I stared at him. “You mean Goblet of Fire?”
“Yeah, that,” he nodded. “It was a little too tame for my personal taste, but for a bunch of British bastards, they made a decent movie.”
I blinked, shaking my head slightly, trying to wake myself up. In my reality, Mark Moses would never admit to watching Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire let alone admit it was decent. I knew this had to be some sort of dream, although I couldn’t for the life of me imagine why Mark Moses was making an appearance in my dreams.
I pinched my hand under the table and flinched at the pain that shot up my arm. It seemed impossible that I wasn’t dreaming, so I knew this had to be an alternate reality. I just wasn’t sure how I got there, and from the look on Tegan’s face, she’d fallen into this other universe right along with me.
Mark was looking at me expectantly, and I knew I should say something in reply, but I couldn’t seem to find words. I was just too baffled, but I also knew I had to proceed with caution. Finally, I cleared my throat and mumbled, “Well, I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
It sounded so lame, but it was the best I could come up with. I just I couldn’t get my head wrapped around the fact that the resident bully was seated at my lunch table talking about Harry Potter. What was even more bizarre was he was actually being nice.
Even though everyone in the room—excluding Mark—looked like their usual selves, I was convinced none of this was real. I didn’t know how or why it happened. All I really knew was I was thoroughly dumbstruck.
I wondered if maybe I was just hallucinating. Was it possible the spiked punch from the Halloween party contained more than alcohol? Of course, that didn’t make sense. Surely, if that were the case, then I would have experienced this sort of side effect sooner. Not to mention Tegan didn’t drink the punch, yet she seemed to be experiencing the same odd situation as me. Unless I imagining her as well.
“Yeah, it was probably the best part of the holiday. My sister can’t cook for shit,” Mark said after a moment.
“My mom can only cook stuff like Hamburger Helper,” I commented without thinking.
“That stuff’s better than people give it credit for,” Mark said. “Kraft mac and cheese is the best, though.”
“Yeah, it is good,” I agreed. I didn’t know why I was even replying. It was like my mouth was just moving but I had no control over the words coming out. That wasn’t so different from usual except I normally felt myself thinking the words as I said them. This time my mouth was doing all of the work because my brain certainly wasn’t contributing to the conversation.
Every time I glanced at Tegan, hoping maybe she’d figured out what was going on, she had the same blank expression of befuddlement I felt. It wasn’t exactly encouraging, but it was somewhat comforting not to be the only one who felt that way.
Before anything more could be said, the bell rang. Mark heaved a sigh and stood. “Well, I’ll see you around,” he shrugged before he stalked off.
After he crossed the cafeteria, I turned to Tegan, who—like me—was still rooted firmly in her seat. “What the hell just happened?” she asked slowly, brows knit together.
I shook my head when I couldn’t come up with an answer. “I thought I was hallucinating,” I confessed.
Tegan nodded, “So did I.”
We both jumped when someone came up behind us and put their arms around our shoulders. Tegan shrieked, though it went unnoticed as people exited the cafeteria, but I heard it and was fairly certain she’d busted one of my eardrums.
“Damn, I didn’t know you were a bans
hee.”
Tegan and I turned, surprised and relieved, to find my brother hunched over, cupping his ear as he looked between the two of us. For a moment I’d been afraid Mark had realized the oddness of his own behavior and had returned to set things straight.
“Hey, was Mark bothering you again?” Luke asked quietly.
My eyes widened. I’d suspected he’d overheard my conversation with Mom, but now I knew for sure. I didn’t think I even registered on Luke’s radar at school, but, shockingly, I realized he had to be watching and paying attention if he was asking now. I realized he really had to be concerned since he was actually speaking to me out in the open where anyone could see.
After I recovered from the astonishment, I managed to answer, but the words that came out sounded so strange. “Actually, no, he was being . . .” I searched for the right word, but the one I wanted to use sounded so strange on my tongue.
“Nice,” Tegan finished for me. She sounded equally mystified.
Luke’s bushy eyebrows shot up. “Seriously?”
I nodded.
“Was he stoned?”
I looked to Tegan for her opinion, but she shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Me either,” I admitted.
“Weird,” Luke said. He considered for a moment before he finally shrugged. “Well, whatever the deal is, we need to get going before the bell rings.”
Tegan’s eyes widened and I made a face. Class was the last place I wanted to go, but we’d already been late for Journalism a number of times. I didn’t think it would do to be late again. Tegan seemed to be thinking along the same lines because we said a quick goodbye to Luke, who I still couldn’t believe spoke me to at school, before we hurried off to our lockers.
I wasn’t sure what to make of the incident with Mark, but I was certain Tegan and I would be having a long talk about it later. After all, lunch in the twilight zone could not be ignored.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
As if Mark’s appearance at lunch on Monday wasn’t enough, the weirdness continued on through the week. Tuesday was much like Monday. There were plenty of blank stares and uncertain silences between stilted conversations on Tegan and my part while Mark seemed thoroughly unfazed, as if he hadn’t done a complete about face. He acted as if it were normal for us to sit together at lunch and chat like old pals.
Tegan and I had discussed the situation at length on Monday at Tegan’s house after school. Though we attempted to make sense of it, the only conclusions we came to were either Mark lost his mind or we’d really slipped into an alternate reality.
By Wednesday I’d decided I couldn’t take another uncomfortable half hour of sitting across from Mark at the lunch table without getting some answers first, so before Mark could launch into casual chit-chat, I spoke up.
“Mark, I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, and I’m not complaining either,” I began.
He was holding his sandwich in the air getting ready to take a bite, but he stopped, waiting for me to go on.
“It’s just . . . we haven’t exactly been friends.” I grimaced at the understatement. I rushed on, though, not wanting to set off Mark’s temper. “I’m not saying I don’t want to be. That’s fine, really.” I glanced at Tegan. She looked unusually pale, and I saw my uncertainty mirrored in her gray eyes. “The same goes for Tegan,” I added. She nodded, adamantly. I made a note to thank her for having my back on this later. “Anyway, my point is . . . I was just wondering what happened to make you so,” I paused, considering, “well, nice.”
For a moment I was scared I’d pissed him off because Mark sat, unblinking for what felt like an eternity, without saying anything. I half expected him to jump across the table and rip my head off, or something equally painful, at any moment. Instead, he finally blinked, bringing his dark eyes back into focus, and shrugged his broad shoulders. “That conversation we had last week before Thanksgiving,” he said.
I waited, expecting him to say more, but, instead, he took a bite of his sandwich. The smart thing probably would have been to let it go at that, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “What about it?”
“It just made me think,” he said. “I realized maybe you’re not so bad after all.”
I’d had no idea how he might answer, but I certainly wasn’t expecting that. Then he added with an uncomfortable chuckle, “And I noticed you were starting to look sickeningly skinny. I figured you needed your lunch money more than I did.” He leaned back away from the table and said with a sideways grin as he rubbed his stomach, “After all, look at this gut.”
I laughed without thinking, and before I could worry that it was the wrong thing to do, Mark and Tegan joined in.
I could feel the eyes of the people at the surrounding tables watching us. It had been that way all week. I couldn’t blame them. It was an odd situation. I thought the biggest shock was probably that Mark Moses was actually sitting in the cafeteria with the rest of the students and faculty, acting like a normal human being, but I was also pretty sure the company he was keeping probably had something to do with it as well.
Despite the weirdness, it was nice to hear Mark say I wasn’t so bad. I didn’t know what I’d done to make him think I was in the first place, but at least I was able to change his mind without even trying. I wasn’t sure if gaining acceptance from the resident bully should be cause for celebration or concern, but I decided, either way, I’d take it.
On top of trying to figure out the Mark enigma, I’d spent the past three days avoiding Jackson. My anger from our last encounter was only forgotten during short intervals of time, which were usually dedicated to trying to figure out what was going on with Mark. I still wasn’t speaking to Skylar either, unless it was absolutely necessary. Even then it was usually just to relay a message from one of our parents.
Even though Tegan played her role as the understanding best friend perfectly, she was also the voice of reason I needed. She refused to let me sit around and stew, and she made it her mission to continually point out, once I’d had some time to temper my anger, that we didn’t really know Jackson’s objective.
She remained optimistic, not sold on Skylar’s theory, pointing out that Jackson never actually aimed conversations toward Skylar. “I’m sure Jesse’s asked Tierney about me when the topic of siblings has come up,” Tegan said. “And that guy only has eyes for Tierney.”
I couldn’t argue that line of reasoning. It wasn’t as if Jackson ever asked me point blank what he should do to woo my sister. Still, it didn’t change the fact that he seemed to forget I existed as soon as Skylar swept into the room and stole center stage. I knew, on some level, it was probably hard for him to ignore her presence since guys most generally thought more with their nether regions than their brains. It was just hard for me to allow for the lapse of judgment—especially with Skylar putting ideas in my head.
The more Tegan forced me to talk things out rationally the more sense she made. It also didn’t hurt that, while I was trying to my hardest to avoid contact with him, Jackson just kept showing up. On Tuesday, he stopped by my locker to talk.
Naturally, his first question was, “What happened on Sunday?”
Too embarrassed by my behavior to admit the truth, I gave the same lame excuse I’d used time and again with Mom about not feeling well. Even though a part of me was happy to see him—it was just so hard not be stunned by his good looks and charm—I told him I had to go, claiming I needed to speak to the teacher before class started, before I scurried off like a frightened rabbit.
When I finally worked up the nerve to tell her about that exchange on Wednesday during Journalism, Tegan was none too pleased. With the Mark mystery tentatively resolved, I knew the focus would return to my recent avoidant behavior.
Tegan was usually a very patient girl, but, apparently, the time had come for her to put her foot down. “Silly, you can’t keep doing this,” she whispered as she thumbed through a stack of worksheets we’d been handed to read over before answerin
g the questions. “You have no proof that Jackson is using you, and the only way you’re going to figure this out is if you actually talk to him.”
I sighed and sat back in my seat, glancing around the computer lab. Some people were talking quietly to each other while others were focused solely on the assignment. Obviously, the assignment wasn’t Tegan’s first priority today. I considered reminding her of the task at hand, knowing how important her grades were to her, but I figured she’d accuse me of being avoidant with her as well if I tried to change the subject. Instead, I sat up a little straighter as I said, “Tegan, I know.”
“Do you really?” She narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips in a stern look that I usually only got from my parents. I didn’t like the sight of it on my best friend’s face, but it was obvious she meant serious business. “You can’t keep pushing him away like this, Sil. I know you really like him—friend or otherwise.”
She paused and raised an eyebrow, as if expecting me to deny my feelings went beyond friendship. I wasn’t exactly sure why she thought I’d bother to argue it. We both knew I liked Jackson as more than just a friend. When I didn’t say anything, she continued speaking. “If you don’t step up and get to the bottom of all this, he’s going to get pissed and give up, and you’ll lose him completely.”
I hadn’t even considered that possibility. I was too busy seeing red to think about the consequences of my actions. The prospect of pushing Jackson away had my heart hammering. It was a challenge to find enough breath to ask, “You really think so?”
Tegan nodded solemnly as she spoke. “I really don’t think this has anything to do with Skylar. If it were, I don’t think Jackson would keep coming around trying to talk to you and checking up on you like he has.”
Infinite (Strange and Beautiful, Book 1) Page 26
