Dancing With A Stranger (Londyn Carter Book 1)

by A. L. Martin

  “Sorry. I didn’t know you were all here watching a movie, or we would’ve stayed out longer.” Mom smiled.

  “It’s okay. First, we were going to go out and do something else, but we didn’t know what or where we wanted to go. So we decided to watch a movie instead.”

  “How was lunch?” Mom asked, walking over to place their drinks in front of them on the table.

  “It was good. Well, I’m going to go back in there and finish the movie with them. It’s almost over.”

  “Everything okay?” Wyatt asked when I sat down next to him.

  “Yes. I was just in there talking Mom for a few minutes. I told her the movie didn’t have much longer.”

  “We don’t have to finish it. We can watch something else,” he insisted.

  I jumped up and headed for the kitchen. “Do all of you want to watch another movie with us?”

  Before Mom could say anything, Jules and Asher were halfway out of the kitchen, headed for the living room. She grabbed her drink and headed for the living room. The debate about which movie to watch was about to begin. Before we got the movie going, Mom got up and headed back into the kitchen. I followed her to make sure everything was okay. I walked into the kitchen, when I found her rummaging around in the pantry.

  “Mom, what are you doing?” I asked, peeking my head in the pantry.

  “I’m looking for…” she said, moving boxes around. “Found it!” She held up a box of popcorn in a victory stance.

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her celebrating finding the box of popcorn. She turned around, raising her eyebrow at, which made me laugh even more. I turned to move out of the way, and she smacked me on the butt. She laughed, walking over behind the island. I tried to walk over there to help her, but she basically pushed me out of the kitchen. I stepped back in the kitchen, imitating her victory stance minus the box of popcorn. I stumbled from laughing so hard. She yelled at me to go, so she could get that done.

  She yelled for Gavin to come help her because I was being a bitch to her. Gavin got up, shaking his head at me, then asked what I did to her. I told him about her victory stance and even demonstrated for him how she looked in the pantry. He started laughing, but quickly got himself under control before heading in to help Mom. Next thing, I heard yelling at Gavin and him laughing. I started laughing again because I knew what he had done. He and I loved teasing Mom about the dumb little things she would do or say.

  ****

  Monday morning came all too fast, but I didn’t care because I would get to see Wyatt at school today. I got up and got my shower before Jules took up residency in the bathroom. I had no more got out of the shower and headed to my room when Jules ran in there to get ready. I knew Mom was already in the kitchen from the banging of pans that echoed out of the kitchen. I went to my room to finish getting ready because I knew breakfast would be done soon.

  I picked out a pair of dark grey leggings, a long, light pink tunic, and white canvas shoes to wear with it. I towel dried my hair more before changing into my clothes, then applied my makeup before drying my hair.

  “Girls! Breakfast!” Mom yelled up the stairs.

  I gathered up my stuff, so I wouldn’t have to come back upstairs after breakfast. I yelled at Jules that breakfast was ready in case she didn’t hear Mom a few minutes ago. She opened the door and said she would be done in a few minutes. I went downstairs, putting my book bag on the dining room table before heading into the kitchen. There I was welcomed by the savory smell of hickory. I inhaled deeply, standing there in the doorway.

  “Morning, Mom.” I smiled.

  “Morning. Where is your sister? I don’t know why I just asked you that question.” She handed me a glass of orange juice.

  “Smells amazing.” I inhaled again. I sat down on the other side of the table by the bay window. Mom made scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast. She handed me the jar of grape jelly and a spoon.

  “Sorry, Mom,” Jules said, walking in the kitchen. “Oh, it smells so good.” She held the plate up to her nose, inhaling.

  Mom grabbed her plate off the counter and sat with us at the table. “I have to work today, but I should be home around four or five. Then, I will get going on dinner. I thought about spaghetti and meatballs.”

  “Do you want us to do anything before you come home?” I asked, taking a bite of toast.

  “No.” She took a sip of her coffee.

  I happened to glance down at my watch and saw the time. I told Jules we had to leave in a few minutes, or we were going to be late to school. She took a couple more bites, then threw away what she didn’t eat. I managed to finish mine, but I wasn’t looking at my phone the whole time either like Jules. I got up, putting my plate in the sink along with my glass.

  “Bye, Mom. Love you,” I said, as I headed out of the kitchen.

  Jules popped back in to tell Mom the same thing, then grabbed my keys to head out to the car. Sometimes, I let her start my car while we were here at Mom’s, something I never let her do while we were at Dad’s. I didn’t want to listen to him bitch about how she could accidentally put it in gear and hit his car.

  I managed to get us to school ten minutes before the first bell was to ring. Jules took off when she saw Asher park his car a few rows over from us. I shook my head and took off toward the school. I wasn’t about to chase her down, reminding her that she didn’t have much time before the first bell. I glanced over my shoulder back at Jules and Asher, who weren’t moving away from his car.

  I made my way through the typical crowds of kids standing around talking. Some students were busy putting up posters for the prom, which was a couple months away. Here it was, a few months away and I didn’t have a date for the Senior prom. Then again, maybe Wyatt would ask me to the prom.

  Gavin was leaning up against the corner of the lockers, glancing down at his phone. I didn’t know what I was going to do when we went away to college and I didn’t have Gavin waiting for me every morning. The thought of not seeing Gavin everyday brought tears to my eyes.

  “What’s wrong, Sunshine?” Gavin asked,

  “I was just thinking about in the fall when we are away at college. I won’t get to see you every day.”

  “I know. But I will still blow up your phone on a daily basis.” He smiled.

  “It won’t be the same,” I whispered, opening my locker.

  He walked over and gave me one of his tight hugs. “It’s going to be okay, Londyn. Are you still going to go to the college your dad picked for you?”

  I stepped back a little bit. “I forgot all about that. You’re right! I still have plenty of time to get into another college.”

  “You know, I’m sticking close to Baltimore. If you don’t want to go to the same college, there are others close by where we can see each other a lot.”

  “I’m going to do some research into where you are going and see if they have my major and what not.” I smiled, closing my locker door. I wrapped my arm around Gavin’s and we took off walking down the hall. We weren’t too far down the hall when I heard my name being called from off in the distance. I paused and looked over at Gavin, who was trying to keep me walking toward the end of the hall. I let go of his arm and turned around to see Jayde moving quickly toward us once she saw we stopped walking. Her dark hair was blowing on the sides from how fast she was walking to get to us.

  “God, what the hell does she want?” Gavin whispered close to my ear.

  “Well, we both know it can’t be good.” I rolled my eyes.

  “You truly are a slut,” Jayde snapped, walking up to us.

  “Excuse me!” I stepped closer to her. “Where the hell did that come from?”

  “Lucas told me you’ve been calling him nonstop, begging him to meet you somewhere.”

  “Oh my God! And you actually believed him?” I bent over laughing.

  “Wow…You truly are a special kind of stupid aren’t you?” Gavin said between laughs.

  “How dare you!” she screamed.


  “Jayde, why do you believe anything Lucas tells you? He’s lying to you. I know we aren’t friends anymore, but I would never do that to you. I have more dignity than to jump on my friend’s ex-boyfriend.”

  “Boyfriend. We’re back together.” She smirked.

  “My condolences,” Gavin said, trying not to laugh. “That definitely says you are stupid. You know how he is and yet you still go back to him.” He stopped laughing and was now shaking his head in disbelief.

  “If you must know, he asked me to take him back.”

  “That’s because you are the only one that will date him now,” Gavin stated, looking over at me instead of her.

  Out the corner of my eye I caught her hand coming up toward Gavin’s cheek as he turned to face her again.

  I moved in front of him, raising my hand up. “Stop!” I screamed. I looked and her hand was inches from my face. Her hand was suspended in mid-air. I happened to look past it and noticed her facial expression wasn’t moving at all. I glanced over at Gavin and noticed he wasn’t moving at all either. I touched his face, moving back in case he jumped at me to scare me. Nothing. He stayed in the same stance, frozen. Then, I realized the only thing I heard was the pounding of my own heart. No talking, laughing, or movement of any kind. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes, and slowly turned around. I opened one eye, then the other one. I stood there fixated on the kids, frozen in their steps. Some were in mid-sentences by the way their mouths were part way opened. I looked over at one guy; he must have been watching me, Gavin, and Jayde because his head was tilting back with his mouth open, as if he had been laughing hysterically. I backed up against the wall, the coldness penetrating through my shirt. I lifted my hands up to grab the sides of my head. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. I slid my back down the wall to where I was crouched down on the floor. I buried my head in my knees, hoping when I looked back up in a few minutes that everything would be back to normal.

  “Londyn?”

  I raised my head up so fast that I hit the back of it on the wall. I raised my hand, rubbing the back of my head gently. “Wyatt?” I asked, wiping my tear-soaked cheeks.

  “What happened?” he asked, waving his hand around behind him at our frozen classmates. Then, he offered me his hand and helped me up to my feet, keeping his arm around me for support.

  “I don’t know. Jayde was about to slap Gavin and I got so mad. That’s when I held up my hand, screaming Stop, and this happened.” I waved my hand around the hall.

  “Oh…” He looked around at everyone still frozen. “Promise me you won’t freak out.”

  His voice was stern.

  “What?”

  “Just promise me you won’t freak out.”

  “More than I already am?”

  “Promise me!”

  “Okay. Okay…I promise.”

  He looked around the hall, raising his hand up in the air and gave it a huge wave as if he was waving it across everyone in the hall.

  “Bitch! Don’t think you are going to slap me,” Gavin said, blocking Jayde’s hand.

  “What?” I looked around and everyone was back to normal. “How did you do that?” I asked wide-eyed, looking around the hall as kids raced past us.

  “Do what?” Gavin asked, pushing Jayde’s hand away.

  “Sneak up on us like this,” I said, glancing over at Wyatt.

  “Hey, Wyatt! I didn’t see you walk up. How’s it going?” Gavin said, pulling me away from Jayde.

  “It’s going pretty good.” He peeked at me, motioning his finger over his cheeks.

  I hurried up and blotted my cheeks before Gavin had a chance to notice the tears.

  “Well, I should get to class.” Gavin smiled. “I’ll see you both at lunch.” He took off walking down the hall.

  “I should be getting to class too,” Wyatt said, taking my hand. “I promise, I will explain things, but not here at school. You trust me, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  He leaned in closer to me so no one would be able to hear what we were talking about. “I will explain what happened, but now is not the time. You need to go to your classes as if nothing happened. No one will know what you are talking about. They have no memory of it at all.”

  “What do you mean, no memory of it?”

  “No memory of it.” His eyes stayed focus on mine.

  “Okay. I will go to my classes as if nothing happened. I expect an explanation, especially if you know something,” I demanded.

  “I promise, I will explain what happened later away from school.” He squeezed my hand, then took off around the left corner to his class. I went around the opposite corner to my class, wondering if he really was going to tell me the truth later. I made myself a promise that I was going to make sure he told me the truth.

  Chapter 19

  I got to class right as the second bell rang and, thankfully, Mrs. Webster wasn’t in the classroom yet, or she would try to say I was late. I went to go sit in my seat, and found Sam in the seat next to mine. She was digging around in her purse for something. I had a couple of minutes to come up with a somewhat believable lie if she asked me what was wrong. I wasn’t about to tell her that I had frozen the entire hall of kids before class.

  “Oh. Hey, Londyn. Do you have a tissue?” Sam asked, shuffling things around in her purse.

  “I think so. Let me check.” I pulled my book bag around sitting it in my lap between me and my desk. I managed to find a package of tissues in the bottom. I took a couple out and handed them over to Sam. “What are you doing in this class?” I looked around to make sure I was in the right class.

  “I forgot to tell you. Jayde asked to switch classes with me. She got it taken care of last week. I’m glad she wanted out of this class. I get to be in class with you.”

  I asked if she was okay because she had her hair up in a bad bun, and wasn’t wearing much makeup. She had on an over-sized sweatshirt and black leggings. She never dressed like this except around her house or sometimes mine.

  “I’ve got a cold or allergies,” she said, sniffling.

  I reached down in my bag for the rest of the tissues and handed her the entire package. I looked again in case I had anymore, but that was all I had in my bag.

  “Thanks, Londyn. You doing okay? You seem kinda stressed,” she said, dabbing her nose with a tissue.

  “I ran into Jayde before class. Do you believe Lucas had the nerve to tell her I’ve been trying to call him, begging that he meet me somewhere?” I rolled my eyes.

  “What? You’re kidding right?” She crinkled her nose up.

  “Nope. He even begged her to take him back. Gavin gave her his condolences.” I laughed.

  “And, I missed it,” she sighed.

  “I’m sure she will harass us some more at lunch. Then you will have a ring-side seat for the entertainment.” I giggled.

  Mrs. Webster finally made her way into the classroom, apologizing for being a few minutes late. She said she had to take care of some matters in the office. She told us to go ahead and open our books to where we had left off yesterday.

  I found myself looking down at my watch every few minutes. Time seemed to go by slower and slower each time I looked down at it. I just wanted to see Wyatt at lunch, and hoped he would be able to give me a little bit of an explanation as to what happened before class. I had this horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that he wasn’t going to give me the slightest reason.

  Gavin was waiting for me outside of the cafeteria, talking to a few of his friends as they made their way through the doors.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, moving away from the wall.

  “Nothing. Just a long morning. I hope the salad bar looks decent today,” I said, walking past Gavin as he held the door open for me. I waited for him right inside the door, and we both spotted Sam sitting at our table, blotting her nose with a tissue. I looked around the cafeteria to see if Wyatt was anywhere around, but I didn’t see him. Unfortunately, we had to
walk right past Lucas and Jayde. I didn’t even acknowledge them when we walked past.

  “Oh, Sam. Why don’t you got home and get some rest?” I put my stuff down on the floor next to the chair.

  “I thought I would feel better by now, but I feel worse. I might take your advice and go home,” she said, blotting her red nostrils. She gathered up her things and said she would text me later if she wasn’t sleeping. I told her to get some rest and that I would see how she was doing later.

  Wyatt walked through the doors right as Sam was walking out. He looked to see what they were serving in the A la cart line before making his way over to the table.

  “Where’s Sam going?” Wyatt asked, sitting down between me and Gavin. “She didn’t look so good.”

  “She’s going home. She’s got a cold or allergies,” I said.

  “I hope she feels better.” He moved closer to me.

  “I think I’m going to go see if there is anything edible today.” Gavin got up from the table, making his way over to the food.

  The minute I knew Gavin was out of hearing range, I leaned closer to Wyatt and whispered, “What happened this morning? You don’t have to give me a full-length explanation, but you can sum it up in a few words for now.” I turned slightly to look at him.

  “I don’t know what you want me to tell you. I wasn’t there when it happened, so it’s kinda hard to tell you what happened when I wasn’t there.”

  “What!” I yelled, louder than I intended.

  “Shh!” he hissed.

  “You showed up and saw what I had done. So don’t sit there and say you don’t know what happened.”

  “Now is not the time or place to talk about it. I told you I would explain later on today. You can trust me. I promise.”

  “Trust you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why should I trust that you will tell me later?” I looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. He leaned in even closer to me, our mouths inches from one another. “Because I told you I would.” He smiled.

  Before I could say another word to him, Gavin was back with water for all of us. “They expect us to eat that shit?” Gavin motioned his head toward the food.