Unknown

by Admin

  She forced herself to look away from him and focused on Katy instead, who was busy silently singing a song and bobbing her head. Raylee kept her eyes moving, staring at the huge basketball court, at the container of balls across the room, anywhere where he wasn't.

  She felt like such a fool, like one of those lovesick girls who gush all over the new guy, who fall head over heels over the cute guy, who become tongue-tied, dumbstruck, stock-still, completely infatuated.

  Oh, boy. Why was this happening to her? This was something that only happened in romantic comedies, and she never cared for those.

  Katy stopped singing and was now bumping her elbow into Raylee's side.

  "Ouch! What did you do that for?"

  Katy smirked. " 'Wild Horses'."

  "What?"

  "Couldn't drag me away."

  Raylee grimaced. "Please."

  Katy leaned over and whispered. "I can't say I blame you. He's gorgeous."

  Raylee's heart thumped. Dang it.

  With Katy's distracting comments, Raylee was able to make it through PE without slobbering all over Billy.

  She did find a new interest in volleyball. Especially since Billy was in there with her. They ended up on the same team too, which made her heart soar a little bit. It actually helped take her mind off the weirdness she’d been experiencing lately, the unexplained fear.

  Unfortunately, because she was obviously an amateur, playing the game reinforced her awkwardness. It was her turn to serve the ball. Laughter echoed across the court as she punched it all the way up to the ceiling, though, amazingly, it somehow managed to sail over the net and land on the ground on the opponents' side, scoring her team a point.

  Billy gave her a high five.

  Katy exclaimed, " 'Another One Bites the Dust'."

  Raylee didn’t score again, though. Indeed, she proved how terrible she was at the game when she missed another ball that came toward her and smacked her funny bone.

  NINE

  Billy was cast as one of the leads in the school play. Drama, of course, meant the world to him because it was up on stage where he could use his gifts and where he felt truly alive. But what was so awesome about Ms. Cass picking him for the lead was how he didn't boast about it. Just another reason to like him.

  Now, warming up in PE, Raylee warily glanced out the window.

  A storm was starting outside. Thunder boomed quietly in the distance, followed by bouts of lightning. Though the heater blasted warm air in the gym, she found herself shaking. But this trembling was not so much from the storm as it was from the certainty that someone wanted to endanger her life.

  She attempted to console herself, convincing herself that there was no one who wanted to seriously hurt her, that she was safe, soothing thoughts that did little to soothe. Because no matter how hard she worked to convince herself otherwise, that danger was coming became no less real or certain.

  Would the mysterious dread ever reveal a clear answer, or would she continue to be wrapped in this enigma forever?

  Raylee was pulling up her knee socks when she spotted Billy. Dark thoughts dissipated slightly. He crossed over to the side of the volleyball court, just a couple of feet away from her, and started his warm-ups. Henry and David were already stretching. She was so close that she could hear every part of their conversation.

  "Hey man," David said. "How’s it going?"

  "Did you understand a word of math?" Henry asked, struggling to reach his toes as he leaned his body over his right leg.

  Henry didn’t seem like someone who would be taunting her. In fact, he hardly ever bothered looking at her. Maybe she was wrong about him. Right now, she wasn’t feeling any of the unease she’d felt previously.

  David elbowed him. "Math is about numbers, not words, you dope."

  Billy smirked and plopped down, splaying his left leg as he seamlessly touched the top of his shoe.

  Raylee was hating math too. She'd understood it the first few months of school, but the latest chapter presented a whole other side to the subject, and lately it was like learning a foreign language that didn’t translate into any other language. PE made her feel a little bit better, taking her mind off the subject and keeping it on Billy.

  Her heart was beating excitedly throughout her whole body, her forehead was thick with sweat, and her mouth was dry as the valley below town.

  Taking in a long deep breath, doing her best to not look at Billy, not even from the side of her eye, she pushed her fluffy hair back into a tight ponytail and did arm stretches.

  But she failed miserably at completing putting him out of her mind, her mouth twitching with a half-smile over something he said.

  Katy said, "Hot Blooded."

  Raylee threw her a dirty look. Katy laughed.

  It was time to play volleyball a few minutes later, and once again, Raylee proved her pitifulness at the game, missing every ball that came her way and messing up every serve. She was glad when the bell rang, anxious to escape her peers.

  "Don’t worry about it. It’s just a game," Katy was saying as they ambled toward chemistry.

  “Ha, easy for you to say. You’re good." Raylee was tugging on her sleeves; the shirt was a size too large, but it was the smallest available.

  "I don’t know what I’m worse at, algebra or PE."

  "Algebra. Definitely algebra."

  "Great. Now I feel really stupid."

  "I can help," a male voice said from behind them.

  They both turned around. Billy.

  "What?" Raylee asked, feeling her cheeks burn and wishing she could slide into a hidden dimension.

  "If you’re struggling with math, I could tutor you after school. I’m pretty good with anything math-related, especially algebra."

  Her mouth dropped open, an attempt to speak. Nothing came out. That dryness in her mouth was filling with unused saliva.

  "Thank you, Billy. I'll have to call my parents, but I should be able to meet you in the library."

  "Sure."

  "Thanks a lot!" Raylee said to Katy when he was out of ear shot.

  With a giant smile on her face, Katy replied, "You’re welcome."

  Her last class was impossible. She couldn’t concentrate on anything except Billy. She was getting sick of herself, it was ridiculous. This was what it must feel like to be lovesick. She’d always made fun of those romantic movies because the girls swooned over cute guys. She’d vowed to never be like one of those girls. And somehow, she’d become one of them.

  Get a grip, Raylee. Get a grip.

  The last bell of the day finally rang. Students scurried out to the parking lot. Raylee hurried to the front office to check with her parents about going to the library. Her mom answered and told her to go ahead. Raylee stopped by her locker to grab her math text and a notebook, hesitating for several minutes before she could bring herself to touch the metal door. Her skin crawled, remembering the horrific-looking rubber mask and the live worms forcing their way through it.

  Slowly blowing out air, her heart hanging in the balance, she swung open the door really fast and hopped back a foot. All that was inside were her books and folders. No mask. No worms.

  Her heart calming down, she snatched her math materials.

  The library was located at the back of the school. She had to pass several classrooms to get there. Most of the lights had been turned down since teachers were already heading home.

  As she neared the sharp corner that led to the main hallway of the library, a shadow, tall and misshapen, wobbled against the wall in front of her.

  She halted.

  The shadow stopped.

  She took one quiet step back, locking her eyes on the twisted shape. The shadow moved toward her, one small step. Whoever it was was mimicking her.

  She didn’t want to be afraid, but the feeling that someone was out to get her was overpowering.

  She waited in the hall, hoping for the shadow to move, but it
seemed to be waiting on her.

  In the movies, the victims always asked, "Who’s there?" She wasn’t about to fall into that trap, which almost always ended up deadly.

  Of course, they were in a school, there must be people close by, at least someone studying in the library. Whoever this was would be a fool to try something out in the open like this. That fact didn’t keep her from feeling cautious.

  Willing herself to not let fear paralyze her, she took one stiff step forward. The shadow moved backwards this time. She took a second step. The arms of the dark obscure shape wiggled (like a worm) and she heard footsteps echoing down the hall.

  Hoping to catch who it was, she pushed herself forward, breaking into a run, but by the time she rounded the corner, there was no one in sight, the door to the library open, a few students quietly studying, their heads down, oblivious to any strange sighting of a shrouded figure playing hide-and-seek.

  She didn’t see Billy anywhere. To make herself visible, she found a seat near the entrance. With book open to the current lecture, she found a sharpened pencil and waited patiently and eagerly, but not too eagerly, for Billy.

  Less than a minute later, he was walking over to her, taking the chair to her left, and offering her the smile that took from her all reason.

  "Ready?"

  She merely nodded.

  Again, with the inability to speak, stumped by how quickly she was at a loss for words practically every time he was around.

  They spent the next hour working on two problems. Just two. Because that’s how terrible she was at this foreign language. She noticed, however, by the time that they were finished, she actually understood what she was working on.

  "I get it!" she shouted.

  "Shhh!" came the stern whisper from the librarian, Ms. White, a woman employed at her job for so long, she no longer could see the joy in it.

  Was it possible to find a career you never got tired of?

  "I believe it is."

  Raylee turned to her partner. “Huh?"

  "Acting, for one."

  She shook her head, lost in space, lost in the whole universe.

  That smile again.

  Now she lost her mind, all ability to think.

  "You wondered if it’s possible to find a lifelong career that’s enjoyable. I think it is. For me, it’s drama. What about you?"

  Her cheeks turned warm. She hadn’t realized that she’d spoken aloud. She’d have to get a pack of duct tape and bring it with her whenever she was around Billy.

  "The Russian language. I especially love Dostoyevsky."

  "Applied anywhere yet?"

  "Not yet, but I’m planning to apply senior year."

  "Do you see yourself doing that for the rest of your life?"

  "Yeah, I’ll probably have to apply at several every year, at least for a while."

  He laughed, a short sing-song laugh. "No, no, no. I mean, using Russian in your career."

  That darn heat flushed her face. "Oh, um, yeah."

  She started fiddling with her fingers. She already had PE with Billy, so he’d seen her comic act there, but when she was purposely trying to be funny, like in the play they would be doing, written by the same teacher from past years, would he find her funny then?

  "Well, I think you’re coming along well, especially for just our first session."

  There would be more?

  "I have a couple more students to tutor this afternoon. Tomorrow work for you?"

  She bobbed her head up and down, overwhelmed by the fact that he would be meeting her again, one-on-one.

  As they walked together outside, Raylee nearly flipped backwards as lightning zapped across the sky. Of course, it was fall, and rain was a normal part of the season, and Silver Canyon had its share of storms, but Raylee never felt prepared for them. Unfortunately, that terrible feeling, like danger was imminent, struck her as harshly as the lightning struck the heavens.

  Billy must have sensed the change in her for he paused and turned to face her, searching her face. "What’s wrong?"

  What could she tell him? That she never got over her childhood fear of storms and she didn’t know why? That the storms seemed to portend catastrophe? That she was convinced that someone was about to harm her?

  Maybe she’d been watching too many scary movies. Maybe the shadow she’d seen didn’t come from somebody lurking in the hallway, waiting for her. Maybe its erratic movements were not as threatening as they’d appeared.

  Only, that didn’t explain the mask left in her locker. Or the one at the Halloween event.

  Instead, she simply said, "I hate getting drenched."

  "Where’s your car?"

  She pointed down the nearest aisle. "Just over there."

  She noticed that when she wasn’t thinking about the fact that she was communicating with Billy Thurman, that she could actually talk like a normal human being.

  "I’ll walk you."

  She let him guide her. The rain came fast, and within seconds, it was getting inside of her shirt and running in tiny streams across her belly.

  Once Billy saw her to her car, as she was pulling out of the parking lot, lightning sizzled above in a quickly darkening sky.

  With the heater blasting at full speed, her body persisted in shivering. She started the engine. Glancing about her, expecting to spot Crystal, she was surprised to find Henry and David huddled in their jackets, standing just underneath the roof covering of the gym's side door.

  Henry was watching her, but he flicked his eyes away as soon as he realized she noticed him there.

  And Henry was there with Billy when she’d freaked out before. She remembered the terror that gripped her then. She felt some of that again now. Did Henry want to hurt her?

  He never really paid attention to her, not since that crude bet in the ninth grade.

  She felt so foolish, super glad she’d not spilled her real thoughts to Billy.

  She met him in the library a couple more times and felt her self-confidence bloom as she gradually mastered the algebraic concepts that had been mere puzzles before.

  ***

  Just three weeks before Homecoming, Ms. Cass's class performed the Christmas play. Working alongside Billy all those months had been a pleasant experience. He played the lead, and she was a minor character, one of a handful kids, but they got to share two scenes. It wasn’t much, but it was good enough for her. Knowing that he and Crystal had never been an item brought her some peace of mind, though her nerves around Billy refused to go away. Spending every day with him didn’t help, it only made her “illness” worse.

  The week before opening night, Mr. and Mrs. Thurman opened their house to the drama club. She was disappointed that she didn’t actually get to meet his parents; his dad was busy with some planning project for the city and his mom was in another part of the county showing houses.

  It seemed juvenile that she should be so moved just being in Billy’s home, but she found it comforting being surrounded by the place he spent a lot of his time. It was such a personal space, one’s home, and its presence made her feel close to him.

  At the meeting, the drama club discussed some last-minute touches to a few scenes, namely how the use of props needed to be changed in order to create a more comic approach. The title of the play was interesting to be sure: “Santa Claus Goes Trick-R-Treating." Billy played Santa, the jolly fat-bellied fellow who was accosted by costumed children throwing Christmas wish requests into his big red velvet bag. By the time he starts to stroll the neighborhood, his bag is so full of slips of paper that he can't fit any candy inside.

  A lot of things about the comedy didn’t make much sense, and Raylee wondered if anyone would actually laugh. She envisioned the curtain call consisting of splatted tomatoes on stage.

  But by the time opening night came about, Raylee’s confidence was at its peak. She could feel the energy of all of the cast members. They were pumped, they were laughing a
nd high-fiving. Spirits were higher than ever.

  She peeked through the curtain and spotted her parents and Paul. Her heart skipped, did a cartwheel, and splatted, like that dreaded tomato that was sure to come in the end.

  Ms. Cass was ordering everyone to their places. Raylee couldn’t remember where she was supposed to be, her stage makeup wasn’t on, and where were her shoes?

  "This way, Raylee," Ms. Cass, how she did it, Raylee didn’t know, spoke calmly as she pointed to the back room. "Makeup."

  Raylee nodded, hurrying to the little vanity where her makeup bag waited. Applying foundation across her face, she took in several deep breaths. Someone knocked on the window just to her right. She turned but saw no one. The knocking occurred again. No, it wasn’t a knock but a thrumming. Thunder. Of course.

  Sighing with relief, she brushed a bit of powder to her cheeks, closed the compact, and joined the group of kids. A moment later, Billy took the stage in his Santa suit, and Raylee's group rushed to clobber him with their Christmas wish lists.

  Raylee was dressed as a ghost, accompanied by a witch, a pirate, and a princess. Billy continued to shout his merry "ho-ho-ho" as he was chased left and right throughout the neighborhood. It must have been quite a sight to see for within seconds, the audience exploded into ecstatic laughter.

  After much chasing, Santa was finally alone, took a deep breath, and proceeded to pick up his velvet bag to go trick-or-treating, but when he opened it, it was so stuffed with papers that the bag could contain no more.

  Feeling down, Santa wandered around all alone. Raylee happened upon him, shouted "Boo!" and his bag opened up wide, papers flying everywhere. Raylee took off. But poor Santa didn't know what to do, and with head down, he slugged his bag over his shoulder and trudged down the street.

  "I don't understand this holiday. I thought I was supposed to go trick-or-treating and eat lots of candy," Santa said to himself. As he trudged the streets alone, Christmas music played in the background.

  A group of trick-or-treaters ran up to him. The pirate announced, "You aren't dressed up, you're supposed to dress up for Halloween."

  Looking surprised, Santa let out a jolly "Ho-ho-ho".