by Amy Richie
“Tyler?” He had tilted his head far enough to read the partially exposed schedule Lindsey had given us. “Is that Tyler Minx? Is that who you were talking about?”
“If it is?” I shrugged wildly. “Laney and I are friends, we’re allowed to talk about my boyfriend.”
“You’re dead,” Clark rudely pointed out. “You don’t have friends or a boyfriend anymore.”
“Me and Avery are friends.” At least Laney had more of a backbone when she was talking to her own sibling instead of mine. “She was just telling me about her life...before...”
“Before she got stabbed, you mean?”
“Yeah, Clark, before that.” Why was he always such a pain in the ass?
“I think you’re lying.” He opened the fridge and took out a can of pop.
“Ok.” My lips pursed in direct proportion to my eyebrows lowering. “You’re entitled to your opinion.”
“Why don’t you take your opinion somewhere else?” Laney flipped over the paper so he couldn’t keep stealing glances at it. She should have done that as soon as he walked in.
“You're going after Tyler, aren't you?” he asked bluntly.
Laney was no help; she looked like a deer caught in headlights as she shook her head in denial. “We're not going after anyone,” I straightened myself in the chair. “We're just ... looking into it a little more.”
“I'll help.”
“We don't need your help.”
He opened his mouth as if to argue, then shut it again. “Can I talk to you, Avery?”
“We are talking.”
“Outside.”
Laney's eyes were still wide when they met mine over the table. “Oh, alright,” I grumbled. What harm would it be to talk to him? It wasn't like we could avoid him; he lived in the same trailer as Laney. My face was still twisted in irritation as I got up and followed Clark out the door.
It was dark, but not cold. The summer air was humid and hot. The trailer didn't even have air conditioning, how could they stand it?
“What do you want?” I demanded, hiking my hands up on my hips. “We were actually really busy.”
“What are you planning with my sister?”
“The same thing we've always been planning,” I huffed. “To find out who killed me.”
“You promised you wouldn't get Laney involved.”
“No.” In my anger, I let my hands fall down by my sides. “I said I wouldn't involve her if you agreed to help.”
“And I did agree.”
“Then you left me.”
“I'm...sorry for leaving you at the cabin. I felt bad about it, but I...”
“Just...” I let my tongue glide across my bottom lip. “Just forget it, Clark. It doesn't even matter.”
“It matters.” His lips jutted out. “I should have never left you out there.” His eyes darted away from me. “Are you okay?”
I nodded. “I'm okay enough.” The truth was, both of us said things that we didn't mean. And I wanted Clark’s help. if I was being honest with myself, I wanted Clark’s help so that we would have a reason to hang out. I liked Clark, even if it made no sense; even if it went against the laws of nature.
“WHAT WERE YOU GUYS really doing in there,” he jerked his thumb in the direction of the trailer.
“Looking at Tyler's schedule.”
“His...?” Clark blinked several times. “How did you get his schedule?”
“Lindsey.”
His head jerked back as if I had actually hit him. “Your sister is helping you? You told her that you're still here?”
“She sort of gave us no choice.” Lindsey was good at not giving people choices; it was her way or no way.
“Well I'm not going to either.” He raised his chin several notches. It was nothing compared to Lindsey but it was something. It helped that I didn't want to have a choice.
“IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE they come here every single day,” Laney scowled, shifting for a more comfortable position on the metal bleachers.
“Not every day, just the weekdays. And it’s only a few hours in the mornings.”
“That's a lot. I don't think I've ever been so dedicated to anything in my life.”
“If you want to be the best, you have to work hard.” That's why Clark and his family lived in a trailer on the outskirts of town with the other losers and my family lived where we lived. That's why I had led the cheerleading squad since my freshman year and Clark was sneaking peeks in the girls locker room. I worked hard – at everything. Contrary to Clark's belief, nothing was handed to me.
“I guess,” she sighed. “But I'm ok with not being the best.”
“Excuse me?”
“I'm serious, I just want to be average. I'm fine with that.”
“No one is fine with being average.” What was wrong with this girl. The lanky hair, pale skin, chewed nails. I had thought it was just bad luck but maybe I was wrong. “You know what makes me mad?”
“What?”
“I'm going to miss my entire senior year. I worked so hard and now I have to miss it.”
“I just want to get threw my senior year. Graduate and find an online college. I can't wait for it to be over.”
How could she say something like that to me? Especially since she knew how much it meant to me to be missing mine. Before I could get too upset, Laney's pocket began to chirp.
“It’s Lindsey,” Laney announced, reading the text message to herself.
“Lucky she gave you that phone, huh?” I chewed on the inside of my lip. It wasn’t Laney’s fault, of course, but I didn’t like the excitement I saw in her eyes when my sister paid attention to her. Everyone was like that with Lindsey; I couldn’t see why.
“She wants us to meet her at Louie’s.” She turned questioning eyes to me. “Is that a friend of yours?”
“The diner uptown,” I corrected with a scowl. It was hard to explain why I was irritated. “Tell her no.”
“What?” Laney clutched the phone to her chest, as if she were afraid I was going to snatch it from her and send the text myself. She didn’t need to worry though, I was almost positive that I wouldn’t have been able to. The Reaper had been right about the world becoming harder to touch.
“We’re busy, we don’t have to go running because Lindsey says so.”
“Well, I mean...”
“Do you want to go?”
“We should see what she wants.”
“I’m sure she can tell us later. Or she can just text it.” I settled myself further onto the bleacher. “We need to stay and watch Tyler.”
“It’s not like he’s going to admit to killing you right here in front of everyone.”
“Obviously.”
“So we should...”
“Whatever.” I pushed myself up with a grunt. “I’m sure it’s something ridiculous but we can go if you want to.”
As Laney fumbled with her bag and the phone and her nerves, I glanced down the field at Tyler. He was standing on the sidelines, not practicing at all. Instead, he was staring directly at us. Well, I amended my thoughts, he was staring at Laney.
He couldn’t see me.
Chapter Three
Lindsey had ordered a piece of apple pie and a coffee, like she always did, but she hadn’t taken a bite and I knew she hated the taste of coffee. It was a grown up order that she had been getting since I was fifteen and she had first gotten her license. Lindsey was all about appearances.
“Anything happen at the field?”
Laney shook her head. “He was there, practicing.”
“Ask Avery if he did anything unusual,” she ordered briskly. “You wouldn’t know if he did or not.”
Jaw still clenched, I shook my head stiffly. “Same as usual.”
“She said he was the same.”
“Hmmm.”
“Is that why she made us come here?”
“Is that...?”
“My birthday party is this weekend.”
Laney blinked slowly.
/>
“You and Avery have to come, obviously.”
“I don’t think I can,” she breathed. “I’ve never been to a party before.”
Lindsey clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth, disgusted. “Everyone is going to be there, including Tyler. It’ll be a casual event so we might be able to lure him into letting something slip. It’s probably our best opportunity.”
Lindsey’s birthday party was never a casual event. The girls spent more on the party dresses than they did on their prom dresses. Laney would never be comfortable in that crowd.
“I really don’t...”
“Tell her we’ll come only if Clark can come too.” Lindsey would never agree to it, and even if she did – at least Laney would have her brother there with her to make her feel better.
“Clark Can’t?” Lindsey scowled when Laney explained my condition.
“Linds.”
“Ok,” she held up her hand as soon as Laney opened her mouth, “he can come to. But tell Avery that she better make sure he’s dressed appropriately.”
“WHY WOULD YOU TELL her I would come to some fancy party?” Clark scowled deeply, creating lines along his forehead and around his eyes.
“My mom always says making faces like that will give you premature wrinkles.”
Letting out a deep sigh, he put down some metal tool that I couldn't name and popped his head out from under the hood so he could frown more clearly at me. He was always working on that car, I was surprised it hadn't gotten boring yet. Or maybe it had but he was just too stubborn to give it up.
“The party?” He cocked one eyebrow on his lined forehead.
“It might be fun,” I shrugged. Probably not though.
“No way,” he shook his head fiercely. “I'm not going.”
“You don't have to.”
“Thank you.”
“But me and Laney are going with or without you.”
He took a step back from his car. “She agreed to go?”
“Yeah but it would be nice for her if you were there to.”
“Is this going to be like Jimmy Vale's party? Will someone else be killed?”
“No,” I rolled my eyes. “There will be no drunk kids in the woods taking each other's clothes off. My parents will be there, along with some of their friends. And they usually invite the press, but this year...”
“This year will be even worse,” Clark finished for me. “Everyone will want to see how the Lewis family is coping with the loss of their bright young star.”
I didn't smile. “So it would be good if you came, for Laney's sake.”
“You only want me to come for Laney?” He finally grinned, even if it was accompanied by a stupid wink.
“She's your sister, Clark.” No matter what, I was going to keep a straight face. This was not going to turn into some cutesy flirtation session.
“I'm a little disappointed.” He ran his hand along the edge of the rusty car.
Seriously, he would be lucky not to get a metal shaving stuck in his hand. I crossed my arms over my chest. “That's life for you.”
“What if I say yes?”
“You'll come to the party?” I knew he would come around.
“If I do?” He took a few more steps towards me.
“What is it that you want?” I could barely suppress my grin as I glanced up at him from under my lashes.
“If I agree to go to your party...”
“Lindsey's party.”
“If I agree to go to Lindsey's party, then you have to go to the creek with me.”
“The creek?”
“Right now,” he nodded.
My heart sped up. “I'm not going to that creek.” I swallowed hard. “We're busy, you always want to go off and play at the worst times.”
He came closer until he could put his hands on my hips. “I thought you liked to play,” he teased.
Heat tickled up my neck and spread out along my cheeks. “Depends on the game.”
“Creek?” He wriggled both eyebrows. “Just say yes.”
“Alright,” I rolled my eyes dramatically but the smile I had been denying spilled out across my lips. “But only if you agree to Lindsey's party.”
“Did you ever doubt I would?”
“Not really.”
DUCKING MY HEAD, I pushed my hair back behind my ears. The creek was nice; summer was almost over so it wasn't as hot in the late afternoon.
“At least it's not to hot,” Clark noted nervously.
“Only old people talk about the weather.”
“I'm eighteen, not exactly a kid anymore.”
“Well I'm seventeen,” I shrugged. “So I'll refrain from the weather comments.”
Chuckling, Clark pulled me close to his body. “So, Princess,” he growled next to my face, “is there something else you'd rather discuss?”
“Do you know anything about politics?”
“No.”
“Me either,” I laughed, ducking out of his embrace and moving to sit on our branch from last time.
Clark sat next to me with an audible grunt. “I still feel bad about leaving you out at the cabin.”
“I feel bad too – about what I said.”
“We were both stupid. I wish we would have found something out there.”
“Someone in this town killed me. I'll figure it out.”
“We will figure it out,” he corrected forcefully.
“I had a vision that day.” If I wanted his help, I needed to tell him everything I knew.
“What kind of vision?”
“The killer chased me through the woods that night and then stabbed me.”
“Did you see that in your vision?”
“Yeah.”
“Who was it? Did you see?”
“If I saw, we wouldn't be following Tyler around.”
“Right.” His shoulders slumped.
“Like you said,” I wriggled my eyebrows dramatically, “we'll figure it out together.”
Clark allowed himself a small smile. “If I hadn't left you...”
“If you hadn't left me,” I cut off his self inflicted punishment, “I would have never had that vision.”
“Yeah but what good was the vision,” he snorted. “All it did was scare the shit out of you. It's not like you saw the killer.”
“I saw other things though.” Suddenly tired of all the talk about my death, I jumped to my feet and approached the creek.
“Be careful.”
“I'm already dead,” I scoffed. “What's the worst that can happen?”
The creek wasn't deep but it was deep enough that someone had decided to prop a log across it to form a bridge. Whether alive or dead, I didn't want to get wet.
With as much care as my years of cheer leading could muster, I pranced up on the log bridge. The first step was ok, the second was a little shaky. By the third I was already falling and and by the fourth Clark had his arms around me – stopping me from falling down completely.
“Whoa,” he breathed, his face just a few inches from my surprised face.
“I almost fell,” I chuckled.
“I got you,” he whispered.
“I see that,” I whispered back.
Then his lips were on mine. It wasn't the slow motion I had come to expect from the movies – it was even better. When his tongue pressed against my lips, I let them part so he could explore the inside of my mouth. It was like nothing I had ever experienced before.
He pulled away slowly so we could stare at each other – both our chests heaving.
“That was ...” I cleared my throat lightly.
“Unexpected.”
We both laughed.
“I wish we were friends before.”
Clark's shoulders shook with amusement as he steadied me. “Your crowd would have never allowed it.”
“My crowd didn't tell me what to do.” Neither of us said anything, we both knew that was a lie.
“Anyways,” I shrugged, following Clark back to t
he safety of our tree, “I'm glad you and I share a cupcake.”
His eyes crinkled with the width of his smile. “What does that even mean?”
“It means,” I turned to face him, “I'm glad it was you that could see me.”
“I'm not the only one.”
“Why can't you just take a compliment?”
“I guess I'm just not used to those lips complimenting me.” He brushed his thumb over my bottom lip.
“I think,” I craned forward to kiss his partially opened lips, “that you better get used to these lips doing different sorts of things.”
Clark burst out laughing. “Careful, Princess. That sounds an awful lot like an indecent proposition.”
My tongue clicked against the roof of my mouth. “You're so gross.”
“You said it,” he chuckled again.
I had always thought I was a happy girl – living the dream. Dating the most popular boy in school; and by far, I was the most popular girl in school. It was starting to feel like some of that was fake – I just wasn't sure how much.
Being with Clark, I felt like a different person. I liked it.
“Just wait til tomorrow.”
“Why,” he wriggled his eyebrows suggestively. “What are you going to do tomorrow?”
“We,” I drew an imaginary line between us, “are going shopping for a party outfit.”
“Oh,” he groaned, “why did you have to ruin a good time?”
My laughter filled the air.
CLARK'S TOE WAS TAPPING out a wild staccato on the clean white tiles. He hopped up from his chair and crossed to a window and then sat back on the cushioned seat.
“What is wrong with you?” Laney snapped, almost as nervous as her brother.
“What is wrong with you two?” I grinned, flipping through a rack of dresses. “You act like you've never been inside a store before.”
“Not a store like this.” Laney cringed low. Maybe she was expecting debris to fall from the ceiling.
I felt my forehead crinkle. “What's so different about this store?”
“They only sell dresses,” she hissed.
“On this side,” I clarified. “Shoes and bags are through there.” It was brilliant really – sell the dress and then sell the matching accessories in the same place. If I wouldn't have been murdered, I might have wanted to own a store like this.
