by Eros, Marata
I ripped my pulse out of my back pocket and it clattered to my floor.
Damn thing.
It was so light, sometimes it flung itself all over the place when I got it out. I thought about Smith's and how great it would be to have a pulse that had the hover feature. You drop your phone and no big deal, it slaps back on your hip without dropping. Sweet.
I depressed the pad and thought: Jade LeClerc.
Initializing.
Hi.- JLeC
Hi. I'm home now—no homework—wanna get together? - CH
Yeah! But...
What? -CH
Brett and Carson and some other kids are hanging out in the neighborhood and it might... ah, cause problems.- JLeC
I didn't like that whole pack of dogs over there sniffinʼ around Jade.
Caleb, you're not lifting your thumb...
Oops. I lifted then depressed again.
I guess ya know how I feel then.- CH
I always have.- JLeC
Right, Empath.
Anyway, let me bring more people then.- CH
I don't want a brawl—any violence or whatever.- JLeC
There won't be, I swear! -CH
Is Jonesy going? - JLeC
Pause in pulse communication.
Maybe.- CH
That's what I'm talking about.- JLeC
Nothing will happen if they don't start something.- CH
I know you won't start anything, but, our group, as a whole, is awfully good at finishing things. -JLeC
She had a point there.
K, here's the thing, I'll pulse the world and tell them the parameters, come over so we can hang out and it'll all be okay. -CH
reluctance ... K.- JLeC
I really want to see you.- CH
Me too, Caleb. -JLeC
And another thing...I can't protect you if something goes wrong if I'm the only dude in a pack of wolves...you got me? - CH
Why does it always come down to that? You protecting me? - JLeC
Cuz you're the girl and I'm the guy...it's part of my job description laughs - CH
Not real funny, Caleb. -JLeC
Don't worry about it, Jade. I love you, I don't ever want to see you hurt. And I'm trying not use the Zombie Enforcers shrugs - CH
****
I shrugged out of my clothes and bundled them up, hesitating just a second, I finally threw the whole mess in the hamper (I only had dirty clothes in there now). The fragrant, eau de zombie cologne clung to them and I didn't think Jade would think that was manly.
I opened my closet and had exactly two things hanging in it, over the hanger pole-thing, not on actual hangers. I grabbed the jeans and ancient T-shirt with a jerk, ripping it off the pole and the thing clattered to the bottom of the closet with a rattling bang.
“What was that?” I heard Mom yell from downstairs.
I picked the pole-thing up, putting it back in the plastic cups and heard Mom coming up the stairs.
Crap.
She knocked and immediately walked in and I wondered if the knocking really did anything? I mean, seriously? If you're just gonna barge in...
She looked at me, then wrinkled her nose, putting her hand to her mouth. Mom glanced over at Onyx, who had his nose stuffed in my dirty clothes hamper, his tail swinging back and forth.
The Boy's clothes smelled very interesting today, the Dog thought. The Boy had been around dead things and the Dog wanted to know more . The Dog pressed his nose to the fragrant smells again, as a point-of-fact, if The Dog dug down further... he might be able to find more interesting smells...
“Your room reeks like graveyard again, Caleb.”
Huh.
“That's because I was at one with Garcia and Gale, Mom.”
“Ah-huh. But why does your room smell bad?”
Great, as explanations went, I wasn't interested in Mom freaking out over another Zombie Episode.
“There was some trouble at the cemetery...”
Mom's eyebrows dropped like a brick over her eyes and I rushed on before a mondo-rant could start. “We had a Null, Mom. It was fine.”
“It doesn't smell fine, Caleb,” she said.
She spared a glance at Onyx, who was now digging enthusiastically through my heap of dirty underwear.
Why do dogs always like the sickest smells?
I sighed. I was standing there in my boxers with my new clothes in my arms. “Can we talk about this later? I told Jade I was gonna pick her up soon,” I said, pointedly looking at the clean clothes I was holding.
“ Going ,” Mom corrected me. “I want the full scoop later, pal.” She pointed a finger at me. “And your father will too.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine.”
She turned and I followed her, Onyx trotting reluctantly after us. I watched my footing down the stairs, which were dimly lit and steep. “Where are you going tonight?” Mom asked.
Details, details.
“Bry's going to pick me up and we're all dropping by Jade's house. And then, I don't know, I hadn't thought that far ahead. I haven't seen Jade much since school started and now this police thing...”
Mom glowered, she was handling Bry's hunk-of-shit car situation better now that she had Met The Parents. That seemed to always crank her down a notch if she was freaking about a new kid. My parents needed to trust me more, I mean, would I hang out with losers?
Really?
After my shower, I threw on my clothes, brushed my teeth and flew out of the bathroom. Bry and Tiff were already there and the Js stormed into the house a minute later.
“Where's Alex and Sophie?” I asked.
“We're pickinʼ em up,” Jonesy said, staring past me into the kitchen.
Bry laughed. “You're always on the prowl for grub, man.”
Jonesy looked at him. “And you're not?”
He had him there.
Bry crossed his arms and Mom came out of the kitchen with a plate full of cookies. Thank God for that.
We dug in.
After three cookies, Bry commented, “Aren't we supposed to get going to Jade's?”
Oh crap! Yeah!
“Hang on, I gotta brush the teeth again.”
Jonesy gave me a speculative look. “What's with all the big-time hygiene fetish, Hart?”
“Girlfriend,” Tiff and Mom said at the same time.
Bry barked out a laugh and Tiff's eyes narrowed. “I wouldn't talk, Bry. What about Barbie?”
He returned her glare. “That's not her name, ya squirrel, so shut-up.”
“Hey!” Mom said.
We all turned to her while I was mid-stroke on my teeth. “No shut-up talk allowed,” she glowered at us, hands on hips.
The Wellers looked chastised. “Sorry,” Bry mumbled, looking at me like, wow, dude, is this the word-maze you live in?
Welcome to my world.
It's not like Mom had five other kids to distract her or something. No-oh. She had plenty of time to concern herself over phrasing.
Teeth finally cleaned we took off down the stairs, piling into Bry's car and Jonesy said, “We pick up Soph next, I don't want Alex sitting on my lap.”
“You just like her butt, Jones,” Tiff said uncharitably.
Jonesy winked. “I do like booty and she has a fine one,” he expounded. “But,” he said, holding up a finger, “I don't want a dude on my lap.”
“Homo-phobe-much,” Tiff said.
Jonesy shrugged like, ya caught me.
We swung into Sophie's driveway and she was saying something to her mom who didn't look a thing like her. She was dark like Jonesy. Sophie turned, waving to us. Her smile slipped a little as she surveyed us all packed in there like sardines. Thankfully, her mom had gone back inside and maybe didn't notice the restraint harness issue.
There weren't enough .
“Where am I going to sit?” she asked.
Jonesy waggled his eyebrows and she sighed but, it seemed like she was faking it. I was just wondering when these two were going to proclai
m their couple-dom. Jonesy spent most his time denying he liked Sophie and watching her butt constantly, and she spent a lot of time making him feel stupid, which was futile because Jonesy had enough self-esteem for the universe. She'd never put out his self-love fire.
She succumbed to his charms, sitting on his lap and he made a big groan about how heavy she was and Sophie elbowed him and they grinned like the idiots they were. Brother.
Alex was last and his neighborhood was right next to Jade's and Brett's. It was a little bit better off and didn't have that distinctive, ghetto-vibe but it was still questionable.
He was already waiting outside in his polo shirt, glasses sliding all over his face, and glaringly white tennis shoes.
A fashion disaster. But damn , was he strong.
He shoe-horned himself in between the Weller siblings and being as he was about one hundred pounds, they managed.
“So tell me,” Bry said.
I threw my elbows over the middle of the front seat, which took some doing, with the Jonesy-Sophie sandwich on one side and John's bony parts digging into mine.
“I wanted to see Jade and with school and the police thing—”
“Yeah, tell us about that,” Jonesy said.
“We're not supposed to, numbnuts,” Tiff said.
“Hey,” he mumbled behind Sophie's hair. “Stop busting my balls over this, I wanna know details.” He blew a chunk of her hair out of the way and shot Tiff the, get screwed look.
She turned around in a huff with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Anyway,” I said slowly, giving them The Look, “she said Brett, Carson and a bunch of their friends were at Brett's, and she thought it'd be bad if I came over.”
“Probably got that right,” John said in his sure way.
“They're asshats, it's their plan to make people miserable,” Jonesy announced.
I leaned back and he turned around. Tiff had dropped her arms and was listening. “Carson Hamilton? Are you kidding? He was bad before he could torch-the-world but now... wow .”
“He still needs an accelerant, right?” John said.
Alex nodded. “But a jerk like that—hell, he'll do anything to get what he needs.”
“Hate to break it to you guys but their little posse has expanded,” Bry said.
Silence filled the car.
“Who?” I asked.
Bry shifted in his seat, suddenly uncomfortable.
“Spit it out, Bry,” Tiff said.
I looked over at Jonesy who had his arm around Sophie and she leaned back against him. Kinda cozy.
“Christi’s brother, for one,” Bry continued.
Tiff slapped her forehead.
Who was that?
Tiff elaborated, “ Barbie .”
Oh her , that figures. She was a bitch on wheels so her brother must be terrific, or whatever the counterpart was to that. Huh.
“Who's she?” Sophie asked reasonably.
“She's a chick my brother digs that has the same IQ as Mick’s hamster,” Tiff said, smacking her wad of gum.
“Who's Mick?” John asked, trying to keep the cast of characters straight. It had a way of unraveling.
“My little brother, Michael,” Bry said.
“That kid I saw today?” I asked.
“No, it's another one,” Tiff answered.
Geez.
Jonesy waved this away. “Who cares about the girl? What does her brother have to do with anything? Who gives a ripe, hairy rat's ass?”
A grin slowly unfolded on Tiff's face and Alex shook his head, saying, “You've got a way with words, Jones, I'll give ya that.”
Jonesy smiled. He knew it.
Bry dropped the bomb, “He's a fire-starter too, and he's older.”
“More control. More finesse,” John said.
“Yeah,” Alex agreed with resignation.
“This can't be good,” I said. “And I don't like those assclowns being around Jade.”
Jonesy looked at me. “Don't worry, Brett won't let anything happen to her.”
I whipped my head around to him and I heard John sigh.
“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked him, my heart speeding.
Jonesy shrugged. “Just what I've been hearing around.” He twirled a finger in the air and Sophie avoided my eyes.
“Sophie,” I all but yelled, and she flinched, Jonesy narrowing his eyes at me. “What's going on?”
“Well, she didn't want to cause trouble,” she began.
I was gonna maim him if he'd done something to Jade.
She saw my expression and shrank back from me some, and Jonesy said, “Cool it, Hart. It's not Sophie, dude, it's Brett. Keep your focus.”
Right.
I mentally told myself to calm down.
It sure wasn't working.
She continued, “He's been trying to see her lately.”
“When?” I barked out and Jonesy gave me a warning glare.
“Sorry,” I said. “When?”
“Just since your Grampsʼ house.”
Oh nice, the middle finger parade and screech-out-of-there episode .
“What does any of that have to do with Jade?”
Sophie shook her head. “We don't know exactly but she just tells him she thinks it's better if they don't talk.”
But it was in her eyes.
“What else?” I said tersely.
“He's been hanging around her bedroom window.”
Eff-me.
“Dude, he's some kinda perverted stalker-type,” Jonesy said helpfully.
Yeah, that.
“Maybe he's just trying to apologize,” Alex said.
We all looked at him.
“Or maybe not,” he said.
Brett was definitely not the apologetic type.
“So, to recap this dandy little disaster,” John began, and I raised an eyebrow at his words, “we have Brett stalking Jade, your brainless girlfriend's older brother has taken Carson the Corrupt under his wing and he is a how-many-points-fire-starter?”
Bry held up five fingers.
Perfect.
“Any more good news, Bro?” Tiff asked caustically.
He was quiet for a minute and that made me nervous-as-hell.
“Yeah, it looks like Carson's got a girlfriend.”
God— who'd go out with him?
“No accounting for taste,” Alex said.
No shit.
Bry pulled up to Jade's place and we sat in the sweltering, cramped car when he expounded, “She's AFTD.”
Oh, just beautiful .
Tiff turned around and looked at me, staring at each other we thought about that group of kids, growing larger. And the disquiet of having one of our own on their side.
Who was it? I thought as I exited the car, the door squealing on its hinges and hanging at a crooked angle.
Just then, Jade bounded out the front door, the glare of the sun blinding us like bleached bones off its whiteness, twilight beginning to encroach, shrouding the bushes that clung to the foundation.
She looked into my face and knew in about three and half seconds something was terribly wrong.
Part of it was that we had a new threat and she hadn't told me about it.
CHAPTER NINE
Jade slowed as she drew closer, her face searching mine. “What?” she asked.
My arms were crossed over my chest. I had a fleeting thought that a fight with my girlfriend was not on my to-do list but I needed a little damn help when it came to protecting her.
Jade not telling me about Brett wasn't helping.
She was hard to be mad at, though. I eyed her up, digging on how awesome she looked in her tight green T, and bright white zippered hoodie. My anger wavered. Then I thought about what the potential of Brett was and it solidified again.
“Sophie told me about Brett.” I said simply, my anger at her dishonesty-by-omission making my body stiff.
The others stood around the car, awkwardly trying to loo
k anywhere but at us.
“Oh Caleb,” she said, approaching me.
I stepped back.
If she touched me, I was toast. She hesitated, and dropped the hand that had been reaching out for me. “I didn't want to say anything. It's no big deal.”
No big deal.
“It is a big deal. Brett is seriously effed-up and just wants someone to be sympathetic. It doesn't need to be you.”
“I don't want to be mean and I do feel bad for him,” she said, her eyes pleading with me.
My heart twisted.
I hoped she wasn't touching him to get the Brett-intel. ʼCuz I wasn't down with that. How could she feel bad after what went down last year?
She stuffed her hands in her pockets. “Please, Caleb, it's just not in me to treat him bad. He hasn't tried to hurt me.”
Yet.
Suddenly, we heard scuffling and raised voices, and turned at the same moment.
Through the portal of the open gate I could see my friends facing off with Carson and Brett who stood at the edge of Jade's fence perimeter. Two guys flanked the assclowns, Ceci (from my AFTD class) and Barbie were also there.
I looked at Bry and could see from his face he was battling emotion. Here was his hot (bitchy with a capital “B”) girlfriend who had showed up in the battle zone with her brother .
Things were not looking up.
Jade and I looked at each other, our unfinished business lingering between us uneasily, and walked out of the gate together.
I was immediately struck by how much older the other two guys were. Juniors? I didn't know for sure but I was damn glad that I had gone to Judo practice even when I wanted to do everything else instead. Last year made me realize a few things: I wouldn't always have the dead at my back, that my friends, and Jade needed me to be more.
More than just a puppet master of the dead.
Bry, the Js and Alex moved up behind me and the girls behind them.
A silence filled the void of the moment, the lot of us guys taking the measure of one another, the older two guys looking over Bry the longest.
The one on Carson's right said, “Why are you slumminʼ, Weller? Gotta hang out with the kiddies?”
Barbie (okay Christi, I thought reluctantly), glared at him and said, “Don't jump his crap, Brody. He's with his sister, right baby?”
