Agendas

by J. F. Jenkins

  “But we haven't danced yet,” Anj said. He gestured for Cheyenne's hand. “Just one, and then I promise we can leave. Don't even bother to try arguing with me, because I won’t step down until I have my way.”

  She still didn't take his hand. No matter how much he insisted, he couldn't change her mind on how she felt about dancing. She still hated it.

  Anj apparently didn't take no for an answer though. He reached down and grabbed Cheyenne's hand and yanked her out of the booth. “Up, now.”

  “Are you always this bratty?” Cheyenne asked with an annoyed eye roll. “It's sweet of you to offer, but I don't dance.”

  “Nonsense. Everyone dances,” he protested.

  Zes's eyes were on Jewl, who sat rigid in the booth. Her fists clenched at her sides, and her eyes were filled with a rage Cheyenne had never seen before. If Anj noticed this reaction from his ex, he didn't seem to care.

  “If she doesn't want to, maybe we should go. I'm tired. My body still hasn't gotten used to being back on school time and—” Zes made an attempt to save her, which she greatly appreciated, but Anj dragged her away from the table anyway.

  “Just one song. It won't be any longer than three minutes. That's hardly enough time to destroy your internal clock,” Anj said.

  “I can't dance though,” Cheyenne said.

  “Everyone can dance,” he insisted. “I believe you’re more referring to if you're good at it or not, but I don't care if you're good.”

  Once the two were on the dance floor, he placed his hands firmly on Cheyenne's waist and stared down at her with that increasingly familiar blue glow in his eyes. “Don't look so nervous. I won't let anything bad happen to you. You're safe here. Close your eyes. Relax. Let the world around us fall away.”

  “Anj, really, I…” But there was no point in arguing with him. One thing she was fast learning was that when he had his mind on something, he didn’t back down. She sighed and did as she was told.

  “Okay, my eyes are closed. Now what?”

  Without saying a word, Anj's grip on her waist tightened on her left side, and she could feel his right hand trace over her body toward her arm. Ever so gently, he lifted it up and placed her hand delicately behind his neck.

  “And now the other,” he whispered to her. “I don't feel you relaxing yet. It's perfectly okay to move closer. You'll feel more secure. Trust me. Let me lead you. You don't have to say a word, and you don't have to think about Jewl, about Zes, or about the other man who hurt you.”

  “How did you—”

  “Shh,” he said, and then they were dancing. It wasn't Cheyenne's first time dancing with a guy. She'd danced with a handful at various school activities. Most of them had been from her middle school years, so she was a little out of practice. But it was still a dance.

  In school, dancing had always been awkward. One partner generally didn't want to dance with the other, but the two would stick through the song and stay at a comfortable arm’s length away. Anj held her close. His body was warm and inviting and she had to fight off all thoughts of wanting him. He was only using her after all, but she was okay with it. She didn't like Jewl, so this was a way for her to get a jab in, as well.

  “That feels better,” he said. “Your body no longer feels like a coiled spring.”

  “I need to know how you know.” She opened her eyes again in hopes of stressing the urgency of the matter. She found herself falling deeper into his arms. Thoughts of Denver flooded back again at the mere mention of him. Surely if Anj knew, he might have answers for her others weren't willing to give.

  “If you must, I have yet another confession to make. Three months before your arrival, I had a dream involving him and a woman who was green. In the dream, he continually tried to overbear her, but in the end, she was much too strong for him to conquer. He would never cease his pursuit over her, nor win. I was told—” He paused for a moment and offered her a sad and weak smile. “My apologies, I'm not allowed to talk about what I was told. My point is, in the dream he had hurt her several times. I could never figure out what it meant, or rather, I couldn't until I heard about you through passing from the teachers. Then I saw you and I just knew.” He sighed. “I know you have a thousand different questions. I see a lot, but I don't understand it all. Please though, be comforted in the fact that you'll be okay in the end. That’s the long-winded point I'm trying to make.”

  She was indeed comforted by those words. This was possibly the first thing she'd heard since leaving home that made her feel safe. “With someone like you as a friend, I'm pretty sure everything will be okay too.”

  “Do not credit me for something you're doing on your own,” he said with a soft laugh. “Not to say I won't do what I can for you, but you are much more powerful than you realize. I'm content with simply being allowed to watch the show, and gloat in the fact that you're a nymph. They're a rare species around these parts, and the satyr blood in my family makes it easy for me to claim we're soul mates. Which of course—”

  “Will drive your ex mad,” she finished for him. “Zes was talking about it earlier, about the nymph thing I mean, and I sort of made the connection then.”

  “I suppose he would bring it up, now, wouldn't he.”

  “What's that supposed to mean?”

  Anj took the moment to spin her on the dance floor and then led her back into his arms. “I just know he enjoys a good ramble every now and then. It's endearing on occasion. Halyn was kind enough to inform me of what he said at the table while you were away. Your roommate is quite the talker, if you hadn't noticed.”

  “That seems to be a common trend for people around here,” she teased. “All I hear you do is talk.”

  “It's a good pastime.” He gasped mockingly. “Oh my, will you look at this? You're dancing. Imagine that. I thought you said you couldn't do it.”

  She rolled her eyes at him. “Thanks, Captain Obvious. Are you satisfied?”

  “Yes.” He kept one arm around her waist and gestured for her to lead them off the dance floor. “We've successfully danced our way through not one, but two songs, and carried on a meaningful conversation at the same time. Now, though, I believe you were right when you said it was a long day and it's time to be heading back to the dorms. Curfew will be soon. If you don't mind escorting me back to the table, that would be fantastic. I need to save what remains of my...” He paused and lowered his voice, leaning carefully into her ear so he could whisper, “…magic.” Then louder, once again, he added, “For my science homework. It's hard to draw diagrams accurately if I can't see.”

  “I want to hear more about it sometime.”

  “My science homework? I could just show you in the common room, but it's not interesting.”

  “No, the other thing you mentioned. I've seen it in action, and I wasn't sure how it worked or what you were even doing. Once again, you've got my interest piqued.” She could understand the sensitivity of the subject, and what could happen if the wrong ears overheard, so she didn't repeat the word.

  “There isn't much to tell. I have it, and on occasion I use it to make up for what I'm missing.”

  “So you can use it to see?”

  “For small amounts of time. I don't have a lot of...it...to use, so I need to prioritize. It regenerates over time, of course, but I wouldn't call it potent in power.” He shrugged as though it weren't a big deal. This was huge for Cheyenne. She'd never seen magic before she met him.

  “Why didn't you say something earlier? Why keep it a mystery?” she asked.

  “Because I like to guarantee you won't leave despite my unethical treatment of you.”

  “At least you're honest about it.”

  “And for some strange reason, you enjoy it.” They arrived at the table. “I'm satisfied. We can leave now.”

  Jewl stood first. “Thank you, oh gracious one, for giving us permission. Perish the thought of you ever being discontented.”

  Zes bit on his lower lip and shook his head, risking a glance betw
een Cheyenne and his brother. “Don't ask. You don't want to know.”

  “I'm sure King Know-It-All is already informed,” Jewl snapped as she walked away from the rest of the group.

  The brothers faced one another, or tried to, as Anj gave Zes a look in his general direction, and shrugged in unison. Soon the five of them were seated inside Zes's midsized sedan and on the road for home. Cheyenne stared out her window at the black forest surrounding them. Was it too soon to consider the school her new home?

  The place was still so foreign and strange to her, but the connections she was already establishing there in such a short period were mind-boggling to her. For the first time she wondered if maybe Anj had been speaking the truth when he had mentioned the two of them being soul mates. She certainly wasn't thinking about it in the romantic sense, but she couldn't help wondering if it was possible for a person to have the same kind of connection on a level of friendship. How else did someone explain the instant chemistry with her new friends?

  Chapter Eight

  Tuesday through Thursday flew by. Cheyenne's days were packed with enough to keep her distracted from thinking about her parents, and especially Denver. After all, that was what Saturday, when she saw Dr. Warhol, was for. The homework load was heavy on reading for the weekend, and that was all she planned to do.

  Curling up in her bed with a book of any kind felt appealing. She needed the time to digest the past week. The twins had brought up the idea of going into town again for some light shopping or maybe a movie. It sounded like fun, but she was in desperate need of some time alone. Her new active social life was beginning to wear her thin.

  Friday was supposed to be a perfect day. She had her usual classes, of course, but the weekend was near, and this gave her fuel for the day.

  She should have known something was up when she had seen Denver at the Old Union. After all, it couldn't have been a coincidence that he showed up there, nor should it have been a coincidence that Anj knew so much about what happened. Denver fit in well with the profile of students attending Vala.

  Still, she hadn't made the connection that the reason she saw him again was because Denver attended the school. Naturally, when he strolled into her third-hour chemistry class, she was more than a little shocked.

  Denver walked into the classroom fifteen minutes late. The teacher didn't seem to notice or care. No doubt this was a regular occurrence for him, and that was assuming he even bothered to show up at all. She hadn't seen him in the class on Tuesday or Wednesday. Skipping was no doubt frequent.

  He wore dark, thick sunglasses over his eyes. His clothing looked as if he had literally rolled out of bed and grabbed the nearest T-shirt and pair of jeans he could find on his floor. The blue “Transformers” vintage T-shirt he wore was lazily half tucked into his jeans, and he hadn't bothered to tie the laces on his sneakers. His hair hadn't been combed, and he had about a day’s worth of scruffy facial hair. Just as no one in the room acknowledged him, he did the same toward them. He walked to the back of the row closest to the door and sat down, directly behind Cheyenne.

  Staying focused was next to impossible for her now. Thankfully Halyn was in this class with her, so she had someone she could look to for support.

  Cheyenne scribbled a quick note to her roommate. He's here. Quickly, she passed it to Halyn, who sat next to her.

  The girl glanced up from her work and opened the twice-folded square of paper. She read over the words a few times and then stared between Cheyenne and Denver before writing her response and quickly tossing it back.

  No way, that's him? If he wasn't such a jerk, I’d say he's kind of cute. Are you going to say something? You should kick his butt!

  Cheyenne laughed at her friend's response and then quickly wrote back. What am I supposed to say to him? I don't think there's anything I can say. I doubt he even recognizes me. He isn't paying attention. Not like he was when I last saw him. I don't want to tell anyone else. If this got out, I don't know what people would do.

  What if he gave you rabies or something? Halyn replied quickly.

  I don't have rabies! Though the thought had crossed Cheyenne's mind several times. She hoped any symptoms of such a disease would have made themselves known by now.

  You never know. Maybe they're weird vampire rabies, or it could be an STD or something.

  I didn't have sex with him!

  You can still get AIDS without sex.

  Maybe, but I don't think it's an STD. Was that why her wounds weren't healing over? Had he given her some kind of rare blood-borne disease? At this point, anything could be a possibility.

  You need to talk to him. You need to talk to someone. Try Mrs. Orinda. She's not scary. I bet she would know something.

  I get a weird feeling she already does though. I think all the staff does. If they're not worried about it, I don't think I should be either.

  How do they know though? You didn't tell them.

  They know everything.

  Nobody knows everything.

  I'm pretty sure they do.

  Did you hear what she just said? I missed it thinking about how funny you are.

  Cheyenne couldn't help but roll her eyes. Thankfully, she had been paying enough attention to class to know. We're picking our lab groups. Finally!

  They were doing their first lab of the year. It would be a nice change of pace from the boring lectures. Chemistry class seemed to drag a lot worse than any of the others she had, but this may have had something to do with her not being good at science or math.

  Naturally, when it came time to form lab pairings Cheyenne and Halyn immediately clung to one another.

  “Everyone should be partnered up, no exceptions.” Mrs. Tibunous looked pointedly past Cheyenne. “Denver, are you awake?”

  “Yes,” he said with a grunt. “There's an odd number of students in the class. I guess I have to work alone again this year.”

  “No, actually you'll be joining the two girls you're sitting by.” The mousey, blonde teacher was referencing Cheyenne and Halyn. “See me after class, Denver.”

  “Yeah. Fine. Whatever.” He grunted again before leaning toward Cheyenne and Halyn. “I don't want to work with you. In fact, I don't want to do any work period. So this is how the semester is going to go: I come in as little as possible. You slap my name on all of our assignments. I get by with a D or C average, and you don't have to deal with being anywhere near me for an hour. If you mess with this plan, I make your life miserable.”

  “And you don't already?” Cheyenne mumbled under her breath. She refused to turn and face him.

  He leaned in extra close to her and whispered, “I make a special exception for you, princess.”

  She couldn't help but shiver, and she knew he enjoyed getting a rise out of her. He would enjoy it even more if he knew just how much of a rise he was actually getting. Her shiver had been fueled by desire more than fear. To cover it up, she let out a loud and disgusted sigh before pushing his face away from her. She couldn't stand having him breathe down her neck anymore.

  “You're a pig,” Halyn added.

  The remainder of the hour was spent trying to ignore him, but he wasn't the type of person who was easy to forget. When the bell freed them from their seats, the two fled the room and went off to their respective classes. For a moment, Cheyenne believed she was done with him for the day. One class was more than enough for her to tolerate him through. She should have known she didn’t have that kind of luck. Out of the five classes she had for the day, Denver was in three of them.

  She didn't even want to think about the three classes she took only on Mondays and Thursdays. Would he grace those classes with his sporadic appearance, as well? What made it worse was that he clung to her side for the sole purpose of tormenting her.

  “Why don't you go bother someone else now? Why are you following me around like a lost puppy? I thought you were afraid of me because I was a freak or something,” Cheyenne said as she cleaned up her books and shoved them int
o her bag after their last class of the day, Literature II. That was supposed to be Denver's cue to leave her alone, but instead he packed up his bag as well and waited for her to finish.

  “I'm pretty scared of the Ebola virus too, but I still think it's fascinating,” he replied with a smirk and folded his arms in front of him. “You take a long time to pack. Maybe if you didn't carry so much crap in your bag you'd have an easier time with it.”

  “No, you're missing the point of me taking a long time,” she explained coolly. The comparison between her and Ebola rolled right off her back and she continued with her business. She liked the disappointed pout he gave her. “I'm trying to bore you and give you the hint that I don't want you around anymore. Leave me alone now. You're already in every group activity for every class we share together. I don't want to deal with you any more than I have to.”

  “You can't deny my good-looking face.”

  She denied him by ignoring him, swinging her bag over her shoulder, and walking away from her desk. She didn't look at him. He pulled on her bag ferociously, nearly ripping it off her back, and made her stop to listen to him.

  “Don't walk away from me when I'm trying to talk to you. You're mine.” He snapped. His voice took on a darker tone, an almost inhuman sound. It didn't seem as if he had spoken loudly, but she must have been mistaken because everyone in the room and in the nearby hall stopped to look.

  Cheyenne would have punched him if she thought she could get away with it. Even if the teachers turned their eyes on the act, she was fairly certain he was the type of guy who wasn't afraid to hit, girl or not.

  “No, I'm not,” she snapped. “I don't belong to anyone, and you have a lot of nerve saying so.”

  “I know you're mine because you bleed for me. That's a theory I'll share with you another day, or better yet another night.” He was moving closer to her again. His hands threatened to touch her in an intimate way, but they held in place over her. Still, her imagination was vivid enough that she knew exactly what it would feel like to have him hold her. She hated him for putting the thought in her head. It was nice and made her feel awfully warm, and she hated that he could make her feel like this.