"Why don't you grab some paper towels up there," her mother said.
Monica obeyed, lifting two large rolls off the shelf and tossing them into the cart. "Anything else?" she asked, already getting bored.
As her mom was contemplating this, Monica caught out of her periphery, a long arm reaching over her to grab a paper towel.
"Excuse me," said the familiar voice.
Then she heard her mother say, "Hello, Mr. Dixon."
Monica stiffened when she turned to look at her handsome Civics teacher who was holding a basket.
"Oh, hi, Mrs. Blake," he said coolly. "Monica. Sorry, my head was in the clouds. I hardly noticed you."
Her mother grinned. "We understand. It's easy to become preoccupied when shopping."
"Exactly." He grinned back at her, only glancing at Monica.
"So I take it my daughter is doing well in your class this semester."
"Oh absolutely," he said, looking at Monica longer now. "She's one of my brightest students."
"I'm happy to hear that," her mother said. "Getting good grades is obviously a priority with college right around the corner."
He lowered his chin. "I couldn't agree more."
"I think I'll go get some apples," Monica said to her mother.
I'll be over in the baking goods aisle," she told her, then continued talking to Mr. Dixon.
Monica walked over several aisles to the fruits and vegetables section, sure that he would follow her there.
She was playing with the apples when he walked up to her. "What are you doing here?" she asked in a low voice, not pleased to see the teacher she had been having an off and on affair with.
"Shopping just like you," he said, tossing a couple of red apples in his basket for effect.
She gazed up at him doubtfully. "We really shouldn't be talking outside of school. What if someone sees us?"
"Then they'll see a teacher who just happened to run into one of his students—no big deal."
Monica was surprised that he seemed to be taking this so lightly, as though people couldn't figure out that something was going on between them. She knew her parents would kill her and prosecute him if they ever found out.
"I should go now," she told him, not wanting to risk her mother seeing them talking and somehow putting two and two together.
"Wait..." Vince Dixon said, gently holding her elbow. "I wanted to ask you about these rumors floating around school regarding people seeing Noah Snyder—"
Monica tensed at the thought. "Actually, it's not people, it's one person in particular who says she's seen someone claiming to be Noah."
He studied her. "Who's been saying this?"
"The new girl—Paige Preston."
"Paige..." he said, as if trying to place her.
"She's in your Civics class," Monica pointed out.
He nodded. "Ah yes—Paige."
Monica wondered if he was attracted to Paige the same way he was to her. A twinge of jealousy came over her. She hadn't gotten any indication from Paige that she was attracted to Vince. But then she hadn't exactly broadcast her attraction to and involvement with him, not wanting to get either of them in trouble.
Trouble had followed them around nevertheless as some secrets were hard, if not impossible, to keep even if only one person knew.
"Obviously Noah's dead," Monica said, as if to convince herself. "Whoever Paige has been talking to, he's a creep."
"I agree." Vince looked around uneasily and back at her. "So who would want to play this warped game with Paige?"
"I have no idea," Monica said, rolling her eyes.
"Maybe you should ask her," he said.
"Maybe you should," she countered. "If this guy knows about us, you have just as much to lose as I do."
"No one knows," Vince said confidently. "Not unless Noah Snyder has truly come back from the dead. We both know that isn't possible."
"Right," Monica agreed. She had attended his funeral just like practically everyone else at Dead Lake High. That didn't mean she wasn't unnerved about someone pretending to be him to the girl who now lived in Noah's house. It was almost as though he still had a score to settle and was using her to do it, bizarre as that sounded.
"Keep me posted," Vince told her, as though he expected her to spy on Paige, "regarding anything else you happen to pick up on this. It could be a student looking for some attention in the wrong way."
"I will," she agreed, even though she didn't want to do anything that might draw further attention to them and Noah's knowledge of their affair.
Vince smiled at her and said softly, "I miss you."
"I miss you, too," Monica admitted.
"You could come by my place this weekend. I'll be grading papers, but would gladly find time for you."
While she liked the idea, Monica wouldn't make any promises. "I'll try, but my parents keep me on a pretty tight leash these days."
He frowned. "Well, if you can make it, I'll leave the door unlocked."
"Okay." She gave him a little smile. "Better go now."
Vince smiled back at her, took a bite out of an apple, and walked away.
Monica looked at him briefly, before grabbing several apples as her mind took her back in time...
* * *
She was at Vince's apartment and they were on the couch making out.
"You're so beautiful," he told her.
Monica loved being told that, especially by him. The fact that he thought she was beautiful, and was older and more mature than other guys she had dated, made him all the more desirable as her teacher and now lover.
She put her all into the kiss and allowed him to begin undressing her, as she started to take his shirt off.
They stopped midstream and resumed kissing, as if the need was too strong to resist.
Afterward she got dressed, needing to get home before her parents grew suspicious.
"We can't let anyone find out about us," Vince said, as if reading her mind as he walked her to the door.
"I know," she told him.
He grinned. "So, I'll see you in school tomorrow."
"Yes—unless you decide to call in sick."
"I'm never sick," he said. "Certainly not sick of you."
She showed her teeth. "Glad to hear that. I feel the same way."
He tilted his head and gave her another kiss.
It was she who broke away. "Goodbye, Mr. Dixon," she told him formally, and also to remember to be on that track when she saw him in school.
Out in the hallway, she locked eyes with Noah Snyder, who had apparently just come out of the apartment across the hall.
Monica's first instinct was that she'd been caught. But rather than panic, she decided that maybe he wouldn't be able to read between the lines.
But something in her knew better than that.
* * *
"There you are," her mother said, snapping Monica back to the present. "When you didn't come to the baking goods section, I had to come find you."
She tried not to give away her fears and secrets. "Sorry, it took me longer than I thought to find some fruit that didn't have yucky bruises." She put the bag of apples in the cart.
"We certainly wouldn't want that." Her mother smiled. "So are we ready then?"
Monica looked down the long aisle and saw Vince at the end rounding the corner. She smiled. "Yeah, I'm ready."
CHAPTER TEN
Paige was standing in the hall before class with Bonnie and Tabitha. Though they seemed to welcome her hanging out with them, she couldn't help but think she was the third wheel. Still she wouldn't freak out that they were a couple and might not have room for a straight friend who was hoping to meet a guy for romance. She wouldn't rush it though, since she had the rest of the school year for that to happen.
Things could move in that direction with Drew, assuming she could get past the ominous warnings from the phony Noah that she should be careful with Drew, without any specifics.
"Are you going to the stude
nt dance next Friday?" Bonnie asked her.
Paige had heard about it. "Not sure." She remembered the last social gathering she attended did not end as well as she would have liked.
"You should," she said. "You can come with us."
Paige looked at Tabitha, who smiled. "Yeah, that's cool."
"I'll try," Paige said, knowing that since it was still a week away, there was time to decide for sure. She wondered if Drew was going. And would the guy calling himself Noah show up, just as he had at Amber's party?
"In the meantime," Bonnie said, "keep your eyes open in school for anyone who might come close to looking like Noah. If he's a student here, he's probably avoiding you."
"If so, he probably has help," Tabitha suggested. "Maybe the swim team put him up to this."
"Why would they?" Paige asked curiously.
Tabitha looked at Bonnie, who responded: "When Noah was alive, there was apparently some serious competition on the team—especially between Noah, the then team captain, and Drew Lombard. It wasn't always that friendly."
Paige gazed at her. "So you think Drew could be behind this?"
"I'm not saying that. But since he's the captain now, if they had anything to do with it, he would probably know."
Paige took that under consideration. It was the second time that someone had pointed the finger at Drew in a negative way. Could there be some merit to it that he was up to no good?
That didn't exactly square with her belief that the phony Noah was a member of Noah's own family. She couldn't imagine why he would be in cahoots with Drew to pretend Noah was still alive—only for the new girl in school to see and deal with.
She broke away from Bonnie and Tabitha and went to her Civics class. As she approached, she saw Monica with Mr. Dixon talking in the hallway. When they saw her, they abruptly stopped talking.
"I'll be sure to check that book out of the library," Monica said quickly.
"Good idea," Mr. Dixon said, before Monica went inside.
Paige looked at the teacher, who smiled, and extended his arm to suggest he would follow her into the room.
She sat next to Monica, who gave her a dirty look. Paige wondered if she had somehow gotten on her bad side without even knowing it. Maybe Mr. Dixon said something that annoyed her.
Paige chose not to speculate further. After all, she had her own issues to deal with. Apart from keeping her grades up, she felt the need to see if Drew could somehow be involved with this phony Noah character.
Or could Drew be completely innocent?
If so, did it mean everyone on the swim team was?
After class, Paige was filing out with the other students, when she heard Mr. Dixon say, "Paige, can I talk to you for a moment?"
"Sure," she responded. Paige eyed Monica, whose expression was unreadable before she left the room.
When they were alone, Mr. Dixon said: "I wanted to say that you're doing great in this class, after getting started late."
"Thanks." Paige grinned, hoping the same was true with her other classes.
"Also, I wanted to talk to you about Noah Snyder..."
She met the teacher's eyes. "Noah?"
"I know you're occupying the house he used to live in."
Paige was a little surprised that he was aware of this. "Yes, I am."
"And I understand that someone has been impersonating him."
Why should that concern you? she asked herself curiously. "Yeah, I think so."
"Has he asked you for anything?" Mr. Dixon asked.
"Like what?"
Mr. Dixon tilted his face. "Oh, I don't know, maybe money...or information."
"He hasn't asked me for anything," Paige said and thought: Other than to be careful not to get in too deep with Drew.
"That's good to know," Mr. Dixon said. "The reason I ask is that there are a lot of con artists and other unsavory types out there looking to cash in on anything they think is worthwhile. Noah was one of my best students and well-liked by most of the teachers. None of us want an imposter besmirching his memory by showing up and going after a soft target."
"He hasn't tried to hurt me," she emphasized. "I think he just wanted to talk."
"About what?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Nothing in particular."
"But he has to want something if he's pretending to be a dead teenager," Mr. Dixon said bluntly.
"I have no idea what he wants," Paige said. "I haven't even seen him in days, though some people think he might be a student here."
"If he is, I'm sure you would find out soon enough," Mr. Dixon said. "In the meantime, I'd keep my guard up if I were you. This is a pretty safe community, but even here there are people who may not have your best interests at heart."
"I'll remember that," she told him.
Mr. Dixon's blue eyes crinkled. "I won't take up any more of your time," he said. "Enjoy the rest of your day."
Paige nodded. "Thanks."
Out in the hall, Paige headed toward her locker and Monica caught up to her. "So what did Mr. Dixon want?" she asked hurriedly.
Paige didn't mind telling her, even if she wondered why she should care. "He asked me about Noah—or at least the fake one—and talked about the real Noah."
Monica wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, he and some other teachers took it hard when Noah killed himself. It was almost like they blamed themselves for not picking up the warning signs or whatever."
"Sometimes there are no warning signs," Paige said sadly. "It just happens."
"True, but I've heard that Noah had trouble dealing with his dad's death, so maybe that played a role in his taking his own life."
"Maybe," Paige said.
"That doesn't mean someone else gets to be him," Monica said, holding a book close to her chest.
"I agree," Paige told her. "But since he hasn't been around lately, maybe he realized it wasn't funny and decided to back off." She wasn't sure she really believed that, but it sounded good.
"Yeah, one can only hope." Monica sighed. "It's not too cool to mess around with people's lives—especially dead ones."
"You're right," Paige concurred. She couldn't help but wonder if there was more to it since there seemed to be so much interest in why someone would pretend to be Noah Snyder and for what reason. Or perhaps it was the morbidity of it all that had people spooked.
"Anyway, I've got to get to my next class," Monica said. "Later."
"Bye." Paige watched thoughtfully as she walked in the opposite direction before reaching her locker, trading books, and heading to her next class. Even then she kept her eyes open, hoping to spot the guy who called himself Noah and seemed fairly comfortable in his own skin, whoever he truly was.
* * *
Roni Sinclair was standing outside during free period with her friends Amber and Lora. They were talking about their favorite subject: guys. They all had boyfriends and were happy with them for the most part. Roni didn't know where things were going with her boyfriend Paul, but he was really cute, paid lots of attention to her, and came from one of the wealthiest families in Dead Lake. For that reason alone, she wanted to hang onto him.
She could even imagine becoming Mrs. Paul Chase someday, as long as he didn't try to tie her down the way her dad did her mom, seemingly giving her little room to breathe. When her mother complained, her father rarely listened, and she simply gave in to his whims.
Roni did not see that happening with Paul or any other guy. Not as long as she had an independent streak that led her to do for herself what needed to be done.
The discussion inevitably came back to the hot topic lately—Noah Snyder. Roni's thoughts returned to the present as she honed in on the conversation.
"I really miss him," Amber claimed. "But that doesn't mean I'm ready to hang out with an impersonator."
"I know, right?" Lora said. "Kyle's freaked out about it, too. As Noah's best friend, he doesn't want someone stirring things up for whatever reason."
Amber frowned. "There is no good reason to
bring Noah back to life, even if it isn't really happening."
Roni ran a hand through her hair, feeling a bit antsy while trying not to show it. "That's what makes it so weird," she said. "Why would anyone choose now to say he's Noah, when he's been gone for so long?"
"Maybe he's trying to make a point," Lora suggested.
"Like what?" Amber asked.
Lora shrugged. "I don't know—that he can get us to jump when he snaps his finger—kind of like Noah did."
"That's crazy," Amber said. "Noah wasn't like that."
"Wasn't he?" Roni asked. "Have you forgotten how he went after you for sleeping with one of his best friends?"
"I deserved it," Amber said.
Roni rolled her eyes. "Public humiliation? I don't think so."
"It's ancient history," Amber said. "I'm past it now."
"We all are—or we're trying to be," Lora said. "But as long as this person is around to possibly dig up the past, none of us can feel too comfortable."
Amber sighed. "According to Paige, this guy hasn't said or done anything to be concerned about."
"Maybe not yet," Lora stated. "But who's to say that he isn't scheming to make all our lives a living hell?"
"Let's just take a deep breath," Roni said, "and not get too worked up over someone none of us has even seen. For all we know, Paige was just mistaken about who he said he was. And even if that's not the case, what would he gain by coming after any of us?"
"You're right," Amber said. "We should just go about our lives and remember that, for better or worse, Noah's dead and no one can take his place."
As they mulled that over, Roni spotted someone and said casually to the others, "I've got to get something out of my locker. See you later."
She made sure she was out of their sight before catching up to Jeffrey Harper. He was a seventeen-year-old junior and a drug dealer. He also bore some resemblance to Noah, in Roni's mind.
"It's you, isn't it?" Roni said.
He arched a thick brow. "What are you talking about?"
"You've been hanging around the new girl Paige, pretending to be Noah Snyder."
"That's crazy," Jeffrey said. "Why would I want to do that?"
Admittedly, Roni didn't have a good explanation. But she knew that he disliked Noah and vice versa. "Maybe you're just trying to get in her pants. Or freak her out."
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