by Weil, J. L.
A girl with short cropped hair came up to greet us after what felt like too long. Didn’t they have a quota on greeting the customer? She kept her head down, not making eye contact, and put plenty of space between herself and our table.
People here were strange.
We placed our drink orders with Jane, our not-so-friendly server, and then scanned the menu.
Swinging my legs under the booth I asked, “So what do you recommend?” Everything looked good.
“Hmm, I love their sandwiches. And their fries are a-ma-zing.”
“Sandwich it is.”
“Are you nervous about the first day?” she asked over the top of her plastic menu.
I shrugged, biting on the end of my straw, more nervous than I thought. “I’d have to have elephant skin not to be.”
She giggled. “Sorry, I was imagining you with grey, wrinkly, leathery skin. Not pretty.”
I smiled in return.
“Don’t worry. I’ll be there, and so will Chase. I can introduce you to a few of our friends.”
Slumping back in the booth, I thought about what kinds of friends Chase would have. Did I really want to meet them?
Jane came back to take our orders with the same rude behavior as before. They might have good food here, but the quality of the service sucked hardcore.
“What will it be?” Jane asked in bored voice, sticking her pen in her mouth.
How about my foot up your ass?
“I’ll have the roast beef, no cheese and could you make sure to put my fries on a separate plate. I don’t want them touching,” I ordered in a bitchy tone. So what if they think the new girl was a smartass. Let them have a taste of their own medicine.
Lexi snickered.
Jane just stared at me like I’d grown horns, no longer smacking her gum. She scribbled my order on a little notepad and waited for Lexi’s.
“I’ll have the turkey BLT with fries,” Lexi informed.
Not missing a beat or even lifting her head Jane replied annoyed, “We don’t have the turkey BLT today.”
After a minute when Lexi still hadn’t said anything else Jane finally looked up. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, unsure where this was going.
Lexi leaned forward on her elbows staring long and hard into Jane’s huge eyes. In a voice steady with concentration Lexi said, “I think you are mistaken. You do have the turkey BLT. It was on today’s specials.” Lexi never severed contact, and her eyes did that spooky color changing thing.
Jane looked like she’d been zombiefied, and then just like that, she snapped out of it. “Oh I’m sorry,” she said sweetly and in a completely different tone than when she had greeted us. “Of course we do. How silly of me. I will put this order right in.”
Lexi smiled brightly at her.
What the hell?
“What just happened?” I inquired.
She turned her turquoise eyes at me all innocently. “What do you mean? I totally saw it on the specials when we walked in.”
I didn’t really question that it was. It was more what had been up with the whole zombie dead eyes. She had Jane in some kind of you’re under-my-spell trance. I would stake my sandwich on it and Lexi’s.
“The whole eye thing you did. That was…totally not normal.”
She looked at me like I just had a brain cramp and fallen off the deep end into some unknown abyss. “Are you sure you are feeling okay? School jitters?” she suggested.
I wasn’t the one doing alien mojo with their eyes, I screamed in my head. Slouching against the seat, I realized I wasn’t going to get any straight answers from her. Well, I would just figure it out on my own then. Somehow. I got the feeling that this was just the tip of the iceberg. There was a whole lot more under the surface.
Not to mention this whole conversation was preposterous anyway. Luckily our food came in record time, a big improvement from when we were seated. I was sure I had Lexi and her super glare to thank.
“Angel, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to upset you,” she apologized, noticing my silence while I stewed.
I didn’t want to argue with her. “It’s fine. You’re probably right. I haven’t been sleeping well, and I think I’m just being paranoid.”
She looked at me concerned, and I glanced around the room to avoid her gaze. Not a single person had been seated in any of the empty booths around us. Occasionally the guy at the bar and his buddy would look over at us. It was like being in the twilight zone. I swear, I could hear the music haunting me in the background. Everyone wore the same kind of the unsettling expression.
Fear.
Quickly I averted my gaze back to Lexi, who didn’t seem to be the least aware of anything abnormal. She eyed me expectantly, and the smells of bacon and beef hit me as I recalled that our food had been served.
Right I needed to eat. “Do you come here often?” I asked, biting into pure bliss. This was really good, homemade good.
“I told you it was good,” she said, nibbling on a fry. “But yeah, ever since my mom left, it’s easier on my dad to eat out. He is not much of cook. Sometimes Chase, Travis, or I will help out.”
“I’m sorry Lexi. I didn’t mean to bring up something so hurtful.”
She waved her pink manicured hand. “Don’t even stress about it. It was a long time ago.”
This was probably completely tacky of me, but I couldn’t refrain from asking. “What happened to Chase’s parents?” I knew it was evasive, but there was so much I didn’t know about him.
That thought stopped me. Did I want to know more?
Her eyes deepened in sadness. “His dad ran out on him and his mom while she was pregnant. It was like, thanks for the good time now I’ve got to run, and run he did. Chase has never seen him nor does he want to.”
My heart sunk and sunk again. I could sort of relate to the whole daddy is a SOB, but at least I had known mine before all the drama. Maybe it was better to have not known him at all. Then you don’t know what you’re missing.
She continued, “His mom died shortly after childbirth with complications. He never knew either of his parents and has lived with us his whole life.”
“That is so sad.” My voice thickened, and my eyes blurred. They filled with water, hurting for the little boy who had grown to have such a chip on his shoulder.
“I know he can be such a prick, but he hasn’t had the easiest life, and he really does have a good reason for it. He pushes people away on purpose, afraid to get close to anyone, except Travis and me. We are the closest thing he’s got to a family, the only thing really.”
Wow. That gave me a whole new perspective on Chase. He was definitely an asstard when he wanted to be, but I couldn’t help my heart from softening toward him a little more. At this rate he would keep chipping away the shield of anger I’d built up, reserved just for guys like him.
~*~*~*~
I was sitting on the old window seat in my room in a pair of boxers, a tee, and polka dot knee-high socks. I looked like a mess, but I was comfortable. In my book that overruled fashion any day.
The house was so quiet and dead, you could hear a pin drop. Hugging my knees to my chest, I pulled up the blinds. Gazillions of stars covered the night sky, bright and luminous. Not at all like Tuscon. Sure they had stars, but this was cosmic.
What would it be like to be among all that spellbinding beauty?
A prickling sensation spread over my skin as if someone was watching me. Looking across the yard, my eyes locked on a pair of yellow specks. I blinked hard.
They were still there and it wasn’t dots, but a pair of eyes. A pair of eyes that belonged to Chase.
Goosebumps covered my arms, and my body was on full alert. I knew it was him. Not to mention, it was his bedroom window. Confession, I might have seen him pull off his shirt a time or two. Accidental of course. Chase might get under my skin; however I wasn’t dead, and a little peek never hurt right? I wasn’t being overly stalkerish.
Who was I kidding?
Tra
nsfixed, he looked at me. Slowly my eyes began to adjust in the darkness, and I could just make out the poetic features of his face. None of it explained the creepy glowing of those topaz eyes.
I felt the challenge in his stare, daring me to look away, to see if he could scare me or warn me off. More than once he’s implied that he wasn’t safe, but all he has done was save me.
I couldn’t look away even if I wanted to, his eyes held me frozen. My heart jack hammered in my chest, and my room clotted with tension. His eyes were doing something to me, like he was inside my head, coaxing me. It was a good thing we had a yard between us, because right now I knew I would do something irrationally stupid.
Like kiss him, throw myself in his arms, beg him to touch me. The possibilities of my stupidity were endless it seemed.
A breeze blew through the open window, brushing my burning skin. I swear to God I felt him stroke me with his eyes. Whatever was going on had just opened a whole new world of hotness.
Sweet Jesus. How can something as simple as gazing, be so mind blowing hot? My body felt like it had been hit by a lightning bolt. It was going to take a crane, a tow truck, or some kind of heavy machinery to move me from this spot.
What I needed was a cold shower.
Or Chase’s blinds smacking close with an unexpected blink that left me stunned. It was like a slap in the face, no down time from all that emotional high.
Whatever connection had been between us was cut like a rope. I sat there stewing, turning all that heat into illogical rage. My heavy breathing was fogging up the window again but with anger, and just when I was beginning to have some compassion for the jerk.
In a completely juvenile moment, I flipped off the darkened blinds and let out a string of f-bombs. It wasn’t really him I was pissed off with. It was me for letting him get to me like that. For the way I responded to him. Out of my control, like he was the last man on earth and I was starving for him.
I was pathetic.
Maybe I was paranoid, but something was definitely odd about this town. I could feel it. The dogs from hell running around, the bizarre behavior of people in town, the glow stick color of my neighbor’s eyes, and not to mention how they moved like assassins.
I read somewhere that, you’re not really paranoid if something or someone is really out to get you. Right now it felt like I was the main target in a horror novel.
Laughter flittered up to my window, interrupting my hissy fit. Casting my eyes down, I saw Travis grinning up at me. He had obviously seen my little spectacle. I was just about to turn and call it a night when his eyes trapped me. Utterly different than what happened with Chase. There was no punch to the gut, I felt sadness. Gut wrenching sadness.
I don’t know what happened next and couldn’t explain it if I had to, but I found myself walking downstairs. Once outside, I padded in my fizzy polka dot socks across the yard, in the middle of the night to where Travis stood on his porch. There was this murkiness clouding my mind, and I wasn’t exactly sure what I was doing or why, but his eyes were lit up like the empire freaking state building.
“Angel,” he murmured. “Such a pretty name.” His voice had a weird quality to it, smooth and persuasive.
In the back of my mind, I wondered why everyone was so hung up on my name, when I should have been concerned that I was outside in my PJ’s, exposing a whole lot of me to a guy I barely knew.
His hand brushed the hair out of my face gently. I tried to open my mouth, but my tongue felt heavy and nothing came out. Sadness was everywhere, we were swimming in it.
“You don’t have a clue.” He looked at me expectantly, like I could answer him.
What was he talking about? It was hard for my brain to process what he was saying, as if he was talking underwater. Though the longer I looked into his eyes, the more beads of fear were creeping up my spine.
“I can see why he is…intoxicated with you. You’re not afraid, like–”
Whatever he was going to say was cut short by Chase’s sudden appearance. He came barreling through the front door, knocking into Travis. The two of them went steamrolling on the grass, Chase coming up on top. Nailing Travis to the ground, he made a growling sound low in his throat.
The cobwebs cleared from my head, and I looked around sort of half dazed. There was an awareness of what had happened, but at the same time it was like a dream or as if I was watching it from a distance. I felt like I had just been woken up while sleepwalking.
“Y-o-u need to get yourself in control. Now!” Chase snarled at Travis.
Travis starred him down looking anything but harmless. Right then he looked like he could blast a hole through Chase’s head with his eyes alone. Blowing out a rush of air, he finally relented. “I’m fine. Get off me.” Travis pushed at him and got to his feet. He aimed a snarky glare at Chase and headed for the house.
Glancing between the two of them, I noticed that the golden glow in their eyes was no longer there. Shaken and confused, I leaned on the house for support. What was wrong with me?
Chase flashed in front of me. “Do you have a death wish little girl?” he roared low.
After everything that happened today, I wasn’t sure I could handle a tongue war with him. It was all too much. “No, I don’t–”
“If you knew what was best for you, you would never step foot over here again. And I would advise you to keep your windows closed.”
I gasped. His words cut through me like a glass. And hurt way more than I cared to admit.
He stalked back into the house leaving me conflicted and steaming furiously. My eyes stung with tears I refused to shed.
Why did I feel like I’d just had a brush with death?
Chapter 10
I was such a ball of nerves that I just might blow chunks.
It did not help that it was absolutely pouring outside. What a way to start the day. Nothing like muddling around in a rainstorm to boost the confidence, and I could really use all the confidence I could get. If possible, I would steal some from the egotistical Chase. He had more than enough.
Downstairs my mom was up and making breakfast – utterly unheard of. There was a plate with my favorite food and glass of OJ waiting for me at the table. She drew a heart with xoxo below it on my napkin, a childhood tradition. It made me smile.
“I wanted to do something special for your first day. Things have been…hectic, and I just wanted you to know that I couldn’t have done any of this without you,” she said when she saw me. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were droopy from lack of sleep.
“Mom, you didn’t have to wake up just to make me breakfast. I love you, but you work too hard.”
She waved her hand in the air. “So do you think you will have any classes with dreamboat?”
Dreamboat? Who used words like that? “Hopefully not,” I mumbled, taking a fork full of stuffed French toast. Mmm, she was the best.
“Do you two not get along?” she asked, confused by how I wouldn’t want such a perfect male specimen.
Like polar opposites. “It’s complicated.”
“Angel baby, you make it complicated.”
“I totally take offense to that.”
She came to the table and kissed my forehead. “Have a good day at school.”
Hall High was half the size of my old school. No shocker there. I didn’t foresee any problems finding my way around. Now, only if I could stay clear of Chase. After the whole steamy Titanic worthy window scene, I was kind of avoiding him.
Checking my class schedule, I went to locate my locker, thinking about my shopping excursion with Lexi. Her locker was probably glittering like a disco ball or some kind of homing device. It made me smile in an otherwise belly convulsing situation.
All eyes on the new girl please. I might as well have had a bulletin board on my back.
My homeroom class was a cinch to find. Sure I got a few tentative glances and half smiles – mostly it was okay. I didn’t feel as out of place as I’d built it up.
Ma
king my way through the hallway to my second class, I heard my name. Lexi and a small group of my peers were standing around the lockers, Chase included. A part of me wanted to wave and keep on going, but I knew that wasn’t what she expected, especially since she was gesturing for me excitedly.
Internally I groaned. Captain asshole was the last person I’d wanted to run into.
“Hey Lexi.” I purposely ignored Chase.
“So how was first period?” she asked. Her long blond trellises framed softly around her face.
“I survived.”
She grinned. “This is Hayden, Craig, and Sierra,” she introduced the two boys beside her and the redheaded girl fused to Chase’s side.
I had avoided him thus far, but it was impossible when I looked at Sierra. Her amber eyes were killing me with hate. I had no clue what I had done to this girl, but I guess I’d just made my first enemy. The feeling was completely mutual as far as I was concerned. She even looked like a bitch.
Laying a hand on Chase’s arm, she made it clear he was hers.
Red hot jealously filled me. Ridiculous, since I despised Chase with every pore in my body.
He didn’t acknowledge her hand, if anything he looked indifferent. My eyes shifted to his only to have him lift that annoying eyebrow.
“I should probably get to class,” I mumbled uncomfortably, not wanting to stay another second in their presence.
“See you at lunch?” Lexi asked.
I nodded.
“Run along, you don’t want to be late, miss goody two-shoes,” Sierra spat.
My face bloomed red. I don’t know why I expected Chase to step in and say something, but he didn’t. He just leaned back against the locker watching me through those piercing silver eyes. This was going well. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of dodge.
“Sierra,” Lexi scolded, glowering. “Chase,” she pleaded. No help from the douche, she turned and faced me. I’m sorry she mouthed, her eyes brimming with an apology.
