“I wish I’d known about the contest,” Marybeth said bitterly, shaking her head. “I saved for two years to be able to come.”
Two years? It would have taken me a lifetime to earn that much money, but still, I felt a twinge of guilt, thinking that I might have taken the place of someone like Marybeth, someone who really wanted to be a politician someday and had worked hard to get there.
“That’s awesome Christy, only one out of fifty? Good job,” Rick said, staring at me. His eyes shining.
A warm feeling flooded my body. Did both Alex and Rick like that I was smart? No way. They must just want something from me.
“You didn’t have to pay anything?” Marybeth asked, looking like she might get sick.
Everyone still stared at me. I felt hot and uncomfortable, like a leper. Maybe they thought everyone on this trip was rich and privileged.
Loserville claimed me again.
Never kissed, poor and smart. A typical combination that defined a nerd at my age. I wanted to die. My stomach twisted in knots. I would never escape my box.
“It all makes sense now,” Summer finally said. She had a wicked glint in her eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kira asked, scowling.
“Nothing. I’m just saying,” Summer said. She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows.
Kira was trying to stick up for me and although slightly comforting, it was like putting a small band aid on a gushing stab wound. I also didn’t understand how she could be so mean to me one minute and then turn around and act like I was her best buddy the next.
“There’s more to you than meets the eye,” Alex added, his stare searching my face.
My heart stuttered and I felt a bit overwhelmed. I wondered what he meant by that. Was it mean? I had always interpreted comments like that as nice, but now I didn’t. If only I’d dared ask him. I could feel that my face was on fire, tomato red, without a doubt.
Alex still stared at me with a crooked smile. My heart stuttered again as I looked away.
“Christy,” Kira whispered. “Look behind you.”
Two hot guys played foosball near the door. They looked great—I had to admit.
Summer looked, too and became more animated and loud the longer she looked at them.
After a few more minutes, she interrupted the game, and said, “Hey, I’ll be right back. I’ve got to go to the ladies’ room.”
Wouldn’t you know it. The ladies’ room was just outside the rec room doors, and she would have to pass the poor schmucks playing foosball. They had no idea what was about to hit them.
We all turned and listened.
“Hey guys. Having fun?” Summer asked, flipping her thick, shiny blond hair over her shoulder.
“Yeah, sure,” said the taller of the two. Their voices lowered and we could no longer hear their responses.
I couldn’t tell how old they were. I thought college age, even though their faces looked very young. Maybe it was the way they held themselves—really confident— that made me think they weren’t in high school.
“Let’s get back to the game, guys,” Eugene said.
“We can’t without Summer,” Josh said, his eyes glued to the new guys and Summer. I imagine his self-esteem was taking a hit.
She returned to the group with the two guys trailing her, without going to the bathroom, of course.
“These guys are from New York,” she said. “This is Jeremy and he’s Nathan. Is it okay if they play too?”
What could we say? After a few moments, “Sure” came from a few mouths and “Whatever” came from a few others. Josh didn’t say a word, he just looked at the floor.
“Who has the most things left?” Summer asked, not skipping a beat. Her huge, brilliant smile blinding me.
Everyone looked at me, hello, so I counted my pieces of paper. “Eight,” I said, my face hot with renewed embarrassment.
“Eight? Man, Christy, you really haven’t ever done anything,” Alex said. “No wonder you wanted to come here.” He chuckled along with Josh and Summer. I even saw a smile break on Kira’s lips.
Alex. I wanted to cry. There was no doubt what he thought about me now. Stupidly, I looked up at him. He looked back at me. Even though I knew someone like him would never be interested in me, it hurt to have the slight glimmer of hope I’d had, dashed.
“Get eight things,” Summer told the new guys.
The game didn’t last much longer. I won, of course, my humiliation underscored.
The new guys were interesting, even Josh ended up playing nice. They talked sports with him and he jumped on board. It was getting late; Eugene and Marybeth headed up to their rooms. Despite how tired I felt, I knew what awaited me when I closed my eyes: a sword, a bloody head and people chasing me, so I was in no hurry. I sat and listened to the others talk until I didn’t hear anymore.
When I opened my eyes, I was thrashing side to side trying to get out from someone’s grip when I realized who it was. Jeremy, one of the foosball guys, stood over me, his light brown hair catching the light as he held my arms.
“Wake-up!”he said.“Wake-up! It isn’t real. It’s a dream.” His voice gradually grew softer the more alert I became. I noticed that Rick, Kira and Alex were standing right behind him. They all looked really concerned. No one laughed.
“What? What?” I said. “Was I dreaming?”
“Dreaming? No. You were having a wicked nightmare,” Jeremy said. “Do you remember it?”
“Not really,” I hedged. “Guess I better go to bed.” I didn’t really want to go, or answer any more questions, and was terrified of closing my eyes again.
“I’ll go with you,” Kira said.
“No, no, you stay here. I’ll be all right. Marybeth’s already there, isn’t she? You stay, I’ll be fine.” I really did want her to come with me, but I didn’t want to look wimpy. But, what if someone was waiting for me to be alone to snatch me away?
“Okay,” she said.
I wished she’d insisted, but fresh, hot college meat had joined the group, and she really wanted to stay and get more of their attention.
I headed for the door, passing Summer and Josh playing foosball, only to find Jeremy on my heels.
“Hey, wait up,” he said. “I’m not letting you go alone after a nightmare like that. You must be scared to death.”
There was something about the way he talked to me that made me feel like he was a lot older than we were. It made me wary, but at the same time, I sensed he wanted to help me. He was very good looking and seemed nice, so I looked past him to the others, who were deep in conversation again, and slipped through the door he held open for me.
“Hey, do you mind if I grab a Coke?” Jeremy pointed at the door that led to the vending machines.
“No,” I said. “Go ahead.”
I waited in the hall until he came out, waving a dollar bill. “I hate these machines, they never take my money. You don’t happen to have a buck on you to trade for this one?”
I almost never had money on me. “No, Sorry. Here, let me try.”
He handed me his beat up dollar, and I stepped into the vending room. No matter what I tried, it wouldn’t take his dollar. I turned around, only to find the door was shut and Jeremy was blocking it.
“No luck,” I said. “Sorry.” I tried not to think about the shut door and small space we were in.
“Just a sec,” he said. He reached into his pocket. Maybe he had another dollar bill. Not even close. He pulled out a black Ipod looking thing and with the push of a button, the room filled with music.
I backed up as far as I could into the soda machines. I was getting creeped out. Music? He leaned in toward me, and I jerked away, slamming the back of my head hard into one of the soda machines. Did he want to make-out in here? There was no way my virgin lips were landing on his. He grabbed my arms quickly, and whispered into my ear. I don’t know what he said, because I started to scream. His hand flew up to cover my mouth. His other arm surrounded
me, trapping me against the machine, and he whispered, “Don’t scream. I’m FBI. I’m here to protect you, not hurt you.”
FBI?
I stopped trying to scream. It was useless anyway. His hand held so tight against my mouth that only a muffled, “MMMM”, escaped and parts of my lips pinched against my teeth. I opened my eyes to look at the side of his head.
He whispered, “It’s okay. Just relax.”
After what I’d seen in the ballroom, it was hard to relax, but I was trying to. My lips hurt so badly, I squirmed to get his hand away from my mouth. It made him press harder, which increased the pain. I finally gave up, and the pressure of his hand started to lessen. I wanted to move my mouth and check for damage, but his body and other hand held my arms down tight. It did feel good to be able to slide my lips over my teeth and close my mouth.
“Good, Christy, good. Take a deep breath.”
I did breathe, but it wasn’t deep. He still leaned into me and it was hard to even breathe quick, shallow breaths, let alone deep ones.
“I can’t.” I pushed out.
I guess he realized he was still squishing me, and he backed up a bit.
I breathed in deeply a few times, my pulse still in stampede mode. I desperately needed some water. The blaring music made me feel even more odd.
“Sorry about that. I meant for this to go differently. I didn’t mean to freak you out,” he whispered, still right in my ear. “We can’t have anyone hear us. Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” I said.
“Are you all right?”
“Yes,” I answered, gasping.
“Good. Now listen. Ever since you gave us the letter, we’ve been following you. Other agents have been gathering information about you kids and the things you wrote. You did actually see what you wrote, didn’t you? You were telling the truth?”
The letter. He knew about the letter. He must really be FBI. I felt myself relax a bit more and said, “Yes.”
“It was really smart, the way you got the letter to us. You were very brave, and Christy, we need you to be brave. We need to get you to our office, so we can get your statement.”
“Statement? I already wrote everything down. What else can I tell you?” I lost my calm again. I didn’t want to rehash the murder again.
“There are a few things we’re unclear about. Sometimes talking it through brings out new things. We need all the information we can get to catch these guys—I’m sure you can understand that.”
I started to think about the FBI following us and Jeremy talking to me. What if they had been seen by the bad guys? What if they were good, but were giving us away to the bad guys on accident?
“No. You said you were here to protect us!” My whisper got louder by the second. “You’re going to give us away, they’ll see you. They’re not stupid, and they probably already know that you’re following us. That means they know we told!” Anger was taking over any fear I had. “You can’t protect us. Not from them. They’re following us. I saw a man with—”
“Shh! Calm down. You have to keep your voice low. There are bugs all over this hotel.”
My ear got hot and started to feel a bit wet from him whispering into it. I wanted him to go away. I wanted it to all go away. I certainly did not want to answer a bunch of questions at the “office”.
“Why don’t you just pick up the people following us?”
“They haven’t done anything yet.”
“They killed somebody!”
“We need proof.”
“They’re following us and freaking us out.” I persisted.
“Don’t let them. Act normal. They’re probably just trying to find out what you know. Look. I’ll answer all your questions tomorrow. We’ve been in here too long. Just understand that we’ll be pulling you into the office tomorrow. Don’t be scared, you are protected everywhere you go. And Christy, do not tell the others about us or this meeting. You all have to continue to act normal. And you can’t discuss the murder anymore.”
“Are there really bugs all over the hotel?”
“Yes. Be careful what you say. But also know that we have them under surveillance, too.”
“What if they spot you? We’ll be dead, won’t we?” It was hard to keep my cool.
“You won’t be dead, and they won’t spot us. We’re trained to be invisible. You’re safe, despite what you might be feeling right now,” he said. “I wanted to make contact with you tonight, so that tomorrow would be easier for you. It might have been the wrong choice, but can you help us catch these guys?”
I wanted to shout out, “No!” but, didn’t. Those bad men needed to be put away, so I squeaked out a weak, “I think so.”
“Look. From what we’ve heard, they don’t know anyone actually saw the murder yet. Really, you’re safe. Just follow my lead when we get to your room, okay? You can do this Christy, just be yourself.”
The walk to my room was too short. When I opened the door, he said, “Have better dreams. Thanks for trying to get my dollar in that stupid Coke machine. I guess the stars didn’t want me to have a Coke tonight.” He laughed a quick laugh, his brown eyes expectant.
I stared at him for a few seconds, and he nodded at me, turning his head slightly to the left and opening his eyes wide. I guessed that was my cue to reply.
“Oh, yeah. No problem. I’m just sorry I wasn’t any help. I can’t wait to crawl into bed. Thanks for walking me to my room, it was really nice of you.”
“See ya.”
“Bye,” I said. “Thanks again.”
My bed wasn’t as inviting as I’d wished. I still needed to talk to Rick about Iceman and I tossed and turned, afraid to sleep. Terrorists, guns, the FBI, swords, running, and screaming all dominated my thoughts. It was hard to be watched every minute of every day.
“Just be yourself,” he had said. What exactly did that mean? I didn’t even have a clear picture of who I was, how could I be the person he wanted me to be?
I was both anxious and scared for morning to come.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I kept looking at the clock. 1:00, 2:15, 3:50, 5:23. Would morning ever come? I could see a slight glow around the curtains. Why couldn’t I fall asleep? I was so tired.
Should I get up now or wait just a bit longer and then take a long, hot shower? I closed my eyes, choosing the later. Please, Please, let me see something peaceful and beautiful, or nothing at all, I prayed.
I woke to the sound of the shower. I had slept. 6:45.
Thank you, Thank you. I whispered into the air, hoping someone important would hear it.
With the glow around the curtains brighter now, I got out of bed and opened them, quickly closing my eyes to the bright morning light. I smiled and prayed for more dreamless sleep tonight.
“Morning, Christy,” Marybeth said, walking from the bathroom. She had a slight smile on her face. I was still getting used to her speaking again.
“Morning!” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. I wondered how she would feel if she knew about what had happened last night with Jeremy.
I took a quick shower, dried my hair straight, then used Marybeth’s flat iron, with her help, to make it completely smooth. I could actually do it. If the sun was shining, my hair would stay straight for at least half the day, maybe longer. It was all dependent on the crazy humidity factor. Humidity made my hair curly and frizzy. If only I had naturally straight, sleek hair. I grabbed a pony-tail holder just in case it did turn out to be a normal humid D.C. day. Marybeth wouldn’t like it, but frizzy hair wouldn’t do either.
Marybeth had waited for me and put the final touches on my outfit before we headed down to breakfast. All my avoidance of food had finally caught up with me. I loaded my plate and headed for the juice.
I stopped short when Jeremy, the handsome FBI guy, walked in front of me. I turned as fast as I could to get away from him. I couldn’t deal with him again so early in the morning. I wasn’t ready to give my “statement” yet, but the
more I thought of it, it was kinda cool to go give a statement to the FBI. Just not right now.
“Hey Christy. Ya hungry?” Alex asked, eyeing the over-flowing plate I had just set down on the table.
I had been so bent on putting some distance between myself and Jeremy, that I hadn’t noticed that I was about to sit down next to Alex. I wouldn’t have made this mistake otherwise. I blurted, “Oh, yeah. I’m starving.” I could feel my face burn. My insides, on the other hand, filled with lovely butterflies—Jeremy forgotten.
“I love a girl with an appetite,” Alex said, his smile friendly.
Man, he thinks I’m a pig. I felt the butterflies die in one horrible blast.
I kept my head down, pretending not to hear, and started to eat, feeling stupid.
“No, I’m serious about the appetite thing.” I guess he wasn’t buying my act. “I hate it when I take a girl out and she barely eats anything. It’s not right. Everyone eats, you might as well enjoy it.”
I looked at him, to check his sincerity. The moment my eyes met his, the butterflies came back en masse and I couldn’t think. He was looking at me, so I smiled. My stomach was doing somersaults now, and I wanted to get up and dance. Luckily, I didn’t. At home, I just might have, but not here. I would be in control even if it was curious he talked to me.
Out of nowhere, orange juice stood in front of me. I looked behind me and saw Jeremy, my very own FBI man.
“My orange juice was all watery,” Jeremy said. “They brought some more, so I got you some. You did want some juice didn’t you?”
“Yeah, thanks,” I said. “How did you know?” My eyebrows crushed together.
Why did I ask that? I didn’t want to talk to him any more than I had to. He made me nervous. His good looks made it hard to be too mad, though.
“I thought I saw you going for the juice earlier, so I brought you some.”
“Oh,” I said. “Thanks.”
“Well, enjoy it,” he said, walking away. Alex stared at me like I’d just grown horns.
“He brought you orange juice?” Summer asked, her face incredulous.
Watched (The Watched Series) Page 7
