Same story, different day. I still didn’t know what I really wanted. I wasn’t sure that I ever truly would.
Chapter 28
I had been hoping since I was no longer grounded Henry would want to hang out later that day, but when I called him to ask him he didn’t answer his phone. I guess this is what it feels like. I guiltily remembered how I had avoided him the day I was out with Lucas looking at apartments.
I was surprised when I didn’t hear from Henry until later that night, and even then it was just a text message. I’ll call you tomorrow. Some stuff came up today.
What did that mean? Henry was usually candid with me. If he had been playing b-ball or something, why in the hell wouldn’t he just say so?
Annoyed by his message (and deciding I wasn’t going to even bother replying), I picked up my phone to call Lucas. But he didn’t answer either.
“Ugh!” I flopped down on my bed in annoyance. Now what? I had isolated myself so much from everyone that I literally had no other friends. In the past, I could have asked Kayla to hang out with me, but she was still (supposedly) spending most nights at Gina’s house, and she’d probably laugh in my face if I tried to tag along with them. Not that I really even wanted to.
I settled down for a boring, uneventful night.
Chapter 29
I was lying on my bed with my eyes closed. I didn’t sleep, but I had figured out how to zone out, for lack of a better term. The hours, which had at first painfully ticked by with me acutely aware of each passing second, had become more bearable. When I was able to successfully zone out – aka clear my head – and just lie there with my eyes closed, the time went by much faster.
When I first heard the sound of something scratching against my window, I thought it must be the wind pushing a branch. That used to scare the hell out of me when I was kid. So many times I’d run to my parents room and insist they come check out the noise.
Like clockwork, my dad would find that the branch was hitting the window again. The next day, he would dutifully get the ladder out to trim the tree, but once it grew back the same thing would happen again.
So I didn’t think about the sound much once I became a teenager and understood that there weren’t creatures lurking outside my window, ready to pounce. Maybe I should have been nervous, now that I knew that there were creatures – hell, I was one of them – but I chose to ignore the sound.
As it became more incessant, I finally decided I should check it out. I didn’t hear the wind whipping outside, so the tree shouldn’t have been bashing against my window so many times.
I tentatively pulled my curtain open a fraction of an inch and peeped out. There was someone outside! The person was reaching down – to find another pebble – I assumed. I squinted, trying to make out the figure. Why didn’t I get cool night vision when I came back? I thought with irritation.
It wasn’t until the person looked up and I could make out his face that I realized it was Henry. Seeing the gap in the curtain, he started waving frantically.
I quickly opened the curtains and pulled the window up. “Henry!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you!” he replied in a low voice.
“Why didn’t you call?” I hissed back.
“I-I just need to talk to you! Can you please come down?”
“Okay,” I said reluctantly. I shut the window and tiptoed downstairs, hoping my parents wouldn’t hear me walking or hear me turn off the alarm.
When I got outside, Henry was standing by the door. “What is so important that you came to wake me up in the middle of the night? It’s like that first night I was back!”
Henry looked at my blankly.
“When I was throwing rocks at the window to get your attention.” Something was wrong. Henry wouldn’t have forgotten that.
“Oh, that – yeah,” he finally said.
“And what did that text mean about having stuff to do?” I continued, my hands on my hips. I was more annoyed than I’d meant to be; I had planned not to even ask him – what right did I have, with all the secrets I was keeping from him? But once I had seen him again, I couldn’t stop myself.
Henry ignored my question. “I wanted to make sure that you were okay,” he said. “Have you heard from Emmett?”
“No, why would I? I wouldn’t know how to get in touch with him if I wanted to.” I laughed nervously. Henry had no idea that Emmett had slipped me his phone number. Why was he asking such a weird question?
“Just making sure you didn’t have any information,” Henry said. “And that you were okay,” he added.
“Henry, what’s gotten into you? Unless you gave him my number, Emmett doesn’t have it,” I fibbed. “You know that. Did you hear from him?”
“No, not yet.” He shook his head. “Well, sorry I woke you. I’m glad you’re okay.”
“You came here in the middle of the night to ask about Emmett and how I’m doing?” I was confused.
“Yes.”
I leaned in closer and studied Henry’s face. He looked normal – I guess, and he didn’t sound like he had been drinking or anything.
“Alright,” I finally said. “I won’t say you haven’t thoroughly freaked me out, but okay.”
I turned to go back in the house and then stopped. “Oh, you didn’t even ask about the test today.” I couldn’t keep the hurt out of my voice.
“Sorry, Aurora, I forgot,” Henry said.
How could he forget? “Um, okay, well I think I passed, if you even care.” Before he could answer I went back into the house. I had the urge to slam the door as hard as possible in his face, but I resisted. I didn’t want to wake my parents.
I wasn’t sure what Henry was up to, but I was going to find out.
Chapter 30
The next day Henry called me.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey yourself,” he replied. “Sorry I didn’t get back to you yesterday. Crazy day.” Before I could ask what he meant, he said quickly, “So how did the test go?”
“I already told you,” I said irritably.
“Huh? No you didn’t.”
“Yes I did,” I insisted. “Remember, when you came to my window last night?”
“What! Rory, are you pulling my leg or something?”
“Are you pulling my leg?” I shot back. Seriously, was he going to pretend it didn’t happen?
“Look, did you have a bad dream? I was in my room, sound asleep all night!”
Henry didn’t sound like he was lying. Had he been sleepwalking? I decided to let it drop – that would be another question for Emmett.
I forced a laugh. “I guess I’m losing it. My dreams have been more vivid lately,” I lied. I don’t sleep, much less dream.
“Okay.” Henry sounded worried. “It’s kind of scary when they’re so vivid you can’t tell a dream from reality.”
“Now that we’re talking about it I realize it was just a dream,” I tried to assure him. “Anyway, the test went well – I think.”
“Whoohoo!” Henry exclaimed. “Senior year wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“Yeah, it would suck to have different classes than you,” I agreed.
“Are you nervous about starting back?”
“I haven’t had time to think about it, with everything else going on, but yeah, I really am,” I admitted. “I don’t want lots of questions about my coma.”
“Try not to worry. At first I was anxious about it, too, but I think once the novelty wears off of having you back, everything will feel normal again. People will ask questions in the beginning, but as soon as some new, juicy gossip comes along, they’ll forget about it.”
“I hope so,” I said skeptically.
“Anyway, I was calling to invite you to Bunny’s end of year school party on Saturday.”
I resisted the urge to groan. Spending Saturday before school started back with Bunny and everyone else I was dreading seeing at school sounded like a nightmare. But if I didn’t go, I w
ould drive myself crazy wondering if Bunny was sinking her claws into Henry.
I only hesitated for a second. “Yes, I’d love to go!” I said enthusiastically.
“Good,” Henry said. “I wasn’t sure that you liked Bunny. Give her a chance. She’s a sweet girl.”
If it were possible, I would have vomited in my mouth right then. It took every ounce of energy to say the words, “Yes, she’s something all right.”
“Rory,” Henry said patronizingly, “I can hear the judgment in your voice. I admit she dresses a little bit provocatively, but she’s just having fun.”
I gritted my teeth. “Yes, I’m looking forward to it,” I managed to say. “Any word from Emmett?” I asked, changing the subject.
“No,” Henry said. “And last time I called him he said he’d let me know as soon as he had information.” Henry chuckled. “And in Emmett speak that meant leave me the hell alone to think.”
“I’m sure he’ll be in contact with you soon.” If it’s not about the next meeting with Tobias, that is.
“What about you? Any word from your vampire?” Henry asked.
I hated it when Henry called him that. I don’t know why; he accused me of not liking Bunny but it was obvious that he didn’t like Lucas either.
“Nothing,” I said, ignoring the slur. “No reason to talk to him unless he finds out more about my case,” I said lightly.
“Well, I’d better get going,” Henry said. “I’ve got practice in a little bit. You’re welcome to come and watch.”
“Sure,” I said. “That sounds like more fun than sitting around the house.” Henry told me where to meet him and we hung up.
I immediately called Emmett.
“Hello?”
“This is Aurora. Is this Emmett?”
“Yes. What’s wrong?” he wanted to know.
Before I could speak he continued. “I can meet you somewhere, but it has to be a new place.”
“No!” I didn’t have time for this. “I’m on my way to Henry’s basketball practice. Please just let me tell you why I called.”
Emmett sighed. “Just make it quick then!” he snapped. “And speak in code.”
I was afraid if I told Emmett that I didn’t know how to speak in code he’d make me meet him. I’d just have to wing it.
“The blond, buff hawk, uh, flew the coop and landed at my door in the middle of the night. Not acting normal. Doesn’t remember it today. Asked me if I’d heard from you, which makes no sense because only the Greek God knows we talked. Did you get all of that?” I was pretty pleased with my code.
“Yes, your code leaves something to be desired. You might as well just speak openly if you’re going to practically say what happened anyway!” Emmett was exasperated.
I ignored him and said, “Please tell me you know something about it. He wasn’t himself! Has he started sleepwalking? Did his dad put him under some kind of spell?”
“I don’t know.” Emmett sounded tired. “Don’t say anything else. I’ll be in touch.” And with that, Emmett hung up on me.
“Goodbye to you, too,” I muttered, flinging my phone down on my bed. I would just have to ignore Emmett’s, er, unique way of doing things. Because right now, he was my only hope for some real answers.
Chapter 31
My last week of summer vacation flew by. The school called and told me the good news that I had passed the test – yay! – so Wednesday afternoon my mom and I went to the school and officially registered me for the senior class.
I hadn’t talked to Lucas, except for a short phone call where he told me he was “working on things,” which I assumed meant he and Nicholas were trying to get a hold of that damn frequency blocker thingie.
And Emmett hadn’t gotten back to me either! I was okay with that though – I really just wanted to pretend I was a normal girl, even if it was just temporarily.
I spent my last week cheering on Henry at basketball practice. I had never been a fan of the sport but watching him play was incredible. There was absolutely no way he wouldn’t make the team – hell, he probably had a chance at captain! He was far better than all of the other guys.
Before I knew it, Saturday night had arrived. Henry was picking me up, and we had strict orders to get home by midnight. I thought my parents might be a little wary to let me go to the party after what happened before, but they were surprisingly cool about it. “Just keep your phone where we can reach you,” my dad had said, giving me a look that clearly meant or we’ll ground you for life.
Of course, this party wasn’t anywhere near the caliber of the one at The Manor House, but I still wanted to look nice. I had no idea if the kind of outfits that Bunny wore were now ‘normal’ for seventeen year olds, but even if they were, I wouldn’t have felt comfortable in something so revealing.
I decided casual was the way to go: skinny dark jeans, my new red top with a picture of a lion on the front, and a pair of flip-flops.
“You like nice,” Henry said when I got into the car.
“Thanks.” Henry looked really sexy in his fitted t-shirt and khaki shorts. I turned my head to stare out of the window, suddenly feeling more nervous than before.
“Who’s going to be there?” I asked, still looking out the window.
“I guess most of the kids in our class,” Henry said. “I think Bunny basically invited everyone. Weren’t you on the email invite?”
“No,” I said.
“I’m sure it was just an oversight – I even texted her your email address.”
“I’m sure,” I agreed. I wasn’t going to get into it with Henry. That bitch did it on purpose.
Whatever. Bunny was unimportant, in the grand scheme of things. Even though she seemed to have Henry under some weird spell, sooner or later he would come to his senses and see what a fake twit she was. I had to stop trying to intervene; Henry wasn’t an idiot.
We pulled up to a huge three-story house. So Bunny’s rich. Somehow that made her more irritating, but I couldn’t think about it now.
There was already a huge crowd at the party. My eyes scanned the sea of faces; some I recognized but most I didn’t. Bunny must have invited kids from all of the schools in the area.
I could hear the music blaring before I even opened the car door. “Are Bunny’s parents home?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Nope, I think they travel a lot for work. They’re never home.”
How would you know? But I didn’t ask the question aloud.
“My parents are going to be pissed if they find out,” I said, unable to hide the worry from my voice.
“Don’t they trust you?” Henry asked.
“I’ve, uh, kinda screwed up a few times,” I admitted. “Not heard my phone ring, not responded to text messages. That kind of thing. That’s why they grounded me before, remember? And I told them I thought there would be adults here!” I added in a whiny voice.
Henry laughed. “Rory, just chill. Some dumbasses might be drinking, but I won’t be one of them. I’ll get you home safely,” he promised. “Nothing bad is going to happen tonight.”
“I wish you hadn’t have said that.” I gulped. “Don’t jinx us!”
Henry shook his head. “Don’t get paranoid on me. This is our last night of summer vacation. I don’t know what’s coming – what Emmett keeps alluding to – but we have to move forward like the world is the same as always. And after tonight, I know I for one will have my nose to the books. Dad wants me to go Ivy League, as long as I can get a partial scholarship.”
“You’re incredibly smart, athletic and talented,” I said honestly. “I don’t think you’ll have a problem.”
Henry looked taken aback by my words. “Well, I’m glad someone believes in me.”
What does that mean? Is he getting tons of pressure from his parents?
I hoped Henry knew he could confide in me if something was bothering him. This didn’t have to be The Aurora Show. Other people were allowed to express their feelings and fears.<
br />
I was just about to say that he could tell me anything when Henry put his arm around my shoulder. “Ready to go inside?” he asked, grinning.
I smiled back. “Let’s go.”
Chapter 32
Bunny, who was laughing like a hyena and hanging on some red haired guy, came over to greet Henry when she saw us come in. She was obviously a little bit tipsy. “Hey, sweetie?” she purred, running her hand down his arm.
Henry looked uncomfortable. “Hey, Bunny,” he replied. “You remember my friend Aurora?” He gestured to me.
“Of course?” Bunny said, but she didn’t take her eyes off of Henry. “I had a great time last Saturday? You should take me out again soon?” Bunny batted her eyes at Henry.
So that’s what Henry was doing last weekend. I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter. Bunny wasn’t his girlfriend, after all. And even if he decided he wanted her as his girlfriend, who was I to protest? I wouldn’t commit to Henry; I wouldn’t commit to anyone right now, not in the fucked up mind-frame I was in. What did I expect? Henry to wait around until I made a decision?
I steeled myself, then and there. I had to be mature. I had to be logical. If Henry wanted to date Bunny, that was his choice, not mine.
So why did I feel such red hot anger?
Henry looked embarrassed by Bunny’s comment. “Well, I’m going to make the rounds, say to hi to everyone,” he said. “I’ll catch up with you later.” He flashed Bunny a grin – the grin I had thought was reserved for me – and started walking.
I huddled up behind Henry. “Don’t leave me alone!” I hissed.
He turned around, surprised. “You always used to go off by yourself at parties!” he reminded me.
“Well, now I’m like a skittish cat,” I said waspishly. I was annoyed at the image of Henry and Bunny out on some romantic date, not to mention overwhelmed by the tons of people who had showed up for Bunny’s party.
Henry placed his hands on my shoulders. Someone cranked the music up so loud that Henry had to lean forward so that our noses were almost touching to be heard. “Try and enjoy yourself,” he screamed over the music.
Immortal After All (Vampire Hunter Book 3) Page 9
