I bit the inside of my bottom lip. Adrian was making apologizing extremely difficult, and I didn’t want to go to school feeling angry.
“I’m just trying to make conversation, Adrian. Why are you acting like this?”
“Like what?”
“Like . . . this,” I said, waving my hand in his direction. “Answering with as few words as possible.”
“I’m sorry you feel I’m not conversationally stimulating today.”
Adrian rolled to a stop at the crosswalk to let a few students pass and I opened the door. He looked sharply over at me, surprise on his face. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll walk the rest of the way.”
“The school is across the street. We’re almost there. Don’t be a drama queen.”
But I’d already gotten out. “I’m not being a drama queen,” I said through my teeth, slamming the door.
Adrian sped past me, tires squealing, and I walked as quickly as I could the rest of the way, keeping my head down. People were looking. I didn’t care, though. Let them stare.
Priscilla met me at my locker after homeroom. We quickly compared schedules again, but nothing had magically changed in the past twenty-four hours since we’d last compared notes.
“So you really couldn’t switch these two classes? I can’t believe lunch is the only period we have together,” I said. I didn’t mention my fight with Adrian on the way to school, if only because I was afraid I’d burst into tears if I talked about it at all. The apology hadn’t exactly gone according to plan.
“Lunch is the most important part of the day,” Priscilla said, unconcerned. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like we don’t ever see each other anyway. I’m scheduled to work this afternoon, so I’ll bum a ride with you and Adrian after school.”
“We’re walking today.”
Priscilla made a face. “Walking? Since when do we walk anymore?”
“We just are.”
“Okaaay,” she said, at last getting that I was upset.
The bell rang and I gave her a sheepish grin. “See you later?”
“You know I’ll get to the bottom of whatever you’re not telling me,” she said before she turned on her heel and walked away.
My first class of the day turned out to be gym. Whoever thought having gym that early in the morning was a complete nimrod. At least Shyla would be suffering alongside me. She was already in the dressing room when I walked in, and I snagged the locker next to hers.
She groaned when she saw me. “Is this lame, or what? At my last school I had gym at the end of the day, which was perfect. We don’t even have time to take a shower. Do they really expect us to break a sweat and then go the rest of the day smelling like cattle?”
I smiled. “Just watch out for Coach Wally. He’ll call you out in front of everyone if you don’t take his class as seriously as he does.”
She bent to lace up her sneakers. “Fantastic. Hey, did you see who’s in this period?”
I yanked off my jeans and then tugged on a pair of shorts. Shyla didn’t know anyone at this school yet, and Priscilla, Adrian, and Caleb weren’t in this class. That could only mean she was talking about one person. “Oh, please don’t tell me . . .”
She nodded. “Jasmine.”
As if speaking her name conjured the devil herself, a toilet flushed and Jasmine emerged from a stall. We made eye contact briefly before each of us looked away.
I finished changing clothes. Thinking about my argument with Adrian that morning, I decided I should be the bigger person and at least say hi to her. “What can it hurt?” I said to Shyla.
Shyla made a sweeping gesture with her hand. “Be my guest. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
I closed my locker door and spun the lock, having made up my mind. Approaching Jasmine cautiously where she was standing in front of the mirror, sweeping back her hair it into a cascading ponytail, I called out to her. “Jasmine?”
Her raised left eyebrow was the only indication she gave that she’d heard me.
“Um. I wanted to let you know that you can hang out with Shyla and me if you want.”
“You wanted to let me know,” she said, her voice flat. “As if you and Shyla are the ‘it’ girls around here and I need your permission to breathe the same air.”
My reflection’s eyes widened. “We’re not the ‘it’ girls around here. And that’s not what I meant.”
“Oh, so you just feel sorry for me, the new girl in school.”
“No! That’s not it at all.” I huffed in exasperation. She was completely twisting my words. “I’m only trying to be nice!”
Jasmine spun to face me. “I don’t need your sympathy, Sarah. And I can take care of myself.” She bumped my shoulder as she stormed past me on her way to her locker.
I trudged back to Shyla, somewhat in shock, to find her chuckling under her breath. She rubbed her hands over her arms and pretended to shiver. “Brr! You just got iced.”
The blood was pounding in my ears and a tingling sensation had started in my fingers. I flexed them, recognizing the feeling at once. Whatever happened, I couldn’t lose control. Especially not at school, in front of everyone. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, waiting for the feeling to dissipate.
“That girl is one colossal brat,” I said at last.
TWELVE
Katie Cunningham, my arch-nemesis, strode into the locker room and dropped her bag on the bench next to me. After Jasmine, I was beginning to think there was some cosmic conspiracy to make my life as difficult as possible.
“Omigod!” she said, staring at me in disbelief. “You’re actually . . . pretty this year.”
I stared back. “Excuse me?”
“Your hair. You cut it. It actually looks . . . decent. You know, now that it doesn’t drag on the ground.”
“Thanks,” I said in a tight voice.
“Maybe you could try wearing a little make-up, too.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
She smiled, as though she’d done me some huge favor. “Good. So who’s your friend?” she said, casting her eyes at Shyla and giving her the obvious once-over.
“I’m Shyla Hunt,” Shyla said. “And I can speak for myself.”
Katie puckered her lips but otherwise ignored the barb. She pointed a slim finger at Shyla and cocked her head. “Last name Hunt. You’re not related to that hottie, Adrian, are you?”
“He’s my brother, not a hottie. And we’re twins.”
“What about that one over there? Is she related to either one of you?” Katie said, her finger moving between Shyla and me like a divining rod.
I didn’t have to look to know who she was talking about. As much as I couldn’t stand Jasmine, I took offense at her being called “that one,” as well as the implication that we were all somehow related because the color of our skin.
“That’s Jasmine Moon,” I said, keeping my voice as even as possible. “She’s a sophomore. Her brother Caleb is in our grade. He and Adrian are best friends.”
“Oh,” she said, turning a suspiciously speculative look in Jasmine’s direction. I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I detected a calculating gleam in her eyes. And I didn’t trust it one bit.
Something about Katie wasn’t quite right today. I squinted, trying to put my mental finger on what it was, and then I realized. “Where’s Danielle and Devon? Couldn’t manipulate the new office secretary to coordinate your schedules?”
Katie sniffed and turned away, pretending to be preoccupied with taking her gym clothes out of her bag. “They moved a few weeks ago to Boston, for your information. Their dad got a job transfer.”
“Wow. That sucks,” Shyla said. “Senior year, too.”
All the fight seemed to have gone out of Katie, and I actually felt sorry for her. Until she opened her mouth again. “That’s okay,” she said. “There’s always another Danielle or Devon waiting in the wings.”
“Right,” I said, just as Coach Wally bellow
ed from the hall that he’d start deducting points if we didn’t get moving.
Jasmine didn’t say one word to Shyla or me during the entire period, which was perfectly fine by me. It being the first day of school, Coach decided to take it easy on us, and Shyla and I set off at a lazy pace around the track. It may have been early September, but it was still warm enough to break a sweat without much effort. And I did not want to go to my next class looking like a mess.
I’d been keeping tabs on Katie during our walk when all of a sudden she closed in on Jasmine and tapped her on the shoulder. Jasmine whipped around, clearly on the defensive. I was too far away to hear what they were saying, but I could interpret body language just fine. Jasmine listened for a few minutes before nodding her head, a huge smile breaking out on her face like the sun peeking through the clouds.
I stopped dead on the track. “Oh crap.”
Shyla stopped beside me. “What?”
“Do you know what happens when you mix baking soda and vinegar?”
She gave me a look. “Not a clue. I pretty much bombed chemistry.”
I nodded in the direction of Katie and Jasmine. “That happens.”
Shyla looked their way and then back at me, still not getting it. “Plain English, please.”
“Katie Cunningham is the Queen B-word of our class, possibly of the entire school. Her two best friends have moved away, and now she’s cozying up to Jasmine. Don’t you see what this means?”
Shyla turned back to look at them, and her eyes widened in sudden understanding. “Oh.”
“Jasmine is bad enough on her own,” I said. “If Katie sinks her witchy claws into her, who knows what will happen?”
Coach blew his whistle at us and pointed to his watch. “Move it, ladies! This is not social hour. Let’s pretend like we care about our bodies.”
“What a weirdo,” Shyla said about Coach Wally.
I sighed and started walking again. “You have no idea.”
*****
I barely registered second period. All I could do was sit and obsess about the argument Adrian and I had had that morning, and how I would have to see him next hour. I had two things to apologize for now. Altogether, I was not off to a good start.
Caleb glanced up and met my eyes as I hovered in the doorway of third period, unsure where to sit. He waved me over. “We saved you a seat.”
“Thanks.” I wondered if by “we” he really meant himself. I wasn’t about to ask.
Dropping my bag on the floor, I slid into the seat to his right. I surreptitiously looked over at Adrian, but he wouldn’t look at me. He knew I was there, but he was obviously doing his best to ignore me. With a sigh, I began unpacking my pen and notebook.
“So how’s it going?” I asked Caleb for lack of anything else to say. After all, I barely knew him. We were still very awkward around each other.
“It’s going okay.”
I bobbed my head. “Cool.”
He looked at me, and his eyebrows slowly rose as though he expected me to say something more.
I shrugged. “That’s all I wanted to know.”
But that definitely wasn’t all I wanted to know about Caleb. Not by a long shot. We still hadn’t talked about why he could do . . . what he could do. I was desperate to know what it meant and why he’d revealed himself to me.
I cleared my throat. “Hey, this might sound weird considering we don’t really know each other. But do you maybe want to hang out sometime?”
That got Adrian’s attention, and his eyes cut to me. But now it was my turn to be petty. I focused all my attention on Caleb, refusing to let Adrian distract me.
Caleb narrowed his eyes. “Why would I want to hang out with you?”
Um, ouch. “I don’t know. I just think there’s a lot we have in common.” I gave him a pointed you know exactly what I’m talking about look.
He studied me a moment longer as he tapped the tip of his pen on his desk. Finally, he shrugged. “Sure. Okay.”
I beamed. “Great!”
At that moment the infamous Mr. Wigley breezed into the room and began talking at once, effectively putting an end to our conversation. He was one of those teachers: the kind that dives right in, even on the first day of school. I sighed and put my elbow on my desk, resting my chin in the palm of my hand while willing my eyes to stay open. My heart just wasn’t into school this year.
Midway through class, Caleb tapped me on the shoulder and jerked his thumb in Adrian’s direction. He was holding a note close to the floor, extended in my direction. I nabbed it at once and placed it in my lap, where I began unfolding it as quietly as I could.
I’m sorry, the note said.
I breathed a sigh of relief and then looked over at him and mouthed me, too.
A few minutes later, another note folded like a paper airplane came in for a landing on the floor by my desk. The guy sitting next to me swiped at it, but I was too fast for him.
Wanna make out later? I put my hand to my mouth, trying to stifle a giggle, but not doing a very good job of it.
“Is something funny?” Mr. Wigley said, looking directly at me.
I coughed to hide my laughter and pounded my chest with my fist. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Adrian’s shoulders shaking. “No, sir. I had something stuck in my throat.”
Mr. Wigley at least had the decency to look concerned. “Do you need to be excused?”
I cleared my throat and dabbed at the corner of my eye with my thumb. “No. I’m fine now. I promise.”
Mr. Wigley eyed me for a few seconds longer, probably mentally running through the steps of basic first aid in case there was truly a need—or maybe he was simply trying to decide if I was lying—before turning back to the board and resuming class. I didn’t look at Adrian again for the remainder of the period.
After class, Adrian grabbed my hand. “I really am sorry.”
I shook my head and looked down at my feet, the blood suddenly rushing to my face. “I’m the one who should be saying sorry. I was acting like a baby.”
Adrian put his finger under my chin and tilted my head so I’d have nowhere to look but in his eyes. “I knew you were counting on us going out to dinner last night, but it was nice being back on the reservation for a few days helping Caleb pack up his stuff. I got to see some of my other friends, too. I guess I just got caught up in the moment.”
“So why didn’t you call and tell me that? Yes, I was mad that we didn’t get to go out like we’d planned, but I would have understood.”
“I don’t know why I didn’t call.”
“It’s because he’s an idiot,” Caleb said, slapping Adrian on the back. He winked at me and then added, “Don’t mess it up, bro. There’ll be some other guy waiting to swoop in as soon as she figures out you’re a total moron and dumps your ass.”
“Some other guy, huh? Maybe someone like you?” Adrian said. He laughed, but I thought he was only half-joking.
Caleb snorted. “Dude, I don’t go after my best friend’s chick. Give me a little credit. Besides,” he said, eyeing me, “she’s not type.”
“Gee, thanks. Tell me how you really feel,” I said.
He held up his fingers in the peace sign. “I’m outta here.”
Adrian squeezed my hand. “I’ve got to go, too. Need a ride home after school?”
“I told Priscilla we’d walk.” Of course, that was when I’d been mad at Adrian.
“Are you sure? Seriously, I really am sorry.”
“I am, too. But it’s a nice day.”
Adrian leaned down to kiss me when Mr. Wigley strolled by and announced, “No PDAs in my classroom.” We settled for walking out together, hand-in-hand, and then reluctantly parted ways at the end of the hall.
In the lunchroom I saw Caleb sitting by himself and was torn between leaving him alone and asking if he wanted to sit with Priscilla and me. In the end, I invited him.
“So is Adrian’s friend too good for us or something?” Priscilla said when
I got in line behind her, just as surprised as I that he had said no.
“He probably just feels weird,” I said. “He doesn’t really know me, and he knows you even less. What would we have to talk about anyway?”
“He’s cute,” Priscilla said. “I hate to break it to you, but he might even be cuter than Adrian. He’s got this whole bad-boy image going on that I’m kind of attracted to.”
I took in Caleb’s blue-tipped faux-hawk and fitted shirt advertising that he was TOO HOT TO HANDLE. He’d recently pierced the cartilage of his ear, to complement the one in his brow, I supposed. We moved forward in line and I grabbed a slice of cheese pizza from the warmer.
“Don’t,” I said.
“Don’t what?”
“You know what I mean.”
Priscilla got this dreamy, faraway look in her eyes as she turned back to stare at Caleb. “I know you’re totally in love with Adrian, but you have to admit that his bestie is pretty hot.”
He was good looking, but I wasn’t attracted to him. I loved Adrian, after all. Caleb was just . . . Caleb.
“I’d steer clear if I were you,” I said. “I think he has a thing for Shyla.”
Priscilla trailed on my heels as I squeezed through the crowd to the milkshake dispenser. “Really? Not that I have anything against Shyla. But why her?”
“I guess they were friends from before.”
“But that was ages ago. They were just kids.”
I shrugged. “I saw the look on his face when he saw her that day on the reservation. I’m telling you, he’s got a thing for her.”
Priscilla hmphed. “And usually you’re so oblivious to those things.”
I gave her a look. What was up with everyone criticizing me today? I leaned in and lowered my voice to a whisper. “If I tell you something, do you promise to keep it secret?”
Priscilla leveled her gaze at me. “Seriously, you should know by now I’m good at keeping secrets.”
I held up my finger in the one-minute sign as I paid the cashier and then waited for Priscilla to pay. Finally, we made our way outside to our usual spot and sat down on the steps.
“Spill it,” Priscilla said.
I nabbed one of her fries and shoved it in my mouth, chewing as I thought. “Come to think of it, I really shouldn’t tell. It’s not my secret.”
The Prophecy Page 9
