“I told you nothing happened. We walked and we talked, so I’m not sure what I did wrong, Lace. Besides, isn’t there some rule about not letting boys get between friends?”
Glaring up at me, Lacey replied, “I don't know. But maybe there's one about supposed best friends stealing potential boyfriends even though they said they weren't interested.”
Before I had the chance to respond to her jab at me, Mr. Rosenburg called me to my seat. I couldn’t believe she wouldn't drop the romance scenario she'd conjured up in her head about me and Harlow. So much for concentrating on calculus.
Instead, my mind reeled the entire hour as I tried to figure out how to resolve her unnecessary conflict with me. The class dragged on, and when the bell finally rang, Lacey was out of the classroom before I could reach her.
“Lacey!” I called after her, only to receive judgmental stares from other students in the hall. I lingered in the doorway, unsure how to process what had just happened.
When I entered the cafeteria later, I was shocked to find Victoria Brown sitting next to Lacey, in my usual seat. Lacey didn’t even like her. And I knew the one empty seat at our table was meant for Harlow. It caught me off guard how upset this made me. The insignificant gesture spoke lengths of Lacey’s conflict with me. Even Arianna kept her gaze down, focusing on the food in front of her.
I stood there debating my next move. Deciding not to allow Lacey’s current opinion of me deter me from eating with my other friends, I slid into Harlow’s empty chair. “Hey, guys, what’s up?” I asked, acting casual like I hadn’t found Victoria's presence the least bit odd.
Lacey didn’t respond, pretending like I wasn’t even there.
Furious, I looked to Arianna for an answer. She caught my eye, and her gaze dropped to the table again. Anger began to boil inside me. “Okay, this is bullshit. I know Lacey is mad at me, but are you kidding me? You too, Arianna?”
Arianna’s mouth moved to speak, but Lacey spoke over her. “We’re all just a bit disappointed in you, Rayna. I mean, no one really wants to be friends with a backstabber.”
“That would be my cue to exit stage right,” Rider announced, getting up from the table and relocating himself to sit with Derek and Vince.
“Backstabber?” I repeated; my cheeks red with frustration. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Lacey tried to play it cool, but her antsy demeanor implied that she was on the verge of an explosion. “I just thought you weren’t interested in Harlow. I mean that’s what you said, so I don’t understand why you went off with him like that at Rider’s party.”
“You’re impossible, Lacey,” I scowled, grabbing my uneaten lunch and getting up from the table to throw it away. I had lost my appetite. As I made my way across the cafeteria, I could feel several pairs of eyes trailing after me.
By the time I reached the garbage can, hot tears of frustration silently stained my cheeks. I whirled around, right into Harlow. He had this unbelievable way of always being in the right place at the right time.
Harlow gripped the tops of my arms, his eyes searching mine. But before he could say anything, a male voice shouted out to him from across the cafeteria.
“Hey, Payne! It’s always the ones you never expect, am I right?”
Harlow’s face instantly hardened at the remark. He looked past me to the bold speaker and carefully moved me aside. The cafeteria went dead silent as our peers watched the scene gradually unfolding before them.
Johnny Fields, a fellow senior and notorious troublemaker, had been the one to speak out of turn. He was easily two times Harlow’s size and then some. Johnny stood nearly ten feet away, sporting a twisted grin on his face, anticipating whatever Harlow may have had in store for him.
Seconds later Harlow tore across the cafeteria and everyone moved from their seats to get a better look. I couldn’t see anything beyond the sea of people that had now filled the gap between Harlow and me.
Fights rarely broke out at HGH, so our lunches were not heavily monitored by faculty. Both Harlow and Johnny managed to get a few good hits in before campus security rushed into the cafeteria ending their tussle. Both boys were forcibly dragged out into the hallway. During all the commotion I made a quick escape to the bathroom.
For the next twenty-seven minutes, girls came in and out of the bathroom—while I remained hidden in the handicap stall—gossiping relentlessly about the fight. Most of the girls thought Harlow was “so brave” for punching Johnny.
“He’s so hot!” a redheaded, freckle-faced, freshman girl gushed to her friend in the mirror beside her. “He didn’t even break a sweat!”
She couldn’t see me glaring at her from the crack in the stall door thinking: he didn’t break a sweat because the fight lasted less than five minutes.
“I just don’t understand why he picked Rayna Pierce. I mean, I know they’re friends or whatever, but she seems so straitlaced, you know?”
“More than friends now, apparently,” the other girl added, looking at her friend in the mirror and they shared a laugh.
Her little rant irked me enough that I almost burst out of the stall just to see their reactions. Instead, I remained still and silent, my hands clenched into fists at my sides, nails biting into my skin.
I couldn’t stand to be in this building for another three and a half hours after what had just ensued in the cafeteria. The bell sounded, and I bolted from the stall.
Rounding the corner, I spotted Harlow leaning casually against my locker and I slowed my pace, careful not to make eye contact as I approached.
He slid out of the way so I could access the lock. “Are you okay?” he asked, his tone falling somewhere between conversational and concerned.
I did my best to ignore him, focusing on the combination. Without a word, I snatched my coat and bag and slammed the door, turned on my heel and marched away as if he weren’t there at all.
“I’ll take that as a no.” I heard him mutter under his breath as he trailed along behind me.
“Can’t you just leave me alone?” I snapped, picking up my pace.
“Rayna,” he called after me. “Rayna, relax. It’s just a stupid rumor.”
He wasn't helping. “Rumor or not, that was humiliating!” I yelled back. “Being friends with you has caused nothing but trouble for me!” I knew I shouldn’t have been taking my frustration out on him, but in my heightened emotional state, Harlow had made himself all-too-available to be my punching bag.
“Now this is my fault?” he shot back, and I could tell my words had hurt him.
“Just leave me alone, okay?” At this point, I had made it outside. The rain came down so heavy that we were both drenched in a matter of seconds.
“Rayna. You can’t just leave like this!” he yelled after me. And when I didn’t back down, Harlow continued to tail me through the parking lot. “Rayna, talk to me!”
I skidded to a stop in the middle of the blacktop, kicking up rainwater as I whirled around to face him. Strands of my rain soaked hair stuck to my face. “About what?” I shouted at him. “The fact that the entire school thinks we slept together in the woods causing one of my best friends to turn her back on me because of her stupid crush on you!”
“Because of me?” Harlow recoiled, visibly stung by my accu-sation.
“Yes! And as if things weren't bad enough already you just had to go and punch Johnny and now we look guilty!” I yelled before storming off toward my car once more.
“Can you slow down?” he asked, catching me by the elbow. “People talk, Rayna. Harbor Glenn is a small town,” his expression soured. “It could have happened to anyone. Trust me, it’ll pass.”
Part of me hoped he was right, but at the same time, it seemed like such an insensitive thing to say. “You should go back inside,” I advised him in an icy tone. “You’ll get in trouble.”
Harlow pushed up one sleeve of his now soaked, gray thermal shirt, “And you won’t? Besides, after today I’m out of here.”
I blinked up at him. “What are you talking about?”
“I got suspended,” he explained.
“You what?” I asked as if I hadn’t heard him correctly.
Harlow almost laughed. “You’re surprised? Rayna, I did punch someone. Or did you miss that part?”
“No, I know. Never mind.”
“Whatever, Johnny is an ass.” After a brief silence between us, he said, “You’re welcome, by the way,” trying to make light of the situation.
Harlow didn’t seem to get, or care, that sarcasm wouldn’t fix my mood. If he believed for a second that I’d thank him for his reckless behavior he was about to be severely disappointed. “Keep in mind that I never asked for your help,” I reminded him pointedly as I unlocked my car.
Harlow caught the doorframe in his hand, unfazed by my backlash. “You realize what you’re doing, don’t you?”
“I’m leaving,” I replied matter-of-factly.
“You’ll get caught ditching.”
I shrugged stiffly. “I don’t care.”
Harlow grabbed my shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t let Lacey and Victoria get under your skin, Rayna. You know none of this is true.”
Suddenly, his touch sent a shockwave through me and I blacked out—or so I thought.
Encompassed in complete darkness, I couldn’t see anything. Footsteps crushed against leaves as someone closed in on me. And after a brief silence, the footsteps retreated. Whispered voices conversed nearby, but I couldn't make out any of the conversation. The footsteps approached once more, and I felt my whole body being lifted from the ground and carried off.
Before I knew it, I was back in the parking lot of the high school as if no time had passed.
Another vision.
“You okay?” Harlow asked, watching me with a subtle yet concerned expression.
I shook my head, a little dazed. “I'm fine,” I lied. Why did this keep happening to me?
“Hey you two!” a deep male voice shouted at us from the sidewalk, tearing me from my thoughts. Great, campus security. The officer jogged toward us, and I knew I wasn't going anywhere now. We were busted.
I was furious with the day. Not only were my friends avoiding me or, in Lacey’s case, not speaking to me, but I also managed to push away the one friend I had left. The Dean was bound to call any minute. And to top it off, I had to tell Dalyn about my detention so she could find another ride home. She would definitely blab about it to our parents before I got home. In a matter of hours, my life had blown up in my face, leaving me feeling helpless and lost as I pulled into the driveway.
To my surprise—and relief—my parents were both still at work, which bought me some time to myself to cool down. I contemplated confronting Dalyn about the situation but thought better of it not wanting to start another conversation that might end in disaster. Ultimately, I needed some time alone to clear my head, so I bypassed the house and went straight toward the woods. My clothes were still damp, so the drizzling rain didn’t bother me. Leaves whipped at my face in the wind, but I didn’t care. In a matter of minutes, I found myself in the clearing, slumped down against the big oak tree and began to sob.
I wanted more than anything just to go back to before the bonfire when things were normal. But at the same time, I couldn’t imagine life without a friend like Harlow. We had only known each other for a short time, but we had somehow managed to befriend one another so fast. There was an unspoken mutual understanding between us. Unexplainable, yet unmistakable. In just a few short weeks, Harlow had become my new normal, and I realized I couldn’t go back no matter how much I might have wanted to after today. Having released enough emotion to feel better, I got up and pulled myself together.
Ironically enough, the rain had stopped and the sun resurfaced behind the clouds. I closed my eyes and focused on the sound of the wind rustling the scarce leaves of the trees around me. As the wind died down, I heard what sounded like voices coming from somewhere in the distance. My eyes snapped open, and curiosity got the better of me.
The voices were faint, so I decided to move toward them, trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to draw attention to myself, especially as the voices got louder and became more distinguishable. I moved much slower then, poking my head out from behind a tree to discover three young men convened near the bank of the St. Croix Stream. And even though his back faced me, I recognized Nick at once.
“I'm doing everything I can!” a familiar female voice argued. I couldn't see her around Nick and the two other young men who appeared to be around his age. “It's not easy to pull off a locator spell on an object, Nick!” the girl chided. “This type of spell usually requires DNA or something that can at least give me a foothold and your dagger is severely lacking in that department.”
“Watch your tone!” the blond guy on Nick’s right hissed.
“Oh calm down!” the female voice sneered. “I'm just saying a locator spell isn't meant to help you find your lost shoe so to speak. I'm shooting in the dark here. Can't you just, you know, track it down yourselves?”
“We tried. The trail ends here,” Nick said, pointing to the St. Croix Stream.
“So they just jumped in?”
“So it would seem.”
“If this someone is covering their tracks then we're dealing with a person who has experience, someone who has other plans for it.”
“Don't look at me like that,” Nick complained, peering over his shoulder.
I ducked behind the tree hoping I hadn't been spotted. And when I looked again, the tallest guy in the group—lean, with dark curly hair and hipster glasses—stood just a few feet away, staring in my general direction with a pensive expression.
My heart clenched in my chest and I slipped behind the cover of the tree once more. The drumbeat of my heart filled my ears, drowning out all other noise. And when the taller guy returned to his original post, relief washed over me.
Nick flicked his wrist twice in the direction of his sidekicks as if to shoo them away. At his signal the two young men moved aside, revealing Ivy Branson.
She stood in front of Nick with her arms folded across her chest and a steely-eyed gaze poised to slice him in half. “So you're telling me that there isn't anyone you've pissed off over the past week or so?” she asked, her tone incredulous.
Nick rubbed a hand across his jaw in mock thought. “Well, there was the gas station attendant, the woman at the grocery store, that guy I cut off on the highway—”
“Nick this isn't a joke,” Ivy argued. “Did you happen to miss the poisonous flowers accumulating in your front yard? They don't exactly say welcome to the neighborhood.”
“You don't think I'm taking this seriously? I wouldn't have brought you out here if I thought—”
“Oh shit!” Ivy exclaimed, her eyes wide with the knowledge of something. “Shit, shit, shit!”
“Come on, Ivy, spit it out,” Nick taunted and I instantly understood her frustration with him.
“Shut up,” she hissed, her expression hardening at his remark. “I just realized,” she paused, “and if I'm right then we'll know who stole the dagger. Come on!” Ivy said, signaling for the group to follow her. And with that, they all took off back through the trees.
Out of nowhere, a hand clasped over my mouth so tight I couldn't even attempt to scream, and I was dragged backward, away from the scene.
chapter five
HARLOW CAME INTO VIEW AS HE PINNED MY BACK against a tree. With one hand still over my mouth, he whispered, “I'm going to let go, but you need to keep your mouth shut. Do you understand?”
I nodded as my adrenaline started to slow.
His eyes widened at me, and his forehead creased. “I'm serious, Rayna. Not a word.” Gently, Harlow freed me from his grasp. Holding his index finger to his lips, he crept toward a nearby tree and paused to listen.
“How much did you hear?” he asked, breaking the silence between us as he turned back to face me.
“That really hurt!”
I complained, rubbing my jaw.
Harlow apologized, but there was nothing genuine about it. He was too distracted by the other goings on to put any real effort into the apology. “Rayna! How much of their conversation did you hear?” he repeated more determined for an answer.
My eyes narrowed at him. “Are you asking me or interrogating me?” I snapped back. “Because this feels a lot like an interrogation.”
Harlow's expression hardened. “Just answer the question.”
“Fine,” I replied curtly. “Ivy said something about DNA and a spell and there was something about a dagger, or whatever...”
“Damn it!” Harlow fumed, kicking at the earth.
“Oh, I'm sorry,” I continued my bitter attack, “I didn't mean to interfere in your secret magic club. Is that why Ivy is always hanging around you? You guys make magic together?”
“Just stop, Rayna,” Harlow chided, glaring at me.
I pressed my lips together in a tight line. “I'll do you one better,” I snapped. “I'm leaving. Don't text me, don't call me, and don't follow me because...” I paused mid rant lost for words. “Because magic, Harlow, really?” I grimaced. “Whatever it is you guys do out here,” I continued, using wild hand gestures for emphasis, “I want nothing to do with it.”
I had only retreated a few steps when Harlow spoke again, “You're not going to ask for an explanation?” he said, sounding surprised.
Turning back to face him, I stared at him for a long time trying to measure his level of seriousness. “You want me to ask why you just attacked me?”
Harlow sighed, closing his eyes. “Not about that.”
“No. I told you, I don't want to know. And I don't believe in magic anyway,” I replied, my voice full of disdain. “And in case you forgot, I just had the worst day of my life, so forgive me for not caring at the moment!”
“You know,” Harlow said his words measured, “For someone snooping around out here, you sure as hell have a funny way of making everything about you.”
My mouth fell open in shock at his accusation. “What is that supposed to mean?”
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