“I…” My mind clouded, and it wasn’t until he moved away from me that I could think clearly and process words again. “So what you’re saying is there’s a group that took the fallen star?”
He nodded. “That’s what I’m saying.”
“So who is this group?”
“Now that’s a secret I can’t tell you.”
I sighed. I was so confused. Confused about why he’d brought me up here. About why he was telling me this. About everything really. “So, what happens if I touch the spot?”
“Why don’t you try it and find out.”
I stared apprehensively at the ashy spot. There was something off about it. The color, the charcoal texture, the way the snow didn’t cover it.
“Don’t worry,” Alex said, “I’m pretty sure you won’t start on fire or anything.”
“Pretty sure,” I muttered. Well, that was reassuring.
I took a deep breath and bent down, letting my fingers brush up against the spot. It didn’t feel hot or anything. Not even warm. But there was something off about it. Something different, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. It almost felt sparkly….or maybe it was more electric.
“Feel anything?” Alex asked.
“Not really.” I let the tips of my fingers rest against the spot for a few seconds longer, then pulled my hand away and stood up. “It’s not even warm.”
“Huh…” He furrowed his eyebrows as he studying me over.
My pulse sped up like a bolt of lightning had shot out from the sky and zapped me in the chest. You’d think after a couple of weeks of feeling it, I’d have gotten use to it. You’d think, being the key words. But that wasn’t the case. In fact, I could still barely remember how to breathe whenever I felt it.
The wind started to pick up again, twirling flakes of snow around in the air like pixie dust. The sky had become shaded with clouds. Sundown was nearing, and it looked as if a storm might be moving in.
“Well,” Alex ran his fingers through his hair, “we should probably get going before it gets dark.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” I agreed.
I’d been so swept up in Alex’s story about the star that I’d temporarily pushed the yellow-eyed death monsters out of my mind. But when we started the walk back to the car, and the silence set in, my mind raced back to the what-if’s. What if the monsters were hiding out there? What if they were real? What if they showed up and tried to kill me? What if they… well, you get the picture.
So, needless to say, I was beyond thankful when we made it safely back inside the car. It was then that I silently vowed to myself that I would never go up into the mountains again, unless it was absolutely necessary, which I could never see it being.
By the time Alex was turning the Camaro onto the main road, dark had settled in. The glow of the headlights glistened against the icy roads as we inched nearer to town. Alex and I hadn’t spoken a word to each other since we’d headed back to the car, and I was still confused why he’d brought me up to the mountains in the first place. To tell me about the fallen star? It seemed like a really strange reason.
“So,” he dimmed the headlights for a SUV passing by in the opposite direction, “you live with your grandparents?”
“Huh?” It had been quiet for so long that his voice startled me. “Yeah, I do. But how did you know that?
He shrugged. “And you like to be by yourself a lot, too, I’ve noticed.”
“I guess.” Like always, I was confused. “What’s with the analysis?”
“I’m just curious…about you.” He gave me a sideways glance. “I find you fascinating.”
“Fascinating?” I gave him a doubtful look. “I highly doubt that. I think the word you’re looking for is annoying.”
He chuckled softly, shaking his head. “I already told you, I’m just a moody person.”
“You can say that again.” I paused, realizing it was kind of a bitchy thing to say. I made what I hoped looked like an apologetic face. “Sorry.”
He laughed. “Well, that’s a cute side of you.”
I chewed on my lip, replaying his words. Cute? Had he meant it as a compliment? Or had he meant it as an insult?
I was guessing the latter.
Suddenly the radio, which had been playing quietly in the background, cut out and static screeched through speakers. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard, and I threw my hands over my ears.
Alex hurried and turned the volume down. He pointed to the visor above my head. “Grab one of those CD’s and put it in, would you?”
I lowered my hands from my ears and flipped the visor down. Oh. My. Word. I was in heaven. Okay, so let me explain why. I’d developed a huge obsession with music over the last couple of months. An obsession that had played a bit of a part in the whole Marco and Sophia vs. Gemma showdown because, apparently, blasting music was a very rude thing to do. At least that’s what Sophia had told me. She’d also threatened to take my computer away if I didn’t stop listening to music. But I loved music way too much to quit listening to it completely. I was in love with the lyrics, the rhythm, and the way it could sweep me away to another world. So late at night, when Sophia and Marco were sleeping, I’d put my headphones in, listen, and relax.
What was exciting here was that Alex had great selection. Chevelle, Hawthorne Heights, Dashboard Confessional, they were all such great bands.
I decided on Rise Against and slid it into the CD player. Five seconds later, the intro popped on.
“You like Rise Against?” He sounded somewhat shocked.
“Yeah…” What was with all the weird questions? “Why do you sound so surprised?”
“I just hadn’t pegged that about you.”
“Pegged what about me? That I wouldn’t like music? Or that I wouldn’t listen to Rise Against?”
He pressed the skip button, skipping the CD to the next song. “That you’d be the kind of person who likes listening to music.”
“Why?” I felt my skin warm. And it was not from the electricity. Nope, I was getting pissed. “What kind of person would I have to be to like listening to music?”
He frowned. “Gemma, I’m not trying to insult you? I’m just trying to get to know you better. That’s all.”
“Oh.” I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not. He sounded like he was, though. “Well, I like music, especially the soul speaking kind.”
His expression fell into a look of horror.
“What’s wrong?” I asked. Had I said something offensive? After all, I was a bit of a newbie at the whole socializing thing, but he was saying a lot of strange stuff to so…I don’t know.
“It’s nothing.” He shook his head. “Sorry.” His smile returned, but it looked forced. He fiddled with the heater, turning it up full blast. Then he cranked up the volume of the music so loud the windows vibrated.
I took it as a very unsubtle hint that our conversation was over, so I stopped talking.
Neither one of us made so much as peep until he’d pulled back into the school parking lot and parked his Camaro next to my Mirage, which was now covered in a thin layer of snow.
He turned the volume down and said in polite tone, “Thanks for taking a break with me.”
Matching his polite tone, I replied, “Well, thanks for the break.”
“Yep, no problem.”
I opened the door and climbed out into the cold night. The parking lot was empty, except for my car and his. There was only a single lamppost that actually worked, so it was basically dark.
I went to shut the door, but heard Alex say my name and paused.
“Sweet dreams,” he said, in a soft voice that made goose bumps sprout up on my skin.
I smiled at him as I closed the door. Then I jumped in my car and let it warm up just long enough for the ice to melt away from the windshield. To my surprise, Alex waited for me leave before he did. He followed me out of the school parking lot, staying closely behind me until I made a right turn onto M
ain Street. There he turned left, his headlights disappearing and taking my sense of comfort right along with them.
All the lights at my two-story red brick home were off when I pulled into the driveway. It was only a little after seven, too early for Marco and Sophia to be in bed. They must have gone out for dinner or something.
I locked the back door behind me and stumbled around in the dark until I found the light switch and flipped it on. I grabbed a Coke and an apple from the fridge and headed upstairs to my room, debating whether or not to do my homework. My brain was distracted by the weird day I’d had. The weird day I’d spent with Alex.
My day with Alex.
Holy freaking cow.
A light suddenly flipped on behind me.
“And where have you been?”
I whirled around, almost dropping the can of Coke.
Sophia was standing at the bottom of the stairs with her hands on her hips. She had a fluffy pink robe on, and her auburn hair was curled up in rollers. I guessed I’d been wrong when I assumed she’d gone out. But what had she been doing; waiting around in the dark for me to show up?
So weird.
“I was out with…a friend,” I told her, knowing how unnatural the word “friend” sounded coming out of my mouth.
She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t have any friends.”
“Yes, I do,” I protested. “Sort of.”
“If that’s the case, then why haven’t I seen any of these friends?”
“Maybe because I don’t want to bring them over here,” I snapped hotly.
A strand of her hair unwound from a roller and landed in her face with a bounce. “What's wrong with over here?”
I gave an exhausted sigh. “Nothing’s wrong with here. I don’t know why you care about any of this anyway.”
Her eyes widened. “I don’t.” She pushed past me and marched up the stairs, calling over her shoulder, “In fact, I don’t care what you do at all.”
I’m not going to lie. Her words hurt me like a knife to the heart. I mean, I’d always assumed she’d never liked me that much, but now that she put it out there…I felt like I might cry. They didn’t care about me.
No one did.
Tears stung at my eyes. Breath, I commanded myself. You will not cry. I sucked back the tears and dragged my butt up to my room, where I changed into my pajamas and crawled into the welcoming warmth of my bed. It was early, but I was exhausted.
Outside my window, the clouds had parted. The moon smoldered against the blackness of the sky, the stars twinkling harmoniously around it. I felt that same strange pull that I always did whenever I looked up at the night sky. It made me feel like I belonged up there, shining with the stars.
Sometimes it felt like it was the only place I did belong.
Chapter 8
I had this feeling that maybe, just maybe, school was going to be different today. Okay, so perhaps I was being a little overly hopeful here, but I was still crossing my fingers that the tension between Alex and I would lessen now that we’d had our semi-bonding moment.
Of course, I hadn’t forgotten the crazy story he’d told me about the fallen star. Last night, I’d even dreamt about it. In the dream, I was the star falling fiercely from the sky. When I woke up, I still felt like I was falling.
Honestly, I didn’t mind the dream, and the break it had given me from my repetitious nightmare—it was nice to take a break from dying. And since the little parking lot incident, I hadn’t seen any sign of the glowing yellow eyes roaming around in the real world, so that was an added bonus. I’d also decided to push Sophia’s harsh and hurtful comments out of my mind. I was going to have a good day today. A good, worry-free day.
At least I hoped.
My morning went by pretty okay. Nothing too traumatic happened. I did have a bit of a concentration problem, but no one seemed to notice. And when astronomy class rolled around, I felt myself getting excited. The feeling was new to me and, I’ll admit, kind of a fun one.
I took a seat at my table, feeling restless for Alex to show up so I could see how he was going to treat me. But when the bell rang, Alex and Ailsin were still a no show. And my heart sank. Their empty chairs were a painful reminder of the old days when I sat all by my little lonesome. As bad as things had been between Alex and me, I still felt a small ping of longing for the chairs to be filled.
“Alright everyone.” Mr. Sterling walked up behind his podium, balancing a stack of papers and folders in his hands. “Open your books to page fifty-eight while I take role.”
I sighed and opened my book.
“Worried I wasn’t going to show?”
My heart just about leapt out of my throat, and my body did this weird, excited spasm thing, causing my elbow to knock my pen on the floor. I scooped it up as Alex took a seat, pulling the hood of his jacket off of his head.
“No worried,” I said. Great. Not only was I socially incompetent, but now my speech was becoming impaired. Deciding it might be best to keep my mouth shut, I fixed my eyes on my book.
He laughed to himself as he flipped through the pages of his book. “That sounded convincing.”
I tried again. “I wasn’t worried.” The pitch of my voice was a little high, but at least I got all the words out this time.
He laughed again and gently tousling his fingers through his hair. “Okay, if you say so.”
I opened my mouth to argue that he was wrong, but Mr. Sterling cut me off by starting his discussion.
After Mr. Sterling had finished talking, he took the class to the library for some project time. However, this time he stuck around to keep an eye on everyone. I guess yesterday he’d busted a few of the people that had cut out early. Fortunately, Alex and I weren’t one of them.
Alex and I selected a table near the back corner to set our things on. During our walk over, he’d informed me that Aislin was still sick so it was just going to be him and me.
“So which should we work on first?” he asked, dropping his bag onto the table. “The map or the report?”
“Um…since we don’t have any of the supplies for the map,” I slid my messenger off of my shoulder and hung it on the back of a chair, “I don’t think there’s anything else we can do except work on the report.”
“Do we even know what we’re doing it on?”
“No, but looking through some books might help us come up with something.”
He held back a smile. “Well that and the internet.”
I glanced over at the Computer Station, which was crammed with people. “How about you go over to the computers, and I’ll go pick out some books.”
“Sounds good to me.” He headed off for the Computer Station.
I turned for the bookshelves. As I passed by the New Release Section, I couldn’t help but stop and skim over what was there. Nothing was too catchy, except for one with a dark purple star on the cover. It made me think of the fallen star story Alex had told me about yesterday. Out of sheer curiosity, I decided to read the back to see what it was about.
Halfway through, electricity shockwaved up my spine and I just about dropped the book.
“That doesn’t look like it would be very helpful for our project.” Alex came up to the side of me and leaned against the shelf.
I held up the book, showing him the cover “Hey, it has a star on the cover.”
He laughed. “So it does.”
“I thought you were going to look stuff up on the internet?” I asked him.
“Yeah, I was until I realized there really isn’t any point of us splitting up since we haven’t chosen our topic yet.”
“Oh yeah, good point.”
He flicked the book I was holding with his finger. “So what’s it about.”
I glanced down at the book, then back at him. “From what I read off of the back, I think it has something to do with witches.”
For some reason, this seemed to entertain him. “Witches huh? You really do have a thing for the supernatural, don’t you?”
I put the book back on the shelf. “I guess you could say that….” I was so confused. “But how do you know that?”
He shrugged. “Whenever I see you reading, it seems like the book is a science fiction one.”
I gave him a funny look. “Have you been watching me?”
I thought I detected a flicker of panic on his face, but it disappeared before I could be absolutely sure.
“I wouldn’t exactly call it watching you...” He dragged his finger across his lip and sauntered past me, tracing the tips of his fingers across the base of my back. It sent an eruption of sparks surging through me. “More like…observing you.”
It was the first time he’d touched me on purpose, and it almost seemed like he’d done it to distract me.
I tried not to flinch at the sparks firecrackering all over my body, causing my blood to sing and my heart to pound.
For a moment, I thought I might faint.
Alex watched me very closely, as if waiting for me to react to his touch. It was like he thought I was going to freak out or something. I very easily could have too. But I fought hard and managed to keep my cool.
At least on the outside anyway.
A gap of silence passed by. The sounds of clicking computer keys and soft chatter trailed through the air. Beneath the lights, Alex’s green eyes shined like glass. It was amazing how staring into his eyes could make me feel like I was losing myself.
If it wouldn’t have been for a guy—whose name I think is Jason—scooting past us, I’m fairly certain we may have stood there forever, just staring at each other.
But the Jason guy ruined the moment.
Alex sighed, seeming disappointed, and motioned me to follow him as he headed back toward the astronomy section.
We didn’t speak to each other as we searched through the titles of books. I found one on the Milky Way that sounded interesting and sat down on the floor.
“So do you want to know what I think is funny.” Alex flopped down on the floor next to me without a book. “That we chose our project based on what would be the quickest and easiest, yet I think out of the entire class, we’ve probably gotten the least accomplished.”
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