Secrets Return (Leftover Girl Book 2)

by C. C. Bolick

  Gripping the straps of my backpack, I ran to the wall of building three, mostly on my toes as I tried to keep out of sight. Along the wall, I flattened against the brick and eased to the corner, where I could inch around to see both girls.

  From the side, this new girl looked as if she’d literally crawled off the cover of Sleeping Beauty and decided to enroll at Credence High. Besides the fact she towered above me, she couldn’t have been more than a size two. Thick golden curls cascaded down her back, barely held at her neck by a black clip. Her face could have been made of porcelain, every angle a smooth finish that caused the light pink of her cheeks and eyelids to seem painted on. She pulled a pink and silver cardigan close to her chest, although sweat dripped down my cheeks.

  Her voice was dainty, like a teacup that could be shattered with one touch, but underneath raged an anger that forced me to step back. Who was this girl?

  “Brianna,” Rachelle mumbled, “I’m sorry. No one cared for Leigh Ann more than I did.”

  “Don’t you dare say her name,” the girl hissed.

  “Girls,” said a voice and I noticed our principal, Dr. Greene, had opened one of the doors. “Get to class.”

  “Yes, sir,” Brianna said and smiled at him. “Rachelle was just helping me find my first class.”

  Dr. Greene smiled. “Rachelle is one of many wonderful students you’ll meet at Credence High.”

  Brianna regarded Rachelle with a slight nod, but her smile didn’t fade. “I’m good now. Thanks.” She grabbed the backpack near her feet and walked through the door Dr. Greene held open.

  “I’m in building five,” Rachelle said, her voice nearly a whisper.

  “Very well.” He ducked back into building three.

  As the door closed, I shot around the corner. “Are you okay?”

  Rachelle’s eyes widened, but she said nothing.

  “Who was that girl?”

  Rachelle glanced around the corner where I’d been hiding. “Brianna Lars.”

  “Is she—”

  “No,” Rachelle said. “You don’t want to know anything about her.” She grabbed my arm, pushing me toward the entrance. “Don’t we share first block?”

  I sighed. “History with Mr. Jones.”

  “Not anymore,” she said. “Mr. Jones is out for surgery and won’t be back for several weeks. There’s a new teacher.”

  Great, I thought. It really was last year all over again. “Didn’t you tell Dr. Greene your first class was in building five?” I struggled to keep up as Rachelle threw open the door of building three and nearly ran down the hall. From me?

  “I lied to get rid of him,” she said, over her shoulder.

  “Who is Leigh Ann?” I asked.

  Rachelle spun to face me, her voice razor sharp. “Don’t ever ask me that again.”

  “But—”

  “Stay out of it,” Rachelle said. “You don’t want to know this about me.”

  She didn’t say another word. I ran behind her, slowing only as we stepped into history class.

  The new teacher stood before a blackboard. I froze when she looked up from her podium and met my eyes. Déjà vu slapped me for the second time that day.

  Her baggy pants and t-shirt were far from the formal attire Mrs. Pearson had worn on a daily basis. And her shoes—flat sandals were barely visible through the gap beneath the podium.

  “Your names please,” she said coldly.

  “Rachelle Whitman,” my friend replied.

  She nodded, her eyes taking me in. “I am Mrs. Austen. And you are?”

  I blinked, holding back a laugh. Mrs. Austen? As in Jane Austen, author of the beloved book Mrs. Pearson gave me? “Jessica Delaney.”

  “Good, find your seat Miss Delaney.” She turned back to the board.

  The way she said my name, with frost attached to each syllable, felt eerily reminiscent of a certain English teacher Bailey still hated.

  Could the day get any stranger? She didn’t look anything like Mrs. Pearson had. Her hair was dark, a mixture of brown and gold, and halfway down her back. She paused to push the jagged bangs from her eyes. She wore no glasses. And yet…

  “Well?” she asked, pausing as she wrote a breakdown of our grades for the semester.

  “Sorry,” I muttered and lowered into a seat near the back of class. How had she managed to find a real chalkboard anyway? No teacher at Credence High had used a chalkboard since they’d removed the one from Mrs. Pearson’s old class in the spring, opting for a white board instead.

  Turning, I noticed a guy sat next to me. The gold highlights along his dark brown hair exactly matched the color of hers. He wore sunglasses, but the features of his face didn’t match Chase in any way. His skin was a polished bronze and his muscles tight within the sleeves of his polo shirt. Larger than Chase, maybe even taller, he seemed to loom over the desk.

  I watched him carefully, silently willing him to look up. His eyes never moved, as if frozen to the black binder beneath his pen.

  The strange feeling returned, only this time it was back for good.

  * * * * *

  I picked at the pizza on my plate. If only the stupid computer had given Bailey first lunch. Stuck with second lunch, she’d used every fake cuss word she could conjure until we had to take opposite halls. I’d spend all year eating with Angel and Rachelle. She’d be alone.

  When the bell finally rang, I gave up on the pizza.

  “Got to meet Skip,” Angel said as she ran from the lunchroom.

  People rushed around us, but Rachelle lifted her backpack as if she planned to stay and eat lunch again. “Angel is sharing a locker with Skip.”

  The sadness in her voice reminded me of Brianna. “Do you want to share a locker?”

  Rachelle stared at me. “What about Bailey?”

  I shrugged. “We can all share.”

  “I’ll share with Pade,” Bailey said, appearing at my side.

  “Share with your brother?” Rachelle did a double take. “What about Terrance?”

  Bailey shook her head. “They’re still not talking.”

  I looked at the pizza, but my appetite had not returned. “Is anything the same as last year?”

  “Yeah,” Rachelle said and stood. “This school still sucks.”

  Bailey watched as Rachelle pushed through the doors. “Chase is still gone.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, unsettled by how she’d nearly read my mind.

  “Don’t be,” Bailey said. “I called him, remember? I guess I got what I deserved.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  She sighed. “Don’t you have another class?”

  “Yeah, pre-cal.”

  “Stuck in a class where your mom’s the teacher? Chase used to say that super sucked. I guess you better hurry since Aunt Rainey will be worried.” Bailey smiled. “You can share a locker with Rachelle. I get it—Angel won’t part with Skip. You’ll probably get bottom row. I’ll make sure Pade gets us the one right above.”

  Seeing Pade every day at the locker—that’s just what I needed. “Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”

  “Trust me, Pade will be relieved. No one is talking to him. It seems nobody at Credence High likes people who abandon their best friends.”

  “But it wasn’t his fault,” I said. Bailey’s father had insisted on taking her and Pade back to Colorado for the spring semester. How could Terrance think Pade abandoned him when Pade didn’t have a choice? I sighed as the answer became clear. I’d felt the same way for months after Bailey left.

  Bailey stared at me. “Tell me you don’t feel that way.”

  I met her eyes. “I don’t.”

  Her lips formed a sad smile. “Don’t lie to make me feel better.”

  Gripping my backpack, I lifted the strap over my arm. “I might have felt that way in the spring, but not now.”

  “Thanks,” she said, but I could tell she still doubted my words.

  Trashing the pizza, I stepped outside the door, but took a last loo
k at Bailey. She reached in her bag and pulled out a paperback book. Bailey was going to read during lunch? Pade entered at a side door and took the quickest path to her table. People around him whispered, pointed, and one member of the football team even raised his middle finger behind Pade’s back.

  The sight disturbed me, but I wasn’t sure why. I’d been teased and tormented at schools across the country. We’d only moved thirty times, and I personally knew three times that many nasty people existed in the world. But Pade was different. In seventeen years, he’d probably never been teased.

  Six months ago, I would have loved to see him spend a single day understanding how I felt about Tosh. Now that the whole school had developed a hatred for Pade, I felt…

  Pity? Remorse? Or maybe just a sense of understanding. I didn’t hate Pade. Watching the tense look on his face made me want to run to class. Or walk to the table and hug his neck.

  I stared at the football player, concentrating on the carton of milk next to his plate. I held my breath, waiting for movement. When he reached for his drink, the carton tipped over, spilling milk across the table and into his lap. Yelling, the guy stood and did a little dance, and Bailey pointed and insisted Pade look. I smiled, even though Pade would never know I’d caused the excitement.

  I’d almost reached Mom’s class when an alarm began to wail. Lights flashed along the hall. Before I could reach her door, someone came around the corner and crashed into me.

  “Damn it,” Ronald Pitts said and pushed me aside. “I was never here.”

  As he ran down the hall, I rounded the corner and noticed the fire alarm pulled to my side. Doors began to open and students filed out, some running with teachers screaming from behind.

  A weird thought flashed in my head. I could un-pull the fire alarm. I slammed my palm against my forehead. No, that would mean way more attention than I’d ever need.

  Behind me, a voice boomed. “What is going on?”

  Turning, I looked up at Dr. Greene.

  His words were slow, controlled. “Jessica Delaney, please tell me you did not pull that fire alarm.”

  Mom appeared next to Dr. Greene. “Is this a fake?”

  “Apparently so,” he said, still staring at me. “Did you see who pulled it?”

  “No,” I said, but couldn’t stop the waver in my voice.

  “Was anyone else in the hall?” he asked.

  “Joel,” Mom said, “please, lower your voice. This excitement is probably too much for Jes as it is.” She turned to a student. “I’ll be out in a minute.”

  “Who did you see?” Dr. Greene demanded.

  “Ronald Pitts,” I whispered, but he heard despite the voices rushing by.

  “Ronald?” Mom looked doubtful.

  “We’ll find out,” Dr. Greene said and headed down the hall.

  Mom put an arm around me. “You didn’t really pull it, did you? I know taking my class will be strange, but I promise not to call on you. Much.”

  Chase had hated his mom’s class. Jeez, he was my brother and I still thought of Mrs. Pearson as only his mom. But was she really his mom? Maybe it had all been a lie.

  “Jes,” Mom said, bringing me back to reality. “Let’s go get everyone. Looks like this is going to be a first day to remember.”

  Or forget. I cringed imagining what Ronald might do when he discovered I ratted him out.

  * * * * *

  On Friday afternoon, I kneeled at my locker and sighed as exhaustion screamed from every muscle. Although I’d never admit to Mom and Dad, maybe going back to school so soon after the hospital had been too much.

  Ronald had been suspended after Dr. Greene convinced him to admit pulling the fire alarm. He couldn’t step foot onto campus until Tuesday, which might be a good day for me to claim the first week of school was too much. Dad would buy it, even if Mom didn’t. In fact, I might not have to fake it.

  Pade walked up and leaned against the lockers next to me.

  I looked up at him. “Want me to move?”

  “Take your time,” he said. “I don’t really need to use the locker.”

  Then why was he standing there? Since I didn’t have any homework for the weekend, I pulled the books from my bag and stacked them next to Rachelle’s. I struggled to get the books to stand neatly, but Pade offered no help as he stared.

  “Have you ever been in love?” he asked.

  I dropped the book in my hand. “What?”

  “Not a silly crush in-love, but full-blown can’t live without someone love?”

  “Maybe,” I said, but trapped under his gaze I wasn’t so sure. Had I ever really loved Pade or were my feelings for him just a silly crush?

  Pade rolled his eyes. “Someone from this planet?”

  The tone of his voice irritated me, and I couldn’t pinpoint why. Was it his new ‘me against the world’ attitude or the fact he still thought I liked Chase? Maybe it was better for him to keep thinking I had a thing for Chase. Closing my backpack, I slammed the locker door. “Maybe. Or maybe not.”

  His eyes narrowed, betraying his fury, but in the next moment the anger faded and he stepped closer. “This part about you drives me crazy.”

  “I think I loved someone once but he left. Can we not talk about this anymore?”

  “Don’t make that face,” Pade said, in a half-tortured, half-taunting voice. “It makes me want to kiss you.”

  I looked around. Bailey and Rachelle stood beyond the lockers, whispering, just close enough to hear our words. Embarrassment burned in my face. My hand rose to smack his cheek.

  Pade grabbed my wrist. “Go out with me Saturday.”

  “You can’t be serious.” My parents would freak.

  “I’m having lunch with Terrance and Mia. We still haven’t talked since I’ve been back. I told Mia it was a waste of time, but she insisted.”

  “Maybe Terrance wants to talk.”

  “I won’t get my hopes up.” He pulled me forward. “Please, Jes, I need you there.”

  I stared into his eyes, felt his gentle pleading. “What if Terrance wants to kick your head in? Am I supposed to sit and watch?”

  “If that’s what it takes. I deserve whatever Terrance has to say. And if he throws a couple of punches—at least I might feel a little better about how I treated him.”

  “I don’t want to see you get beat up, even if you do deserve it. What does it matter if I’m there?”

  “I’d be lying if I said I knew myself.”

  “Okay,” I said, but stood in disbelief my own lips had formed the word.

  “Good.” He released my wrist. “We’re meeting at that Italian restaurant downtown. Remember where we went for my birthday?”

  “Of course,” I whispered.

  He nodded, acknowledging the memories that crowded the depths of my heart. The flash in his eyes was unmistakable.

  I had to say something to break the silence. “You still can’t pick me up for a date.”

  “Bailey will work out the details.” He smiled and started down the hall. “She’s the best planner I know.”

  Bailey and Rachelle giggled as they approached. Since Bailey would probably spend the night, I figured it was going to be a long one.

  Secrets Discovered

  After a long night of assuring Bailey I wasn’t still in love with her brother, she finally gave up on playing matchmaker. I’d agreed to the lunch, and she’d worked out all of the details, promising not to keep asking about me and Pade. I got dressed and followed Bailey to her house. Thankfully, Pade was nowhere in sight.

  “I’ve got the perfect outfit,” she said as we entered her bedroom.

  “Have you changed your mind about the restaurant?” I asked.

  She walked into the closet. “No, I’m still meeting Rachelle next door. Pade will just have to fill me in later.”

  I sat on her bed, tugging the sleeves of my windbreaker up to my elbows. The heat outside was intense, but I didn’t want anyone to hear my teeth chatter in the sub-zero restaura
nt. “Do you think Terrance will forgive Pade?”

  “Terrance feels abandoned,” she said, her words muffled.

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  Bailey shoved the hangers, as if suddenly impatient. “I talked to Lauren.”

  Stunned, I scrambled off the bed. “As in Chase’s Lauren?”

  She stepped out of the closet and pointed a finger at me. “Don’t ever call her that.”

  Lauren McCall, who’d never bothered to return any of my messages? “Is she still in New York City?”

  “Yes, but she doesn’t know where Chase is or if he’s ever coming back.” Bailey held up a sequined tank. “Too much?”

  Faced with the magnitude of her words, I couldn’t reply, only shook my head. If he was coming back?

  “Hey,” she said. “Don’t look so sad.”

  I swallowed the pain in my throat.

  Bailey put an arm around my shoulders, hugging me close. “If you miss Chase half as much as I do, then I feel for you.”

  “He was your boyfriend.”

  “Yeah,” she said, “until he took a spaceship back to his home planet.” She laughed bitterly. “I thought going to Colorado would help me forget.”

  “It didn’t work?” I asked, holding back the tears.

  “No. Pade hates how much I miss Chase. I suspect he hates how much you miss Chase even more.”

  “I need to find him. There’s so much I didn’t say before he left.” If only I’d told him the truth about my dreams.

  “Well, at least you got to say goodbye. I was unconscious, remember?” She pulled back and met my eyes. “I’ve never forgiven you for that. And you never said how you convinced him you weren’t the girl they were searching for.”

  That night came back in a flood, pushing the tears to my eyes. The guards at the mall had used a paralyzer on us. After I could move again, Chase and his mother had confronted me, insisting I was the missing girl they’d been searching for. The lost girl from their planet. I’d showed them the articles about Jessica Naples to prove I couldn’t be her. Chase had begged me to tell the truth, to admit my dreams. If only I’d told them I remembered the night I hid on the spaceship twelve years ago.