by C. L. Stone
Kota’s phone lit up in his hand and he tapped at the screen, grunting. “Never ends,” he said.
“Bad news?” Luke asked.
Kota glanced up, scanning. “I may need to go with Silas and North to the party. They need a third. And Dr. Green wants you...” he checked over his shoulder again to see if anyone was listening. “You need to break into John’s locker and then check his house to see if he has any more of the JH stuff. Apparently he’s had two doses in one day, according to North. They still let him play football. I don’t know how he’s taking it but he’s pretty sure this is it. And take Gabriel.”
“What about Sang?”
“She’ll have to go home with Nathan. Gabriel can’t drive after dark anyway so he’s the only one left. And Nathan can’t go to the party.” He tapped at his screen, typing in a message and then checked over his shoulder again. I followed his eyes to see Nathan check his phone and then he looked at us and nodded, encouraging us to get going.
“I thought only the team could go to the party,” I said, standing as they did and following the stream of people toward the bleacher steps.
“We need to break this rule,” Kota said. He fell behind me, talking to the back of my head. “North’s thinking the same thing you are. This is worse than kids taking drugs on their own. Someone’s poisoning people.”
“They don’t know each other,” I said. “Arthur said he didn’t know John.”
“There’s a connection somewhere,” he said.
I followed Luke quietly down the steps, Kota right behind me. When we were at the bottom and waiting on others ahead of us to clear out, Gabriel caught up with Luke. They quietly disappeared in a different direction, heading toward the school.
Kota stayed quiet near me. We were arm to arm as we followed the trail of people to the parking lot. I glanced at him often. He’d meet my gaze with a smile, but drifted to stare off out toward the parking lot. He was monitoring the others. I couldn’t blame him. Someone poisoning the students? Who knew who would be next?
The back of his knuckles brushed against mine. My fingers stretched out, wanting that touch again. I held my arm straight, trying to look normal, but kept close.
He seemed to read my mind and his knuckles again met mine. We were touching, but barely. We walked this way, knocking our hands into each other’s every few steps.
His pinky encircled mine. My heart fluttered and I held onto his finger. I remembered the first time I did this and he knocked my hand away to hold the entire thing. We couldn’t do that now, and after only a moment, as the crowd thinned, he slipped his finger from mine.
I followed him to the parking lot and the crowd dispersed. We found his car and he went to the passenger side. “Nathan should be right behind us,” Kota said as he opened the door. “Stay in the car and don’t go anywhere.”
“I won’t,” I said and sat in the passenger seat. At least this felt over now. We could go home. Maybe I could convince Kota we should sleep at his house, or maybe we could go out to Victor’s house. Anywhere. I wanted to relax, not go back home and worry what would happen if I held hands with Nathan or anyone else in front of Danielle or Marie.
He bent over, sticking his head into the car. “Keep your phone in your hands,” he said.
I took the phone out, and punched one of the buttons, illuminating the surface.
He smiled quickly. He leaned in further while I was quickly checking for text messages. I thought he was trying to look at my phone and I was turning it toward him so he could see.
Instead, his lips met with my forehead, and he kissed me. Slow and long, against my brow.
I froze, loving every moment and yet panicked someone would spot us.
His lips moved to my ear and he whispered. “One of these days,” he said, “it’s not going to be this crazy.”
I didn’t know how to respond, because I didn’t see it not being crazy for a while. I wanted to ask him, though. When? How? How are we going to get out of this mess?
He pulled back and then closed the door for me, looking in. I waved my illuminated phone at him to show him I’d call if I needed.
I wasn’t alone for long, because Nathan was walking toward the car. Kota met with him, talked to him for a minute and then went on to the school.
Nathan got in and wedged himself behind the steering wheel. He slammed the door shut and then sat back for a long moment with his eyes closed. “I really hate this school,” he said.
I wanted to agree with him.
He started the car. For a few minutes, he drove in silence. In the dim light inside the car, I curled up in the passenger seat. I stared out the window for the longest time, not talking. I tried to forget about Rocky, Karen, and the crazy evening. I just felt we needed to get to someone’s house, to become secluded from the world. There were some benefits to hiding away from everyone. No wonder my stepmother felt the way she did. Maybe she took it to the extreme, but I could sympathize.
“Come here,” Nathan said, pulling me out of my thoughts. He lifted the center console and curled his fingers at me.
“You’re driving,” I said.
“It’s okay,” he said. He reached over, snapping the button on my seatbelt. “Sit closer.”
I shifted over until I was sitting in the middle. Nathan put an arm around my shoulders, driving one-handed. I settled into him, putting a hand on his chest.
“See?” he said. “This is better.”
I blushed, unsure if he was right. Kota would probably have a fit about me without a seatbelt and with Nathan driving with only one hand. Since we were so close to the house, I didn’t want to pester him about it. This moment when we were able to be together again felt profound; when Nathan went off to do Academy work or his own thing, I was fine. Being told we couldn’t be together was different and it weighed heavily.
“Just you wait,” Nathan said. “I was talking with Kota earlier. I think I can convince him you and I should move out.”
It took me a few minutes to respond. “Are you sure we should?” I asked. It didn’t sound like a good idea, especially after tonight. What would happen if someone discovered we were living together?
“Why? Don’t you want to?”
I wanted to place my finger against my lip, but I stopped myself. “I don’t know what to do. It just seems so... I mean, it’s a big change.”
Nathan smiled. “You’re really already living on your own, Sang. I’ve been, too. It’d be just like now, except without having to worry so much. Wouldn’t it be worth it just to get out?”
“Maybe I’ll feel better about it after it happens,” I said. “I guess I’m just nervous. I mean after today, after all that happened. And not just the football game but the rumors...”
Nathan squeezed me around the shoulders. “Don’t worry, Sang. I’ll take care of you. If we move you out of the house, we won’t have to worry about Danielle spreading rumors or your dad and what he’s up to. And eventually we’ll figure out the whole school thing. We’ll finally be able to sit in a room without worrying who might walk in on us.”
That did seem like a good idea. It may not solve all the problems, but it sounded like it would help a lot.
Nathan turned onto Sunnyvale Court. “I’m tempted to turn around now and head to Victor’s for tonight. But it’ll serve Danielle right if we walk in on her and some guy.”
“I should check on Marie,” I said.
“You worry about her too much, Peanut. She couldn’t give two shits about you.”
I had my mouth open for a response when Nathan followed the bend in the road. For a moment, I thought maybe Nathan had made a mistake and we were in the wrong neighborhood.
The sides of the street were littered with cars. Nathan had to weave his way carefully to get around without scratching another car.
“What now?” he asked. He gripped the wheel, knuckles nearly turning white. I sensed it, too. More trouble.
The driveway was jam packed with people. The yard had seve
ral cars parked on it. The front door was open. There was music blaring from the house. People were clustered inside the garage. More were gathered around the trampoline in the back yard.
“Shit,” Nathan said. “I can’t believe... fucking shit.”
“Nathan...” I couldn’t believe it either. Marie and Danielle were up to something. He’d been right.
“She planned this.” Nathan shook his head, driving into a neighbor’s driveway quickly so he could turn around and park in Kota’s drive. “Or... shit, you were saying something about the football team having their own thing with just the cheerleaders?”
“Yeah. We couldn’t go...”
“Danielle must have gotten everyone that wasn’t invited to come over.” He slammed his fist against the steering wheel. “Shit.”
I shook at the explosion of frustration and power from Nathan. Had he dented the steering wheel? “What do we do?” I asked, hoping to say we should leave and go to Victor’s after all.
Nathan seethed for a minute, staring out the window at the house. “We’ll ask,” he said. He dug his phone out of his pocket, and stabbed at the screen. “Kota? We’ve got a problem. Yeah, another one.”
♥♥♥
A couple minutes later, Nathan and I followed Kota’s instructions, heading toward the house. We were being sent in to investigate. Kota was on the way and was going to reach out to the others to help.
“Stay close,” Nathan said as we wound our way around the cars in the drive. He found my hand, squeezing it. “Stay by me.”
The moment we entered through the side door of the garage, we were stopped to a dead halt due to the barrage of people standing around the entryway to the living room. To me, it didn’t even seem like my own house any more. There were people on the orange sofa in the family room, the rest were standing nearly hip to hip. I didn’t understand where the music was coming from until I recognized my stereo, the one Mr. Blackbourne had bought, sitting on the fireplace mantle, blaring a rock song.
Nathan started to cut through the throng, then shook his head, turning around toward the back stairs. I stayed behind him. There were people sitting close together on the stairs. I saw a couple of people in the laundry room sitting on top of the washer and dryer.
We had to walk over the people on the stairs, climbing to get to the upstairs hallway. The bathroom door and the bedroom doors were closed. A couple of people were standing outside the bathroom. A guy knocked on the door, asking the person inside to hurry up.
Nathan went to my bedroom door. He caught the handle, found it locked. He frowned and then fished out the stick pin that had been in the wall to unlock the door.
Inside, the light was off. I wondered if maybe Danielle and Marie had closed and locked the doors so people wouldn’t go in them.
Nathan smacked the light on.
There was a couple on my bed. A girl was half naked, her breasts hanging out over the top of the dress she wore. The guy on top of her was kissing them. They separated when the light exposed them. She gasped and shifted her arms over herself.
“What the fuck?” The guy on the bed said. “Can’t you see we’re...”
“Get the fuck out,” Nathan shouted. “Get the fuck off. Get out.”
The guy reeled back. The girl, covered herself, fixed her clothes and jumped off the bed. She made a beeline for the door. The guy grunted and cursed but adjusted his pants and followed.
The moment they were gone, Nathan slammed the bedroom door, pressing his back against the frame. He raked his fingers through his hair. “Shit, Sang...”
I vibrated where I stood, my heart in my throat. I didn’t know where to start. “There’s so many people,” I said, overwhelmed.
I had a small thought, wondering what would happen if my stepmother could see this. It felt so wrong. Maybe she was wrong to cut herself out, but this was still her house and she wouldn’t like it. Guilt swept through me, wishing I’d known. Could I have stopped it?
After the guilt subsided, I had fear. The police would be called. They’d know in an instant my parents weren’t home.
Anyone who may have followed us, Mr. Morris, may know now my parents weren’t home.
“Sang,” Nathan walked over to me. He grabbed my shoulders, holding on to me. “Listen to me. Stay here. Don’t open this door for anyone, okay? Lock it behind me when I leave.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to start breaking up the party,” he said. “It’s still early. There’s a chance the neighbors are being more forgiving and the police won’t be called if we can get them cleared out.”
“The police?”
“Listen to me,” he said. He dropped his forehead until it was touching mine. “I promised you I’d take care of you and I am. Okay? Just stay in here. If anyone tries to come in, you tell them to go away. If you have to, go hide in the attic. If you really have to, get out and go back to Kota’s house. I’d send you there now, but I’d have to take you back through all this mess.”
I nodded.
“Kota will be here soon,” he said. “He’ll help me.” He swallowed. He slid his hand down my arm, caught a couple of my fingers and brought them to his mouth. He kissed a knuckle, then slipped a couple of fingers into his mouth and nipped. “Don’t come out until one of us comes to get you.”
“Be careful,” I said. I wanted to help, but I didn’t know what to do and the amount of people in the house really did paralyze me. I didn’t know anything about how to break up a party. What did I know about parties?
Nathan kissed my hand again, and dashed to the door. He locked the handle before he ducked out. I couldn’t hear where he was going with the music and the voices in the house were so loud.
I paced the carpet, occasionally glancing out the window hoping to catch when Kota or someone else might get here. After a few minutes, I fished out my phone, using the special app to check the cameras in the house.
While the upstairs bathroom and hallway had cleared out, the downstairs was packed. I couldn’t see everyone in the rooms fully because of the way the cameras were set up. I scanned for Danielle and Marie, but I couldn’t pick them out among all the other kids. I didn’t know how anyone managed to talk to each other. People were holding red cups. Where did those come from? Did Danielle bring them? Who brought the drinks?
I didn’t see Nathan either. That made me nervous.
When the door rattled, I thought for a moment it was maybe the couple returning. I wasn’t sure what to say, but I thought if the door was locked, whoever it was would go away.
When the door was unlocked from the outside and started to open, I thought it was Nathan, or possibly Kota.
Rocky poked his head in. He was in a blue T-shirt and jeans. His muscled arms flexing as he held open the door. His soft brown hair swept into his eyes. The hard lines of his face softening in surprise as he noticed me.
“Rocky?” I asked, taking a step back. My hand found a spot at the dip in my throat to rub. “What are you doing? I thought you were going to be at the other party with the team.”
“When I found out you weren’t going to be there, I bailed,” he said. “Jade’s a bitch. Her parties are lame.” He stepped forward, closing the door behind himself. “Your parties aren’t too bad.”
I shook my head, waving my hands in the air. “No, it’s not... I mean...”
Rocky glanced around my bedroom. His eyes caught on the messed-up bed. “Nice sheets,” he said. “Not my color.”
I swallowed, not really caring about his opinion, but feeling strange having him in my bedroom commenting about my sheets. “I should go,” I said. I know Nathan wanted me to stay, but I thought I shouldn’t stay with Rocky. Maybe I’d go hide in Marie’s room.
Rocky side-stepped when I tried to walk around him, catching me with an arm around my waist. “Whoa. Hold on. I don’t bite,” he said. “Relax for a second.”
“I need to go find Nathan,” I said. When I moved, he went with me. “He was...
”
“I thought you were dating Silas,” he said. His lips twisted. “I didn’t think you were that kind of girl. I wouldn’t have pinned you for that, at least.”
“It’s not... that’s not...”
“What’s wrong, Sang?” he asked. His hand at my hip massaged, squeezing a little. “Look, I’m sorry if I said anything wrong earlier. I was just trying to give Silas a hard time.”
“It’s okay,” I said, trying to step back and ease away from him. “I get it.” I didn't really feel that way, but thought agreeing with him would satisfy him and that I could get away from him quicker.
“Hang on,” he said. He captured me stronger this time around my waist. His hair fell in his eyes a little. “I just want to talk to you.”
My cheeks heated up, and I wasn’t sure how to handle him. Silas needed for the team to get along. Did I need to get along with them, too? What would Mr. Blackbourne ask me to do? If I did something to make Rocky angry, would he retaliate against Silas? I didn’t know if Silas was popular enough to sway the football team to take his side over Rocky’s.
“Look,” he said, his face close enough that it made it difficult to look right at his eyes. “I’ve been wanting to get to know you, but you’re constantly around Silas and his friends. You’re a hard girl to reach.”
“Oh?” I said. I knew this was true. I wondered for a moment about other people, like Karen, who seemed hesitant to approach me when Nathan and the others were always around.
“Yeah. Is he that protective of you?” Rocky’s hand drifted up until he caught my chin. “He’s not hurting Rocky’s girl, is he?”
My mouth popped open. “I don’t... I mean he doesn’t...”
“You don’t have to put up with that,” he said. “Go out with me, and you’ll see. You’re my girl, Sang. Once you’re Rocky’s girl, you’re always Rocky’s girl.”
I flinched, taking a step back. This wasn’t good. I needed to get away. “I’m with Silas...”
