by Krystal Wade
Ten minutes later, Haley and Christine met up on the street to walk to school.
“You didn’t take my advice, did you?” Christine sighed, dropping her shoulders. “I guess taking advice from someone like me would be pretty stupid anyway. Who am I to tell you what to do?”
Haley stared at the weeds growing tall through unpatched cracks in the asphalt.
“Earth to Haley?” Christine waved in front of her face. “You in there today? Saw you take off last night. Where’d you go?”
Every person walking on the street, driving by in their car or truck, every squirrel rustling thick layers of fallen leaves, everything spooked Haley, made her question how well she knew the people in her life. Who could know her well enough to understand her problems, her family, enough to infiltrate her whole world?
“Okay, silent treatment. I get it. My parents do this often enough. Don’t know what I did, but whatever.” Christine ran ahead, barreling through the double doors of the school before Haley had a chance to process what just happened.
Every locker slamming made her jump.
“Ha-ley, you’re breaking my heart,” Richard sang, bumping his hip against hers as they walked down the hall.
“Please don’t.” She ran ahead, but Richard stayed close to her side, smiling at her with his adorable boy next-door smile, his light brown hair mussed up like he’d rolled out of bed and said fuck it when he looked at the comb.
“Come on.” Richard grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the stream of students flowing through the hall. “I heard you and Niles were getting freaky on the side of the road last night. Chris is cool, and he really likes you.”
“Hey, Richard,” a blonde girl said, snagging the end of Richard’s blue hoodie as she walked by, winking.
Haley had no idea who this girl was. All she’d ever tried to do since enrolling here was disappear, but in the process, she made everyone else disappear. Because it seemed everyone still saw her.
“That’s my cue,” Richard said, running backward to the catch up with the blonde, “Just don’t hurt my friend, got it?”
Yeah, she got it. How could Haley possibly act normal when nothing in her life was normal? When she had to find a way to save the dad who beat her and the sister who couldn’t stand her? When she had to find a way to protect Chris and his family without hurting them, with people like Richard always watching?
And all day long, last night’s nightmare looped through Haley’s mind, all her problems, her fears, that man’s distorted voice.
“That’ll be two dollars and ninety-five cents.” A girl helping out the lunch ladies—a job offered to students for extra credit in accounting—held out her hand, eyebrow raised. “Did you hear me, Haley?”
“No. What did you say?” How did this girl know Haley’s name? She was sure she’d never talked to her before, and why was the chick looking at Haley as though she was crazy?
“Your lunch, it’ll be two ninety-five. And I heard you were spotted talking to a guy from DA. Is it your old boyfriend? What does Chris think? I think that’s so cool. What’s it like dating guys from there?”
Haley handed over the money and turned and walked away before the girl could return the change, leaving the question about Niles unanswered. None of her business anyway. She took a seat at the empty table she usually shared with Christine, not upset for the moment of solitude her absence provided, finished her food in a hurry and then moved on to the last class of the day.
The guy couldn’t want the Charmings for anything Chris had done, not when he referred to Mr. Charming as sleazy. Not Chris, but his dad. Maybe the psycho wanted money, one of their cars? Maybe it had something to do with Berkshires?
“Miss Tremaine?” Mr. Thompson—could she have zoned out in a worse class?—called her name again.
Glancing around, Haley realized no one else was in the room. “Yes, sir?”
“Since you appear not to want to leave my class today, even though the bell rang thirty seconds ago and you’re usually the first to leave, would you mind discussing your behavior?” He made a point not to look at her, skimming down papers and writing grades at the top in red pen. “I’ve heard several rumors about you being on the side of the road last night with a boy from DA. I’ve heard rumors that you’re pregnant. That your sister is pregnant with the boy from DA and you’re jealous. You would not want to hear all the rumors that have gone around today. I’d prefer to ask you directly if you’re okay. Does your head in the clouds have anything to do with your mother?”
“No, sir. And no one’s pregnant, for the record.” Haley gathered her things, stuffing a pen and composition notebook into her bag. “I’m sorry. I know you think I’m horrible, and maybe I have been, maybe I’ve sabotaged my life for reasons I don’t think anyone will understand, but I’ve got to go.”
“Wait,” Mr. Thompson said, scooting out his chair then rushing to the door, reaching an arm across so she couldn’t exit. “What are you trying to say?”
Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep breath and held out her papers. “Nothing, sir. Here’s my extra credit work, Mr. Thompson. Thank you for allowing me to complete it, for caring.”
He took them, making the mistake of moving his arm, and Haley bailed. Mr. Thompson called her name several times, but she didn’t stop to look back. Not normal? Sure, but she couldn’t keep up her normal anger, her normal not caring demeanor. Today, she cared too much. Today, she wanted to save Dad and Joce, not avoid them, not ignore the larger issues.
Today’s issues were larger than anything she’d ever faced.
Haley reached the lockers, and everyone in the hall fell silent. Were they watching, waiting to see if she spilled some detail that would further explain Haley’s encounter with a boy on the side of the street last night? Gasp? Would it explain the pregnancy rumors?
People could be so infuriatingly stupid and small-minded.
She shook off the feeling of being watched and opened her locker, then froze. A note.
Run or scream?
Was one of Frontier Regional School’s teachers a killer? No way. They couldn’t be. They could be. Anyone could be. Haley took a deep breath, grabbed the note, stuffed it into her bag, then ran home without waiting for Christine.
Sweat soaking her hands, Haley locked the bedroom door, pulled the curtains closed, then sat on the bed with her backpack containing the newest note, a thin envelope.
Too thin for a finger.
Not Jocelyn’s handwriting; Niles’s.
Haley opened the card and fell back against her mattress with relief.
Happy Anniversary. That’s what the card said. Niles had snuck into Haley’s school and broke into her locker to deliver an anniversary card. Not the anniversary of them dating, but the celebration of the night they finally had sex. The night she regretted with more regret than anything else because she wasn’t ready, he wasn’t the right one, but she didn’t realize that until Mom died. And telling him why sounded too scary.
“Every year, this day will mark our anniversary, the day I became yours and you became mine.” Niles tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, bit his lip, then kissed her.
Asshole. Why couldn’t Niles just leave Haley alone? What could he possibly want? Couldn’t someone take no for an answer and move on with life? And how the hell did he get into the locker?
Deep breath.
If she couldn’t stay hidden from Niles, how could she hope to hide from the man who had Dad and Joce?
Breathe in. Breathe out.
What if the creepy guy is Niles?
Okay. Total paranoia set in, and Haley gasped for air.
Maybe Mr. Thompson helped Niles. The man had tried blocking her exit, but, then again, he had a good reason.
The school kept locker combinations in the office. Maybe the receptionist helped Niles get in? People used to go out of their way to help Haley when she still had money, class, prep school, Mom. Niles still had all of those things. That made sense. And was him remembering their “an
niversary” really such a horrible act?
Overreact much?
Haley left the house, and her chores, behind to go mend things with Christine.
She opened the door, eyes bloodshot and rimmed with red. “Ahh. So you remember I exist now?”
“I’m sorry.” Haley launched her arms around Christine. “I’m so, so sorry.”
“Umm. Personal space. You have yours, over there, and I have mine… here.” Peeling out of Haley’s embrace, Christine shrugged. “No offense. And I’d already forgiven you. The rumors kind of helped me understand your issues. And I know you’re not pregnant, and if you were, it wouldn’t be Niles’s baby.”
“I think I love you.”
“My baby, then?”
Haley snorted and pushed into the house. The girls made their way to Christine’s haven in the moldy basement, then lay on the bed and watched TV, doing their usual, the most normal Haley experienced all day. But she was lost in thoughts, chewing on her lip as she tried to work out a way through this. Maybe she could ask her neighbors if they’d seen anything strange going on at her house lately, like strange men climbing in her window, or someone dragging Dad away?
“So, it would be Chris’s baby, right?” Christine pulled a forbidden picture of her and the ex-boyfriend from beneath her mattress, rubbing a finger over her belly. “You’ll have to introduce me to the man you’re having a love affair with, like properly, not as a coworker.”
“We’re just friends, Christine.”
“Uh-huh. From ‘don’t make me waste my breath on him, Christine’, to ‘friends’. Tomorrow you’ll be telling me you’re madly in love with him and ready to run off and get married.” She replaced the picture under the mattress, then lit a joint. Too much pain. Too much pain. Too. Much. Pain.
“I promise. We’re just friends.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night. I thought you’d sworn off men?” Christine offered her medicine, then quickly pulled it away for another hit. Tonight, joking cost more than she could pay.
Haley hugged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them. “Just Niles. Well, just anyone who couldn’t understand my life or relate to it.”
Christine laughed. “And you think Chris can?”
“Niles sent me an anniversary card today. He stuck it in my locker.”
“Good God. That’s absolutely disgusting, you know?”
“To him, it’s romantic. To me, it’s a reminder of my personal failure. My weak moment dealing with the stress of the ‘Dad situation’ before Mom died. I thought I loved him until we had sex.” Only then did Haley realize she didn’t love herself. And even now, she didn’t love herself; Dad and Joce needed help, and Haley wasn’t doing anything about it.
Haley’s pocket buzzed with a message from Chris.
What r u up 2
Hanging out with u?
Swallowing a solid lump of fear and guilt, Haley said, “I’ve got to go.”
Christine winked. “Don’t get pregnant.”
“I won’t.” Just have some things to figure out.
Haley would figure this out, even if she had to play by the psycho’s rules.
he truck squealed as Haley pressed the brakes. She stared up at the Charmings’ house, trembling. Running in there and telling them everything would be so much easier than keeping secrets, would lower her heart rate.
Would kill Dad and Joce.
Play it safe.
Play the game. Psycho wanted the Charmings in the dark, no police. So, Haley would just keep Chris in the house.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Chris opened the front door, the late afternoon sun radiating warm and golden on his skin. He dangled his keys over his head. “I’m taking you out to dinner, or a movie, or anything other than staying in this damned house. Got it?”
Calm didn’t exist. Haley’s lips trembled, and her pulse pounded out a beat too fast. Everything swirled. Haley stumbled forward up the stairs, braced for impact with her hands, then slammed into the concrete. “Ow. Shit.”
Chris raced to help. Placing a warm, solid hand under Haley’s upper arm, he lifted her to her feet. He stood close, so close that his freshly showered scent rolled off him, right into her. She inhaled, leaned into him and loved the feeling of his support, then hated herself instantly. “She needs help breathing and walking. What am I going to do with you, Haley?”
“Tell me you can’t be seen with a pathetic soul such as me?” That would be so much easier than being responsible for his family. Knowing Dad and Joce’s lives rested in Haley’s hands was already too much, but Chris’s too?
Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Chris led Haley into the house and asked, “Truth?”
She nodded.
“Are you afraid to be seen in public with me? Because of the rumors I let people spread? Is that why you stop breathing when I want to take you for a drive? Why you throw yourself at my poor, unsuspecting concrete when I ask you to dinner?”
Tears pricked the back of Haley’s eyes, but she held them at bay. Tears would not do any good. Never did. “No.”
Just afraid our families will die.
“I heard a few rumors about you that involved me today.”
“I swear I’m not pregnant.” Despite everything, Haley smiled, and that smile grew broader, less inhibited when Chris laughed. He was so carefree, so young and energized and full of life.
He tugged her closer, if that was even possible. “Well, that’s good to know. Could you inform me if you somehow conceive my child without my knowledge?”
“Sure.”
Turning on the tap, Chris pulled her hands under the stream of water and dabbed them with cold, wet paper towels, washing away the blood and dust. “I didn’t hear any pregnancy rumors, but I did hear that we’re screwing so you can get back into the business. Supposedly, you and Niles Hemingway are plotting against Berkshires, but your plan is going awry. Trouble between you and Niles—or some stupid crap.” He laughed again. “You pretty much shattered the poor dude’s heart. I doubt he’ll ever want to plot anything with you again.”
Shattered? They were just kids, kids too young to do things they were doing. And yet, Niles still cared. “Well, we were arguing on the side of the road last night.”
“How did that go down?”
“Typically. Him wanting more than I’m willing to give.” Did she really just say that? “He thought there was trouble in this paradise. Because, you know, you and I are supposedly screwing.”
“If you’d let me take you out, I’d prove to the entire state that there’s nothing wrong in this paradise.” Chris dried her palms, applied Neosporin, and blew his breath to cool the sting—if only he could cool Haley’s heart. “There. All better.”
Breathe, breathe, breathe. Haley had to tell the Charmings; she had to come clean to protect them, to protect this amazing version of Chris. Allowing anything to happen, for him to become anything like the shell Haley’d become… not going to happen. “Picnic?”
The psycho could probably hear their conversations in this house, maybe even track their cars, her phone. She’d have to take everyone somewhere the psycho couldn’t predict.
“Not quite public, but it’s a start.” Chris dove into the pantry, then returned with a basket, bread, and fruit.
Mr. Charming walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer from the fridge. “You two heading off somewhere?”
Chris beamed. “This young lady would like to take me on a picnic, Dad.”
“You should be ashamed you weren’t the one to ask her.” Mr. Charming winked at Haley and twisted the cap off his bottle.
“You and Mrs. Charming should come too.”
Chris raised an eyebrow and quirked a smile.
Fan. She need a fan. Maybe another cold paper towel. Anything to get the heat out of her cheeks. Poor Chris.
“It’ll be fun,” Haley added.
“Where would you like to take us, ma’am?” Mr. Charming poured his beer down the drain
and helped make sandwiches, calling for his wife. Dad would’ve died to witness such a waste of precious alcohol.
“Can I surprise you?” The psycho would probably kill Dad and Joce for this, but coming clean was the right thing to do.
“You keep surprising me,” Chris muttered, not smiling as brightly as he had when Haley first arrived.
“Sounds great.” Mr. Charming clapped his son’s shoulder. “I like her.”
“Always have,” Mrs. Charming said, carrying in a blanket. “I heard picnic and grabbed this from the closet.”
“She’s a genius.” Mr. Charming grinned at his wife as though Chris and Haley weren’t in the room.
Several minutes later, they packed up two cars because the older Charmings had a movie to attend in the evening, then headed out, Haley not giving any directions by voice, only by pointing.
“Are you taking us to—?”
“Shh. Don’t ruin my surprise.” Hoping he didn’t notice her finger shaking, she indicated for Chris to turn right onto Sugarloaf Mountain Road, and they drove all the way to the summit, winding up the narrow asphalt lined with white pillars draped with steel cables and surrounded by trees. Deep red and brilliant yellow leaves hung over the road, glowing like fire in the setting sun.
They reached the top and got out of the car, then met Mr. and Mrs. Charming at the covered picnic pavilion with the basket of food and blanket. Chris’s parents smiled, lost in each other’s eyes, and Mr. Charming whispered something that made Mrs. Charming laugh.
“How’d you do this?” Chris asked, slipping his arm around Haley’s waist.
“Do what?” A growing ache wormed its way into her heart and made Haley long for something ages dead: the love her parents shared, the good times.
“You have no idea how happy you make people, how easily.” He spun Haley to face him, staring with unbridled intensity, gaze locked on her lips. “Dad proposed to Mom here.”
Of all the bad luck. She couldn’t ruin this place for the Charmings, not a place overlooking the Connecticut river, a silver strip of curving water cut out between two rows of fire-colored trees, bright green farm fields on either side. The sky, so blue yet full of orange and pinks, completed the landscape, a perfect portrait for anyone’s wall. Maybe she could take them somewhere else. A gas station? Anywhere but here.
