Spectral

by Duffy, Shannon

  Dad dropped Jayden off at school first, and then we headed to Sunny Shades. Dad patted my shoulder when he dropped me off, and I took a deep breath and got out. Clusters of kids hung around the school chatting and laughing. Yup. Cliques.

  Just when I thought the coast was clear and I would go unnoticed, I heard a car horn blare—but not just any car horn. Our car horn. Accompanied by Dad’s voice.

  “True!”

  I looked up to see a couple groups of people staring at me and in that brief moment, I saw him—the blond haired boy I’d seen eating the ice cream. And now he stared at me, his head cocked to one side.

  “Kill me now,” I murmured to myself as I turned and scurried back to my dad’s car.

  “Your backpack.” Dad reached across and handed it to me through the open window. I took it and managed a “thank you” before turning back and heading through the crowd into school.

  In the musty office, an old gray haired lady sat fixing her bright red lipstick in her compact. I cleared my throat as notice of my arrival. She clicked her compact closed.

  “Well, well. You must be the new girl. True Remington, is it?”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” I said with a weak smile.

  “Don’t be frightened now.” She reached across her cluttered desk and placed her hand on mine, which until now I hadn’t realized was trembling. She gave it a little pat. “Arrangements have been made for you to have a buddy today.”

  “A buddy?”

  “Yes.” She must have seen the look of shock on my face, because she added, “Don’t worry now.” She clicked a switch for the intercom and spoke loudly into it. “Taylor Snow, please come to the office.” My mouth gaped.

  “Seriously, Mrs…”

  “Mrs. Reid.”

  “Mrs. Reid. I d-don’t think it’s necessary…”

  But she just nodded and handed me a class schedule and soon, a bubbly blond came bouncing into the office. She looked nice enough. Straight blond hair sat squarely at her shoulders and she smiled broadly at me.

  “Hey there. True, right?”

  “Right.” I managed a smile.

  “I’m Taylor. C’mon, let’s go. We’ll be late for Calculus.”

  Yeah, we wouldn’t wanna miss a moment of that.

  When we got to class, it was already full and I shimmied into the seat next to Taylor’s near the front.

  “Watch out for flying spit,” Taylor said with a laugh as she pointed to the overweight teacher. I caught on when he started talking in a lisp and occasionally ducked from saliva spraying out.

  Being in the front was uncomfortable for more reasons than Mr. Rothschild and his mouth fountain. I swear I could feel the other student’s eyes burning a hole in the back of my head.

  Every once in a while, Taylor would smile at me. It seemed like she was making an effort.

  At lunch, we sat outside on a bench, chatting. Boys shot hoops close by.

  “Who’s that?” I asked, pointing at the blond haired boy who I saw when we first drove into town. Now shirtless, he dribbled the basketball toward the net. He was totally ripped and seemed like he knew his way around a basketball court.

  Taylor chuckled as her eyes darted to the boy and then back to me. “Oh, you must mean Chase Quinn. Quite the hottie, huh?” She waggled her eyebrows.

  “Yeah, he’s all right,” I said and then joined in laughing with her.

  “Something you wanna tell us about?” Chase called out.

  My face felt hot and I looked away.

  “We were just saying how you slackers need an ass whoopin’,” Taylor said with a laugh and stood, walking over.

  “Anytime, sunshine.” Chase threw her the ball. “What about your friend?”

  “C’mon, True—ya wanna play?” she coaxed.

  I pulled my lip between my teeth. “I’m good.” I wished I had the nerve to play. I wasn’t used to people being so nice to me. It seemed different here.

  “C’mon,” another boy called.

  “That’s Jack.” Taylor pointed to the tall, red haired boy. She turned her back to the boys and faced me. She pointed at her chest and mouthed the word, “Mine,” with a wink.

  I chuckled. “Maybe next time, guys.” I’d have to work my nerve up for that one.

  When they resumed playing, I thought maybe this school wouldn’t be so bad—maybe I could fit in here, in this town. Maybe this time we could stay awhile.

  Fully entrenched in my thoughts, I suddenly felt like someone was watching me—no staring at me. I looked around and found the source. A few feet away, a boy who looked about my age, leaned against a tree. I hadn’t spotted him earlier and he was the kind of boy you’d definitely notice. His dark straight hair wisped down over one of his eyes and his lips were lusciously full. He had a guitar case slung over one shoulder and as he turned his lip up in a half smile, my pulse began to race.

  My throat suddenly felt tight. I cast a nervous glance to my feet. The cheers and laughter of my classmates playing basketball gave me the courage to look up again. But the mysterious, striking boy was gone.

  Chapter Three

  I searched for the dark haired boy the rest of the day without luck. Not in Science, not in English, and not in World History. When Taylor and I walked out after class, I finally worked up the nerve to ask her about him.

  “Hey, Taylor, who was that dark haired guy watching the game at lunch?”

  Taylor shrugged. “Didn’t see him.” She elbowed me. “Was he cute?”

  “What, are you on cute patrol or something?” I joked. “And, well I don’t know if cute is exactly the right word for him. Maybe hot?” I chuckled nervously.

  “You’re the one who sounds like she’s on cute patrol.” She smiled. “That’s two boys you’ve asked me about, in, like, one day.”

  Girl had me there. “Busted,” I said. We broke out laughing.

  I described the boy I saw.

  “Doesn’t sound like anyone I know,” Taylor said. “But, well, I heard there was a new boy coming to this school too, but he isn’t supposed to start ‘til tomorrow or something.” Taylor flashed a wicked smile. “Gotta run. There’s my mom.” She took a pen from her handbag, and leaned over to write something on my agenda. “My cell. Call me sometime.”

  I nodded. “Thanks for today.”

  “No prob. See ya tomorrow.”

  I settled on a bench waiting to be picked up, and riffled through a bunch of papers that needed signing and the evening’s homework. I heard giggling and when I looked up, there was a group of girls standing close by. One was giving me a sideways glance up and down and then mumbled to her friends. I looked down at my tattered jeans and old runners and then back at her. She looked like something off the cover of Vogue with her skinny jeans, heels, Juicy Couture jacket—right down to her perfectly manicured nails. Suddenly it all seemed too familiar. This was what I was used to—the way it always was—what I’d come to expect.

  “Nice shirt,” she called to me with a smirk. The other girls burst out laughing.

  I shrugged, lowered my head, and began picking at some imaginary dirt on the bench.

  “Hey, True,” I heard someone call behind me. Twisting around, my eyes met Chase’s and his beaming smile. He walked casually over to me, both hands deep in his front pockets, his Lakers jersey allowing me to see the flex of his arm muscles.

  “Um, yeah?” I managed as I looked over my shoulder. I could hear the gasps of the “it” girls from where I sat.

  “Next time has arrived.” He slid his fingers around my wrist and pulled me to my feet. “Basketball?” he reminded me, pointing to the nets at the other end of the school.

  I opened my mouth to say no, “But I—”

  The girls giggled again. I squared my shoulders. “Sure,” I said loudly enough for them to hear. “Thanks,” I said when we were out of earshot.

  “No worries. Olivia can be a real bitch.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I get that impression.”

  “So where are y
ou from?”

  “Um, well, Canada.”

  “You’re not sure?” He swiped at my ponytail playfully.

  “Yeah, I’m sure.” Really, Jewel, you’re such a loser. “Ontario,” I said assuredly.

  We reached the basketball court and Chase picked up a ball and threw it to me. “Okay, Miss Canada. Just don’t call the Mounties on me when I kick your ass.”

  “Nah. Just a regular donut eater will do.” I dribbled the ball to the net and Chase stood close in front of me, arms stretched wide, his denim-blue eyes shining into mine. I jumped, taking a shot, and narrowly missed.

  “Oooh, girl’s got some skill,” he said as he caught the rebound.

  “My dad used to be a gym coach,” I said as I went into defensive mode.

  “Taught me everything I know.” I pursed my lips.

  Really, sports were the one thing I could do right. It sucks I was too shy to usually join in. That probably had something to do with the fact that we never stayed in one place long enough for me to bond with a real team.

  Chase inched closer until his breath fanned my neck. He smelled like sandalwood mixed with the Hollister cologne I smelled one time at a mall. He jumped up and dunked the ball. I quickly grabbed the rebound and dribbled away.

  “Who ah,” he cheered as he clapped his hands together once. “Bring it.”

  I glanced over my shoulder at him, and he motioned his fingers towards him twice.

  Laughing, I dribbled the ball around, putting it through my legs, amazed at how comfortable I felt around him. I slowly dribbled forward and then made a dash around him, shooting and scoring.

  “Wow, Canuck girl’s got game.” Chase came over with his hands up to give me a high five with both hands. I reached up and instead, he laced his fingers through mine and gave them a squeeze. My pulse jumped.

  At that moment, I caught a glimpse of my mom’s fox-red hair as she walked toward the entrance of the school. “Gotta go. Ride’s here.”

  “You want me to walk you over?”

  “No-no,” I stammered, not thinking it wise for my mother to see me hanging with a boy. I ran off and called to my mother, the smell of sandalwood and cologne swirling in my head.

  ***

  “Sorry I’m late,” Mom said as she sat in the driver’s seat. “We had a few unexpected guests.” Her fingers clenched the wheel so tightly, her knuckles blanched.

  “Guests?” I asked, shocked. We weren’t the type of family who had guests. In fact, we were the type who avoided them.

  Mom ran her tongue over her lips and fidgeted in her seat. “Yes, Uncle Boris, Aunt Eva, and well—my mother.”

  “Grandma Raine?” Jayden squealed from the back seat. I glanced back at his beaming face.

  “You remember Grandma Raine, Jayden?” I asked, surprised since she’d only visited like four times since he was born. We weren’t supposed to have any contact with family at all since we were in the witness protection program, I was told. I missed my grandmother though. I’d seen her a total of six times in my life that I remember and each time felt like a blanket wrapped around me and my world of worries washed away. She had that magical affect.

  “Yep, she plays awesome video games,” he said.

  Mom’s jaw clenched as she pulled away from the school, eyebrows knitted.

  “Everything okay, Mom?” I asked. But she didn’t answer. She was a world away, deep in thought. My stomach sank at the realization that the last four times when relatives visited, we moved. Why couldn’t we have a normal family visit without it meaning us moving to another town or even country?

  I glanced out the window over my shoulder noting Chase still shooting hoops and thought about Taylor and the mysterious boy. My stomach twisted into knots as I imagined packing my lone suitcase that night. I wiped away the one tear that escaped as it rolled down my cheek.

  Chapter Four

  When we pulled in the driveway of our house, my grandmother, who’d been sitting on the swing on the front porch, stood and came running to the car.

  “Jewel,” she called as I got out, her voice dripping with honey. She held my face in her hands and kissed both of my cheeks.

  “Hi, Grandma!” I hugged her close, feeling her warmth envelope me.

  “Grandma Raine!” Jayden jumped out from the back seat of the car and squeezed her around her waist.

  “Look at you, little monkey. You’ve gotten so big.” She tousled Jayden’s hair. Monkey had been Jayden’s nickname since he was a toddler. As soon as he could walk, he would find things to climb, oblivious to any danger.

  I stood back and stared at Grandma, noticing the more deeply etched wrinkles in her face that weaved an intricate road map pattern. She hooked an arm through mine and Jayden’s, and walked back to the house. “Come on, Karina,” she said over her shoulder to Mom who stood beside the car, frozen as a statue. There’d be no fake names used in the house when Grandma was around.

  When I opened the front door, my body stiffened involuntarily. I sucked in air as Aunt Eva turned to face me. She sat between my uncle Boris and my dad. Aunt Eva looked regal, if not stiff, in her high-collared black dress, her black hair pinned neatly back in a bun. Uncle Boris smoked a cigarette and when his eyes caught mine, he laid it in the ashtray. He quickly gathered some strange looking cards placed on the table and tucked them inside his suit jacket, hanging neatly over the back of his chair.

  Aunt Eva pointed to the one empty chair. “Take a seat, Jewel.”

  “What about Grandma?” I asked, ticking my head in Grandma’s direction.

  Grandma Raine cast a serious glance at my relatives. “I’ll be back shortly. I’m just going to take Jayden to his room and see his new video games.”

  “All right!” exclaimed Jayden.

  I bit the inside of my cheek. I knew the moment she left, that blanket feeling would leave. My aunt and uncle had no warmth about them.

  “It’s okay.” My father gestured to the empty chair as my mother began getting things from the fridge, presumably to cook dinner.

  “So how was your first day at school, Jewel?” Aunt Eva asked.

  I rolled my eyes. “Which day, which school?”

  “So I see your daughter has adapted a sarcastic attitude,” Aunt Eva tugged up the collar of her dress with both hands and looked at my father with disdain.

  “She’s just a little tired of moving, Eva,” he apologized on my behalf before adding, “Jewel, mind your manners.”

  I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. “Sorry. School was fine, Aunt Eva.”

  “No strange events, then?” Her lips formed a straight line as she crossed her legs and her red stiletto heel tapped against the leg of the table.

  “None.” I wasn’t sure what she meant by ‘strange events’ exactly.

  “No unusual people or anyone following you?” she added as if sensing my confusion.

  I immediately thought of the dark haired boy but he wasn’t exactly strange and he certainly didn’t follow me so I didn’t feel the need to mention him. Besides, I didn’t need to give them any extra excuses to drag me off someplace new.

  “You’re sure now?” Uncle Boris asked as he blew out a swirl of smoke. His gray hair held tinges of yellow and his white polyester shirt clung to his tall, slender body. I chuckled to myself as I thought how he resembled a cigarette himself.

  “Positive.” I waved my hand through the air, dispersing the smoke with a cough. “Can I go now? I’ve got homework.” When my aunt looked around seemingly searching for whatever homework I was talking about and saw none, I added, “I left my books in the car.”

  “That’ll do for now.” She dismissed me with a nod of her head.

  Grateful to be released from the tension-filled room, I headed to the car and grabbed my books, and then crept back in and slipped up the stairs to the bubblegum room and plopped down on my bed. Willow hopped up beside me with a “meow.”

  I wondered what the commotion was and figured it had something to do with our family u
prooting itself a few days ago. What could my father have done so horribly wrong that crazy people were out to get us? I trembled all over and plunked to my bed, my imagination going wild with thoughts of armed hulky men smashing into our house any moment. Grandma Raine walked into the room and sat beside me.

  “Try not to worry, Jewel. We’re just trying to protect you.”

  “Protect me? You mean protect us, right?”

  She extended her hand, palm up, and I placed mine into it. The moment I did, my hand stopped trembling and a rolling wave of peace washed over me.

  “Protect all of you, darling. All of us. But just know that you’re special and soon all of this will come to an end.”

  There was definitely nothing special about me, it was just grandmother talk. I suddenly felt tired and with a yawn, I collapsed on my bed and fell into a deep sleep.

  ***

  When I woke, my eyes blurred and my head seemed hazy. My alarm clock showed about an hour had past. I stumbled to the bathroom to splash water on my face. Peeking in Jayden’s room, I noticed him balled up in a heap of blue blankets, fast asleep. It seemed strange that no one had called us down to dinner. That’s when I heard Aunt Eva’s raised voice along with the others, barreling over the stairs.

  “You two would screw up a church,” Aunt Eva said. “They almost caught you this time.”

  “You almost screwed everything up,” Uncle Boris challenged in a raspy voice.

  “We’re doing our best,” Dad said, sounding deflated.

  “We just need more time,” Mom added firmly.

  “But there’s not much time left,” Aunt Eva hissed. “Her birthday is in one month. Her seventeenth birthday!” She stressed the word seventeenth like it had some big importance.

  My stomach lurched. My seventeenth birthday was in one month. They’re talking about me! I crept stealthily down the stairs, my body tight against the wall.

  “If she becomes aware too soon, it’ll be in her consciousness, and things will start happening. Not to mention it will draw them in like a moth to a flame,” Dad spit out. A loud bang rattled off the table, and judging from Dad’s harsh tone I could only assume it was his fist.