by Heidi Acosta
Dropping my bag to the floor, I peel off my jacket and deposit it on the bench. “Yes, it’s me.”
I grab a soda from the fridge before heading to the living room. She is curled up on a recliner with a wool blanket over her lap, a red scarf wrapped around her neck, and her purple-gloved hands peek out from under the blanket.
“Whyis the heat off? The weatherman called for snow.” I glance over at the thermostat,which is taunting me with the prospect of heat.
“Aliens hate cold. They can’t live in it for long.”
Sighing, I sit down on the armrest next to her, rubbing at the growing numbness in my arms. Yeah, well humans will not survive long in the cold either.
“How was school?” she asks, changing the subject from the threat of an alien invasion to something as normal as my day. “Let’s see, I want to kill Ralph for giving me a crappy assignment, and I’m on the verge of failing just about every class. Other than that, it was great,” I say.
She smiles at me and pats me on the leg. “That’s not true, honey.”
Oh, but it is.
“You have such an active imagination.”
I lean back and turn my attention to the TV. Let’s Make a Deal is on, and a fat guy with a gray beard, who is dressed like a fairy, just won a trip to Florida. The man is jumping up and down while hugging the host.
“Now he was smart,” Essie says, picking up her yellow legal pad to jot down notes. Her dream is to be on Let’s Make a Deal. She’s obsessed with the show and even has every episode recorded.
I put my head on her shoulder and wiggle my way down next to her, pulling part of the blanket over me. She smells like hand sanitizer and peppermint, but to me, it’s a comforting aroma.
###
I wake up to the phone ringing. Stretching out my stiff limbs, I yawn and glance at the clock above the TV, 6:30.
Essie pops her head into the room, holding the phone out for me. “It’s Liv. I told her that you can go out with her tonight.” She says with a smile.
“Great.” I get up and take the phone. “Hello?”
“We’ll be there in ten, so go change your clothes.”
To Liv, ten minutes means she will be pulling into my driveway at any moment. I look out the front window for her truck.
“And what’s wrong with what I have on?”
“We don’t have the time to get into that right now. Just go change out of your school clothes… Jamie, you are not going to eat that—” she shrieks before a dial tone sounds in my ear.
Despite my argumentative inner child, I decide to avoid a fight with Liv and go upstairs to change my clothes.
A few moments later, Jamie turns into my driveway with him scowling behind the wheel. I grab my coat and bag and head outside, realizing this is going to be a long night. I take a deep breath and climb into the truck. Jamie doesn’t even wait until I am fully seated before taking off. I have to climb over Liv—who obviously isn’t going to move over. When I take my seat in the middle of them, I feel like I’ve entered a war zone.
“So, how is everyone doing tonight?” I try to break the tension, but they both ignore me.
“Tell him, Eden! Tell him that eating meat is practically committing murder.” She glares at Jamie.
I look over and give him a weak smile.
“Will you tell my crazy vegetarian girlfriend that eating a cheeseburger is my constitutional right as an American!” he shouts.
Liv’s mouth to drop open. “Well, tell the murderer I don’t think I can go out with someone who finds joy in the killing of innocent animals. How can you look at this face and eat it?” Liv shoves her phone, with a picture of a cow on the screen, in Jamie’s face.
“How about we all just keep our eyes on the road?” I say to deaf ears.
“Easy, I do it with cheddar cheese and a side of bacon, that’s how!” he yells back.
At least, Jamie’s attempt to eat a cheeseburger in front of Liv saved me from her picking apart my dirty jeans and a blue sweatshirt.
###
Jamie parks next to all of the other jacked-up modified trucks around the pond. I don’t get it. To the kids in my school, it’s like the higher the truck, the more of a man they are.
“You know what? If you have such an issue with me eating a burger, then maybe we shouldn’t be going out,”
Jamie snaps before slamming the truck door. Liv climbs over me to yell out of the window. “If that’s what you want, it’s fine with me,” she calls, digging her heel into my thigh.
“Ouch! Really? That’s my leg.” I groan, but Liv ignores my obvious pain.
She finally climbs back into her seat, once again inflicting pain as she goes, she exits the truck with me behind her. “Can you believe him? What did I ever see in him?” Liv asks as she slams the truck door shut, glaring at Jamie’s back as he stomps off toward his teammates, who are crowded around a keg of beer.
“That he was the cutest thing to walk the halls of C.F.H, and he treats you like a princess,” I murmur, repeating her words as I rub the sore spot on my leg.
“Some best friend you are,” she snaps and storms off.
“It was a cheeseburger, Liv. One he got at a fast food restaurant. Be angry at the fast food overlords, and not their victims. He’s a victim, just like the poor cow he ate.”
We find a pair of unoccupied, broken beach chairs and sit down next to the fire.
“He is pretty cute,” she says, glancing over at Jamie, who is watching her out of the corner of his eye.
“The cutest,” I agree with her, rolling my eyes. “You should go make up with him.”
“I should, shouldn’t I?” She gazes at Jamie with longing. “He really is a victim, just like countless others.”
She doesn’t wait for me to respond. Instead, she jumps up and jogs over to Jamie, who looks relieved to be in her arms. I see heavy PDA in their near future.
I dig out my trusty notebook and look for my pen. I know it was in my bag earlier. “Where is that thing?”
It’s an ordinary white pen with a black topper. The kind that can be bought by the hundreds from any office supply store. What makes this one different is that it belonged to my mom. She held that pen in her hand the day before she died, twirling it between her fingers as she fussed over bills, biting the end until it was flat and filled with tiny teeth marks. When I use that pen, it’s as if she is still with me, reading my stories over my shoulder.
“It has to be somewhere in here,” I mumble to myself.
“Talking to yourself again, freak?” Buck says, lowering himself into the chair next to me.
Ugh. I grab half of a pencil and try to ignore Buck’s heavy breathing. Where is Liv when I need her? I dare to peek in their direction and find Liv and Jamie in a heavy make-out session.
“Are you turning into a schizo like your crazy aunt?” he taunts, still trying to get a rise out of me.
“Wow, Buck, you’ve only used that line in, like, every other sentence you have ever spoken to me.” I look up into his emotionless face. “Don’t hurt yourself trying to come up with something new.” I sigh and start to read over the last paragraph I wrote.
“Why are you always doing weird things like coloring in your disgusting-looking book?”
“For your information, I’m working on a story, not coloring.” I roll my eyes at him.
“What are you are writing, anyway? Fan-fiction about vampires or something?” Buck snatches my notebook out of my hand.
I try to stay calm because, if he sees me freaking out, it will just escalate the situation.
“I am impressed that you even know what fan-fiction is. Is there something you want to reveal about yourself?” I ask, holding out my hand for my precious notebook. I am trying to play it cool and hide the fact I’m having a complete meltdown on the inside.
“What? Like the fact that I’m awesome, sexy, and absolutely amazing? Then, baby, I am revealing it.”
“Wow, conceited much? Careful, your head is getting
bigger,” I warn him.
“You should watch who talk to like that,” he threatens, and just like that, he shows his true nature.
“Or what?” I glare at him.
“Or else something bad might happen to you … or your precious coloring book.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be.” He gives me a wicked grin before flipping through the pages and tearing one.
“Hey, be careful.”
I reach over for it, but Buck is bigger and faster. He pushes my hand down and jumps to his feet, holding my notebook just out of my reach. I feel like a little kid trying to get her lunch back from the schoolyard bully.
“I think you need a reminder of who you are talking to and exactly what you are. You’re a freak! A nobody, a loser.” He tears out another page from my beautiful book.
“Stop it, please,” I beg, but he doesn’t stop.
Damn, my short legs.
“You have an attitude, and I think you need to be taught a lesson. This way, you’ll remember that you are nothing. You are beneath me. In fact, you’re lucky I’m even speaking to you,” he taunts.
“If you remember correctly, you came over to speak to me. I have no desire to talk to you, ever.”
He dangles my book over a mud puddle before tearing out another page, and I watch in dismay as my precious words tumble into the muddy water.
“I will take that, thanks.” A hand reaches over Buck’s shoulder and carefully plucks the notebook from his hand.
“What the—” Buck spins on his heels, facing Cardelian, my word savior.
I pick up my muddy papers and attempt to clean them off, but they’re ruined. I feel like crying or screaming, and I definitely feel like punching Buck in the face. He has ruined words that I can never get back. Once lost, they can never be written the same way again. Buck quickly recovers, gaining back his nerve. “I don’t know what gutter you crawled out of, but around here, we ask before we grab things from other people.”
Oh, brother, he didn’t just say that, did he? Does he really not know how stupid he sounds when he opens his mouth?
“Really? And did you ask Eden before you took her notebook?” Cardelian crosses his arms over his chest, making his shirt even tighter.
Oh god, he knows my name. His arms are intimidating, but his face still wears a warm, golden smile. My heart rate picks up, and I cannot help but smile back as I try to breath. He knows my name. Squeal. My excitement is short lived when Buck drapes his heavy arm over my shoulder.
“Whatever, bro, it’s not like that with me and Eden.”
Gross, he really does smell like corn chips! What was Liv thinking?
“Really?” Cardelian cocks his thick brows at me, and his warm, golden eyes melt my insides.
“Yeah, just like that.” Buck pulls me closer.
Okay, really gross. He is so not wearing deodorant.
“No, it’s not at all like that.” I shove his sweaty arm off me, and it falls to his side with a thump. “Thanks, Cardelian” I reach for my book, and a warm sensation fills me as our fingertips touch. He keeps his eyes on mine, sending butterflies aflutter in the pit of my stomach.
A shadow flitters across Buck’s face, and his fists open and shut at his sides as he seems to contemplate his next move. “I am just having some harmless fun, man,” he says, holding up his hands in surrender.
At least, he’s smart enough to know that he’s not going to win. Cardelian’s brow rises into his hair, and he looks at me.
“He didn’t mean it.” I sigh “He can’t help what he is.” I push my bangs out of my eyes. “If you couldn’t tell by the smell, he is half Sasquatch. Didn’t you hear about the sightings?”
I blush as Cardelian laughs at my lame joke, but Buck narrows his already squinty eyes at me. I know I will pay later for that comment.
“I think you should apologize. It’s never cool to pick on a lady,” Cardelian warns Buck.
With a loud snort, Buck grabs his stomach in a fit of laughter. “Lady? Lady? You mean Eden?” He’s laughing so hard he can barely get the words out. “That’s a good one, man. For a moment, I thought you were serious.” He wipes a tear from his eye. “See you around, Valentine. Later freak … lady.” He snorts again as he walks away, shaking his head.
“I should teach him a lesson,” Cardelian says.
“No, don’t. He is harmless, really. He doesn’t even understand what he did wrong.”
I grab onto his arm. He glances down at my hand and warmth shoots through me again. My hand gets sweaty, and I let go, feeling foolish. Holy crush-worthy hotness. Cardelian shakes the hair off his brow and my stomach does a flip.
“Still, he shouldn’t have treated you like that.”
“Well, that’s Buck for you.” I tuck my hair behind my ear.
“Well, where I come from, women are treated with more respect than that.” The warm smile slips from his face, replaced with deep etches in his brow. “I just don’t get it. There was no rank in popularity back home like here. I just can’t…”
A sad smile forms on his face, and I would do anything to make him happy again, so I to see his golden-boy smile.
“Come on, all high schools have a ranking system of who is popular and who is not.”
“Not where I am from,” he says seriously.
“Sounds like a different world.”
“Compared to here, it is.”
“Come on, it couldn’t be all that different. Didn’t you have cheerleaders and football? You did play football at your last school, right?” I ask, wondering if Coach might have put his eggs in the wrong basket.
“Yeah, I was the king of football there as well,” he says, that smile back on his face.
I can feel my face doing that unattractive thing it does when I disapprove of something. I was feeling all warm and fan-girly over him, and then he has to say something conceited like that.
“Eden, I am kidding. I was just like everybody else, uncomfortable in my own skin and trying to find where I fit in.”
“I’m sorry, don’t mean to laugh, I just can’t believe it.” My cheeks warm.
“Thanks.” He runs his hand through the nest of curly hair.
Now that things are awkward I try to change the conversation to something less humiliating. “So, this is really embarrassing, but I have to do a story on C.F.H.’s best athletes, and you are number one.”
“Really?” He shakes his head, sounding shocked. “Really? That’s kind of weird. I just moved here. I could totally suck.”
“I doubt that.”
“You’re right. I am awesome at football.” He nudges my shoulder with his.
Maybe he is not that different from the other high school boys. I take a step away, not sure if I like this side of him.
“Well, I hope you’re as awesome as you think you are. The whole school is counting on you to pull us out of our losing streak.”
“Can I tell you the truth?”
He steps closer to me, and he smells like cinnamon and sandalwood. It fills my head, making me slightly dizzy.
“If you want too.” I close my eyes, breathing him in.
“I’m kind of scared I will not be the football god everyone expects me to be. I mean what if I do really suck?” he says.
I open my eyes and look up at him, I was not expecting him to say that.
“I doubt it.”
“But what if I do there is a lot of pressure on me to win.”
“You could always move, change your name, or perhaps go into the witness protection program.”
“Thanks for the advice.”
“Anytime.”
Reaching out, he places his hand on my shoulder causing another wave of dizziness to wash over me.
“I can tell we are going to be good friends.”
I swallow hard. “So tell me more about your last school. Did you have a girlfriend?” My voice comes out barley above a whisper. Here he is, touching me, and I ask him about a possibl
e girlfriend. Way to ruin the moment, Eden.
He cocks his brow at me. “It was complicated.”
“Why?”
“Because of Jaxson.”
“Jaxson?” His name is like a sudden blast of icy wind clearing my head. I step back putting space between us. “What does Jaxson have to do with you having a girlfriend?”
He runs his hand through his hair, “Like I said, it’s complicated. What about you? I know Buck isn’t your boyfriend, then who is?”
“Boyfriend.” Another nervous laugh. “No. No boyfriend. I’ve never had a boyfriend. Not that I wouldn’t one. I mean, yeah, I would like one, but it’s … complicated.”
He stares down with those weird honey-colored eyes of him. “Wow, talk about word vomit. I don’t know why I just shared that with you … and now I’m nervously rambling, so I am going to shut up now.” I have never shared so much with anyone before except Liv, but there’s something about Cardelian that makes me want to tell him all of my secrets.
“I am glad you shared.” He grins at me. “I’m also glad that you don’t object to having a boyfriend.”
I swallow hard not sure of what to do, I suddenly want to kiss him and wonder, Does he want to kiss me? His body language is telling me, yes, but I am probably overreacting because he is just being nice to me. I decide that is it. Nobody wants to go out with me, let alone kiss me.
“Hey, Valentine, you’ve got to see this. Buck just got dared to take shots of pond water, and we’re taking bets on how long it’s going to take him to puke,” a guy from the football team calls to Cardelian.
“I’d better go intervene. I might be the ‘star’quarterback, but I am nothing without my team. I really glad I got to know you better, Eden.”
His hand brushes against mine, and my body goes hot from his touch.
“Maybe I can call you sometime?”
“Valentine, come on! You’ve got to see this. Buck is losing his lunch.”
He sighs, blowing a golden curl off his forehead. I want to give him my number, but I just stand there dumbstruck. “Okay, well then, I guess I will just catch you in school,” he says, before turning and jogging off.
Chapter Three
Gym class is a barbaric notion—even more so when it’s given first thing in the morning. First period is filled with the losers and outcasts of the school. It’s a sick, cruel joke that the faculty plays on the weak and simple-minded. It is also how Eddie the Pits got his nickname from putting him in gym class first thing and turning on the water works. He doesn’t have a fighting chance at the dodgeball game the coach insists on playing.
