by Wendy Knight
Ari sat next to her on the bed, painting her toenails too, something she secretly loved but would never admit to anyone, not even Will. Her nails were dark metallic blue, and she refused to believe she chose that color because it reminded her of Shane's eyes. Yeah, she thought, that would be more than a little pathetic.
It was almost six p.m. and she wasn’t dressed yet. Spending the whole day in her pajamas was not something Ari could remember ever doing, and it was lovely.
"Anyway," Livi continued, "He’s just been saying he isn’t even sure he’s gonna be there. So you can imagine how furious every girl in this school is going to be when he shows up with Ari." She giggled, then smacked a freshly painted hand over her mouth when she saw the look Ari was giving her.
"C'mon!” she squeaked through her hand. “You know they're going to think you're there together. The way he looks at you? Everyone knows he's got a thing for you."
Nev threw a pillow at Livi, frowning indignantly on Ari's behalf. "Everyone but Ari knows that, Liv."
Ari just shook her head. "He does not. We're just friends, if that even. We're just part of the same group." She stretched out her leg to admire her toes. "Pretty," she said and smiled. Nev’s eyes sparkled at her in agreement.
"Oh no. Shane and I have been friends for a long time and I have never seen him look at someone the way he does you." Livi hurled the pillow back at Nev. "What? She has to know," she said when Nev threw her hands up in exasperation.
Ari leaned back against the wall, watching them with amused envy.
"How long have you two been friends?" she asked in an attempt to change the subject to one less painful. They both looked at her in surprise, not used to her interrupting them. She batted her eyes innocently.
"Forever," Nev said at the same time Livi said, "Since we were babies."
"Wow. I didn't know people could stay friends that long," Ari answered.
Nev flopped over on her stomach and reached for Ari's hand across the bed, grabbing the blue fingernail polish. Ari obediently gave it to her, slightly baffled. "Good grief, Ari. You have lived a deprived life."
Livi nodded, her face lighting up as she said, "Good thing you met us when you did!"
"Yep," Nev agreed matter-of-factly and Ari felt her face break into a stupid grin. She watched Nev paint each of her fingers and realized with a pang that no one in the world had ever painted her fingernails before. "We lived next door when we were born. But then my dad died when I was twelve, and Livi—”
"My dad left when I was eleven." Livi said casually. Ari was surprised at her tiny friend’s tone. She might as well have been saying she got her homework done. There was definite pain in Nev’s voice but there was no pain or bitterness or anger at all in Livi’s.
"I'm sorry," Ari said, unsure what else to say.
"Don't be. He was a jerk. It was a good thing.”
“And my dad was sick for a long time. It was a blessing when he could finally rest in peace,” Nev said sadly, even as she smiled.
“Anyway, both our moms were having a hard time making ends meet, so we sold our house and moved in with Nev and her mom. We've been there ever since," Livi continued with an understanding look toward her best friend.
"So you guys are like sisters," Ari said in slow amazement.
"Yeah. But we don't share clothes because she's so tiny." Nev snickered.
Livi stuck her tongue at her and went back to her nails. "There. Done." She held up her bright pink fingers and wiggled her matching toes. "Gorgeous," she said with a nod.
Nev took Ari's other hand. "To be honest though, I thought Shane had a thing for you too… but he has been acting weird these past few weeks."
Ari stifled the pain that shot through her chest, shoving it down deep where it couldn't hurt her. "Yeah. Like I said," she replied with a flippancy she didn’t feel, "I'm not sure we're even friends. We just hang out in the same group."
Livi unwrapped the curlers and let her hair tumble down her back in shiny brown waves. "All ready," she said, turning toward them. "Good thing. It's almost time to go." Nev gave Ari her hand back.
"I guess I'll go get dressed. I'll see you guys over there?" Ari asked, standing and stretching while she admired her nails against the white of the ceiling.
"Are you sure you won't walk over with us? It'll be fun," Livi asked, a mischievous sparkle in her big brown eyes.
"I would love to, but I told Charity I would walk with them." Nev and Livi exchanged a glance and Ari laughed, snatching two pillows off Livi's bed and tossing them, hitting both girls at once, wincing when she realized she’d probably just smudged her nails. "That does not mean I'm going with Shane. We're going as a group. That is all."
Charity was standing in the hall when Ari came out. She was pale and shaking and looked horrible.
"Charity! Are you okay?" Ari asked, too surprised to remember that she was trying not to care.
"Yeah. I'm okay. I was just waiting for you." Charity gave her a weak smile.
"I've just gotta change and I'm ready." Ari motioned at her black and blue fleece pajama pants and blue tank top. Charity nodded and leaned against the wall. Ari walked over, took her by the shoulders, and steered her down the hall to her room, opening the door and easing her down on the bed.
"No offense, but you look terrible. Why are you even going?" Ari asked, and then winced at her own lack of tact.
Brittany turned away from her mirror to scowl at them both. "Nice, Ari. I sure am glad we're not friends so you can’t say things like that to me." She was wearing a tight, bright pink strapless dress that barely brushed her thighs, and fishnet tights. She looked like she was going to a club, not a school dance.
"The dance is casual, Brittany. Didn't anyone tell you that?" Ari glared back.
"This is casual. We don't all run around with our hair in a messy braid all the time. Some of us like to look half-decent occasionally." Brittany sniffed.
"I'm going because I have to go," Charity said in answer to Ari's question, appearing not to have noticed Ari and Brittany's whole conversation. She stared out the window into the dark outside, still shaking. Brittany heaved a sigh and grabbed a black jacket, tugging it on over her dress.
"Well, now you don't look quite so skanky," Ari said, appraising Brittany’s outfit with a raised eyebrow as she went to her own closet and started pulling out clothes. She reached up and pulled the elastic out of her braid, finger-combing the waves loose, then pulled off the pajamas that she had been wearing all day. She pulled on a denim mini skirt and a gray flowy top. Digging through the bottom of her closet, she emerged holding her knee-high black boots with the four-inch heels. They made her tall, and most boys wouldn't dare ask her to dance because she towered over them. Just the way she liked it.
Ari plopped on the bed and started tugging on her boots.
"Wow. You look good," Charity said.
"Whatever. She looks okay." Brittany put her hands on her hips and looked away.
Brittany’s weird friend she was always with showed up right then and they both left, leaving the door wide open. The only time Brittany bothered to shut the door was if she was slamming it to make a point.
"Okay, Charity. Spill. What's wrong?" Ari leaned forward with her hands on her knees. Charity wouldn't meet her eyes, but a tear escaped and snaked its way down her pale cheek. She whispered, "I could tell you, but you'd never believe me."
Just then, Shane appeared in the open doorway, wearing distressed jeans and a brown T-shirt with a skull across the back. Ari tried not to notice how it hugged his shoulders.
"Ready?" he asked. Ari looked up at him, surprised that he was there and surprised that he looked so somber. He too looked grim and serious, which wasn't like Shane at all.
"This is the girls’ dorm. Don’t you ever just call? And how do you get in here all the time anyway?" she asked, standing up. He just stared at her, his mouth open but no sound coming out.
Charity shook her hand with a small smile. "The girl at the
front desk likes him. She lets him do whatever he wants," she said.
Ari looked from her to Shane, forcing herself not to think about another girl liking Shane… or heaven forbid, him liking her back. She changed the subject. "Charity, I feel like I should carry you." She followed Charity out of the room. Charity broke into a weak smile as she looped her arm through Ari's. Ari couldn't help but notice that Charity leaned on her quite a bit.
As Livi predicted, Ari was blasted with several menacing glares as she walked in with Shane. In her opinion, it was ridiculous since she had barely spoken to him in over two weeks and because she wasn't even next to him when they came through the door.
The music was pounding off the walls, and it sounded more like screaming than singing. Ari winced a little as it attacked her ears. The middle of the gym was teeming with dancing, sweaty bodies. Ari stopped in the doorway and regarded it with a skeptical raise of her eyebrows. General chaos. Interestingly enough, battlefields and high school dance floors looked amazingly similar.
Shane's hand was at her back, slowly guiding her inside. "People are staring," he said quietly.
She glanced over at him with a smirk. "Aren't you used to that by now?"
There was barely a spark of his usual self as he gave her a half-smile. "Yeah, when it's me they're staring at."
Ari wasn’t sure how to respond to that, besides trying to squash the butterflies going nuts in her stomach. Instead she said, "I've never been to a dance before. It's… busy." Her eyes returned to the mass of kids. Shane stopped, and Hunter, who had appeared on her other side, stared at her too.
"Never?" he asked in disbelief.
"No. Never wanted to," she said with a careless shrug.
Charity cleared her throat next to them and gave Hunter and Shane a meaningful look. Ari, realizing she was about to be dismissed, decided to beat them to it. "Well, have fun guys." Then she sauntered off. She didn't saunter, usually, but she thought the situation warranted it. Luckily, as soon as she left Shane's side she was accosted by boys dragging her out to the dance floor, despite her towering heels. She didn't even have a chance to give the people she had thought were her friends a second look.
****
“Shane, we’re running out of time!” Charity said as soon as Ari was out of earshot, whirling on him in panic. Her eyes frantically scanned the room; there was no sign of the boy or the girl she kept seeing over and over in her vision. It was coming so often she barely had a chance to see the present before her eyes swam and she was overtaken by that horrible scene again. She grasped Hunter’s arm to keep from falling over.
“Okay Charity, sit. We’ll go look. If you see him, yell,” Shane said, guiding her to a chair at an empty table. Hunter hurried over to the refreshments and returned with punch, pressing it into her hand.
Charity’s eyes were already glowing silver, lost in the vision again. If they didn’t find him soon, she’d go mad. Shane’s eyes swept the room, wishing he knew a spell or something that would help him, but he didn’t and there were so many kids. He glanced at Hunter, who nodded once. They split up, Shane heading one way, Hunter the other, leaving Charity alone at the table with her terrified glowing eyes, staring at nothing.
****
Ari assumed that dances might be fun, if she ever got a chance to dance with someone she actually liked. Since she hadn't, and because she didn't like to be touched much at all, she found herself bored and annoyed and looking for an escape after a few minutes.
As soon as her current dance partner let her go, she seized the opportunity to flee to the refreshment table, filling her little plastic cup with a weird-looking green punch. She spilled some over the side and watched it drip onto her hand, muttering under her breath at the sticky mess. Staring at it, she wondered how horrible it was going to taste, and cautiously stuck her tongue out. Mid-lick, she glanced up and saw Charity, sitting alone at a table in the corner, sobbing.
Several kids around them were staring at her; some were snickering. Ari abruptly lowered her hand, baffled. She had never seen Charity cry before. She always seemed serene and controlled.
For a second, she argued with herself about going over there. She knew they didn’t want her around. But one more glance at Charity's pathetic face and the sound of her heart-breaking sobs, somehow carrying over the music, and Ari was rushing to her side.
There was something strange about Charity's eyes. Squatting down in front of her, Ari stared up at Charity's face, but Charity seemed to look right through her. She can't see me, Ari realized with a start. "Charity," she said quietly, reaching for her hands. Charity jumped and jerked away.
"Charity, it's Ari. What's going on?" Soothing was a new attempt for her. And it so isn’t my thing, she thought, scowling.
"Ari?" Charity whispered.
"Yes. What's wrong? Do you need me to take you to the nurse?"
"Noooo," Charity moaned, tears still rolling down her face. Ari shoved her hair away from her face and tried again.
"Do you need to go back to the dorms?"
"No. I can't." Charity covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
Ari bit her lip, studying Charity, not sure what to do. She looked over her shoulder toward the crowd of kids, but couldn't see Shane or Hunter anywhere. Desperate, she searched for Nev or Livi, but there were just too many people.
"How about for a walk? Fresh air might help.” Charity stilled, so Ari rushed to continue, hoping she was making progress. “We could take that path that goes up to the pond." She was unsure what else to do but keep talking.
"The pond?" Charity asked, jerking upright. The weird light in her eyes faded and she focused on Ari, scrubbing her face with her fists.
"Yeah. Remember we went there a couple of weeks ago and fed the ducks those rolls we stole out of the cafeteria?" Ari sat back on her heels, relief surging through her.
"The pond! Ari! Help me find Shane!"
"What?" Ari asked, confused.
Charity jumped to her feet and started toward the room without her. Ari frowned and stood slowly, watching her go. You're welcome, she thought. She picked up her punch and took a long sip, then gagged. It was not as good in mass gulps as it had been in small lick-quantities. She looked up to see Charity racing toward her, tears again streaming down her cheeks.
"Ari! I need your help! Please! I can't do it alone!" she said.
"Okay! Okay, I'll help you find Shane," Ari said, more than a little baffled.
"We don't have time. The guy's going to… He's going to…" Charity sobbed harder.
"Charity, did someone hurt you?" Ari grabbed her shoulders and forced Charity to face her.
Charity closed her eyes, as if in pain. "Not me, Ari. Someone else." Ari pulled her chin in, more confused than before. "I can't explain. You'll think I'm crazy. But I can't find Shane or Hunter and neither of them are answering their phones, the morons! I've got to help her but I can't go alone. He's too big for me!" Charity wailed.
"What? Who?" Ari asked.
"Ari, I can't. You'll never believe me and we don't have time. Please, please just trust me?" Charity pleaded, her big silver eyes, wavering with tears.
"Okay. I'm in. What do you want me to do?" Ari said with barely a hesitation.
Without a word, Charity grabbed Ari's hand and whirled, racing toward the door. They burst into the cold night air and Charity ran as hard as she could toward the path. "This way!" she yelled at Ari.
They flew up the path, hearing nothing but their own ragged breathing and their feet pounding on dry, dead leaves. Suddenly, Charity crashed to a stop, Ari right behind her. They had both heard it, the deep rumble of a mocking laugh and terrified whimpers. And then a shriek of pain.
"This way." Ari spun toward the trees. Leading the way now, she barreled through the forest, following the noise, and burst upon them just as a boy she had never seen before shoved a red-headed girl to the ground. Her face was already bruised and bleeding.
Without even pausing to think, Ari dove a
t him, hitting him from behind and crashing to the ground on top of him. He rolled, throwing her off, but she was on her feet much faster than he was, throwing herself at him again. This time he landed on his back and she hauled her fist back and punched him, knocking his face sideways and breaking his nose. He lay still.
Charity was on her knees next to the girl, who sobbed and gasped for breath. Ari pushed away from the boy and hurried over, crouching next to her. It was obvious that the girl had more injuries than just a bruised face.
"Where does it hurt?" Charity kept asking, her face composed, no sign of the frantic tears that had consumed her before.
"My back. My back!" The girl wailed as she gasped. Breathing seemed to be a problem for her. Ari crawled around behind her and saw blood soaking the whole back of her shirt. Then she froze. Pounding of heavy footsteps in the distance. Someone else was coming.
"He broke her ribs.” Charity jerked off her soft jacket and ripped it into strips. "Where are you when I need you, Shane?" she muttered angrily.
Ari wished fervently she could heal, or that Will was here. She wasn't used to feeling powerless as she watched the girl's lips turning blue. “Charity, she can’t breathe. Why can’t she breathe?”
"A rib punctured her lung," Charity said, her control cracking.
Ari took the strips as Charity held the girl, and together they started wrapping them as tightly as they could, trying to stop the bleeding. Whoever was racing through the forest was close now, and Ari rose to her feet, her hands ready to throw a defensive spell. She could take on one boy by herself with no magic, but judging from the noise, there was more than one person coming
"Shane!" Charity yelled, and Ari whirled to stare at her in surprise as the crashing came toward them. Charity didn't look at her, and Ari turned back toward the trees just as Shane and Hunter's big forms took shape in dim light of the forest.
"Where have you been?" Charity snapped at them without looking up from tying the strips of cloth.
"We didn't see you leave. We had to ask like ten people where you went before we found someone who saw you come this way," Hunter said as Shane wordlessly dropped to his knees next to the now-unresponsive girl. Her face was pale and sickly blue.
