by Amy Meredith
Eve glanced at her watch again. Waited while the second hand made another rotation. And sighed. She rummaged around in her bag, looking for her brush. Her hair felt flat, and she might as well do something productive while she was stuck here.
‘Waiting for someone?’
Eve jerked her head up and saw Luke standing right in front of her. ‘You’re late,’ she informed him. ‘We should already be working on our report.’
Luke checked his own watch. ‘The last bell only rang about five minutes ago.’
‘Six,’ Eve said.
Luke’s eyes went to the brush in her hand, and Eve felt her cheeks grow warm.
‘Are you going to hit me with that or what?’ Luke asked, raising his eyebrows.
‘No.’ Eve leaned forward, letting her dark hair hang over her face, gave it a quick run-through, then tossed her head back. It wasn’t something she’d usually do in front of a boy, but standing there with a brush in her hand for no reason would’ve been even worse. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Right. All your beauty concerns are taken care of, so now you can do some serious thinking.’ Luke shook his head, smiling.
Smirking was more like it. But smirking shouldn’t come with silky blond hair and green eyes. That was just wrong.
Eve felt lava rising up inside her. Why did he always have to act so superior? ‘You should talk!’ she snapped. ‘You obviously get your hair cut at least once a month. You wouldn’t be able to see past your trendy long hair if you didn’t. You’re not exactly low-maintenance.’
‘But the state of my hair doesn’t seem to affect my brain the way yours does,’ Luke countered. ‘Maybe some of it has grown the wrong way. Like into your grey matter.’
‘My brain is fine! I simply happen to like looking nice,’ Eve shot back. The lava was churning around now. It shot down her legs, up through her throat … and into her fingers.
No! Eve thought, horrified. Not now! Not here!
But there was nothing she could do. With a hissing sound, sparks flicked out of all ten fingers. Only for a second. But for that second, the silvery sparks were impossibly bright. Dazzling, actually. Instinctively, Eve curled her fingers towards her palms – even though the sparks had gone out as quickly as they’d flared – and crossed her arms in front of her.
For a tiny second there was silence.
‘So, let’s go,’ she said again, deciding to pretend nothing had happened. Maybe Luke hadn’t noticed. His hair was long.
‘Huh. I didn’t know you had superpowers.’ Luke’s tone was teasing, but his eyes were wide with shock.
‘It’s just static electricity,’ Eve told him, trying to sound casual. ‘From brushing my hair.’
She knew Luke was way too smart to buy that, but she met his eyes and willed him to think it was true.
‘That is one powerful hairbrush,’ he said. ‘It shot the static all the way down to your fingers!’
‘OK, fine. I knew you wouldn’t believe me,’ Eve groaned. ‘Look, I don’t know what it is. I don’t want it. It’s just started happening. It’s not like I meant it to. Would you please stop looking at me?’
She turned away, breathing fast. Her words had come out in such a rush that she didn’t even know if Luke had been able to understand them.
He put his hands on her shoulder and gently turned her towards him. ‘So that’s … it’s happened before?’
‘Go ahead and call me a freak! I’m sure you want to!’ Eve felt tears prickle in her eyes. She blinked rapidly to get rid of them. She was not crying in front of Luke. She just wasn’t!
‘Let’s go inside,’ Luke said, lowering his hands. ‘We can grab one of the meeting rooms.’
‘You’re only supposed to use those if you have a study group of more than four people,’ Eve told him. She didn’t really care about the rule. It just felt good to have something normal to talk about.
Luke shrugged. ‘You asked me once if I was an extra, extra good boy or an extra, extra bad boy,’ he reminded her. ‘Well, I’m bad enough to use a meeting room with only two of us. Come on.’
He headed into the library, not checking to see if she was following him. She followed him. A couple of minutes later they were in the little meeting room furthest away from the main desk. There were windows from the reading room, but no one was around to look in.
Eve took her time arranging her laptop and opening a new document to take notes, but after that she had nothing to do but sit there. It was awkward being there alone with Luke. He hadn’t bothered to bring a notebook or anything, and he hadn’t said a word since they came inside. He was just watching her, and he was quiet. Too quiet. Was he thinking she must be a freak?
‘First, I don’t think you’re a freak,’ Luke said, almost as if he could read her mind. ‘Some people think we all have the capacity for psychic talent. So that would mean we’re all freaks. And second, I think it’s cool. Who wouldn’t love to have superpowers?’
Eve raised her hand. ‘Me.’
‘Have you been able to … do stuff all your life?’ Luke asked.
‘No. This is new,’ Eve replied.
Luke nodded thoughtfully. Then he pulled a bottle of water out of his backpack and took a swig.
‘Look at you disrespecting the no-food-or-drink-in-the-library rule. You really are completely evil. Maybe I shouldn’t even be in here alone with you,’ Eve teased.
‘It’s true. I can’t even help myself sometimes.’ Luke made a big show of chugging the water like he couldn’t stop. When it was gone, he sighed. ‘The worst part is, I don’t even care who else I hurt. I mean, think of my dad! If I got thrown out of the library for drinking water, he … he might lose his job.’
It was so ridiculous that Eve laughed. She clapped her hand over her mouth, surprised. Luke had actually managed to make her laugh, even though she felt like something disastrous could happen at any second – more sparks, frying every computer in the place – who knew?
Luke was still smiling, but his eyes were serious. ‘So do you have any control over what you can do?’ he asked. ‘It looked pretty spontaneous.’
‘Spontaneous. That’s a nice way to describe it,’ Eve told him. ‘I can’t even walk down the halls without being afraid I might blow up the school.’
Luke raised his eyebrows. ‘Are your abilities that strong?’
‘No,’ Eve reassured him. ‘At least, not yet. But they seem to get stronger every day. The thing with the sparks? That started up yesterday. I was hoping I’d imagined it.’
‘Well, this time you had a witness. It happened,’ Luke said. ‘So there could be a bunch of other things you can do that you don’t even know about.’
Eve waved her hands in front of her face. ‘I don’t want to think about that!’
‘Why? You might be able to do some awesome stuff.’ He ripped a piece of paper out of his binder and put it on the table between them. ‘See if you can move that.’
Eve met his eyes. Then she slowly, slowly reached out for the paper, put one finger on it, and slid it across the table. ‘Wow! I did it!’ she exclaimed.
Luke rolled his eyes. ‘You know what I mean.’ He put the sheet of paper back in place, then, complete rebel that he was, pulled another bottle of water out of his backpack.
‘All right. But if I do, I get some of that,’ Eve said.
‘I brought it for you,’ he replied. ‘I like to corrupt others into being bad with me.’
Maybe Luke was right. Maybe having powers wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if she could learn to control them. Didn’t she have to try? Eve took a deep breath. ‘OK. Here I go.’
She ground her fists into her forehead for a moment, then blew out all her breath and stared at the paper. Move! she silently ordered it. Nothing. She felt her face squinch up, making who knew what weird wrinkles, and tried again. Come on, move!
‘Giddy up, vite vite, um, go, go, go!’ she cried. Nothing.
‘Andale,’ Luke added. Big nothing. ‘Keep trying,’ he ur
ged.
She felt her face get all squinchy again as she concentrated. Nothing. She closed her eyes and visualized the paper sliding smoothly across the polished table. She opened her eyes. Nothing. She pointed her fingers at the paper and shook them. Nothing.
‘I can’t!’ she burst out in frustration. ‘It would be way too helpful if I could control it. But it controls me! Whether I want it to or not, it just flies out. I hate it!’
And in that moment of fury, sparks jumped from her fingers onto the paper, and in a blink, the paper was on fire. As in ON FIRE!
Luke quickly dumped the water over the flames. They sizzled, then went out, leaving a black scorch mark on the table. ‘Whoa,’ he said.
‘Yeah,’ Eve agreed. She didn’t say more than that. She was afraid that her voice would come out all shaky. Tremors were zipping through her body, and she wasn’t sure she could stand up right that second even if she wanted to. What was going to happen next? Was she going to burn down her house? Was she going to maim someone? Was she going to explode into bits?
‘Sorry I used all your water. You look like you could use it,’ Luke said.
Eve nodded silently.
‘Well, you’ve definitely proved you can do more than look pretty,’ Luke commented, his eyes on the scorch mark. His voice was actually a little shaky, Eve realized. Maybe he was afraid of her now.
‘Jess thought there might be a connection between my power-bursts and my emotions,’ Eve said. Her voice was a little higher than usual, but steady. She realized she was gripping the edge of the table with both hands, and relaxed them. ‘We tried an experiment to prove it, but it didn’t work.’
‘Jess could be right. You were getting really frustrated about not being able to move the paper,’ Luke said thoughtfully. ‘What about outside when you got sparks?’
‘Well, I was a little mad at you,’ Eve admitted.
‘What? Why?’ Luke cried.
Eve had to laugh. He really didn’t get it. He was such a boy. ‘Because you were teasing me about brushing my hair. You’re always teasing me about stuff like that. And you basically said I was stupid.’
‘I did not,’ Luke protested.
‘You did too,’ she insisted. ‘When we were talking about what to do with the Gandhi report.’
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. And slowly he pushed his hair off his face, thinking. ‘I don’t think you’re stupid,’ he said, his voice more serious than she’d ever heard it before.
‘OK,’ Eve said. ‘Thanks.’
‘And I definitely think I’m going to be a lot more careful what I say to you,’ he added, the teasing edge coming back into his tone.
‘You should be afraid,’ Eve said. ‘Everyone should. Maybe I need to stay away from people. If I’m going to be a freak, what does it matter if I’m a home-schooled freak on top of it?’
Luke laughed. ‘So not going to happen. I’m going to help you figure out what exactly your powers are, and how you can control them.’ He smirked. ‘My hair doesn’t grow into my brain, so it shouldn’t be a problem for me.’
Eve flicked some water at him from the puddle on the table.
‘Ooooh, scary,’ Luke joked. For the first time, Eve was happy he was teasing her. It made things feel normal. If he could still make fun of her, how afraid could he possibly be? Maybe she wasn’t some kind of terrifying mutant after all.
‘OK, brainiac, how are we going to figure it out?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know yet,’ he admitted. ‘But don’t you worry. We’ll figure it out, no matter what.’
She wanted to believe him. Really, really wanted to.
Chapter Seven
Eve couldn’t wait for lunch. Not because she was that hungry – and definitely not because she was craving the cafeteria food. The menu was planned by the chef at Nikolai’s Restaurant on Main Street, but somehow the school cooks managed to make all the food bland anyway. Still, lunch was the one time all day when Eve could sit and talk to her best friend for more than a minute. And she couldn’t wait to tell Jess about the new-and-improved Luke – and about her fire-starting talent.
Jess had been at cheerleading try-outs until pretty late the night before – she’d texted Eve to say she’d made the team; and they hadn’t walked to school together today because Eve had an early-morning dentist appointment. Jess was so going to be I told you so over Eve deciding Luke was a decent guy. Not her Favourite Guy in School – that title still went to the mysterious, nice-smelling, crooked-smiling Mal, with his deep chocolate eyes. But truly, a decent guy. Even sweet maybe.
She could hardly believe Jess didn’t know about the fire stuff and the Luke sweetness. If your best friend didn’t know something, was it even real?
As soon as the bell rang announcing the end of third period, Eve jumped up and rushed out of the door – and smack into Mal.
‘Excuse me. Sorry,’ she blurted, backing up a half-step. ‘I just had something important I wanted to—Never mind.’
There was something about Mal’s silence that made Eve babble a little. Or maybe it was his hotness that had that effect. He gave her the crooked Mal smile, and suddenly it didn’t seem so urgent to get to the cafeteria any more.
‘Sorry,’ she said again.
‘No problem,’ he told her.
He didn’t move out of her way. She didn’t move around him. They just stood there, looking at each other. Eve felt herself starting to blush, felt her heart pounding. Yeah, Mal still held the title of Eve’s Favourite Guy. She felt herself wanting to babble again. Just to break the silence … and the tension.
Mal’s smile grew wider, like he could tell she was getting antsy.
‘You really don’t talk, do you?’ Eve asked.
‘What’s the point of saying things that don’t matter?’ he replied.
‘So if you’re quiet it’s because you have nothing important to say?’ she asked. Why was he just standing there looking at her, then? Why didn’t he go sit down if she was so unimportant?
‘I might be thinking important things that aren’t cool to say out loud,’ he told her.
Eve frowned. What did he even mean by that? Was it a good thing or a bad thing? Was he thinking Eve is so hot that I really want to kiss her? Or was he thinking Eve is so boring that I really wish she’d go away? Because it wouldn’t be cool to say either one of those things out loud.
‘Now you’re the one not talking,’ Mal pointed out.
‘Malaya,’ Eve said.
He raised his dark eyebrows, surprised.
‘That’s your name,’ she guessed. ‘I told you I’d figure it out.’
Mal chuckled low in his throat, and the sound sent a thrill up Eve’s spine. ‘I’m right, right? It means “sandalwood trees”. It can be a boy’s name or a girl’s. Obviously, very obviously, for you it would be boy. It’s Sanskrit.’
‘You’ve been doing your homework,’ he said. Then he leaned in close and whispered in her ear. ‘That’s not my name.’
The warmth of his breath on her cheek was so distracting that Eve couldn’t come up with another guess. Mal smiled again, then silently walked past her into the classroom.
Dazed, Eve headed on down the hallway. At least I didn’t tell him he smelled good that time, she thought.
‘Eve!’ Jess ran up to her. ‘Just wanted to tell you I won’t be at lunch. The squad is going to eat together so we can pick out our new uniforms.’
‘You guys!’ Bet Carrothers joined them. ‘Come on! Marcus Z is driving to the pizza place. He wants to show off his new car. A Mini Coop. We’re going to see how many people can squeeze in. He told me to come find you.’
‘I have a cheer thing,’ Jess said.
‘Too bad for you!’ Bet taunted with a smile. ‘Let’s go, Eve!’
‘Can I come over after school?’ Eve called to Jess as Olivia propelled her down the hall. ‘I have a ton to tell you.’
‘Sure, but I have practice,’ Jess called back. ‘I’ll meet you right after t
hat.’
Half an hour until cheerleading is over, Eve thought as she meandered along Main Street after school, doing a little window shopping with Katy. ‘I can’t believe it’s starting to get dark earlier already,’ Katy commented.
‘I hadn’t even noticed,’ Eve answered. It definitely wasn’t anywhere near dark yet.
‘It’s lots darker than it was this time last week,’ Katy said. Her cell rang. She rolled her eyes as she read the text message. ‘I’m supposed to bring home some detergent. My mom used five exclamation marks. For detergent. I guess I should head to the store. You should go back and try on that hat we saw – the one with the little belt on it. I predict it would look amazing on you.’
‘Maybe I will,’ Eve said. Katy gave a wave and crossed the street. Eve decided she’d try on the hat some other time. She kept walking. At the corner of Main and Medway Lane she paused.
Jess’s house was to the left. She could go there and hang out with Peter until Jess got home. Or …
Eve turned right. Why not take the long way to the Merediths’ house? Medway Lane was the oldest street in Deepdene, and it ran in a big loop from the centre of town out to the shoreline and back. Sure, it was a long walk, but if she went right on Medway it would eventually lead her back round to where the Merediths lived. And on the way, she would pass the rock god’s old mansion. She was curious about how the renovation looked. The place had been falling apart the last time she’d seen it.
Yeah, Eve thought. Tell yourself that enough times and maybe you’ll actually believe you aren’t accidentally-on-purpose trying to run into the mysterious Mal.
Well, what if she was? Was that so wrong? And she had an excuse all ready if the accidentally-on-purpose happened. She’d just say she was curious about the renovation of the rock god’s old mansion, where Mal happened to live. In fact, Eve really needed to start calling it Mal’s house.
The ever-present sound of the waves grew louder as Eve got closer to Mal’s. Of course the mansion was beach-front. A new scent mixed in with the tangy ocean air. Smoke. Mmmm. Maybe Mal and his family were having a barbecue. Maybe Mal would be outside. Double mmm.
