Naomi Grim

by Tiffany Nicole Smith

  Bram had decided to cook that night, although I wouldn't consider making cheese and cracker sandwiches cooking.

  We had been having a nice dinner conversation until Keira decided to spoil it. "Do you know that your sister is making friends with some girls—like real friends?"

  "It's only been two days. I'm not friends with anyone," I said defensively.

  "But you want to be," Keira said.

  I did want to be their friend. I liked the girls. I liked Hunter even more.

  Bram narrowed his eyes at me. "What did I tell you, Naomi? Keep your head in the game. Who is she hanging out with?" he asked Keira as if I wasn't even there.

  "Popular girls. Girls on the dance team. The kind of kids Doyle told us to stay away from because observing them would be a waste of time."

  Bram looked at me. "Well?"

  "Well what?"

  "What do you have to say about that?"

  "I think the both of you should get off my back! That's what I have to say about that!" I left my half-eaten plate of crackers and cheese on the table and escaped to my bedroom.

  Almost an hour later, I heard the bedroom door open and close. I had buried myself under the lavender covers of our bed. Feeling Keira's weight on the bed, I closed my eyes, sure she would rip the covers off of me. I wanted to pretend I was sleeping. I had nothing to say to her.

  "Naomi, I know you're not sleeping."

  It wasn't Keira. It was Bram. I didn't want to talk to him either, but I removed the comforter from my head anyway. "What do you want?"

  "I want to know what's wrong with you. Why can't you just follow simple directions without getting emotionally involved? It's not normal. Nobody else I know has that problem."

  "What do you want me to do, Bram? I am what I am. I can't help the way I feel."

  Bram stared into my eyes, as if trying to read my mind. "Maybe you shouldn't have come."

  I sat up. "What?"

  "Maybe you shouldn't have come," he repeated. "Obviously you can't handle it."

  "Get out!"

  "Listen, Nay, I'm serious. Don't get close to these kids. It's only going to make it harder for you when the time comes. Why you would want to do that to yourself, I don’t understand. Observe, have casual conversations, but don't interfere."

  "You know, I'm really sick of you and Keira telling me what to do. Go away."

  Bram stood and ran his fingers through his hair. "There's a lot riding on this; it's not just about you and what you want. It's about our family. Keira and Josh. It's about Nowhere. Get your head in the game."

  Chapter 15

  The next morning, I was greeted by Hunter leaning against my locker. I'd spent the entire morning ignoring Keira and Bram, so I was already in a foul mood. Only three days in and we were already tired of each other.

  Hunter smiled and I tried not to focus on his dimples. He held a small bag up to me. "Morning, Snowflake."

  I took the bag from him. "What’s this?"

  "Breakfast. It's just a little something. A bagel from Rudder's. They have the best bagels around."

  I felt the bagel. It was still warm. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd had a bagel earlier. "Why did you bring me this?"

  He shrugged. "Just thought it was a nice gesture."

  "Oh. Thanks."

  "What up, Hunter?" said a boy with brown, spiked hair.

  "Hey, Russ. Naomi, I'll see you later, all right?"

  I nodded. "Sure." Hunter left with the boy.

  I turned to open my locker just as Keira slammed hers shut. She brushed past me, rolling her eyes.

  Having to sit next to Keira made Mr. Bertelli's class awkward. She did her absolute best not to even look in my direction.

  There was a knock on the door. The kid closest to the door answered it. Another new student—a girl with dark hair that came to her waist. She wore a long, dingy-looking floor-length skirt and a sweater, even though it was April and warm out.

  "Class, this is Amanda," Mr. Bertelli announced. "Amanda, tell us a little about yourself."

  Her face had a familiar quality. It was ashen, almost dirty looking, as if a gray film had built up underneath her skin and would never go away.

  I looked at Keira, who glared at the girl.

  "My name is Amanda Thomas. I'm from Wisconsin," the girl said shyly.

  "Keira—" I began, but before I could finish my sentence, Keira leaned over to me.

  "Forager," she whispered.

  Doyle had warned us about this. Now they were here. If they collected the lives before we did, it would be a disaster and a total embarrassment to our families.

  "What do we do?" I asked.

  "We have to tell Bram right away. He'll know what to do," Keira answered.

  Amanda took a seat next to the window as kids snickered and whispered comments to each other. I knew why. Amanda looked dirty, like a homeless person.

  The bell rang. I had no idea what class Bram had next, but I knew he had chosen a locker in the very last building. Keira and I made a beeline for the building. We didn't care about being late to class. This was far more important.

  Thankfully, Bram was there, leaning against his locker, looking like he owned the place. He stood head and shoulders above most of the other students. Some blonde girl stood in front of him, twirling her hair. Keira pushed her way through the crowd. I don't know if she was eager to tell Bram about the Forager or upset about the girl talking to him. I struggled to keep up with her.

  "Excuse us," Keira said curtly to the girl.

  The girl rolled her eyes. "No, excuse us." Then she looked at Bram. "Who is this?"

  "She's a friend. I'll catch up with you later, Amber," Bram replied.

  The girl flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Whatever, douche."

  Keira pushed Bram into his locker. "What do you think you're doing?"

  Bram laughed. "What? We were just talking. What's a douche?"

  I shook my head. "Something not nice. Bram, we have a serious problem."

  Still smirking at Keira's obvious jealously, "Yeah? What's that?" he asked.

  "Foragers," Keira answered. "They're here. There was one in our math class, and I'm sure she's not here alone."

  That wiped the smile off my brother's face. The hallways were almost empty since the bell was about to ring. "Well, how the hell are we supposed to see them in all these kids?"

  "I don't know, but we have to tell Doyle," I replied.

  Bram pulled out his phone as the bell rang. "You guys get to class. I'll take care of it."

  * * *

  "We need to talk before lunch," Roxy whispered in my ear as I changed for PE.

  "Okay, about what?" I asked, but Paige and Ashley entered the locker room, and Roxy shook her head.

  I'd decided to change in front of the other girls. I took my clothes off and put my PE uniform on quickly. No one even paid me any attention, so I relaxed.

  "Naomi and I are going to the bathroom. We'll meet you at the table," Roxy told the girls after PE. But we didn't go to the bathroom, instead she pushed me into the corner of a deserted hallway.

  I got a weird feeling in my stomach. "What's wrong?"

  "I have to warn you about Hunter."

  "What about him?" I asked.

  "I think he likes you, but he's Ashley's ex, so he's off limits."

  Why was she telling me this?

  "Naomi, Ashley's a little—how can I say it, crazy. She's mad possessive. If you're going to hang with us, you cannot hook up with Hunter."

  I shrugged. "That's fine. I don't like Hunter anyway," I lied.

  Roxy smiled. "Good." She looped her arm in mine. "Let's go eat lunch."

  I'd eaten Doritos, a brownie, and drank a Coke two days in a row, so I thought I'd switch it up. Fritos, a chocolate chip cookie, and a Sprite. Mother would flip if she could see the way I'd been eating.

  Roxy and I joined Paige and Ashley at the table. They were engrossed in conversation about a girl named Kelsie who was supposedly pr
egnant. I looked around the cafeteria for Hunter, but he was nowhere in sight. I guessed that was a good thing.

  Ashley nudged Paige with her elbow. "Look."

  I rolled my eyes, hoping they weren't talking about Bram again. I turned around to see Keira enter the cafeteria with a half-dozen other kids all dressed in black.

  "Isn’t that your friend?" Paige asked. "Why is she hanging out with the Goth freaks?"

  I clenched my teeth. I kind of hated when humans tried to imitate our lifestyle. To many of them, it was simply a style of dress, a fashion statement; to us, it was a way of life, not to be taken lightly.

  I shrugged. "She can hang out with who she wants."

  "Why was she being so bossy yesterday?" Ashley asked. "She was acting like she owned you. It was a little weird."

  "She was just having a bad day; we're good now," I answered.

  Hunter plopped down at the table with a handful of junk food. "Did you enjoy the bagel?"

  "What bagel?" Ashley asked.

  "I gave her a bagel this morning," Hunter said.

  Ashley made a face at me like I was rotten meat. "Why?"

  "Why not?" Hunter said, opening his bag of onion rings.

  "Look," Roxy said, nudging Paige, "There's that new girl in our math class." The conversation shifted to Amanda and her awful attire.

  Amanda took a seat at the table across from us. She wasn't eating. She pulled a tattered paperback from her backpack and began to read. I couldn't help but stare. Amanda looked up from her book and made eye contact with me. I looked away.

  The bell rang, telling us lunch period was over. We began to gather our trash, except for Ashley, who sat resting her chin on the palm of her hand. "Why do you think so many new kids are showing up all of a sudden? There was a new kid in my French class and one in Language Arts. That's kind of off, especially so late in the year." Her eyes, looking like pools of water, bored into mine as if waiting for an answer.

  A nervous feeling filled my stomach. "Who knows?" I asked. "I guess it's just one of those things."

  Chapter 16

  The Friday of our first week had arrived. We would have two days off from school before returning to school on Monday. Weekends. I liked that. In Nowhere, there were no days off. We studied every single day.

  "What are you doing this weekend?" Paige asked me as we changed after PE

  "I'll probably just hang out and read or something."

  "Boooooring," Roxy said. "You are definitely not doing that. You're going to hang with us. Tomorrow afternoon we're going shopping. We'll come pick you up."

  "N-no. I'll meet you there."

  "Why can't we pick you up?" Ashley asked, taking off her sneakers.

  "We just moved and our house is a mess."

  "We don't have to come in," Paige said. "We'll just blow the horn and you can come out."

  Why were they pressing this? I knew I shouldn't go, but a huge part of me wanted to. "I'll meet you there," I said firmly. "What time?'

  "Oneish," Ashley answered, eyeing me suspiciously.

  I followed the girls to lunch, wondering how much longer I'd be able to pull this off and how the others were going to feel about this mall trip.

  * * *

  The halls were filled with excited students who couldn't wait to begin their weekends. The final bell had rung a few minutes ago. I stuffed my books in my locker, even though I should have been taking them home to catch up. Something sharp poked me in the side and I jumped.

  "Sorry, Snowflake," Hunter said, leaning against the locker next to mine. "Weekend plans?"

  "I'm going shopping with the girls tomorrow afternoon, but that's it."

  "Good. I want to take you to the movies tomorrow night."

  I had to think about that. Going to the movies wasn't a crime, as long as I didn't let things go too far. I remembered what Roxy had told me about Ashley. Then I told myself that I was only here for a couple of weeks, so what the hell?

  "I'd like that."

  Hunter beamed. "Good. I'll pick you up at eight."

  "No. My parents don't let me date. I'll have to meet you."

  Hunter raised his eyebrows. "Okay. It's the movie theater next to the mall."

  "Okay. It's a date."

  Bram treated us by picking pizza up from some pizzeria that ended up being disgusting. I missed my mother's terrific home cooking terribly. Doyle came over that night.

  "So, young Grims. Five days. Don't worry about the Foragers. We'll take care of them."

  "How?" I asked.

  "Didn't I just say don't worry about it? Since there will be no school for the next two days, I thought it would be okay for you to spend them in Nowhere. I know you miss your families, and I'm sure they miss you."

  Everyone seemed happy about it, but I didn't want to go home. I had plans. I missed Father, Mother, and Chase, but that was all I missed about Nowhere. Mother and Chase were probably still out on assignment so chances were I wouldn't even get to see them. Besides, I was beginning to like this place.

  "No," I said. Everyone looked at me. Bram sighed and rolled his eyes. "I have plans," I continued. "I think it's important for us to stay and hang out where the high school kids do. Maybe we'll learn something."

  Doyle stroked his eyebrows thoughtfully. "That's a good point."

  "But—" Dorian said. He looked awfully homesick.

  "No, you guys should stay and hang out where the kids are, but be careful. Has anyone heard anything pertinent to the assignment?"

  We all shook our heads. I wasn't surprised. This was the kind of thing people would keep tightly under wraps. You'd have to be a tight member of their group to get any info.

  Doyle stood. "Anyway, it shouldn't be that much longer. Hang tight. This is going to be a big payday for all of us."

  Once he left, everyone glared at me accusingly.

  "Really, Nay? That could have been our way home for a couple of days," Dorian complained.

  "Ahh, it's not a big deal," Bram said. "We can't watch TV and eat whatever we want at home. It'll be fun. Just the five of us hanging out."

  I cleared my throat. "I have plans, actually." Everyone stared at me again. I was tired of them looking at me as if I was crazy. "What? You heard what Doyle said. This is what we need to be doing."

  "Great," Bram said. "Where are you going? We'll all go."

  "Fine," I muttered. I didn't feel like arguing with them. Besides, it was four against one.

  Chapter 17

  "Don't you want to change your wardrobe up a little bit?" I asked Bram.

  He stood in the living room mirror spiking his hair. "I did. I'm not wearing a hoodie. Besides, the ladies love this look."

  He was still decked in all black: black jeans, black T-shirt, black leather jacket, and boots. He would be driving us to the mall, where I would meet up with Roxy, Ashley, and Paige.

  The girls were coming out of a lingerie store when we met them. Ashley's eyes lit up when she saw Bram.

  "Hey, Bram. Glad you're here," she said, sidling next to him. The girl reeked of desperation. "Bram, I found two dresses that I like in another store. Can you tell me which one you think looks best on me?"

  "Sure," Bram said as Ashley led him away from us.

  Josh and Dorian wanted to wander off on their own.

  "Keir, you can hang with us," I offered.

  She looked like she was about to decline, then she took a deep breath and accepted. I was relieved. I'd feel guilty about her wandering around the mall on her own.

  Keira walked behind the three of us, not saying a word.

  "So, are you from Sacramento, too?" Paige asked over her shoulder.

  Keira was looking at something in the store display. "What? Oh no, Seattle." She could have at least tried to look interested in the girls.

  Roxy frowned. "Then how do you two know each other?

  "We've been friends since we were babies," Keira answered. "My family moved to Seattle a few years ago, but we stayed friends."

&nb
sp; Paige nodded. "And here you two are—moving to the same town at the same time. Isn't that something?" Then she focused her attention back on me. "That's a really cute scythe on your chain."

  She'd pronounced it wrong, but I was happy she had changed the subject. "It's sīthe."

  "Keira has one too," Roxy added. "Is that some kind of best friend thing?"

  "No," Keira answered before I could. I didn't appreciate the bitterness in her voice. Then she sat on a bench in front of a vendor booth. "I think I'll just sit here and wait for you all to finish."

  Roxy rolled her eyes as we walked away. "Weird. You hang out with her because . . ."

  "She's my best friend." When I turned around, Keira was gone.

  * * *

  After the awkward mall outing, I spent the rest of the afternoon picking out an outfit for my date with Hunter. I'd only been to a movie once when I was following a Fated. I knew you were supposed to dress up for dates, but I didn't really have anything dressy. I opted for a pair of white jeans and a pink spaghetti-strapped top. I showered and changed. My shoulders felt bare, but I thought I looked all right.

  I had the urge to ask Keira how I looked as she lay across our bed reading, but she wasn't speaking to me. I opened up some makeup packages I had bought at the mall with the girls. I'd never worn any before. Paige insisted that I needed something to give myself some color.

  Bram burst through the door.

  I hated when he did that. "Hey! What if we were changing or something?"

  He looked at the doorknob. "If you were changing, you should lock the door, stupid."

  "What do you want, Bram?"

  "I want to know where we're going."

  "I am going to the movies. I don't know where you're going."

  "If you think you're going on a date with a boy, alone, you're crazy."

  "Yeah, who's going to stop me?" I didn't have time for his big brother act. I was too busy trying to decide whether I should apply flamingo pink or peacock blue to my eyelids.

  Bram folded his arms and leaned against the doorway. "How are you going to get there? You think I'm giving you the vehicle?"

  I looked at Keira.

  "Don't even think about it," she said, her nose still buried in the book.