Project Integrate Series Boxed Set

by Campbell, Jamie

  “It’s just a bracelet,” I replied, trying to pass it off as a fashion accessory. It was something Lola would probably wear, anyway. She was into all that clunky black jewelry.

  Everyone was watching us, waiting for him to continue goading me into providing a more realistic answer. I just ignored them, trying to keep what shred of dignity I had left. I turned to leave, but I was still being watched. And this time, it wasn’t just anyone. Lochie was staring at me, watching my every move. Of course he would have been there to witness my humiliation. He probably enjoyed it.

  I tuned them out and hurried away, they could talk about me behind my back. At least then I wouldn’t have to hear about it. I could listen to gossip third-hand like everyone else.

  I threw my books into my locker and almost ran for the cafeteria. I needed to see Lola, at least she was the sanest person I knew. If I told her what just happened, she’d probably laugh it off. Not that I could tell her about the monitor, though. I was stuffed, no matter how much I thought about it.

  Lola was waiting for me at our usual table – outside under the shade of the oak tree. I took my lunch tray directly there, ignoring any eyes that I imagined were turned my way. “I hope your morning was better than mine. I just face planted on the floor of the classroom.”

  She grinned, already amused without any further details. “That must have been funny.”

  “More like mortifying.”

  “Don’t worry about, I’m sure it’s already old news. Nobody caught it for YouTube, did they?”

  I hadn’t even thought about that. “I hope not.”

  “Cheer up, it’s almost the weekend. We’ve got Sophia’s party to look forward to,” Lola said happily. “I found this really cool black dress in Idiom. It’s perfect for the party.”

  I had completely forgotten about the party. I slapped my forehead, wishing my brain worked better. “I can’t go, I’m so sorry.”

  “Why not?” She demanded. It only made my guilt even worse. “You promised.”

  “I know, but something’s come up.” How did I tell her I couldn’t go because some crazy men out there were trying to kill people like me? There was no easy way of saying that – nor was I allowed. “Maybe we could do something else instead? Sleepover at my house?”

  Lola rolled her eyes. “We’ve done that, like a billion times. What happened to being a rebellious teenager like our stereotypes?”

  “I know, it sucks. You could still go without me.”

  “It won’t be any fun.”

  “I’m really sorry,” I said, feeling like the worst friend in the world. I was supposed to be nice to everyone, make sure they liked me, but I was clearly failing miserably.

  “Make me happy then, tell me the entire face planting story.” She grinned as I launched into a blow-by-blow account of my horrifying incident. I only embellished a little, making sure she got full enjoyment out of the story.

  Suddenly, Lola stood. “I have to go, my band is meeting and I have to pick up my guitar from the music room.”

  “No, don’t leave me here by myself,” I begged. We still had twenty minutes of lunch left, I didn’t want to sit there alone for the rest of the break. “I’m a social outcast, remember?”

  “Sorry, I have to. I’ll catch you after school.”

  I pouted as she left. Lola was dedicated to her band, much more so than anything else in her life. I wouldn’t really want to keep her from that.

  I focused on my mystery meat sandwich intently, hoping no-one would notice me by myself. I pulled a textbook out of my bag just to be on the safe side. If I was studying alone, that wasn’t so bad, right?

  I didn’t have a chance to even pretend to read one sentence when Lochie sat across the table. I didn’t even have to look up to know it was him, I kept my eyes focused on the page. Perhaps if I ignored him long enough, he would get the hint and leave.

  “You want to tell me what’s going on?” He asked. I continued with my ignorance plan, not acknowledging his presence. “Amery, first you run from some mean looking guys, then you show off an ankle monitor, and now you’re deciding to ignore me? You don’t think I deserve to know what’s going on?”

  Ugh, I could have hit him with a mallet and he still wouldn’t get the hint. “Why would you deserve anything from me?”

  “Because I saved your life.”

  “Excuse me? You what?” Was he serious? I ran through my memory bank and couldn’t think of one incident of him having saved my life. I’m sure that would be something I would remember.

  “I saved your life,” he said, staring right at me like I should know what he meant. He rolled his eyes, leaning in and placing his arms on the table between us. “I got you out of the library? I found the closet to hide in? I saved your life.”

  I rolled my own eyes, leaning in to match his body language. “You didn’t save my life, I saved yours. But you don’t hear me gloating about it and expecting you to bow down and kiss my feet because of it.”

  “You didn’t save my life.”

  “So it wasn’t my parents who came and got us out?”

  “They got you out.”

  Oh, we did kind of leave him there in the hallway by himself. I guess I should have been more concerned for his safety. But it wasn’t like the men would do anything to him, he didn’t know anything. I didn’t want to concede anything to him.

  “Well, clearly, you’re fine,” I finally said. “Now go away and leave me alone.”

  “I want to know about the ankle monitor.”

  I looked around, making sure nobody was paying any attention to us before leaning in even closer. I lowered my voice, Lochie had to lean in too just to hear me. He grinned with the anticipation of hearing my juicy secret. “It’s a fashion statement.”

  I laughed, knowing I totally had him convinced I was going to spill everything. He leaned back, his mouth set into a frown. “That’s not funny. You know, it would only be the right thing to do to tell a teacher about our little drama yesterday. I’m sure they would be keen to hear about the men who chased us through the corridors and made us hide in the janitor’s closet. I really should tell someone.”

  I tried not to let the panic show but I know I felt it. If Lochie started blabbing to everyone, then they would ask a lot of questions. I wouldn’t be able to answer any of them. Would they believe me if I said Lochie made it all up? Could I convince them? My parents probably could but I didn’t really want to drag them into it. They might agree to side with Rob next time he wanted us to move.

  I needed to play his game, as much as I didn’t want it. “Tell someone then, fine, but they won’t believe you. And I definitely won’t corroborate it. If you want to know about my anklet so much, ask yourself why someone would normally wear one.”

  “Criminals wear them,” Lochie immediately shot back, as if he’d already given it some thought. “Were the men police?”

  I shrugged, letting him believe whatever he needed to. “I don’t know who they were.”

  “What did you do then? What was your crime?”

  “Take your pick, I’m a bad girl.” I nodded, trying to pretend that I was a complete badass. It didn’t feel right, I could never have actually pulled that off. Not when I had spent seventeen years being the perfect citizen.

  “If being annoying was a crime, you would definitely be sentenced to life.”

  “And you would be in the adjoining cell.”

  He stared at me, I refused to look away. I could have played that game all day but I wasn’t going to let him win. He could stare but there was no way I was going to cave and spill all my deepest, darkest secrets. He wasn’t worth it.

  Finally, Lochie sighed. “Fine, but we still need to do our English project. Shall we meet in the library after school for a round two?”

  I knew he didn’t expect me to agree to that, not after the previous day when it had all gone so wrong. I remembered my security guards, at least I was protected now. But I didn’t want to tempt fate. If the men
knew they had found me there once, there was no reason for them not to look there again. I promised to be smart about my security and there was only one way to do that. As much as it pained me, I had to do something that I really didn’t want to.

  “Not the library. You can come over to my place on the weekend, we can get it all done then.” The thought of Lochie at my house, with my parents, seeing my private life, none of it sat well with me. I would rather have eaten nails, rusty ones.

  “It’s a date,” Lochie grinned, finally standing to leave. He swaggered away like I was watching his every move. I was, but he shouldn’t have known that. I was already dreading the weekend.

  CHAPTER 5

  A sea of black confronted me. Everywhere I looked there was nothing but black. Black dresses, black belts, black pants. It would be a really easy place to hide if you were being chased. I really wished I didn’t have to think like that.

  “What about this one?” Lola held up the dress she had pulled from the rack of her favorite clothing store, Idiom. Unsurprisingly, it was black too. Just like the one she already had on.

  “It’s nice,” I replied, hoping she couldn’t hear the lie in my voice. Lola was so pretty, she didn’t have to cover herself up in dark and depressing clothes. If I had a choice, I would clad her in a swishy dress in a pastel color – like lilac – and top it off with a cute little cream cardigan. I was certain her mother would agree with my choice.

  Unfortunately, that wasn’t Lola. I had to wait out her emo faze and see what she moved onto next. Hopefully it would be pretty dresses, that way we could shop at the same stores.

  “I’m going to try it on,” she declared, hurrying toward the change rooms. I followed diligently, always the good friend. She waited for me in my stores, so it was only fair I returned the favor.

  I waited, leaning against the wall while she swapped one black dress that went down to the floor for another. I couldn’t tell them apart, but apparently there was something different about them. Finally, the curtain ruffled back.

  “What do you think?” Lola turned, looking at herself in the mirror from every angle. I needed to fake some enthusiasm and I needed to do it quickly.

  “That looks great,” I exclaimed, hating how fake the words sounded to my ears. Hopefully Lola didn’t hear it quite the same way. “You should totally get that one.”

  Lola scrunched up her nose. “You don’t think it makes me look fat?”

  “Of course not.” How could a black sack make anyone look fat? It just looked… square. “Maybe you could wear it with a belt so it cinches in your waist? That might look cute.”

  She stared at me as if I had just called her a hippo. “I don’t want to look cute.”

  Oh right, that was one of the words she didn’t like anymore. She preferred dark, or mysterious. I should have used one of those. I needed to backtrack and salvage the situation or we would be there all day trying on black dresses. “I didn’t mean cute in the cutesy sense, I meant you would look really sophisticated and it would show off your curves. But you don’t need a belt, it looks great without one too.”

  Lola eyed me suspiciously, like she could see right into my brain and knew exactly what I really meant. It made me uncomfortable when she did that trick.

  “Fine. I like it, I think I’ll get it.” She did one last turn in the mirror before closing the curtains again. I sighed with relief. As she changed, Lola continued to talk. “So remember how I told you Asher asked me to audition for his band?”

  I racked my memory, I did have a vague recollection of it. Asher was a guitarist and definitely Lola’s type – he moped around school in black skinny jeans with straggly hair that needed a serious wash. I think he only wore old band t-shirts as a rule and I don’t think I had ever seen him smile. He was hardcore.

  “Yeah,” I replied.

  “Well, I sang for him the other day after school and he said I was in.”

  “In what?”

  “In his band, Hooded Roses.” She opened the curtain, rolling her eyes because apparently I should have known that already. We headed for the counter. “I’m their new lead singer.”

  “That’s amazing,” I said, with genuine happiness. It wasn’t exactly the best band in the world, but I had seen them perform a few times at school talent shows and they were okay. Lola would definitely be an improvement for them, she could sing like nobody’s business.

  “Yeah, I know. We start rehearsals next week for the battle of the bands. It’s going to be my big debut.” I hadn’t seen Lola this enthusiastic about something since she had taken up poetry to impress a hipster.

  “I’ll be front row, center, then,” I grinned. “I’ll be your first groupie. Will you sign my chest?”

  She shook her head at me. “You’re such a dag.”

  We left the store and sea of black and headed for the food court, back to the land of color. I got a burger while Lola chose a healthy salad – exactly the reason why she didn’t fit the emo mold. We took our seats in the middle of the chaos that you only find in a mall food court.

  “So you want to tell me about your bodyguards?” Lola asked casually, nodding towards my security detail. I almost choked on my soda. How on Earth did she notice them? Even I kept forgetting they were following me and I knew they were there. She was spooky sometimes.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, pretending not to see what she was indicating towards.

  “Come on, Amery. Those guys have been following us all morning. And I saw them at school during the week. They’re either following you or me and I’m pretty sure they don’t have a reason to be shadowing me.”

  I wanted to tell her everything so bad. I hated keeping things from her. After doing it for so many years, you would think it got easier but it never did. She deserved to know the truth – unlike Lochie – and I still couldn’t tell her. If Rob found out I had told someone, I’m pretty sure he would have a heart attack and die right in the middle of his office.

  “I really don’t know what you mean.” I took a bite of my burger, hoping to look like anything but the liar I really was. I would never cut it as an actress, that definitely wasn’t a career option for me.

  Lola looked at me with that penetrating stare again. She leaned in, making sure nobody else could hear her. “I know you’re different, Amery. I just wish you would tell me why.”

  “How am I different?” I asked, my mind spinning. And I thought I had done such a good job fitting in, I didn’t want to be hearing this from my best friend.

  “I don’t know, but you always have been. There’s something I can’t quite put my finger on.” She leaned back again, prodding at her salad like it was about to run away.

  It was time for some deflection, Lola was heading into dangerous territory and it would only get me into trouble. “Maybe I’m a vampire. Or Werewolf?” I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Anything to distract her.

  “You’re too tanned to be a vampire.”

  “Well, I’m not saying who I am exactly, but have you ever seen me and Catwoman in the same room?” I made a rawr noise as I curled my hands into claws. Lola just laughed at my feeble attempt at comedy.

  “Catwoman? Really? Well, I guess I’ll keep your secret,” Lola replied sarcastically. She took one last look at my security police before getting back to her salad. Hopefully it would be enough to keep her satisfied for now. I just hoped that when the day did come where I could tell her, she would understand why I had to keep it a secret. I would hate to lose her friendship.

  As Lola was eating, I caught a glimpse of her watch. I grabbed her wrist to double check what I was seeing. “Is it seriously a quarter to one?”

  “According to the generally accepted form of time measurement, yes.”

  “I need to go.” I started putting together my rubbish hastily. I needed to get home before one o’clock and I was going to have to hurry to make it on time.

  “What’s the rush?”

  I didn’t want to tell her, but it was som
ething I actually could share so I did. “Lochie’s coming over for our English project. If I don’t get there first, my parents will talk to him.”

  Lola started laughing. “Aww, how cute, your boyfriend’s meeting your parents. I hope they like him.”

  I shot her a warning look. “He is definitely not my boyfriend and you know what my parents are like – they’ll have him cornered and firing questions at him like a machine gun.”

  “He can handle it.”

  “I seriously doubt that. I’ll find him in the fetal position, rocking back and forth.” I put all the rubbish in the trash and shot a look at the security police, they gave me just a hint of a nod. “I’m sorry I have to leave you like this.”

  “Don’t worry about it, I know Lover Boy is more important.” I just rolled my eyes. “Have fun,” she called as I hurried off. I waved without looking back.

  I headed straight for my car and gunned it home. A few times I caught a glimpse of my escort keeping up with me in the rearview mirror. They were probably worrying about what all the rush was for. But, then again, they wouldn’t understand the urgency of the situation even if I did explain it to them.

  I could not let Lochie get interrogated by my parents, they would completely freak out about it. A boy visiting the house was a whole new experience for them, they wouldn’t believe he was there just for a school project.

  I should have warned them he was coming but it had completely slipped my mind when I left to meet Lola that morning. It wasn’t like Lochie was always lingering on my mind, I barely thought about him.

  As I pulled into the driveway, I breathed a sigh of relief – there was no sign of his car in the street. I slowed down long enough to get into the house. My mom was ironing and my dad was doing some work in his office. All was still okay with the world.

  I couldn’t sit still while I waited. Nobody from school besides Lola had ever been to my house before. It wasn’t like there was anything weird about the house or anything, but I always preferred going to everyone else’s home. It seemed easier than having to deal with the questions and I was still technically following the rules of the project.