I'd been in enough situations in the past to know that whether we had or hadn't been breaking the rules, that wouldn’t matter to anyone in authority.
How would I explain to Gran that keeping me with her was still a good decision when I couldn't even stay out of trouble for the small amount of time I'd been here?
When I dared to glance at Granger, he seemed completely unfazed. He winked, actually winked at me, before turning to face the man who I was now simply identifying in my head as the voice of doom.
Luckily Granger had no problem either in remembering the principal's name or forming words that were more coherent than what was tumbling around in my head.
"Mr. McNeely, sir, we were just headed to the library to work on next year's schedule. They called for us while we were at lunch."
Granger was staring at him, and I had the weirdest sensation that Mr. McNeely couldn't look away. The air in the hall felt charged with electricity. Ripples of energy ran up and down my arms, like goose bumps, only more intense.
I didn't know what was happening exactly. I knew I was anxious, but I'd never felt nervous energy like this before. The look on Mr. McNeely's face reminded me of someone in one of those comedy shows where a person gets called up on stage and hypnotized. I suddenly had this ridiculous picture in my mind of Granger asking the principal to bark like a dog or cluck like a chicken. From the glazed look in Mr. McNeely's eyes, I had no doubt he'd do just about anything Granger asked.
A part of my brain wanted to function normally. I was aware there was something different about Granger's voice. But the other part of me found it so calming and reasonable. I could already feel myself forgetting whatever was bothering me only a moment before.
Everything was fine. I was happy, and I liked it that while Granger was talking, he'd subtly moved to stand beside me. Just having him close calmed me.
Granger didn't appear upset except for perhaps the nervous gesture he was making as his fingers wound and unwound the chain he was wearing around his neck.
I had never noticed the silver chain before. It must have been tucked down in his shirt. Or it could simply be that I was so often distracted by his green eyes that I hardly noticed much else when I was with him.
But now that I'd noticed, I realized there was something familiar about it. I'd seen something like the design somewhere else. I didn’t understand why it even mattered. Everything was so muddled in my mind. Why was Mr. McNeely even upset with us?
The fingers on Granger's left hand continued to touch the length of silver around his neck as he faced the principal. I knew Granger was talking. I could see his mouth moving, but the world around me was fuzzy. His voice came at me from a tunnel, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make out what he was saying, but the tone of Granger's voice was confident and reassuring. He had Mr. McNeely's full attention.
The principal's face was relaxed, where only seconds earlier he had seemed irate and ready to recite a list of school regulations he perceived we were both breaking.
I shook my head to clear away the mental fog I'd developed. Granger's hands dropped to his sides, and he reached out with his right hand to me, his fingers brushing mine. Just like that his words were no longer muffled, and I could hear him perfectly as he finished talking.
"So, you see, Mr. McNeely, we were headed to the library for senior registration when she," he nodded in my direction, "felt like she had something in her eye. I thought the light might be better in this section of the hall, so I pulled her to the side to see if she was okay. I figured we'd find an eyelash or something else causing the irritation, but I didn't find anything. Her eye does still look a little red, but I think whatever was there managed to work its way out."
Was that true?
Had I told him there was something in my eye?
I remembered stumbling. Had I stumbled because I couldn't see? Why couldn't I remember? The feeling of calm was leaving, and now I tried to hold back the panic that threatened to overwhelm me. What was wrong with me? Why didn't I remember what Granger was saying?
"Well, then, Miss..." Mr. McNeely let the unspoken hint hang in the air.
I stumbled over my words before finally speaking my name.
"Saunders. Pagan Saunders." My voice sounded strained even to my own ears.
"Ah, of course," he nodded, recognition dawning on his face. "Ms. Ellie's granddaughter."
He rubbed one hand over his chin, and I could almost see his thoughts shift and then make the connection of who I was in the scheme of students at his school.
"And how is your eye now, Miss Saunders?" His inquiry seemed polite, but since I was always suspicious of anyone in authority and the past few minutes had been, well, weird, I immediately started acting out the part Granger had forced me to play.
My fingers curled into a fist, and I began rubbing frantically at my eye. If it hadn't been red before, I was certain it was now.
"I, uhm, well, it's only a little sore. I think it's much better, sir. Whatever was in there, well, it's gone now."
"That's good to hear," he said as if it the explanation Granger had given was the most plausible of anything else that might have been going on, and that two teenagers at his school were definitely not looking for a quiet corner of the building for any other purpose than to check for stray eyelashes. Because of course, that really was all we were doing.
"Sir," Granger cleared his throat, bringing the man's focus back to him. "If it's alright with you, we'll continue on to the library now for registration."
I stared at the two of them, careful to keep my hurt eye covered for the moment. Mr. McNeely reached out and shook Granger's hand and then patted him on the back.
"Of course; of course. You two kids hurry on to the library. You don't want to be late. We want you to be able to get every class you hope to have next year. If they give you any problems with what you want, come straight back to see me. We’ll get something worked out for you."
He stood waiting in the hall for a second longer and then motioned with his hands for us to hurry along.
Granger nodded his head for me to lead the way, and he fell in behind me. When we turned the corner and I felt certain we were out of sight of the principal, I couldn't wait for an explanation any longer.
"What the heck was that all about?"
Granger's eyes widened, and he took a step back. He held up his hands and shrugged his shoulders for his reply.
"Don't give me that," I hissed.
"What?" His voice sounded innocent and confused all at the same time.
"You know what! That whole voodoo moment where it felt like you were hypnotizing the principal to get us out of trouble. You know exactly what I'm talking about, Granger. You were there!"
My voice was obviously getting too loud because students outside the library were staring at us, but I didn't care.
Granger's hand went to his chain again, his fingers rubbing across the silver. I wondered why I'd never noticed the nervous gesture before today. And there was something about that chain. It definitely reminded me of something I'd seen before. I was sure of it now.
"You need to calm down, Pagan." Granger's voice pulled my eyes away from his chain, and I was staring at him again, the full force of my anger directed straight at him.
"Don't tell me what to do," I snapped. "We should both be in detention right now and you know it, but instead I'm surprised we're not sitting with the principal having lunch at his personal table. He seemed that enthralled by you."
Granger crossed his arms, and the look he gave me clearly said he thought I'd lost my mind even if he wasn't saying the words.
"You are totally overreacting, Pagan. Can't you just be glad we aren't in trouble?" He tilted his head to the side for a minute like he was considering something, and then the corners of his mouth turned up in a lopsided grin.
"Wait a minute." I could almost see the wheels spinning in his head as he drawled out, "Maybe you're not as upset about what happened with McNeely as yo
u are that our moment alone was interrupted."
The smirk he wore looked like some move Keller would make, and my reaction to it was identical. My hands curled into fists. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stomp off and leave him there alone or attempt to knock that smirk right off his face.
"You," I spoke through gritted teeth, "have a very high opinion of yourself. Even if we had stayed where we were for whatever reasons we were there, I assure you that you were as close to me at that moment as you are ever going to get. You think the principal interrupted us? You've got that all wrong. The principal saved you from making an idiot of yourself."
Deep inside I knew the words weren't true, but it felt good saying them. If my words could stop the I know you're lying look that was all over his face, I would be even happier.
"Alright."
Granger's voice was quiet now, and I almost didn't hear him. "You're absolutely right, Pagan."
I was so ready for a fight that his sudden affirmation stopped me in my tracks.
"You're right, and I'm wrong."
His hand was beneath my elbow, and I found myself being expertly guided into the library.
An apology was always great, but I wanted clarification.
"What exactly am I right about?" I asked as we entered the crowded room. I might have been glad he was agreeing, but if he was only saying it to make me be quiet, then it wasn't what I wanted at all.
"Principal McNeely was acting strange. I simply took advantage of his behavior to try and get us out of trouble." He held up his hands in a gesture to show he was as confused as I was that things had all worked out in our favor.
I frowned at his explanation. "But, it felt like when you were talking to him that you already knew we weren't going to be in any trouble."
"Be reasonable Pagan. There's no way I could have known that.
"Exactly."
"What are you accusing me of? Be specific, if you can."
The problem with our conversation, other than the utter weirdness of it, was that we were in a library full of people now and the situation did seem surreal. Maybe I had blown it all out of proportion. But something had happened. I just wasn't sure enough what it was to keep arguing. And I knew arguing my other point, the fact that I wasn't about to let him kiss me, was an argument I was likely to lose.
It hit me in that moment how little I actually knew about Granger. Faith had told me her entire life story in the first two days I'd met her. I knew Keller worked for my grandmother, and she would never hire anyone she didn't trust or feel was an asset to have around Fairvue.
But Granger?
Granger was a mystery to me.
I needed to remember that and put some distance between the two of us.
"Why don't we just go ahead and register for next year? After all, Mr. McNeely said a lot of the favorite classes fill up early."
Granger nodded slowly. I could tell my answer wasn't what he had expected, but he seemed relieved that I no longer wanted to discuss the situation.
We both walked toward the lines that were forming for registration. I was still upset, but I didn't want to fight.
I took my place behind the letter S which was posted on a board above a library shelf, and Granger found his way to his section. His line was much longer than mine, so I wasn't surprised when I finished first. There was no way I could wait for him as far back in the line as he still was, so I gave him a small wave from across the library and made my exit out the double doors.
Arriving at my next class, I handed my late pass to Mrs. Holmes and slid into my seat. The hour seemed to move slowly even though we were busy the entire period. Granger did not return and even when I headed to my final class of the day, he was still nowhere to be found.
When school was finally over and I had survived another day of gym and battle ball, I headed across the school parking lot toward the section of the woods that would lead me to the shortcut path back to Fairvue. The weather had remained beautiful, so walking back and forth from school hadn't been a problem so far, even if every once in a while I was a little afraid of the all the shadows and sounds that came from the forest.
The honking of a horn from behind me caught my attention, and I turned to see who it was. The driver's window rolled down, as Faith pulled her car over to the side of the parking lot. I bent down to her open window. Her smile was bright as always.
"Hey, girl! Missed you after English class. How did registration go?"
"Fine," I said, but something in my tone, or maybe it was the look on my face, alerted her to the fact that everything hadn't gone as well as it should have.
"Oh my," she drawled. "I do not like the sound of that 'fine' you just pushed out of your mouth. Come on," she patted the passenger seat beside her. "Since you don't have a cell phone, I'll drive you home so you can tell your best friend all about what Granger did to you."
My eyes widen in surprise as I opened the car door, slid into the seat, and fastened my seatbelt.
"How on earth do you know this has anything to do with Granger?"
She pulled her sunglasses off the top of her head and down onto her face. Then she put the car into gear and headed out of the parking lot before answering.
"Really, Pagan? Is there anything exciting enough about registration, other than Granger Panera, to cause that kind of tone in your voice or that poor, pitiful me look you’re wearing all over you?"
She didn't give me a chance to answer.
"Of course not," she continued. "Registration is not that interesting. Therefore, whatever is causing you to mope across the parking lot looking like your puppy just got run over by a truck has to be boy trouble."
"That is such a gross description."
"It doesn't matter; it's accurate," she shot back. "You know men are the only real cause that can put us otherwise sane girls on edge. Just look at that no-account father of yours, no disrespect intended of course. He was always causing you all sorts of problems. I'm telling you, men are the root of all of life's woes. I bet the creation story left out the part where Adam planted the seed for that tree that started all of the chaos. Everybody blames it on Eve when it had to all be Adam's fault..."
"Because he's a man," we finished in unison as we burst out laughing.
Faith took her eyes off the road for only a second and grinned at me.
"Of course, men are also the ones who make our hormones get all out of kilter."
A goofy grin spread across her face, and I could only assume she was thinking about her boyfriend.
"It's quite the conundrum, isn't it? What's that old saying? Can't live with them; can't live without the things they buy us?"
I shook my head at her attempt to keep me smiling. I knew she was stalling, trying to give me time to tell her on my own terms what went wrong. Now that I was away from the school and from Granger, it all seemed rather silly.
Sighing, I finally began my explanation.
"I know you want to know what happened, Faith, but it really wasn't that big of a deal. Granger and I had a little disagreement on the way to the library. That's all. Then he got held up during registration, so we really didn't get to talk again after that and settle things. I just wish we'd had a chance to say a few words to each other before the day ended."
I bit my lip, trying to decide how much more I should add. "I looked for him after class, but I didn't see him and well, that's when you came by."
Faith turned on her blinker and expertly guided the vehicle onto the side drive which led to Fairvue.
"Do you want to tell me what he did?"
"It was just weird, Faith. I don't know how to describe it exactly. One minute we were talking and then the next thing I knew we were behind some lockers, and I honestly thought he was going to kiss me."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Faith pushed up her sunglasses; her eyes were huge.
"Wait a minute! Your first kiss with Granger, and I assume it was your first kiss or you would have already told me, was going to be in the halls of the h
igh school? Behind some old lockers? Ewwwh!"
She shook her head from side to side making her blonde hair swing around her face. "Not yuck about kissing Granger because that would definitely not be a bad thing, but the location of a first kiss is important, Pagan, and the halls of Jasper High are not on anyone's list of young love memory lane."
"I know, right? That's weird to me, too. And, I mean, I'm not even sure we know each other well enough for something like that to be happening, incredible green eyes or not. But, especially not on our way to registration and just after lunch. I'm sure I had chocolate chip cookie breath and everything."
I sighed out loud, still so confused about my behavior, wondering what I could say to help her understand how strange things had seemed.
"When Granger’s around me, sometimes I can't think straight. He's got this magnetic personality, ya know? I feel drawn to him or something, and I don't just mean because he's hot. Honestly, Faith, at the point where he had me pressed up against the wall, I didn't care where we were. It's like my brain didn't even register that we were at school."
I glanced at her to see how she was taking my confession. Her face didn't reflect any judgment, so I continued.
"I don't know if I'm more bummed that we argued or that I can only say that we almost kissed and not that we actually did."
Faith put one well-manicured hand on my arm and squeezed it quickly before commenting. "Well, as long as you don't feel like a fish being dragged in for dinner, then sometimes it's okay to feel that kind of pull."
The car began to slow as Faith put both hands back on the wheel and pulled up to the front of the house. She put the vehicle in park but left the engine running as she turned to face me, waiting for me to finish the story.
"Anyway, the principal walked up, and we really weren't doing anything, but it was, well, you know...awkward."
Faith's brow crinkled as she tried to understand.
"So, you guys didn't get in any trouble even though you were obviously about to do something, and you weren't where you were supposed to be?"
Crossings: A Sovereign Guardians Novel Page 6