Everyone clapped and whistled.
“What is happening?” I asked Nate as we walked to the center of the floor. He handed his crutches off to a friend and balanced rather well without them. He spun me around as best he could and took me by the waist rather firmly. We didn’t dance really, more like swayed together considering his foot.
“The prettiest girl, who didn’t know she was noticed, just got crowned Queen,” he said softly as we began to dance.
Prettiest girl? I thought to rebuff this but didn’t. I liked my curly hair, and Mother said I had good skin, even with all my freckles, that would never need makeup to enhance it if I took care of it. I supposed that was good because I rarely thought to put it on. I had bright eyes and a round petite nose and was blessed with decently straight teeth. I was slender but not in any way athletic or voluptuous, that I considered.
All the things that I knew girls my age considered important to be attractive were things I did not possess. So, me, the prettiest girl? I hardly thought that was true. Did Nate really think that, or was he simply feeling a little high on adrenaline from the hallway and, now, a crown?
Was he being overly generous in order to gain something? Was he just like Ace and preferred girls who were insecure and easily wooed with attention and compliments?
Was I wrong to have just compared him to Ace? My suspicions were firing, and I took awkwardly deep breath to try and make them stop. Even if he was the same, which I felt at this point was unlikely, I was not the same girl who longed for the attention of the star football player and fell prey to his accolades and affection.
How many times since school started had I realized that I had misjudged Nate Reinhart? I couldn’t decide what unnerved me more: Nate Reinhart or the fact that I kept misjudging.
“Sylvie,” I answered abruptly.
“What?” Nate looked at me like I was crazy. “No. I meant you.”
“Sylvie’s leaving,” I clarified. “I’m going to go try to catch her.”
“Avery—” Nate tried to keep me from going.
Turning back instinctively, I finally corrected him. “It’s ‘Avery Brave’,” I said softly and then continued to walk away from him, still completely bewildered at what had just happened.
“Avery Brave, just leave it. Wait.”
I walked out of the front doors, my stomach flip-flopping at the sound of my whole name from his mouth and knowing he couldn’t follow very quickly on his crutches. I saw Sylvie sitting on the bench outside, crying. I cautiously joined her on the bench, trying not to startle her.
“Are you okay, Sylvie?” I asked softly.
She looked up from her lap, and the surprise in her eyes was evident. “What do you care? Queen Avery,” she added bitingly at the end.
“You just look upset. Do you need a ride? Didn’t you come with Ace?”
“What are you, jealous?”
I recoiled and almost fired a retort back at her but realized that she was just hurt and possibly jealous of me. “Would you like a ride?” I repeated.
“What, with you and Nate? No thanks.”
“I’m not with Nate. My dad is picking me up. We can take you home if you like.”
“No,” she snapped. “I’ll get a ride from M—I mean Whitney.”
Was she about to say “Mister”? I didn’t have time to find out because, just then, my phone rang, and Sylvie hurried back inside.
“Hello?”
“Hey, I asked your Dad if I could pick you up instead. I’m on my way now.”
“Felix!” I exclaimed. “You are a God-send!”
“I don’t know about that, but I am on my way. See you in a minute.”
I had so much to tell him. I couldn’t wait to see his face when I told him all about Ace and Sylvie in the hallway and when Nate had his hand over my mouth! I hurried out by the curb to wait for him. I texted Carol while I waited and laughed out loud at her comment about the picture pose.
Suddenly, I felt a chill down my spine, and I sensed someone sidling up to me. It was completely different from when Nate had been next to me in the hallway. My skin prickled, and I froze.
“You need to mind your own business, Nightingale.” His bitter voice made me cringe. Ace.
Playing it cool, I acted like I didn’t know what he was talking about. “I only asked her if she was okay. She looked upset.”
“I saw you and Nate come out of that hallway. I know you were lurking.”
“Lurking? Who says ‘lurking’?”
“I say what I want, and I do what I want.” He put an unwelcome and coarse hand on my arm and slid it all the way down to my hand. “And you know it.”
I boiled inside. My chest hurt from forcing myself to breathe. I heard the doors of the school open, and I knew I had a small window of time to make a scene. Now was my chance. I stomped my heel on his foot and shoved him sideways, throwing him off balance.
“Get away from me!” I screamed. Whoever had just come through the doors ran over to us as Ace growled at me and scuttled back inside.
A firm hand steadied me and asked in a concerned voice, “Are you alright, Ms. Nightingale?”
I looked up in surprise and saw Mr. Hickham. He’d been here tonight? I hadn’t seen him at all.
“Mr. Wentworth is someone to be careful with,” he continued.
In a bold move, I brushed my dress and gathered my clutch, which I had dropped in the scuffle. “He’s not the only one,” I said coolly.
Mr. Hickham’s eyes narrowed, and his brow furrowed, giving me the response I needed.
“You were crowned Homecoming Queen?”
“Don’t make it a thing, okay? It’s a bit ridiculous.”
“But king and queen. It’s cute.”
“It’s not a thing.
“It’s a thing.”
“It’s not,” I argued adamantly.
“Well,” Felix said, “he was totally your date. You took pictures, you didn’t dance with anyone else, and he put his hand on your mouth.”
“Shut up, Felix. He was not.”
“He was too. Accept it.”
“Fine. Whatever.”
“So that dress did its thing, then.”
I laughed as we pulled up at my house. “Yeah, I guess it did.”
“I can’t believe you ran out on him after he said that. You have such a way of pissing people off, don’t ya?”
“Nobody said he was pissed. And anyway, I may go to All Saints Academy, but I never claimed to be one.”
Felix laughed and threw his head back. “Now that’s an accurate school motto.”
I smiled at the sight of him belly laughing and was glad to have someone to recap the night with. “Hey, thanks for picking me up,” I said. “But starting next week, you won’t have to anymore.”
Felix scolded me with his brows. “I didn’t have to pick you up, Avery Brave. I wanted to. Can’t your friend pick you up from your first school dance?”
I nodded. “I just wish you would have come tonight. Especially with the whole crown thing.”
“I would have given anything to see that part. But I don’t really do school dances.”
“You’re above it all—I get it,” I joked.
Grinning back at me, he changed the subject. “The ol’ birthday is next week?”
“Yep. Wednesday.”
“Alright, we’ll have that bottle of champagne I have in the backseat for Wednesday then.”
I shook my head as I got out of the car. “You’re crazy, Felix.”
“I have to be crazy to be friends with you!”
“Too true. Goodnight, Felix.”
“Night.”
When I was halfway up the front step, I heard his car door shut. I spun around to see Felix jogging toward me. I walked back down the steps and met him at the bottom.
“What’s up? Did you forget something?”
“No.” His face was serious. “I…uh…just needed to tell you something,” he said, looking at the ground and fiddl
ing with his keys. He seemed tense or worried, something I couldn’t quite read.
“Felix…,” I said, grabbing his arm, “what is it? You’re being weird.”
He wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I was talking to my Dad tonight, and he said that we’d been getting to know each other well enough that I needed to tell you something.”
“Tell me what, Felix. You’re acting strange.”
“He told me that I needed to tell you…just that…” He trailed off and paused for a long time.
“Felix! What is it? We’re friends, aren’t we? What are you holding back?”
“He said you need to be careful,” he finished, seeming to change what he had been going to say. “I just want you to be careful.”
That didn’t seem like something that required so much verbal torture to get out. “Careful? Your dad wants me to be careful? Is that really what he wanted you to tell me?”
“Especially after what you told me that you said to Mr. Hickham. Maybe you should back off for a bit. Lay low. Be careful.”
“Okay,” I said, taking his concern seriously. I still wondered what it was that he really needed to tell me. “Is that all you need to tell me?” I pressed gently.
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” I hugged him quickly. “Thanks for looking out for me.”
“Welcome,” he said sheepishly.
“Night, Felix.”
“Night, AB.”
I watched Felix’s car leave the driveway, then gave a full report to Mother and Dad, who were still reading in the den when I arrived home. Then, upstairs, I slipped out of my dress and into my pajamas. As I crawled into bed and relaxed against the pillow, my phone lit up beside me. I rolled over to see a text from Felix.
SORRY THAT WAS SO WEIRD. I’LL EXPLAIN LATER.
I smiled. He didn’t have to explain. I was pretty sure I knew what it was that his Dad was really concerned about.
Just as my bleary eyes were ready to close, my phone lit up again. Expecting another text from Felix, I was surprised to see a text from Nate.
YOU OKAY?
YEA. SORRY I SPILT SO FAST.
IT’S OKAY.
I’LL EXPLAIN LATER.
I HAD FUN TONIGHT.
I smiled, even though I was so tired that the light from the screen made me squint. I had one boy in my life who thought he was full of surprises, but, really, I had him pegged from the beginning. Then I had another boy who I’d thought I had pegged but who continued to baffle me at every turn. And then, there was one boy who seemed to be at the center of a very scandalous mystery.
ME TOO, I replied to Nate and fell asleep.
6.
A few years ago, our downtown could have been called “small town” or “quaint.” Now, while it still held a certain picturesque humility, it had grown more diverse, artistic, and downright interesting. A water fountain surrounded by an expertly coifed flowerbed and large oak trees formed the center of the town square.
Friendly faces sat out on patios enjoying their evening meals as they listened to music across the lawn. Shopkeepers closed their shops and headed home as the sun dipped low between the streets that intersected here.
Nate and I sat in a booth by a window at a burger place on the corner, and I watched the shopkeepers disappear as we ate.
“You said that?” Nate asked and almost dropped his fries out of shock. “Out loud?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged, remembering a few things that Nate had said out loud that night too.
I probably should have felt bad for saying what I did to Mr. Hickham, but frankly, I didn’t.
Nate shook his head and took another bite of his burger. We were at the Burger Shack working on the article, and Nate had said he’d heard about Ace threatening me at the dance. I’d told him what Ace had said and everything that had happened after that.
“Can’t believe I didn’t know any of that happened. Where was I?”
“Standing there in shock that the princess just ran out on you,” I joked, then immediately regretted it because I’d inadvertently cast him as Prince Charming.
I chided myself. Wow, really cramming your foot in your mouth lately, eh, AB?
Nate’s eyes widened at my remark, and a smirk pulled at his mouth. He chuckled slightly. “You are the Queen, remember. Not the princess,” he joked slyly.
I could feel the heat rise in my cheeks and debated dashing to the bathroom. Brushing waves of hair from my face, I could tell the blush was simply spreading as Nate continued to watch me, eating his fries.
“What?” I asked laughingly.
“Nothing. I—um—I just can’t believe you said that to Mr. Hickham.”
“I was testing him,” I said, moving on flawlessly, glad to get past the Queen conversation. “I needed to see if he’d react and if his reaction would betray him. And it worked. I think we can assume he’s involved somehow.”
“We?”
“The royal we, I meant,” I corrected swiftly. “Me.”
He took another bite and looked out the window. After he was done chewing, he looked back at me with serious eyes. “I just think maybe it’s not a good idea to get involved. I mean, I think there’s more going on than you know…and—”
I slid sideways against the wall in the booth. “Nate, I know you’re kind of new to this reporter/newspaper thing, but part of being a reporter is uncovering and exposing things that other people don’t…or won’t.”
“No, I get that. But one minute, we’re reporting on the current dress styles and dances, and the next minute, we’re trying to expose some seedy business that’s possibly going on with students and coaches. Don’t you think that, if this is real, you need to go to the police or something?”
I studied his worried face. Is he concerned about what we’d find? Or me? My safety? Or is he more worried about the fallout for his reputation if he helps me expose it? Or is he hiding something different altogether?
“Nobody asked you to help me, Nate,” I said breezily. “We can just do the school functions and fluff pieces. I can go at this alone. But,” I added graciously, “your warning is duly noted.”
“Okay,” he surrendered. He finished his burger, and we sat in awkward silence until Felix unexpectedly popped in through the front door.
“Well, what do we have here?” he said, surprised to see us in the booth and giving me a mischievous grin.
“School assignment,” I jumped in to say before Nate could say anything.
“Hey, Felix.” Nate nodded at him in his usual aloof manner.
“Hey, Nate.”
“What are you doing here, Felix?” I asked in a chipper voice.
“My parents sent me out to pick up food.”
“Cool,” I said, waiting for something more, but I sat smiling at him awkwardly for a moment before he made a move to leave.
“Call ya later?” he asked as he walked away.
“Yep,” I said feeling a sudden void at the table without him.
“You guys together?” Nate asked, looking at me curiously.
I laughed out loud, probably a little too loud. “No! Gosh no.”
He looked at my skeptically. “Didn’t you just say that he picked you up from the dance the other day?”
“Yeah? So?” I wondered how he knew that.
He leaned way over the table and was encroaching on my side of the booth. “So, you ran out on me at the dance, and Felix picked you up. You don’t see how that looks? And every time I see you at school, you’re with him.”
Irritated, I grabbed my purse and started to slide out of my seat. “First of all, I didn’t run out on you, because we weren’t on a date. Second of all, I don’t know what it matters to you how things look….” I paused to take a breath, trying not to get too fired up.
“Is there a third?” he retorted meanly.
“Actually, there is, Nate. Thirdly, Felix is not interested in me. We’re just friends.”
“You’ve got to be blind, Avery. He is always around. I
don’t believe girls and boys can truly be ‘just friends’.”
“Of course, they can, Nate.”
I stood and, for once, towered over him, bracing myself on the table, and whispered in a low but fierce tone, “It’s really none of your business, and, frankly, I don’t even see why you care. If you want to know so bad, ask him yourself, Nate Reinhart.” I spat out his name at the end.
His eyes widened as his face drained of color. For the second time, I stormed away from him and caught Felix on the way out the door. He whipped around with the to-go bag in his hand and whacked me with it. I yelped and jumped back with a startled laugh.
“Sorry,” he said with wide eyes, assessing me. “You okay?”
“Give me a ride home?” I asked, still fuming.
“Sure. What happened with Inspector Handsome over there?”
I silently followed Felix to his car and got in.
“Ugh,” I sighed finally as I buckled in, and we pulled away. “He’s impossible and infuriating and…ill-mannered.”
“Anything else you want to add to that alliteration?” Felix laughed as we drove away.
“Yeah. He’s ornery and obtuse.”
“I don’t think you did that right,” Felix teased.
I shoved his shoulder. “Stop. I’m really mad. I’m not trying to alliterate.”
“I don’t think that’s a word, AB.”
“I don’t care,” I said, laughing because he was frustrating me so much.
“Sorry. I’ll stop. I can tell you are upset,” he said, softening. “Want to talk about whatever it was that just happened back there? Because everything seemed fine when I was over there, and then it dived south pretty quickly.”
I sighed loudly. I wasn’t ready to have this conversation with Felix. I was sure it was what he’d been trying to tell me the night of the dance. And why he hadn’t called since then. But, in this moment, I knew I didn’t have the right words to say, and I didn’t want to hurt Felix or jeopardize our comfortable friendship.
I knew not everyone at Saints would react in a similar manner when and if they found out, so I shot up a little “arrow prayer,” as Mother called them, before I spoke.
God, help me do this well. I need your words, not mine. I’ll mess it up for sure.
The Nightingale Files : The Rook and Queen Page 7