by Suze Reese
“So how is that little neighbor girl of yours?” Everett asked, leaning back comfortably, as if he were asking about the weather.
I could feel blood coursing through my veins. I kept my breathing slow and deep.
He was quiet, waiting for an answer.
I looked up but kept my gaze straight ahead—in the direction Jesse would come. “Why did you do it?” I whispered.
He crossed his legs, casually, the only part of him I could see while staring straight ahead. “There you go again with that crazy talk. I was just driving home from school and I heard the sirens. Pulled in to watch. You’d better be careful with those wild accusations or they’ll lock you up like they did your crazy boyfriend.”
I kneaded my fists, resisting the urge to punch him. “What do you know about that?” I said through clenched teeth.
“Just the same rumors as everybody else.”
Where’s Jesse? He was nowhere to be seen. But to my surprise, Lacey came around the corner. She was talking to a boy who was carrying a large box. His face was only slightly familiar. Lacey seemed agitated, annoyed with whatever the boy was saying.
“Listen, that was rude of me,” Everett said, his voice suddenly kind. “I shouldn’t bring up such painful topics.”
I was tempted to look at him, to see if I could read the expression on his face, since disgust was the only emotion I could sense. But I kept watching Lacey argue with the boy.
“They are a cute couple, aren’t they? They’re on my homecoming decorating committee. Such fun to work with.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“Well, I’m glad you asked.” He placed his hand on my knee.
I jumped and knocked it away.
“I wanted to talk to you about Lacey,” he said without missing a beat.
I settled back on the bench, scooting as far away as possible. “What about her?”
“Well, I’m worried.”
Lacey suddenly looked in our direction. Her eyes lit up when she saw Everett. She grinned foolishly and waved at him. The boy said something to her. I assumed he must be Christian, the one who had asked her to the dance. Lacey’s face grew angry at something he said. She turned and walked away from him. He chased after her, leaving the box on the sidewalk, and grabbed her arm after just a few steps, forcing her to stop walking. She turned and looked up at him, looking more annoyed than anything, almost bored.
“Go on,” I finally said to Everett.
“She reminds me an awful lot of a girl I knew at my old school,” Everett said. “You know the type. Kind of…well…plain—”
I sat up tall, poised again to strike him. “Lacey is so not plain.”
“Hey,” he put his hands up in surrender. “I’m just trying to have an honest conversation here.”
“Oh, of course,” I said. “Since that’s your specialty, honest conversations.”
“Do you mind if I continue? I need to join my committee.”
“Go ahead.” I sighed and resumed watching Lacey.
“Anyway, this other girl was nice enough, but plain—as I said—and well…rather…” He cleared his throat. “Round.”
I shot a warning glare at him but stayed silent. Where was Jesse? He should have been back by now.
“Like Lacey, this girl had had a crush on a boy for years, but was too insecure to act on it. Ironically the boy liked her as well. Eventually he got up the nerve to ask her on a date. But there was another boy at the school, a popular football player, who also took an interest in…my friend. Well, as you can imagine, the timing was horrible. The girl was so flattered to be asked by the popular boy that she turned down the other boy.”
I remembered an almost exact story from Lacey—back when I was in a state of flux. I’d almost forgotten about it.
“I won’t go into the horrific details. But in the end the girl not only lost the boy who really liked her…but…”
After several moments of silence, I turned to look at him. His face was twisted up, as if remembering something horrible. His actual emotions, however, remained unchanged. “One evening, the high school football team ran into their locker room and discovered her.” He pretended to bluster.
I wanted to stop his lie. But at the same time couldn’t wait to hear it.
“I…I…can’t speak the details…it wouldn’t be…proper,” he continued dramatically, as if he were truly moved by the story. “Suffice it to say that the only clothing she had on…was a cow bell around her neck.”
The words drifted ominously between us. “Is this some kind of game?”
“Game?” He sat up, his voice mocking.
“Are you making a threat? Telling me that Lacey is your next victim?”
“Victim? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a concerned friend. Lacey has put herself into a similar position as a friend of mine. I don’t want to see anything happen to her. That’s all.”
“I’m not sure the rules of this little game. But if anything happens to Lacey, I’ll make sure the entire school knows you did it.”
Everett laughed. “That’s ridiculous. The way she hangs on Nick’s every word. Everyone would know he was involved.”
Nick? The flirt? What did he have to do with anything? I looked at him to see if he was serious. He nodded towards the group, as if to prove his point. But the scene only proved him wrong. Lacey was looking up at Everett, trying once again to get his attention. Christian watched her, clearly exasperated. Nick had joined them, yes, but as usual he had his arm around a girl—though I couldn’t see her face. As far as I knew Lacey had never shown a bit of interest in Nick.
The whole thing was as confusing as an Earth soap opera. The one clear fact was that Lacey was unreasonably gaga over Everett. Then I saw Jesse—finally—moving slowly in our direction. I straightened up, leaning towards him. “I just know that if Lacey’s in any danger, it’s from you,” I said.
“I can see we’re not getting anywhere.” Everett sighed dramatically. “I just hope Lacey doesn’t pay the price for your neglect as a friend.”
I kept my gaze on Jesse, willing him to hurry and rescue me from this confusing conversation. “What do you want from me?”
“I just want you to do the right thing.”
“And what is that?” I looked up at him, eyes squinted, wanting to get a clear record of whatever he said next.
“I think you know.” He winked at me. Then stood and walked with long, smooth strides towards the group of students.
Jesse thrust his body past Everett as they passed, glaring at him. His arms hung unnaturally. As he grew closer, I could see there were red splotches covering his usually-perfect complexion. He dropped onto the grass and knelt in front of me. His hair was soaked with sweat. “What did he do? Why was he here?”
“It was nothing,” I whispered, my voice surprisingly strong. “I’m fine.” Everett probably expected me to fall even deeper into the hole of despair I’d spent the last two days in—to run away and go home with my daddy. I didn’t understand most of what Everett had said. But that’s what he meant, I was certain, when he said I knew what to do.
And maybe I should. But rather than make me more hopeless, Everett’s little story had emboldened me. There was no way he could convince me to just walk away. Not from Lacey, or Becca, and especially not from Jesse. “Let’s go to your house,” I said. “I want to meet your dog.”
A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Jesse’s face, his eyes were wide with alarm. I realized there had to be more going on than just seeing me with Everett. He was seething with a slew of emotions: fear, worry, anger, confusion.
“Jesse…what is it? What’s wrong?”
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
My question went unanswered. Jesse’s eyes moved rapidly back and forth as if he were skimming a list of options, making a plan. He rose suddenly. Glanced in the direction the decorating committee had gone. And made a face of disgust. “Let’s get out of here.”
Our hands t
ouched almost imperceptibly as we walked. A reminder of the painful distance we were supposed to keep in public. After we were in the hot car, he paused with his keys in his hand. I thought maybe he would start talking. But he shook his head and continued the action of inserting and turning the key.
I sat back on the seat, my own worry increasing with each passing moment. What I wouldn’t give to get inside his mind.
He turned right out of the parking lot instead of the usual left to my house. We rode in silence for several miles before I began to recognize the roads. I’d seen them on the drive to and from Everett’s house. He pulled into a subdivision at the base of the foothills. The homes weren’t nearly as massive as the ones above, but were still much larger than the one I lived in. I looked at him with surprise. I wasn’t sure why exactly. Maybe it was his humble car, or his simple style of clothing, or maybe just that he rejected the popular crowd. The house was covered in river rock, stucco, and timber. It couldn’t have been more than ten years old. The driveway was lined with rose bushes. A dog barked behind the side-yard fence.
“It’s nice,” I said.
He turned off the engine and dropped his head.
I put my hand on top of his and winced at his pain. “Jess, please, talk to me.”
His face was almost panic-stricken. “Let’s go inside where it’s not so hot.”
I followed him into the house, and was struck with its unpretentious beauty. The furnishings were tasteful and elegant, not overbearing like Everett’s. Jesse lingered silently in the entryway.
My gaze went to a framed picture on an entry table: a happy, smiling family of five. Jesse sat next to two identical black-haired boys with mischievous smiles. A meticulously-dressed blonde-haired, blue-eyed woman gazed at them affectionately. Next to her was a husky dark-haired man with a proud smile. He appeared to be of mixed race—though I wasn’t sure which ones—which would partly explain Jesse’s unique features. I wanted to pick the picture up and study it—to see which parent gave him each one of his features. And in what ways he resembled his little brothers.
But Jesse had not moved. He looked about the room, rubbed his hands together nervously. “Come,” I guided him to a leather couch in the adjoining living room. “Talk to me.”
He sat beside me. I waited. “You know…” he finally said in a raspy voice. “How we both have secrets?”
I hesitated. “Yes…”
“I think…I think I need to share mine.” His hands rested conspicuously in his lap.
I fidgeted at the sensation of his anxiety. “Only if you want—”
“I think…it’s time you know.” He looked at me, then looked away. “I guess you heard about what happened at school last February.”
“A little.”
“I don’t really remember it,” he continued. “Mostly just the noise…like a hundred jet engines inside my head. It started in fifth period, geometry. I guess I ran out of the classroom and started banging my head against lockers. That’s what they tell me anyway. The next thing I knew I was in an ambulance.”
I noticed a bead of sweat running down the side of his brow and touched my finger to it. He blinked, the corners of his lips turning up, though not with pleasure. “They ran all kinds of tests—brain scans and stuff. But everything showed normal. Sometimes it went away for a while. But then it would come back worse than ever. For weeks. They checked me into the hospital.” He glanced nervously at me. “The mental ward. After three days of tests they sent me home.”
“Three days?” I said. “That’s all?”
“I spent the summer in my room, trying to block it out.”
“How did you get it to stop?”
He shrugged. “It just did, a few weeks ago. No explanation. I don’t know what caused it. And I don’t know what…” He swallowed. Tried to speak again, but words didn’t come.
“Jesse, what is it?”
“I’ve had some…problems…since then.”
“Problems?”
“Yeah. I don’t think it’s the same thing. It feels…different…this time.”
“This time? Did something happen today?”
The house was silent, except for a clock ticking in another room and an occasional yelp from the dog in the backyard. “I…I…just had to go lock up some sound equipment in the gym before the homecoming committee got there. I didn’t like leaving you. Not when you were so upset. But I didn’t want to make you run around after me. I thought it would be quick. But for some reason I couldn’t move once I got there. I was like a slug. And then when I finally made it out and I saw that…that…animal sitting next to you…”
“It’s okay. He wasn’t hurting me.”
“But he could have been. And all I could do was stare.” He stared at me now, reliving the moment. “I can’t let that happen again. I don’t know…what is wrong with me. But you deserve better.”
“No!” I took his hands into mine. “Don’t say things like that. I don’t even deserve you. You’re the strongest, most loving person I’ve ever met.”
Jesse turned his head away. I suspected he was struggling to keep tears from forming in his eyes. I clutched his arm, thinking. His symptoms had started months ago, before I or the Stones or Everett even moved to Los Robles. None of them could have caused it. I might suspect repatterning to be the cause of his latest symptoms, if I hadn’t already established that was impossible. But it was an awful lot like Becca’s fall off that diving board. Too much so to be a coincidence. “I don’t know about last year,” I finally said. “But I can guarantee that what happened today had nothing to do with you or any mental illness.”
He kept his face away from me. “That’s quite a guarantee.”
“Well…” What could I say? Don’t worry. Everett is really an alien who uses mind control on everyone but me, since I’m an alien too. Yeah, that should clear it all up. He’d feel much better. I put my head on Jesse’s shoulder, wishing we could go back to the beach. Or at least the feeling we had there—when Jesse was carefree. “Listen,” I finally said. “Like you said, we both have secrets. And I’m glad you told me yours. Truthfully, they’re not as bad as I’d imagined.”
He smiled gratefully, his eyes filled with sadness.
“But,” I continued, closing my eyes. “My secrets are worse…much worse. I’m sure they’re the reason for what happened to you today. But I still can’t tell you. You could be physically harmed if I told you more.” I opened my eyes and looked intently into his. “And I would die before I let that happen.”
***
When I made it home that evening, I found that my parents’ cheerful chatter only annoyed me since it kept me from concentrating. I’d been deluding myself into thinking that I’d just walk away when the time was right. That I just needed to hold out a little longer. Until I was forced to leave.
But now I realized that was the wrong objective. I had to find a way to stay. To hold on to Jesse.
I was tempted to go on a walk. Maybe make my way to the school or Everett’s house to look for clues. But if there were answers to my problem, the only place to find them was in my own mind. The image of Becca face down in the pool was still too raw for me to stay in the backyard. So I confined myself to the prison cell of my bedroom—which was probably appropriate under the circumstances. Considering how close I was to spending the rest of my days in one.
I sprawled out on my bed and reviewed the memory of my most recent conversation with Everett. I wasn’t sure what I could do with any evidence if I found it, since I’d get in trouble for having talked to him at all. But I’d take that chance if he’d said enough to convince Mom that I was on to something. I watched the nauseating conversation a second, and a third time. He had carefully chosen his words. Just one teenager worried about another.
Next I did an exhaustive review of every memory I’d kept of my interactions with Everett. Image after image flashed behind my eyes. His phony smile. His conceited laugh. His face inches from mine. My head began to ache.
Eventually, an awful truth came into focus. I curled into a ball, clutching my pillow.
I’d jumped on the assumption that the only way Everett could have learned about Dad was to read Jesse’s mind. It was the kind of thing I expected of him. And I was so focused on finding something to use against him.
But he’d been at the beach. And at Becca’s accident. He was everywhere at school, watching me. He could have been there when Dad went on a drive that first day. Or when Jesse came over.
He could have figured it all out. Just by being a sleazy stalker.
I’d made so many accusations based on my assumptions. Even committed the crime of trying to stream with him. For all I knew, running into a black wall is always the result of streaming with a human. I’d even told Jesse not to worry about his health issues because I assumed Everett had caused them.
I smashed my pillow into my face and let out a muffled scream. So much wasted time and energy. Stupid human teenagers and their stupid social problems.
I’d put all my hopes on making a big discovery about Everett. Now I was right back where I’d started—with the Stones, who were behaving like a poster-couple for normal school teachers. If a trained agent hadn’t learned anything about them in twenty years of espionage, it was hopeless.
I was lost in this depressing thought when my cell phone buzzed. It was a text from Lacey. >>You won’t believe what happened!
I sighed. Texting was the most tedious form of communication imaginable. I’d pretty much gotten the hang of the miniature buttons, but not the cryptic messages that could go back and forth for hours. I typed the simplest response I could get away with. >>What?
>>Nick asked me out!
My stomach sank. In Everett’s story, the popular boy had asked the girl out right after her big crush. I had assumed that Christian was the crush and Everett was the popular boy in Lacey’s version of the story. But technically Everett had never asked her out, just said he’d meet her at the dance. Was Nick the popular boy in this story? Regardless, the picture of Lacey tied up in the boys’ locker room brought bile to my throat. But if Everett was just a regular kid, why would he be playing these games?