by Suze Reese
>>Wow.
The only response I could think of.
>>I know. I haven’t been on a date in my life, and now there are two guys that like me. It’s crazy! LOL!
I groaned. I thought there were three involved in this silly little drama. I hated to even ask. >>Which two?
>>Christian and Nick. I can hardly wait for tomorrow.
This was beyond annoying. Tomorrow. Something was happening tomorrow? Why couldn’t she just say what she had to say? >>Yeah? I prompted.
>>I get to spend the whole day with him!!
Groan. >>Who?
>>Nick!
Scowl. >>Why?
>>He’s on the decorating committee.
>>You mean with Everett?
>>I guess. We’re decorating the gym for the dance.
I read the message…twice. All of sudden Lacey was all about Nick. Not Everett. This just could not possibly be coincidence. It still didn’t mean Everett was anything but creepy. But it did prove that much. And even if he was only using basic human manipulation tactics, he was somehow, some way, toying with both me and Lacey.
I read through the string of messages again. Gained no insight into Lacey’s drama or Everett’s games. But noticed one piece of very good news. Everett would be busy all day. Mom wouldn’t have any reason to keep me home from school tomorrow.
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
I had told Jesse not to pick me up for school. And since I still didn’t have a way to reach him, I had to walk the two point three miles to campus. I was mildly surprised that he didn’t pass me on the way. And that he wasn’t in any of his usual locations at the school. In fact, none of my friends were, which was logical, since they were all helping set up for the dance. But I had no explanation for Jesse’s absence. I told myself not to panic. There was no reason whatsoever to panic.
Dr. Tom’s class went to the science lab to compare plant cells and animal cells. But there were so few of us there that he announced we’d repeat the lesson on Monday. I was able to strike up a conversation with him. But I highly doubted a discussion about chloroplasts would impress Mom.
Attendance in choir was just as sparse. But the only missing student I cared about was Jesse. And the no-panic thing was not working so well. I sent texts to Lacey, Serena and Camille.
Only Serena responded. <
Gym class was moved to the football field where we had to run in circles. I easily outran the few students in class, but found no pleasure in it. I tried to get a look inside the gymnasium on my way to the locker room. But the doors were locked tight. Not that there was any chance Jesse would be inside. By lunch I was tempted to walk to Jesse’s house to check on him. But it was at least five miles from the school.
Instead, I tried texting Lacey again while buying myself a plate of lasagna. I found Serena eating alone in the cafeteria.
“Crazy day, hah?” Serena asked.
“Yeah.” I dropped my tray onto the table and plopped myself onto the chair, exasperated and worried. “Why aren’t you on the committee?” I asked.
“I am,” she replied. “Just not decorating. I do the pep part.”
I took a large bite of lasagna. “Pep part?”
“Yeah. For the football team. We have a big rally tonight before the game. I’m helping with that.”
“Oh yeah. Football. So there’s a game tonight?”
Serena laughed. “Of course. What do you think homecoming is?”
I smiled, trying not to look stupid, while my mind raced. I thought it was a dance. But it was football. Tonight. So that’s what Everett had been going on about. The story he told about his friend had happened right before a football game. Just like today. I put another bite of pasta in my mouth, then pulled out my cell phone and typed in another simple message to Lacey. It would be painful, but I’d keep texting with her all day. Just to make sure she stayed away from the boys’ locker room.
By the end of school I had decided the day was a complete bust. I’d typed dozens of useless little comments into my phone. >>Wussup Girl? Having fun yet?
But Lacey seemed fine. Just a ditzy teenager with a crush, excited about a dance. Plus both the Stones were being maddeningly normal. Which meant I had no hope of coming up with some brilliant evidence of their deviance that would delay my departure. And worst of all: there was no sign of Jesse and no one seemed to know anything.
I was opening a stream to Geery while walking to the janitor’s closet for my usual shift, when I gasped at the sight of Jesse standing outside the door. I dropped the stream and rushed to him. “Where have--?”
He put his finger over my lips. “I have a surprise.” His eyes were lit up like a child about to open a present.
“Surprise?” His excitement was contagious. He was immediately forgiven for worrying me.
He placed his hands on my shoulders and directed me away from the closet. “In the gym.”
“The gym? Don’t tell me you’re on the decorating committee.”
“Yeah right. I thought you knew me better than that.” We walked in silence the rest of the way, a simultaneously aching and glorious two inches apart. My curiosity mounted with each step. Geery tried to open another stream, but I sent a message that it would have to wait until tomorrow.
Jesse stopped at the closed gymnasium door, opening it just enough to peek inside. “I think they’re gone.” He flashed the smile that never failed to turn my insides to mush. “Close your eyes.”
He guided me inside—to what felt like the middle of the room—then left me standing alone. After just a moment, music began playing. I didn’t recognize it, which was odd. The melody had a haunting yet soothing quality. It had more depth than most Earth songs—almost like something from my world’s classical period. I concentrated on it, analyzing it, until I sensed Jesse standing close. He wrapped his arms around me and swayed with the rhythm of the rich melody.
I tentatively placed my arms on his shoulders. Stepped back when he stepped forward. Spun with him. Inhaled as deep as my nostrils would allow.
“Okay, open your eyes,” he eventually whispered in my ear.
I obeyed. And gasped. Patterns of light turned and twisted around us—falling across Jesse’s face. Sparkling lights twinkled from the ceiling above yards of sheer white fabric that was draped on wires from one side of the room to the other.
“So you have been decorating,” I said.
“I told you no. I’m the sound tech.” He continued guiding me to the rhythm of the mystifying music.
“Sound?”
“Yeah.” He nodded towards a table covered with equipment similar to the stereo Dad had dissected, but even bulkier. “I wouldn’t have taken the job if you could’ve come to the dance. But since you couldn’t…”
“That’s your stuff?”
“Yeah, it’s usually in my room. Along with my sound mixer, keyboard, drums, guitars…” He smiled wistfully as dancing lights streamed across his face. “There’s hardly any room for my bed. I wanted to show you yesterday. But we never made it that far.”
“I had no idea.”
He shrugged, embarrassed, then took a wide step to the side, dipping me slightly. “It’s just what I do.”
“But if you’ve been in here today, why didn’t Camille and Lacey see you?”
He shrugged. “I tend to be invisible. Even to them.”
My heart ached for his loneliness. While my love grew in intensity. “This song,” I said, “it’s yours, isn’t it?”
“I worked on it this summer, while trying to stop the noise. I didn’t really understand it, until I saw you that first day.” He touched my chin with his finger, drawing my face up to his. “I knew immediately it was for you.”
He spun me again. We moved as one with our feet barely touching. The child I’d been days earlier could not have danced like this. The music stirred into a full crescendo. Jesse pressed his hand against my back, drawing me closer still, until my chest was pressed against his.
His
lips touched mine lightly, like insect wings. I shivered. He couldn’t know I’d never been kissed. Hadn’t expected to be for many years. He pulled away, searching my eyes for consent.
I could feel his yearning and put my hand on his neck, my fingers intertwining in his soft hair. I pulled him close, placing my lips on his.
He drew me into him, his mouth increasing in its hunger.
The room circled around us, lights falling across our intertwined bodies. The rich musical notes surrounded us in full crescendo. The world and all the forces pulling against us fell away in that bright, singular moment.
I imagined him in his bedroom, tormented and desperate, composing and playing each of those harmonic parts separately then blending them together. Even on my world he would be considered brilliant. I never would have thought my love for him could grow this much.
Jesse released me when the haunting strains of the music died away.
I caught my breath—and wanted to ask him to start it again. But he would have to walk away to do that.
Another—far lesser—song began. We moved again with our feet side-by-side, wrapped in each other’s arms, our bodies close. I’d often wondered why he was so different from other boys—so pure in his love for me. But with that kiss I understood that he did long to be close to me. Not in the empty and greedy way of other boys from this world. Simply to express his love.
As wonderful as this moment was, I felt a shiver of fear. I’d seen enough Earth media to know what came next in human relationships. On Nreim, teenagers simply did not pair off. The desire had been genetically bred out of us. We joked about having crushes, but they really were nothing more than fantasies. The truth was, beyond our ability to recognize good looks, our feelings for boys were pretty much the same as for girls. Reaching adulthood—with the ability and desire to mate—was marked as the age of segregation: complete with separate female and male campuses of higher learning. Even transportation and public buildings had segregated areas for unlinked adults. When our urges became strong enough—or we went mad, I’m not sure which—we chose to enter the link camps where we would be allowed contact with suitable mates.
That I’d fallen in love with Jesse at my age was a true mystery. Possibly the cellular response of having a male fall in love with me prematurely. Though that was a theory I couldn’t exactly confirm. The one thing that I did know for certain was that I was entirely unprepared for a romantic relationship. I was caught between a desire to please Jesse and an inborn ignorance of such things.
“Jesse,” I whispered. “Will you promise me something?”
“Sure.” He brushed my cheek with his own.
“Will you tell me if I’m ever moving too slowly for you?”
He laughed. Heartily.
I watched him, confused. He was truly humored by the request.
“Oh, you’re serious,” he said, still smiling.
I continued to watch him, waiting a bit nervously for his response.
“Absolutely.” His voice became serious, though I could still sense that he was amused. “I will definitely tell you if we are moving too slowly.” He kissed me again, tenderly.
My head became light, stunned by the power of such a delicate kiss.
“As long as you promise to let me know if we’re moving too quickly,” he said, studying my face intently.
I steadied myself. “No such thing,” I lied.
He laughed again, but with such satisfaction that my fears melted. Somehow I knew that our relationship was right where it should be. Other than the little details that it was forbidden, threatened both our lives, and could end at any second.
“Jesse?” I whispered in his ear. “You asked me once why I chose you.”
“Uh huh. I remember.”
“Can I ask why you chose me?”
He caressed my cheek with his finger. Studied my face. “A million reasons. I couldn’t name just one.”
I put my head on his shoulder, somehow satisfied with his nonanswer. I was beginning to think it was impossible for him to not make me happy. If it weren’t for the obvious evidence of his unique physical features, I’d never believe he was less evolved than the males back home. Or that our patterns weren’t linked. I placed my hand on top of his. “Can we listen to your song again?”
He guided me to the stereo where he pressed a button. The melody filled the room as he wrapped his arm around my back, our bodies swaying to the rhythm.
“Jesse,” I eventually said. “Can I ask if you’ve ever…?”
He smiled, recognizing what I didn’t want to say. “No. You’re my first love.”
I felt a shiver at the word love, along with a surprising rush of relief. I hadn’t given it much thought until just now, but the concept of him looking at someone else the way he was looking at me was just…impossible. I settled my head into the crook of his neck, as though it had been designed for just such a purpose. The sparkling lights melted across us like flakes of snow. We twirled together as the song repeated—our bodies pressed together. Time and the world and all of my stupid rules fell away.
“Won’t your dad wonder where you are?” Jesse eventually whispered.
I nodded, not really registering the question.
“What will he do if you’re not home on time?”
The question was enough for me to lift my head. He would come looking for me. That’s what he would do. He wouldn’t trust me enough to simply open a stream. He’d come.
Reluctantly, I let Jesse lead me by the hand around the room while he turned off the sound equipment and lights. Eventually he opened the door, allowing brilliant sunlight to pour into the room. I dropped his hand, saddened that our dream date had ended. That we were back in the real world of pretending we meant nothing to one another.
“I have one more surprise,” he said while locking the gym door. An adorable crooked grin spread across his face.
I leaned against the brick wall and sighed, my spirits rising again. “I love today.”
With a flourish, he pulled a cell phone out of his back pocket. “Two hours of dancing and you didn’t find it…and you say you want to take it faster.”
I felt my face go warm and swiped at his chest, pretending to be annoyed. “I’m glad you got a phone.”
“Give me your number,” he said.
I pulled my phone out of my shorts pocket. And remembered Lacey. I hadn’t thought about her once while in the gym. There was no response to the text I’d sent before going in. “Football,” I said, typing in a note to Lacey. “There’s a game soon, right?”
“Yeah. There’s a pep rally starting.” Jesse pointed to the football field where students were packed onto the bleachers. “Did you wanna go? I thought you’d need to get home.”
I clenched my phone, willing it to vibrate. “No, I just need to find Lacey.”
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
“Where’s the football team right now?” I gripped my phone with a sense of urgency. “When do they go in the locker room?”
“Uh…It looks like they’re on the field right now for the rally. They’ll probably go in afterwards. Why?”
I started in that direction. “I just need to find Lacey. Let’s see if she’s there.” I broke into a jog—with Jesse following close behind—and searched the faces of the students in the crowd. Serena was on a tall podium, next to Dionne, who held a bull horn. It was an odd sight: outcast Serena with popular Dionne. It occurred to me that things like that were becoming common. Since the election, lines were becoming blurred. Everyone I knew was on the homecoming committee. But this wasn’t the time to start thinking Everett was a saint. Not until I found Lacey.
Dionne spoke into the bullhorn. “Testing! Testing!”
I called up to Serena: “Do you know where Lacey is?”
“Hey Mira!” Serena waved.
“Lacey! Where’s Lacey?” I shouted over the noise of the bullhorn.
Serena shrugged.
“What about Nick?”
S
he pointed towards the field where the football team had gathered. I stood on tiptoes to study the dozens of football players—all dressed in tight red uniforms with numbers on their backs. Bulky shoulders. Narrow waists. Helmets covering their faces. Any one of them could have been Nick. And there was no sign of Everett. I turned to Jesse—still gripping my stupid, silent phone. “I need you to take me in the locker room.”
“Locker room?”
“Where the football players go.”
“Mira, are you okay?”
Let’s get ready to rumble! Dionne’s static-filled voice boomed above our heads.
“Please.”
He gave me a look of resignation and stepped into the crowd. We traveled along the edge of the grass field towards a brick building that I assumed was the locker room. “You wait here. I’ll go check.”
“No, I’m coming.”
“This is the football players’ locker room.”
I hesitated. If Lacey was in there, in the condition I feared, I didn’t want him to be the one to find her. “We’re both custodians,” I said.
“Yeah. But I doubt the football players will see it that way.”
A muffled scream came from the other side of the door. I took three long strides and pushed it open with my shoulder. A football player stooped over a bench. A head of blonde curls on the bench was mostly obscured from my view.
“Lacey?” I asked.
The football player turned around, his helmet cradled in his arm. Lacey was reclined on the bench, her hands over her face. Her shirt was ripped open, revealing her bra. And a large bell—I presumed it was a cow bell—sat on the floor next to her.
Nick dashed past me, nearly knocking me off my feet. Jesse stepped in front of him to block his exit. Nick shoved him. Jesse came back at him with his fist raised.
“Don’t!” I called. I’d regained my balance and rushed to Lacey. “Let him go.”
Jesse looked at me, his fist in the air, his face torn between pleasing me and satisfying his desire to stop an obvious wrong. The pause was enough for Nick to rush out the door. Jesse started after him.