by H G Lynch
*****
Two and a half hours later, Ember had smears of pencil all over her face and hands, and the cuffs of her button-down shirt were blackened from rubbing the page as she drew. Her hair was pulled into a sloppy ponytail, with several loose bits hanging in her eyes when she bent her head to her work. In the end, she hadn’t actually drawn Liandra being ripped apart by mad dogs; instead, she’d settled for drawing a creepy hooded figure, standing under a lamppost on a darkened street. It was just dark enough to satisfy her mood.
When she was done, she stood up and tucked her sketchpad under her bed, and began unbuttoning her shirt, meaning to take it off and put it in the wash-basket. The door clicked open, and Ember turned, head down to watch her fingers undoing the buttons of her shirt, expecting Reid. But when she looked up, it wasn’t Reid in the doorway. Ember yelped and gripped her shirt closed, even though she was wearing a white t-shirt underneath. She blushed.
“Hey, don’t stop on my account. Please, continue.” Hiro beamed, and she had half a mind to slap him upside the head.
She scowled at him as he came into the room and dropped onto her bed casually. “You’re fifteen. Shouldn’t you be eyeing girls your own age? Or, you know, foxes?” Ember grumbled, re-buttoning her shirt hastily.
Hiro just snorted derisively, rolling his cat-like, amber eyes. “I’m only half animal. Not into bestiality, thanks. Plus, I like older chicks.” He winked at her.
She shot him a disgusted look, which he shrugged off.
“So, you skipped class? Do that often?” he remarked.
Remembering why she’d decided to skip class, Ember felt fury bubble up inside her again. “Sometimes,” she answered shortly.
Hiro sat up, and she hoped he wasn’t getting any of her feelings through their weird link — She was pretty sure he couldn’t; the link was supposed to be strictly one-way. But the way he was staring at her, with narrowed, curious eyes, made her think he knew there was something wrong. Maybe he was just good at reading her, though. Or maybe it was written plainly all over her face. That was also possible.
“Did something happen?” Hiro asked, not quite as pressingly as he might’ve if he’d been talking to anyone else. He was only ever civilized to her, and occasionally Cris, when the mood took him.
Ember shook her head. “It was nothing,” she said, stepping into the room’s en-suite bathroom to wash her hands. She turned on the hot water tap and squirted liquid soap onto her palm. Grabbing the nailbrush, she scrubbed her hands a little more viciously than necessary.
Hiro came to lounge in the doorway, watching her with suspicion. He arched a brow. “Yeah, I’m sure. That’s why you’re trying to scrub the skin off your hands. Clearly, it was nothing,” he muttered sarcastically.
Ember shot him a glower, making sure he knew she didn’t appreciate his commentary. “Go away.” Ember flicked soapy water at him with one hand and then returned to scouring her skin free of pencil smudges.
Hiro didn’t move. “Oh, please don’t tell me you had another fight with your boyfriend! Jeez.” Hiro grinned.
Ember whirled on him, appalled. “Shut up! This isn’t about Reid!” she spat.
For a moment, Hiro looked taken aback; He hadn’t expected her to react so violently to his teasing. Usually she just brushed it off, or gave him the finger when he taunted her like that. Ember felt a sting of hurt buzz through the bond, but it was cut off quickly.
Guilt joined her anger, and she sighed, her shoulders slumping. “Look, I’m sorry, Hiro. I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just so…I’m pissed off at this new girl. She bumped into me and Reid in the hallway yesterday and practically undressed him with her eyes. Then today, I ran into her again and she…Ugh! She just made my blood boil. She’s totally after Reid, and she even had the nerve to say that if I didn’t go to the dance on Friday, she’d be happy to be Reid’s date, should he wish to go without me. I mean, I know Reid wouldn’t go without me, especially not with another girl, but…” Ember trailed off, her rant coming to an end as Hiro simply gazed at her blankly. Lazily, he tucked a lock of red hair behind his ear, then folded his arms. Ember sighed again. “You really don’t care, do you? Never mind. I’m just being stupid anyway.”
At that, Hiro tilted his head and smiled, showing pointy, dazzlingly white teeth. “You’re not being stupid. You’re being jealous. Okay, maybe that is kind of stupid as well, seeing as even I know Reid wouldn’t ditch you for another chick. Also, I’d be inclined to beat him senseless if he did — well, it wouldn’t really be optional. Loyalty bond and all. But, you know, it’s kind of fun watching you get jealous. Is there going to be a fight between you and this girl?” Hiro looked intrigued by the idea.
Ember laughed, but it was a short, sharp noise, more like a snort. “No. I’m so not going there. Not again.” She’d told Hiro about Kara, warned him to stay away from her. He’d found the whole story of Ember’s battle with Kara very amusing indeed. “By the way, do not tell anyone I’m jealous, or I’ll rip your fluffy tail off and make you eat it. Got it? I’m not jealous. I just don’t like other girls coming in and blatantly implying they want to get with my boyfriend.”
Hiro held up his hands, turning away with an amused expression. “Oookay. Whatever you say. Not jealous.” He chuckled.
“I’m not!” she said defensively.
Hiro didn’t argue. “Whatever. I’ve got some stuff to do, but if you do decide to pick a fight with this girl, let me know. I’d love to see what happens when you get all territorial over your man. See you later,” Hiro called, and then the click of the door closing told her he’d left.
She turned and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her mouth was set in a hard line, and her eyes were cold. Okay, she thought grudgingly, maybe I am a little jealous. But nobody has to know that.
*****
On Wednesday, she managed to avoid Liandra through the whole of the school day, at least. It had meant taking different routes to some of her classes and ending up late for her Art class, because Liandra had been lingering in the hallways with crowds of boys around her, as if she were showing off. Ember had ground her teeth and walked away. When she’d gotten into English, Liandra had been sitting on her desk, talking to Sherry. That had irked Ember considerably, and she’d waited in the shadow of the doorway until the bell rang and Liandra had finally scooted off to her own desk. After that, Ember had spent most of the day in a silent mood, feeling like a thundercloud.
In fact, she still felt like a thundercloud, and wondered if her hair was crackling with electricity yet. Lying stretched out on her bed, her hands clasped over her head, Ember absently followed the lines in the ceiling with her gaze. One spidery crack in the white paint formed the shape of a hangman’s noose. Another looked like the outline of an axe. Or maybe Ember was just channeling her homicidal imagination into finding patterns that weren’t really there.
“Hey, what’s up with you? You have that look on your face that usually means you’re going to burn something,” Sherry asked from the doorway.
Ember flinched in surprise; she hadn’t even heard Sherry come in. She’d been focusing so hard on her murderous thoughts. With a sigh, she sat up and rubbed her temple with one hand.
Sherry crossed the room and dropped down onto her own bed, then frowned at Ember in concern. “Seriously, what’s bugging you?”
Ember shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. Just tired.” She hated lying to Sherry, but really, it wasn’t important for her to know that Ember had a jealous streak to paint the school green.
Sherry didn’t look convinced, though, and gave her a probing, skeptical stare.
Ember forced herself to grin. “Seriously, I’m just tired. I forgot how boring school was. Honestly, if I have to sit through another hour of Miss Hollander explaining simple standard deviation, I will throw a textbook at every one of the idiots who don’t get it!” Ember made a sound of disgust. It seemed to convince Sherry she was okay.
“You know,” Sherry said in a rep
roachful tone, “not everyone’s as smart as you, Emz. You should cut them a break. Don’t you usually just go on and do whatever textbook questions you feel like anyway?”
“Yeah, but still! It’s annoying.”
“And, you know she isn’t actually called Miss Hollander now. She’s been married for months now. Isn’t she Mrs. Forbes or something now?”
“Mrs. Forester,” Ember corrected, waving a dismissive hand at Sherry. “Who cares what her name is? I just want to learn something new for once.” Ember swung her legs over the side of her bed and reached for her sketchpad and pencil on the floor. Carefully, she flipped back the cover and flicked through the pages until she came to a clean sheet. She ran her fingers over the smooth, dry paper, trying to imagine something to draw. Her fingers ached to hold the pencil and sketch long, curving, black lines across the clean, white page. Sherry tilted her head, giving her a curious look.
“You’ve been drawing a lot since we got back from Scotland,” Sherry commented.
Ember glanced up at her friend, wondering why this seemed significant enough to mention. Usually, Ember’s inspiration to draw came and went, and Sherry didn’t pay much attention unless Ember felt like showing off her new drawings.
“Yeah. I’m…I just feel like I need to. I need to find something beautiful in all the carnage we’ve seen lately.” Ember was surprised to hear herself saying the words, but as she spoke them, she realized they were true. After all they’d been through, it was good to be able to work her creative juices and come up with something beautiful even if it was inspired by the wreckage.
Sherry continued to gaze at her for a long moment, and then abruptly stood up. Grabbing Ember’s Vans from the floor by the nightstand, Sherry strode over to Ember and planted one hand on her hip. “Let’s go for coffee,” she said assertively, her green eyes daring Ember to argue.
Ember gaped up at her, eyebrows raised. “Coffee? You want to go for coffee?” she asked, sure she’d misheard. The suggestion just sounded so…normal. More normal than anything she’d done in, well, months really. Ember couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone for coffee, or gone shopping for books, or…done anything remotely, mundanely human. Let’s face it, she told herself, Swimming in a lake in January isn’t exactly human. It’s insane. So that doesn’t count.
Sherry smiled, as if she could read Ember’s thoughts. “Sure. Why not? It’s not you’ve got anything better to do.”
Ember thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. She couldn’t find any flaws in the simple idea, and she could use a good mocha. “Okay, coffee it is,” she agreed, taking her Vans from Sherry and yanking them on. “Better get the boys, though, or they’ll be upset we ditched them.”
*****
The only coffee shop in Acorn Hills was small, cozy place just a half mile from the school, called, ‘Caffeine Cravings’. On the outside, it was a brick building painted sky-blue, with a huge sign bearing the name of the cafe in big, brightly colored letters. Inside, the cafe was mostly a very vivid orange. Tall, dark wooden tables were dotted around the room, surrounded by matching high-backed stools. The smell of coffee and sugary cakes teased Ember’s taste buds.
She sat at one of the long-legged tables with her friends, laughing at Reid and Ricky as they argued in snappish tones and witty retorts.
"An avocado is not a fruit!" Reid insisted, pointing his plastic teaspoon at Ricky accusingly. Ricky stirred his coffee absently, leaning forward intently with his elbows on the table.
"Yes, it is. By scientific definition, a fruit is the ripened ovary and surrounding tissues of a seed-bearing plant," Ricky argued in precise, lecturer’s tones.
"So, you're saying, by scientific definition, a bell pepper is a fruit, since it has seeds?" Reid snorted, arching a brow sarcastically.
Meanwhile, Sherry smiled into her coffee, watching the boys over the top of her foam cup. Ember reached for her third packet of sugar, tore it open, and emptied the contents into her mocha. She stirred it briefly and took a sip. It was sweet and warm and milky, just how she liked it.
"Well, not exactly, because some vegetables do have seeds, it’s just that we don’t eat the part that produces seeds. But a bell pepper actually is a fruit as well," Ricky said evenly.
Reid sighed and sat back, folding his arms across his chest and glaring at Ricky across the table.
"Fine. What about a cucumber? Is that a fruit or a vegetable?" he asked expectantly.
Ricky opened his mouth to answer, then paused, frowned, and closed his mouth.
Reid grinned. "Ha! You don't know everything after all," he said delightedly.
Hiro, sitting quietly in the corner, snorted, and Ember rolled her eyes.
"It's a fruit," she said casually, lifting her mocha for another sip.
Reid and Ricky both looked at her sharply, then glanced at each other.
"Really?" Reid asked, skeptical.
"I would've sworn it was a vegetable," Ricky muttered, shrugging.
Ember snickered, nearly choking on her coffee. Sherry laughed, too, covering her mouth with her hand as she did choke on her coffee. Grinning, Ricky clapped her on the back gently. Hiro, with his arms crossed over his chest, watched them all with a thin smirk curling one side of his mouth. He shook his head as if in despair, and raised his gaze to the ceiling, clearly amused. Cris hadn’t joined them, saying he had to put together a portfolio for his photography class by the end of the day. Ember had promised they’d bring him back coffee and an iced Danish, though.
Just then, as Reid and Ricky were about to debate whether a pumpkin was a fruit or a vegetable, a teenage girl in a skirt and pink jacket sauntered past the table. She eyed Reid slowly, bit her lip and gave him a flirtatious wave before stalking off on her long legs to a table at the back of the café. Reid shook his head in self-recrimination. Ember sighed in exasperation. Couldn’t they go anywhere without someone eyeing him up? Apparently not.
Casting her gaze to her boyfriend, she asked, “Have you always been this way?”
Reid looked startled for a second, then confused. “What do you mean?” he asked, clueless.
She arched a brow at him. “I mean, have you always been a chick magnet? Were girls lining up behind the bike sheds to kiss you when you were, like, eight?”
At that, Reid grinned, and Ricky chuckled.
“Actually, yeah. I can’t remember a time girls weren’t chasing after him. Used to make Brandon dead jealous,” Ricky said, distractedly stirring his coffee.
Reid just shrugged, that arrogant look on his face again, the one that she’d fallen in love with in the first place. “What can I say? I was born to be irresistible.” He flashed one of his trademark dazzling smiles.
Ember felt her heart contract. Yup, he most certainly is irresistible, that is for sure.
Then, as Hiro began to say something snarky about Reid’s IQ, the bell over the entrance to the store clanged, letting everyone know another customer had arrived. A sharp blast of cold wind ruffled the posters pinned by the door. Ember started to turn around in her seat, absently curious to see who had come in.
“Hey Sherry!” the new arrival called.
Ember froze. Oh. My. God. You have got to be kidding me! She almost groaned aloud. She instantly recognized the giggly voice calling across to their table, and she really wished that Liandra would turn around, walk into the road, and get hit by a car. This girl was everywhere.
“Hey! I wasn’t sure if you’d gotten my text. Pull up a chair,” Sherry called back.
Ember just barely kept her jaw from dropping onto the table. She cut a glance at Liandra, who was making her way through the maze of tables and chairs towards them, her green hair tied into sleek, short plaits. Today, her eye make-up was orange, and her lips were painted blue. And still, somehow, she looked pretty. Ember felt a surge of bitter dislike for the girl coat her tongue.
In shock, she turned to Sherry. “What is she doing here?” she hissed savagely.
Sherry’s brows
went up in surprise, and she leaned back in her chair. “Who, Lia? I met her at lunch yesterday. She had nobody to sit with, so I asked her to sit with Ricky and me, since you’d vanished away to your room. When we decided to go for coffee, I figured the more the merrier and sent her a text.” Sherry shrugged, as if it were no big deal – which, to her, it wasn’t.
To Ember though…Yeah, kind of a big deal. A big, very irritating deal.
“Hey, guys. God, it’s cold out there, don’t you think?” Liandra drew a spare chair up to their table and rubbed her hands together, pretending to shiver.
Ember bit her tongue to keep from saying something rude. Lia sat down, and started unwinding the colorful scarf at her throat.
“Tell me about it. Freezing.” Sherry laughed, and for a just a second, Ember felt a spasm of uncontrollable disgust. Of all of them, Sherry had the least reason to complain about the cold. Her power came from the cold weather, and in summer, it was sure to diminish.
“Didn’t realize you were joining us, Lia. Don’t you have, like, six sets of lines to write for Mr. Cheney tomorrow?” Reid chuckled, reaching across the table to fist-pound Lia’s delicate, many-ringed fingers.
Ember started, frowning. “Mr. Cheney? You take Psychology?” she asked.
Liandra looked at her in surprise, as if she hadn’t noticed her sitting there before, and plastered on a friendly smile.
“Yeah. I wasn’t going to originally, but Modern Studies was all full, so didn’t have much of a choice.” With a flick of one plait, Lia turned quickly back to Reid, smiling winningly. “Do you think I’m seriously going to do lines when I could be here, hanging out with a couple of hot guys?” She laughed huskily.
Reid just grinned and, as Lia’s hazel eyes slid over to him, Ricky blushed. Sherry giggled, patting Ricky’s hand on the table.