Chapter Twenty-four
I came down the stairs still brushing my hair the next morning. I set the brush on the kitchen table and began buttoning up my blue jean shirt over my white tank. Mom watched me from the table where she sat with her coffee, already dressed for work.
“Have you seen my flats?” I went to pull cereal from the cupboard, then decided I didn’t have time and went for Dad’s secret stock of Pop-Tarts.
“I think they’re in the hall by the front door. Alissa, are you really eating that? Why don’t you sit and have a real breakfast, sweetie? Those are nothing but junk.”
“I’m late.” I took a large bite of frosted goodness.
“Are you sure? I could make some eggs. Write you a note?” She looked hopeful.
I shook my head. “I have a paper due first period. Thanks though.” Holding the Pop-Tart in one hand, I leaned over to hug her. It wasn’t something I did very often lately, but if she was trying, so could I.
“Have a good day,” Mom said as I pulled away. She shook her head as I held the Pop-Tart in my mouth to slip on my jean jacket. “I keep telling your dad not to buy those.” Mom blew on her coffee before taking a sip.
I grinned. “Keep trying.” I grabbed my bag and waved to her before heading for the front door.
Sure enough, my flats were sitting beside the entry mat, neatly lined up with Mom’s heels and Dad’s sneakers. He would be wearing his nice shoes for work. I often wished he was the one here in the mornings, but he had a half-hour drive to work at a local college. Being a real estate agent gave Mom more flexibility.
I slipped on my flats and hefted my bag again. There was a clear chill in the air as I stepped outside. This was going to be one of the last times I could get away with flats if I didn’t want my feet to freeze. I finished one Pop-Tart as I hurried to the car.
I saw the note on my front seat as I reached for the door handle. I paused a moment and quickly spun, positive someone was sneaking up on me. There was no one on the cold, sunlit street. My car wasn’t locked, I never locked it. I didn’t think anyone in town did. Hurriedly, I got in the car and locked all the doors. I hesitated with the folded note in my hand. More than anything, I wanted this all to be a dream, but the feel of the paper in my hand proved it wasn’t. I opened the note.
Water flows under, like blood from a vein.
For the first time, I wasn’t immediately sure what the note meant. I didn’t have time to sit and consider it, so I put the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway.
I played the words over and over in my head on the short ride to school. Where had I been with Lana and flowing water? My first thought was the gully, but why send me there again? It didn’t seem right. I had to park in one of the farthest spots from school and made it to homeroom without a moment to spare. I sank into my seat just as the teacher began taking attendance. By the time I left first period, I had a vague idea where the note might mean. It wasn’t someplace very important to our relationship though. At least not in my mind.
Again, school was a blur. I hadn’t done my math homework or studied for a Spanish quiz. I wanted to scream at them that my girlfriend was missing and someone was sending me threatening notes and the police didn’t give a damn. Maybe then they would understand why I was having trouble focusing on something as mundane as school. The worst part was I still found myself expecting to see Hannah in the usual places throughout the day, like she would reappear and all this would be over.
I caught up with Nick on the way to lunch, planning to tell him about the most recent note.
“Hey.” I joined him and a few of his friends. “Can we talk a minute?” I raised an eyebrow, hoping he knew I meant alone.
“Yeah.” He nodded to his friends. “We’ll catch up with you in the cafeteria.”
Nick pulled me into the doorway of an empty classroom. Students still streamed by on their way to lunch so it was about as private as we were going to get. I wished the teachers didn’t all lock their doors when they left.
“What’s up?” Nick asked.
“I got another note. It was in my car this morning.”
“What did it say?” Nick’s dark eyes held mine. We were pressed close together in the doorway.
I started to answer, but a wolf whistle interrupted me. We both turned to see Rachel and Garrett had stopped a few feet away. A few students flowed around them.
“Damn, Garrett, you think Alissa’s girlfriend knows that she turned back to the straight side as soon as she left?” Rachel asked with a smirk.
My anger boiled over. I wanted to wipe the smirk right off her face. I dropped my bag and stalked to where they stood. I grabbed the straps of Rachel’s backpack and shoved her back against a row of lockers. They clanged as we hit.
“Why are you two following me?” I almost shouted it. Rachel blinked in surprise at my anger. Her smirk was gone.
“We’re not.”
I slammed her back against the locker again. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not lying,” Rachel said, her voice higher than usual.
“Get off her.” Garrett’s tried to tug me back, but I was determined to stand my ground. I reached back and swatted at him. There was no way I could have hurt him, but he still stepped back in surprise.
“If you’re not sending the notes or following me, why were you at McDonald’s last night?” Rachel didn’t answer right away and I shook her again.
“I don’t know. We were getting food.”
“Alissa.” Nick put a hand gently on my shoulder. “Back off.”
I turned to glare at him. When I looked back at Rachel, I saw tears glistening in her eyes. I let go and stepped back.
Garrett stepped forward and put an arm across Rachel’s shoulders. “We aren’t following you. I don’t know what is going on with you and I don’t want to.”
“Did you kidnap Hannah?” I felt tears springing to my own eyes.
“What? What are you talking about?” Garrett looked honestly horrified at the idea.
“Hannah. Did you take her?”
“Isn’t she in Chicago or whatever?” Rachel asked. She wiped at her eyes, leaning into Garrett.
“No one really knows that. Did you kidnap her?” I couldn’t stop the panicked upswing of my voice.
Garrett shook his head. “No way! Hannah was cool. Even if she wasn’t, we’re not fucking crazy. We wouldn’t kidnap someone.”
“Then why won’t you leave me alone?”
“Because you spent years being a raging bitch.” Rachel sniffled. “And it’s nice to see you knocked down a peg or two.”
“I don’t know what happened to Hannah.” Garrett shook his head. “But we were cool with her. She treated everyone good. If someone did take her then that’s messed up, but it has nothing to do with us.”
“Whatever, man.” Nick shook his head and pulled me back across the hall. “Let’s just ignore each other, okay?”
Garrett scowled, but nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
I snagged my bag from the doorway and we hurried away.
“Damn.” Nick cast a sideways look at me. “I can’t believe you just did that.”
We turned a corner into the empty entranceway by the back door and I hurled my bag away from me with a growl of frustration. Nick’s eyes widened and he took a step back. “Why does this keep happening to me?” I asked.
I pressed my back to the wall and slid down, face in my hands as I tried desperately to hold back my tears. It was no use. All the fear and tension I’d been holding in bubbled to the surface and it was too much.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Nick sank to the floor beside me and put an arm across my shoulders.
I tensed, but then leaned into him. I needed the comforting touch and I didn’t care that he wasn’t the person who I really wanted to be holding me. “I just want Hannah back.” The words came out rough through my tears.
Beside me, Nick stiffened and then continued rubbing my arm. “I know. We’ll figure this out tog
ether. You got me right here for you.”
We sat there as I continued crying quietly. We never made it to lunch.
Chapter Twenty-five
“Hey,” Nick said gently when he found me at my locker. “You doing okay?”
I shut the locker and nodded. “Yeah.” I felt completely rung out, but it was good. Things were clear again.
We headed for the front doors. I was eager to leave school behind for another day. It was getting harder to show up as the pressure of everything built up around me.
“Tell me about the note.” Nick glanced at me as we neared the exit.
“Right, it says ‘Water flows under, like blood from a vein.’ At first I thought it was talking about the gully, because we went there a lot, but one note already sent me there.” I pushed the door open so we could head for the parking lot. People swarmed past, but no one paid any attention to us.
“Makes sense.” Nick shrugged. “So where are you thinking now?”
“You know the bridge just as you leave town heading toward Yates? We met under there one night.” I quieted as we passed a group of my old friends. Tommy had his arm around Genny and I wondered how that had gone over with Madison.
“‘Sup, streak?” Tommy shouted. The whole group tittered. Nick turned and gave him the finger.
“Ohhhh,” three or four guys said in unison.
“Come on.” Nick put a hand on my back, angling me away from them.
“You know she’s a lesbian, right?” Madison called.
“Maybe she lets him watch,” Genny said. This brought on more laughter and a few cat calls.
“Nah, it’s because he’s a fag and needs a beard,” Tommy said.
“What’d you say?” Nick turned, stalking toward the group. “You wanna say that to my face?”
I hurried after him, grabbing his arm. “Come on, Nick. It’s not worth it. Let’s not do this again.”
“Listen to your fag hag, streak.” Tommy took a step toward us, crossing his arms over his chest. Even though the fall air was brisk, he wore only a polo shirt with his jeans. He had a few inches of height on Nick and probably thirty pounds of muscle.
Nick shook me off, standing right in front of Tommy. “You should learn to shut your mouth before someone shuts it for you.”
“Oh, I’m shaking. Or I would be if you weren’t some little streaking homo,” Tommy said.
Nick jerked toward him, but I grabbed his arms just in time to stop him from launching an attack.
“Nicholas Pathos, do we have a problem here?” Mrs. Wagner came striding down the walkway from the main entrance, heels clicking over the concrete.
Nick scowled. “No, no problem.” I let go of him as he stepped back, brushing imaginary dust from his button-up shirt. “Just talking.”
“Go talk to someone else.” Mrs. Wagner stopped at the edge of the walk, obviously reluctant to step into the grass with her heels. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow, making it clear she was waiting until we were gone.
“See you later, streak.” Tommy said, stepping back to his friends. Genny took his hand and pulled him close. He pushed her red hair from her face and kissed her. I didn’t miss the dagger-filled look Madison sent her way.
We hurried across the parking lot, aiming for Nick’s truck. He climbed in and slammed the door, but I hesitated, standing near his door. He started the car and rolled down the window.
“What are you waiting for?” he growled.
“Meet me at my house, okay? I don’t want to have to drive home later.”
Nick let out an aggravated sigh. “Fine.” He roared out of the parking space, barely avoiding my toes as I jumped back.
Shaken, I walked to my car. Nick was usually pretty good at keeping his temper in check, but when he lost it, he lost it. I didn’t blame him for getting upset. Tommy had a way of pushing buttons. I wished again that I hadn’t left Nick naked in the woods all those years ago. Without that incident, maybe he would be an average, overlooked guy.
The drive home was quick. Nick’s truck sat at the curb, empty. Groaning, I climbed out of my car and headed inside. If I knew my mom, she’d spotted him outside and called him in. Maybe driving home after dark would have been better.
Sure enough, Nick sat at the kitchen table with a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. At least the treat seemed to have quelled some of his anger. Always the perfect kid, his hat sat on the table beside him. Mom’s eyes lit up when she spotted me coming in the door.
“There you are. I saw Nick sitting out there in his truck and had to get him inside. How are the cookies?” She turned, wiping her hands on her apron.
“Delicious.” Nick grinned. “Thanks so much.”
“Why are you making cookies?” I asked, reaching for one from a cooling rack. Mom slapped my hand away. “They’re for an open house. Don’t you think you had enough sugar with that Pop-Tart earlier?”
I glared and snatched a cookie. “No, I don’t.”
Mom rolled her eyes, but smiled brightly as she turned to Nick. “How’s everything? We don’t see you around here enough.”
“Things are good.” Nick nodded. “Just focusing on school.”
“Do you have any colleges in mind?” She sank into a chair across from him. I leaned back on the counter, grabbing another cookie while her attention was focused on him.
Nick grinned sheepishly. “Not really. I’ve been kind of putting it off. Mom really wants me to start out at the community college.”
“That’s smart.” Mom leaned close. “Don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t a great school.” She reached out and patted his hand.
“Thanks.”
Mom cast a glance my way. “We can’t seem to get Alissa to focus on schools either. Maybe you’ll both end up there and can carpool.”
“Mom, really?”
“What?” She gave me an honest, confused look. “What else do you expect to do if you keep putting off your applications?”
“There’s been a lot going on, okay?”
Mom nodded absently, turning back to Nick. “It’s Hannah. Alissa spent every free minute with her and never had time for thinking about college.”
“Mom, drop it,” I said.
“Meanwhile, Hannah knows exactly where she wants to go to school.” Mom turned back to me. “Seems like she found time to think about it.”
“What?” I frowned. Hannah and I had never discussed college. I figured we wouldn’t be going to the same school and I didn’t want to think about it. “When did you talk to Hannah about college?”
“At the beginning of the school year. You weren’t home yet and what else were we supposed to do while she waited for you? I’d just made myself a veggie plate so I added some extra carrots and got her a glass of sparkling water before we sat down and talked about schools. She applied to Cleveland State University for the film and digital media program. Sounds like a good school, very affordable.”
I stared at Mom in shock. “I didn’t know that.”
Mom tsked and turned back to Nick. “See, she’s so focused on being with Hannah that she can’t look past her to the future, then Hannah takes off on her. It isn’t healthy.”
“And by that she means, it isn’t normal.” Mom turned to me and I took another cookie just to be spiteful. “Isn’t that what you mean? I should forget her and find a nice boy?”
“I meant no such thing.” Mom’s hand fluttered to her chest. “I meant that Hannah was thinking about the future and you should too. Especially with her gone.”
“Yeah, okay. Nick, are you ready to go?”
“Uh, yeah.” The chair legs scraped across the floor as he stood. He lifted his glass and swallowed the last bit of milk before taking both his glass and plate to the sink.
“Aren’t you such a polite boy?” Mom beamed. “You can leave them there. I’ll wash them up with the cookie stuff.” She looked at her watch. “But that will have to wait until later. I need to get moving.” She returned to the cou
nter and transferred the cookies to a plate.
Nick scooped up his hat, settling it on his head with a little wiggle to get it just right. “Bye, Mrs. Reeves. Thanks again for the cookies.”
“You know you can call me Linda.” Mom smiled.
“Nick,” I said, eager to be free.
Nick waved to Mom and hurried over. I overtook him as we headed down the driveway to his truck. I climbed in without a word. A second later, he got in.
“You okay?” he asked, starting the engine.
I sighed. “Yes. She just drives me crazy.” I didn’t mention how annoyed I was that my mom knew more about Hannah’s college plans than I did.
“Sorry about that.”
I nodded, blowing out a breath. “Anyway. How about you? You about ran me over in the parking lot.”
He winced. “Sorry. I wanted to kill Tommy.” He pulled the car out, driving toward the bridge.
“No one really thinks you’re gay.”
“Well if they didn’t, they might now.” Nick fumbled between the seats, keeping his eyes on the road. Finally, he pulled up a small handful of pamphlets and held them out to me.
I took them, reading the titles aloud. “Answers to Your Questions About Sexual Orientation. I Think I Might be Gay. Now What?” I looked up at Nick, raising an eyebrow. He smirked, staring straight ahead. “Being Gay or Lesbian. Young and Gay. What is Sexting? Seriously?”
“Okay, that one I just got because it made me laugh.” Nick glanced my way, grinning. “You’re holding every pamphlet the guidance counselor had on being gay.”
“Oh, no. Did anyone see you pick these up?”
“God, I hope not.” Nick chuckled, rubbing his eye. “I don’t even think the guidance counselor saw me. I was in stealth mode. But if anyone did see, I bet Tommy finds out somehow.”
“Why did you grab these?” I held them tightly in my lap, trying not to laugh at the cartoonish drawings.
“I figured maybe if Lana and Hannah were looking for help, they might pick those up. The Now What? one has a website listed and so does the Questions one. Maybe one of the websites hosts a forum.” He shrugged. “I figured it would be worth a try to get on there and chat a bit, see if you can lure this bastard out.”
18 Months Page 13