Shadow Dancer Boxed Set

by Courtney Rene

  "No," my mom replied, "but last night was a real doosey. You went to sleep and I couldn't wake you. I tried to get you to come down for dinner, but you just wouldn't wake up."

  I finally looked at her, you know, really looked at her instead of just watching her while she talked. She had dark circles under her eyes, and she looked old for the first time that I could remember. There were lines of strain around her eyes I hadn't noticed yesterday.

  "Mom..."

  "Don't 'mom' me; I think it's time to go back to the doctor."

  "He said they would pass."

  "I think he should check you out." She continued on as if I hadn't said anything.

  "He already checked me out just a week ago."

  My bagel popped, and I watched without surprise as my mom walked out of the room. I sighed. Just once, I would have liked to actually win a discussion. I can't call them arguments, as whenever my mom or dad made a statement, they would just walk away, assuming their decree will be obeyed. I shook my head, knowing there wasn't anything I could do about it.

  I smothered my bagel with cream cheese, wrapped it up in a paper towel, grabbed my bag, and left for school. The glorious day of an hour ago seemed diminished somehow.

  I walked outside into a crisp fall morning. The sun was shining brightly, valiantly trying to warm the day. Before I even made it to the sidewalk, I became instantly alert. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up in attention. I felt someone watching me. I glanced around, and there, two doors down, in front of Mr. Shaw's house, leaning against the trunk of an autumn-leaved maple tree, stood the most gorgeous guy I had seen in a long time. Ooh la la. I took a moment to look my fill from under my eyelashes. I didn't want him to realize I was gawking at him. He had long, lean, muscled legs encased in worn black form-fitted jeans. He had slim hips and broad shoulders. The t-shirt was plain dark blue, but it fit nicely over his sleek body, showing off the raw muscle underneath. "Wow," I whispered under my breath.

  When I finally made it up to his face, my steps faltered briefly. He was not smiling in welcome. In fact, he didn't have any expression on his face at all. He just stared directly at me. He was very nice to look at. His skin was clear milky pale. His lips were full but at the moment, did not look soft and inviting. Maybe they would if he was smiling. His cheeks were sharp and prominent. His nose was small, and, well, cute actually. But his eyes...holy cow, they were striking. Ice blue. Not cornflower, or sky, but cold white blue. His hair was black, down to his shoulders, where the ends curled up slightly. He needed a trim, as it was looking a bit shaggy around the edges, but it did not detract from his looks. It just gave him an edge of danger. Again, I thought, he was gorgeous.

  As I drew even with him, I gave him a bright friendly smile that he did not return. That made it a bit hard to strike up a conversation. He just continued to look at me without expression. It was disconcerting, to say the least. I didn't know what to do. Should I say hello, or just look away and walk on pretending to ignore him? Boys are so strange sometimes.

  Before I could make up my mind, he reached out and grabbed hold of my arm.

  "Hey!" I exclaimed, trying to pull my arm free.

  He held on easily. Leaning in close to my face, he looked me dead in the eye and said, "I know what you are."

  Chapter Two

  Instinct

  He whispered it softly to me. That actually frightened me more than if he'd shouted at me. I felt the blood leave my face in a rush. I jerked my arm out of his now surprisingly light hold and stumbled several steps back. His countenance still had not changed from the empty, emotionless mask he had first presented.

  I was sure mine did, though. My eyes had to be as big around as they could go as I stared at him in confusion. I took a few more careful steps back from him. Then I slowly turned from him and walked away. I restrained myself from running or looking back over my shoulder at him. I so wanted to see if he was still standing there or if he was following me. I was not about to give him the satisfaction of knowing he had scared the poop out of me.

  My legs were still shaking when I reached my locker at school. He knew what I was? What the heck did that mean? It was times like that I really missed having that one close friend to talk to. Most of the time I didn't really care, but at that point I would have loved to had someone to lean on for just a moment, to whisper and giggle with, or at least to make me feel better.

  As I gathered my books for my morning classes, I replayed the episode in my mind and wished I had said something back at him. Something snappy, like, "Well I know what you are too, a jerk." Or even something funny like, "Of course, I'm beautiful." I heaved a deep sigh. I would never have the guts to do something like that. I wasn't that type of person. When it came to fight-or-flight situations, I never seemed to have the fight in me. Maybe that made me a coward. I didn't know.

  I closed my locker with a snap and headed to first period, American Literature, deciding firmly that he had just mixed me up with someone else. That made more sense.

  American Lit was my favorite class. The first half of class was always spent discussing the current book, which today was Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird. The second half was spent reading. I had already read the entire book, so I let myself wonder about my encounter with "blue eyes" outside. Who was he? I knew I had never seen him before. Nelsonville truly was a small town. It only had one high school, one middle school, and one elementary school. You really did start to know everyone in town after a while.

  I was lost in dreamy thoughts when I was called upon by Mrs. Hall to give my opinion and view on trials held in the postbellum period. Ugh. It was just a bit too early in the day to deal with historical racism and discrimination. This was not one of my favorite books.

  Ben Ramsey, a junior with red hair and lots of freckles, turned around and grinned at me. I figure he knew what I was thinking, as it was a knowing grin on his face. Ben was one of the few people in the school who I liked immediately after I met him. He is easygoing, easy to talk to, and easy on the eyes. I grinned back at him and got back to pretending to pay attention.

  The rest of my morning flew by. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch. This was the most difficult part of the day to me. I could never figure out where I was supposed to sit. I decided to skip lunch and go out into the courtyard to enjoy the sunshine. The cold would be there soon enough to keep me cooped up inside. I plopped gracefully down under the sun-splotched shade of an oak tree, leaned back, closed my eyes, and soaked up what little sun peaked through the red and yellow leaves.

  After a while, an uneasy feeling began to creep into my mind. I sat up slowly and looked around. There, sprawled out on a garden bench across the courtyard, was the same guy from that morning, staring at me just as intently as he had before. Goosebumps rose up on my sun-warmed skin, which I rubbed, trying to halt the chill. He was just watching me. His clear eyes held mine. I couldn't seem to look away. I didn't know if I even wanted to.

  What did he want from me? I wasn't sure what I was feeling, but it was not frightened. My stomach felt filled with dancing butterflies. I was waiting for something to happen. I watched him stand up with a graceful ease, never once breaking eye contact with me. His raven-colored hair blew out behind him in the cool breeze. He took a slow step in my direction then another. He was moving purposefully. He reminded me of someone approaching a wild horse or frightened animal. I felt my heart stutter and begin to beat again, only now at a furious pace.

  The lunch bell tolled loudly behind me, which seemed to break the spell I was under. I finally was able to look away from his piercing eyes, which I did quickly, embarrassed at myself and my reaction to him. Not sure really what to do or say to him, I stood up just as gracefully as he had, I was proud to note, and turned my back on him for the second time that day. I walked into the school to get my books for sixth period American History.

  By my last class of the day, Composition, I was a nervous wreck. Would he be out there waiting for me? Did I want him to
be? Did I not want him to be? I was tapping my foot ceaselessly in agitation. I had been watching the clock all class and it seemed to me that time was slowing down. Five minutes until the bell. Geez, it felt like it would never end.

  "Hey, Sunny?" I looked back and over a row to where Ben sat. This was the only other class in the day that I shared with Ben. "You want to run over to the pizza place on the square after practice today? Me and some of the guys from the team are going," he said.

  Ben was a varsity football player for the Nelsonville-York Buckeyes. Frankly, if you were a boy, and you lived in Nelsonville, you had to play football. It didn't matter if you could actually play or not. It was just some unspoken rule in that town.

  Ben though, he was actually a talented football player. In fact, he was really good at any sport. He played football in the fall, basketball in the winter, and baseball in the spring. The boy never stopped. I didn't know how he got any real schoolwork done, between playing sports and working part-time.

  "I don't know, Ben, who all's going?" I asked. Ben was a great friend. He was always trying to include me, but it seems like he sometimes forgot that I was a girl. That was always so frustrating. I want to be seen as Sunny the beautiful, Sunny the graceful, Sunny the…well you get the picture. Instead, I always felt like Sunny the friend, just the girl next door. Bummer.

  "Chris Grover and Tara are coming, so is David, and Mike Mason. Shawn and Steve Connor may stop in. So, are you game?" Ben asked.

  Chris and Tara were okay. They had been going out since birth, from what I could tell. They were almost inseparable. David and Mike also weren't too bad, but they were always trying to show who was better at everything. Who could do the most push-ups or cram the most burger into their mouth. They were a bit annoying and sometimes quite disgusting.

  Then you had Steve and Shawn Connor, the twins. Lord, did I loathe them. They couldn't pass a single day without flicking, teasing, or tripping me. You name it and they did it. That particular day in fifth period ceramics class, Shawn beaned me in the head with a little ball of clay. No big deal, except that he had also thought to put a penny in the clay, which added quite a bit of heft to the ball when it thwacked me in the head. Shawn had about fallen out of his chair laughing when it hit square on. I probably had a knot on my head the size of that little ball of clay. At least it wasn't just me they liked to annoy. They weren't discriminating. I just haven't had my entire life to get used to them like everyone else in this town. It really felt personal when they singled me out.

  "I guess," I agreed. "What time, you think?" I didn't get asked out all that much, being the new girl, so I didn't feel like I could say no.

  "Six should do it. That way we all have time to shower before we get there," he replied just as the bell rang. He gave me a crooked grin and said, "See you at six then," and was out the door.

  I went to my locker to grab what I needed, before I headed out and looked around. Was he here? I didn't see him anywhere. I felt a wave of disappointment sweep through my body. What did I expect? That he would wait around all day for me? My steps slowed and I dragged myself down the street. I didn't know why I was upset. I didn't even know him really. Well, I had just enough time before I had to be at the pizza place to get home and get my homework done. I sighed to myself. Exciting stuff.

  Six o'clock on the dot, I was at Renee's, also known as the pizza place to everyone in town. Everyone else was already there. I could see them eating and laughing through the big storefront windows. I entered, feeling a bit self-conscious, as everyone looked my way. With my eyes down I immediately headed over to the red and white-checkered table.

  "Hey, Sunshine," Steve drawled out. I hated it when he called me that. Not that I didn't like my name, it's just the way he said it. He drew it out to four syllables and added a southern twang to beat all. I just smiled widely back at him and sat in the empty spot next to Ben he had saved for me.

  "Hey, you made it! I really didn't think you'd come," Ben said.

  "Why not?" I replied. "I said I'd be here." Ben just shrugged his shoulders then grabbed a plate and a slice of pizza and handed them to me.

  "Thanks," I said.

  I took a bite and looked around the table. Yep, just as I had imagined. Chris and Tara were in the corner of the booth snuggled up together sharing a plate of pizza, oblivious to the rest of us. Tara, like me, wasn't very tall. She had shoulder length brown curly hair and sweet brown eyes. Chris was very tall, almost gangly. He made me feel very small, and I can only imagine Tara did as well. His blue eyes were always twinkling, and he was very easy to be around.

  David and Mike were already at it, counting pizza slices to see who could eat the most before getting sick. I just hoped they had enough money, as I only had a twenty on me. David and Mike were the ordinary ones of the group. Not ugly, not gorgeous, just average. Average height, average builds, average. They both had blue eyes and brown hair, but David's hair had a bit of blond in his where Mike's was just brown.

  Steve and Shawn were sitting right in front of me, probably planning something devious. They had their dark heads close together, whispering and giving me sly looks. Steve and Shawn were identical twins. They had brown hair, brown eyes, were good-looking, and knew it. Everyone could tell them apart, though. Their difference was their weight. Steve was big and burly. Shawn was big, but he was a trimmer, firmer kind of big. They both used their weight to intimidate, and it worked for them.

  I was surprised. Pizza with everyone wasn't so bad. Tara and Chris did finally come out of their little love nest after a while to mingle with the rest of us. I have to admit, I hadn't really given Tara much of a chance until then. She was a bit on the giggly side, but otherwise, I liked her. We made plans for one day that weekend while the guys had practice to just do girl stuff, as she called it. I had my first real girlfriend in this town. Finally.

  David and Mike had each oinked down a large pizza and were grumbling about not feeling so hot. I snuck a giggle of my own at their stupidity. Shawn and Steve hadn't bothered me a bit the whole time. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. I decided Ben had something to do with that, as he kept saying, "See they're not so bad once you get to know them." Whatever.

  I watched as Ben glanced at his watch, "Well guys, I gotta run," he said. "I have to be at work at seven-thirty."

  Everyone else chimed in to say they were ready as well, so we all gathered up our trash and headed out. It had grown dark outside. Since I was only a short walk away from home, it didn't bother me too much. Everything in this town is just a short walk away. I could drive, but what would be the point? I think most of the kids in town felt the same.

  "See ya Ben, see ya Tara," I yelled as we all dispersed, me with the twins in tow. They were headed in my direction. Lucky me. At least I wouldn't have to walk the whole way home alone in the dark, just the last half-block. We walked without conversation and went our separate ways after only a few minutes with a wave.

  "See you tomorrow, Sunny," Shawn said as he and Steve went one way and I went through an alley. Okay, maybe they weren't so bad.

  The alleys in town are not like what you would imagine. They are just little brick roads all around town that run behind rows of houses. They aren't creepy or dirty. They're just alleys. The lights from the houses and the back porches spread out into the alley, so it wasn't all that dark. However, I was feeling a bit antsy. I couldn't figure out what it was making me feel that way. The dark seemed darker and the silence of the night seemed even more silent.

  I was listening to the soft slap of my shoes on the bricks when a pair of strong hands surprised me by wrapping around my arms from behind then pushing me roughly up against the side of a garage. The weathered paint scratched against my cheek. "Hey, what the heck are you doing?" I yelled, more indignant than frightened at this point. I tried to pull my arms free of him, but he was too strong.

  I turned my head around and stared at the dark eyes of a stranger. I realized at that moment, as I got my first
real look at him, that I was in big trouble. It was his eyes. Why is it that you can tell so much about a person just by their eyes? His were wide, excited, and flashing with perverse glee. I could feel his heavy, moist breath against my neck and through my hair.

  I was jerked around without warning and with stunning speed, thrust back against the wall so quick that my neck snapped back and my head slammed against the garage with a thud. I actually saw stars. Little sparkles danced in front of my eyes. I took a deep breath with full intention of screaming bloody murder, but the man must have been expecting that, as a sweaty hand clamped down over my nose and mouth. That was when breathing took precedence over screaming.

  So, I admit, I began to panic. I felt a rough hand grab a hold of my shirt and yank. I was only wearing a thin cotton t-shirt, and it tore like a piece of toilet paper up to my neck. My arms were suddenly free and I tried to grab him, hit him, and scratch him, but he simply restrained my arms again with one meaty hand against my stomach. He pushed me forcefully to the ground where he straddled my body. His weight pushed me down into the hard uneven bricks. Small bits of gravel dug into the skin of my back and arms.

  He placed his hand more firmly over my face and pressed down hard. I wasn't able to get in any real air. I was re-breathing in my own breath. I could hear him panting and laughing. I struggled to kick out and landed one solid hit with my knee to his back, but then he just kneed me right back in my side. I thought I felt something give painfully. I was being held down, smothered, and groped, and there was nothing I could do about it. He was too big and too strong. I was too small and not strong enough. My vision was fading and my brain was growing fuzzy as I slowly suffocated. Inside I was screaming and fighting, but outside I was as useless as the tears streaming down my face.

  Just as I was about to fade into unconsciousness, all the weight was lifted from me. I watched with dizzy eyes as the man, with a surprised look on his face, went flying through the air to the other side of the alley against a chain-link fence. He fell to the ground with a muffled thump against the brick road.