We waited until Priscilla had left before resuming the conversation. “So, tell me. What did you and Katie have to talk about?” I said.
Adrian grinned, his dimples making my insides turn to jelly. “Don’t worry about it. I promise it’s all good.”
I crossed my arms. Dimples or not, I refused to let him string me along like this. “Maybe good for you and Katie,” I said.
And then I exhaled loudly. “Honestly, Adrian, I can’t do this. Katie and I will never be friends. If she’s the type of girl you want to hang out with, I’m afraid we have nothing in common and shouldn’t spend time together, here or at school.”
He shook his head and closed the distance between us in one stride. I made a move to step away, but he circled his fingers around my wrist to keep me in place.
“You’ve got it all wrong,” he said, no joking in his voice now. “If you will just listen to me.”
“Get out of here,” came my uncle’s voice.
We jerked around to find David crowding the doorway, with Meg and Priscilla standing behind him. “You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
I silently cursed David’s timing. Why’d he have to butt in just as Adrian was about to tell me why I had it all wrong?
“I was just going,” Adrian said, his voice tight. But before he walked away, he bent close to my ear. His warm breath tickled my skin and sent shivers up my spine. “I’m on your side,” he said.
Chapter 8
David wrapped his hand around Adrian’s biceps and forcibly towed him from the greenhouse. Meg opened her mouth to say something, but she quickly closed it when David shot a nasty look of warning in her direction. Adrian did nothing to resist, but I could tell he wasn’t happy. Our eyes met briefly as he glanced at me over his shoulder, but David just jerked him forward again.
“What was that all about?” Priscilla said as we watched them disappear around the corner of the house.
I massaged my temples. How could I ever explain this mess to her when I was still trying to figure it out myself? David’s hostile attitude toward Adrian had everything to do with who his family was, as well as the tribe they belonged to. The tribe that turned its back on our family long ago.
“I already told you,” I said. “They think I’m too young to date.”
Then I narrowed an eye at her. “How did they know Adrian was here, anyway?”
Priscilla shrugged. “They were in the kitchen when I went inside. Meg asked how things were going, and I said fine. And then she wanted to know if I needed anything—”
I let out a huff of exasperation. “Get to the point already!”
Priscilla made a face. “Sheesh. Okay, okay. I was about to say that I mentioned you were out here talking to Adrian.”
“And then what?”
“And then nothing,” Priscilla said. “I mean, they just stared at me and then bolted for the door at the exact same time. Seriously, they need to get a grip. Adrian isn’t that much older than you. And aside from what we saw happen this afternoon with Katie, I still think he’s really sweet. I know you got your feelings hurt, but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. There has to be some logical explanation.”
I sat down heavily on the stool. “I think so, too. So you don’t think he likes her?”
“You tell me,” she said.
I rested my elbows on the table and put my chin in my hands. “I don’t know.”
She tapped her foot like she was waiting for me to elaborate, at last raising a brow and throwing up her hands. “Well, did you at least find out what he wanted to talk to her about?”
“No,” I said with a sigh. “He was on the verge of telling me, and that’s when David butted in. Let’s just say my wardens have horrible timing.”
At that precise moment, Meg yelled from the kitchen that Laura Beth had arrived to get Priscilla. We trudged back to the house, contemplating what Adrian had wanted with Katie, to find my aunt and Laura Beth discussing the details of Priscilla’s new job. Judging by the stack of paperwork Meg was handing over to Laura Beth for safekeeping, I could only assume the job was definitely for real.
“She’ll need to fill these out for tax purposes,” Meg was saying.
“Got it,” Laura Beth said. She looked up when we walked in. “Did you get your homework done?”
“I did,” Priscilla said. She slung her arm around Laura Beth’s shoulders.
“Congrats on the job,” Laura Beth said. “Now I can pick up extra hours at the lab without having to worry about you flooding the bathroom or getting into God only knows what.”
Priscilla withdrew her arm, looking mortally wounded at the accusation. “The bathroom was an accident, for your information. And when have I ever gotten in trouble?”
Laura Beth’s brows disappeared into her hairline.
“On second thought,” Priscilla said, “don’t answer that.”
But it was too late. Laura Beth was already holding up her hand, ready to tick off the examples on her fingers.
“How about the time you TP-ed the neighbors’ trees and I had to convince them not to call the police?”
“They deserved it,” Priscilla said. “Their nasty little dog tried to bite me.”
She grabbed at Laura Beth’s hand as another finger started to go up, but Laura Beth sidestepped her. Meg covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.
“Or how about when one of the employees at Old Navy caught you arranging two of the store mannequins in . . . hmm . . . let’s just call it an indelicate embrace?” Another finger. “Or when you took my car on a joy ride around the neighborhood?” Another finger. “Or when you got kicked out of Best Buy for messing with the volume on all the TVs?”
“Don’t forget about your detentions,” I added. “We’re up to six and counting, and that’s just this year alone.”
Priscilla rounded on me. “Wait a minute! Whose side are you on?”
To Laura Beth she said, “I think you’ve made your point. I’m just another unprincipled teen with no real hope for a future. I’ll be stuck working at some fast-food joint for the rest of my life. Does that sound about right?”
Priscilla might have been joking with the rest of us, but I could tell she didn’t mean it. I felt bad for poking fun, and my insides twisted with shame. Priscilla wasn’t as tough as she acted or wanted people to believe. Sometimes even I forgot that.
Laura Beth rolled her eyes. “And yet we love you anyway, despite your blatant disregard for authority.”
Priscilla yanked the papers out of Laura Beth’s hands, a hint of a smile on her face. “Obviously no one appreciates me, so I’m just going to leave. See you at school tomorrow, Sarah.”
Once they had left, I wandered outside and made my way to one of the wooden benches in the front garden. I had a feeling Meg would follow, and she did. I was sure she’d have something to say about Adrian coming over, and there was no sense in putting it off.
“Can we please get this over with?” I said. I curled my legs under me in preparation for what was sure to be a very lengthy discussion. Might as well be comfortable.
“Get what over with?”
I looked at Meg out of the corner of my eye, hardly daring to hope I was off the hook. “Aren’t you going to lecture me about Adrian?”
Meg sighed. “Does what I have to say even matter anymore? Honestly, Sarah, you seem different lately. And not in a good way.”
I flinched at the sting of Meg’s words and sat up straight on the edge of the bench. “How can you say that? You and David act as if I’m the one wrapping trees in toilet paper and stealing cars. And just so you know, Adrian came over here, all on his own. I didn’t invite him. So don’t get mad at me.”
“Sarah—”
“And of course I’m different!” I added, now furious. “You go and drop a major bombshell on me and expect me not to react?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Things will never be like they once were, Meg.”
Meg opened her mouth to respond, but nothing cam
e out. She closed it again and shook her head, her shoulders slumping. The two of us sat in silence.
Finally she said, “This isn’t a problem we can sweep under the rug and pretend it will go away. We have to face the very real possibility that Adrian and his family are here for reasons that are not good. It’s too much of a coincidence otherwise.”
My eye’s pricked with tears as I recalled Victor’s overheard words. I didn’t want to believe that he’d been talking about me. Yet if he had been, then Meg was right. Their reasons for being here weren’t good.
Meg shifted beside me. The sound of her slow intake of breath, as though steeling herself to say something else, jarred me out of my thoughts. “David confronted Victor.”
My head snapped up. “He did what? When?”
“Today. While you were at school. David was oiling the hinges on the gate, and he saw Victor.”
“What happened?” I said “Did he find out what they’re doing here?”
Meg shook her head. “All Victor would say is that he has personal business to take care of.”
“Oh,” I said with a sinking feeling.
Meg wrapped her arms around her middle. “David warned Victor to stay away. From you. From all of us.”
I laughed at that, out of nervousness more than anything. I couldn’t help it. And yet it was so like my uncle to jump the gun and act like a macho idiot, even if he was trying to keep me safe.
“This is nothing to laugh about,” Meg said, her eyes cutting sharply to me.
“Of course not,” I said, stopping at once and clearing my throat. “So what did Victor do?”
“Nothing.” Her shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. “He just walked away apparently.”
We sat in silence for a few minutes until I finally said, “Why don’t we go over there now, just you and me? We won’t leave until we find out exactly why they’re here and what this ‘personal business’ of Victor’s is. We’ll demand answers. We can even take him down if it comes to that. Two against one.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Meg said, even though a smile touched the corners of her mouth.
“Well excuse me, but do you have a better idea?”
I wanted Meg to tell me that everything would be okay, that she and David had everything under control and not to worry about any of it. Instead she patted my leg and said, “Close out the register. Dinner will be ready in a little while.” Then she got up and walked away.
As I stood behind the register counting the day’s sales, I thought back to what Adrian had said about being on my side. I had assumed that he meant he was on my side against Katie. In my opinion, anyone who stood with me to fight the evils of my number-one nemesis had to be good, right? But then it occurred to me that maybe he’d been talking about something much bigger than that. What if he meant he was on my side, taking a stand against his family and the tribe?
I sat down heavily on the stool, a wad of one-dollar bills in my hand and an assortment of coins on the table in front of me. God, I was so confused. I knew what I had to do, though. There was only one thing to do now: confront Adrian and get the answers that I needed, once and for all.
My eyes were glued to Adrian as Priscilla and I walked into the cafeteria the next day.
I had lingered until the last possible moment on the sidewalk that morning, hoping to snag a ride to school and confront him during the drive, but there had been no sign of him. So I had finally left, afraid of being late to school. Now there he was, no more than thirty feet away.
Before I had a chance to make up my mind about whether I wanted to talk to him now or later, Priscilla began waving her hand in the air and shouting his name. He looked up from the book in his lap and waved back, giving us one of his patented smiles. And when his eyes found mine, I didn’t think it was my imagination that his smile got a little bit bigger, his face a little bit brighter, or that my heart started to beat a little bit faster. Getting answers was maybe going to be harder than I thought if I couldn’t get my feelings under control.
Priscilla nudged me. “I’ll grab some lunch for you. Go talk to him. Find out what he was doing with Katie yesterday.”
Adrian closed his book and was already getting up when Katie and the Double Ds scooted in front of him, blocking my view and breaking our connection. “Never mind,” I said, irritated at once. “I’ll talk to him later.”
The sky was gray and misty, which meant we were trapped inside for the duration of lunch. The tables closest to the windows were a hot commodity; everyone wanted to sit there. But by the time we made it through the line, every one of them was occupied. Our only choices were a few open tables near the buffet, which no one liked because they always got bumped, or a solitary table in the middle of the room that was inexplicably vacant. I looked around for Adrian, but he was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Katie or the Double Ds.
“Oh, now this is just lovely,” Priscilla said.
I had followed Priscilla to the lone table in the middle of the room in a zombie-like trance, preoccupied with thoughts of where Adrian had run off to, and if Katie and the Double Ds were with him.
“What’s lovely?”
“Someone spilled soda all over the table. I guess that explains why no one is sitting here.”
She was right. Half the table top was covered in a sticky mess of congealed brown syrup.
“Then let’s go back over there,” I said, tilting my head toward one of the many vacant tables near the buffet.
“No way. I would rather not have someone spill their slop down my back. I think there’s a clean spot right here.”
Priscilla and I set our trays in the approximate two feet of clean space and pulled out our chairs. But no sooner had we sat down when trouble showed up.
“I don’t get it,” Devon said. I didn’t have to turn around to know that Danielle and Katie were there, too, and I braced myself to meet the day’s harassment quota.
“What don’t you get?” said Danielle with mock concern.
“I don’t get how a guy as hot as Adrian could be interested in some pathetic loser like Sarah,” Devon said. “She dresses like she buys her clothes off the racks at Goodwill, and she’s not even pretty. Her hair is disgustingly long, and it just hangs there all limp and gross.”
“You’re right,” Danielle said. “She could at least wear it in braids or something. I mean, she is an Indian. Isn’t that, like, what they do? She could even stick a few feathers in it to make it look better.”
My cheeks blazed with a burning fire, but I managed to keep quiet, even if I couldn’t completely ignore their insults.
“The only reason why guys give girls like her the time of day,” Katie said in a very teacher-like voice, as though trying to educate Danielle and Devon on the finer points of guy logic, “is because they know how desperate they are. They know girls like Sarah will do anything for a little attention. Of course, what does that say about Adrian? He obviously has very low standards and completely no taste at all.”
Their laughter rang in my ears. I had never given them the satisfaction of seeing me cry, and I refused to do it today.
It was one thing for them to constantly pick on me; I expected it. But for Katie to stand there and imply that I was the one who was desperate . . . that I was the one who had to resort to cheap tricks just to get some guy to notice me . . . after she’d thrown herself at Adrian . . . What was her deal?
Something in me snapped. I’d stood by and stayed silent for too many years, not even telling Meg and David the extent of the bullying. But I wouldn’t stay silent any longer. This was it. This was the moment I was going to stand up for myself.
I scooted my chair away from the table and stood slowly as I turned to face them.
“You’re the one to talk, Katie.” My voice sounded too quiet and paper-thin to my ears. I felt like I was standing outside my own body watching one of the most important scenes of my life play out before me. My skin felt hot, and my head felt strangely light.
Katie smirked and cupped her hand around her ear. “What did you say, Little Indian Girl?”
I looked around. It was common knowledge that I was Katie’s favorite target, and we had managed to grab the attention of those sitting closest to us. The sudden hushing of voices as word about what was happening spread outward like a shockwave. The cafeteria quieted within moments, and the silence was almost deafening. People clamored for better looks, and somewhere in the distance I heard one of the lunch ladies wonder out loud what was going on.
I cleared my throat and made a point of raising my voice and enunciating each word so no one would misunderstand. “You’re. The One. To Talk.”
Katie wasn’t used to being stood up to, but if there was one thing I knew she thrived on, it was an audience. There was no way she was going to walk away from this.
Her eyes narrowed, and the corner of her mouth twisted into a smirk. “And what do you mean by that?”
I took a deep breath and raised my voice even louder. “You’re the one who was practically giving Adrian a lap dance at lunch the other day, even though he clearly wasn’t into it. But it doesn’t matter,” I said, putting a hand on my hip. “Dumb and easy isn’t really his type.”
Everyone around us began giggling and making various cat noises. Katie’s normally milky-white complexion flushed an angry red as the meaning of my words settled. She seethed through her teeth, her entire body vibrating with rage.
“Careful, Katie,” I said. “That pimple on your forehead is in danger of bursting.”
Katie’s eyes blazed and her lip curled into an ugly snarl. “You nasty little . . !”
She arched her arm, and there was a fraction of a second between the moment I realized Katie was going to hit me and when the slap actually happened. I took the hit full force on my left cheek, and even though I stumbled back, I didn’t give any hint that it had hurt.
The room went instantly quiet. I half expected everyone to start chanting for a fight, but there was nothing but silence as they waited to see if I would hit her back. It took everything I had not to cry out or put my hand to my face. Katie had packed a lot of wallop behind that slap, and it stung like being poked with a hundred needles at once. But I just stood there and stared at Katie, not moving at all. Priscilla had jumped up, ready to defend me, but I held out my hand and motioned for her to stay put.
The Spirit Keeper Page 10