Everyone was quiet on the way to school. It wasn’t unusual. After a weekend of not having to go to Bland High, Mondays weren’t popular. I took the silence happily, my brain drifting. I realized that somehow I was keeping track of where the girl was. If I was right, she was a half a mile or so behind us, on this same road.
A few minutes later, we pulled into the school parking lot. I took the spot behind Erik’s bike and turned off the key. After everyone got out, I locked up the Jeep.
An old blue truck pulled into the space next to us and I looked up. She was here. I caught myself getting aggravated for some insane reason when I realized she had caught a ride with Brian Shaw, who lived in the house down the road from her.
It only makes sense. Get over yourself. You don’t even know this girl, I thought.
Erik pulled off his helmet and glanced back at me. Apparently having caught the expression on my face, he stayed on the bike for an extra second, his gaze wandering over to the truck, where the girl was getting out. A knowing look passed in his eyes and he let a long whistle. Embarrassed, but laughing, Penny began swatting the back of his head with her binder in an effort to get him to shut up.
I laughed as he ducked, trying to evade her. Then I looked over and my eyes locked with the girl’s and everyone and everything else disappeared for one long moment.
Her eyes were a dark brown that reminded me of the trees in the forest and just as my wolf did when he ran in the woods; I became lost in their depths. There was something calming about staring into them, something that made me seem centered. Something that made me feel as if I’d found something that I hadn’t even known was missing.
Then she blinked and the moment shattered.
“Come on, Nikki, we have to get your schedule from the office. Then I’ll show you where to go,” Brian took her arm and led her away.
Immediately, I felt foolish for standing there—but even more so, I felt the need to do something to get his hand off her.
So I growled, which caused my brothers to laugh even harder.
“I told you so,” Erik said after he whistled after the girl again, earning himself another smack from Penny. “I told you it was going to happen, man. Might as well get used to it.”
Get used to it? I watched as she disappeared through the main entrance. I don’t think that is going to happen.
By some strange twist of fate, I didn’t have her in any of my other classes, which was odd, because Bland just isn’t that big of a place. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t feel her presence as she moved from one classroom to the next. I always seemed to know exactly where she was.
It was unsettling, to say the least.
I’ve got to concentrate, I argued with myself. Out of all the classes where I needed to pay attention, this next one was surely it.
I opened the door to English and walked in. The teacher peeked over her glasses at me as I strode past her desk and took one of the seats that didn’t have any other students.
The desks were built for two. My heart sank. Ms. Barker was up to something and every nerve in my body was telling me that it had to do with me.
Not a hard thing to guess, really. It wasn’t exactly new news that I hated this class, which was evident as three more students came in and took every available seat that wasn’t next to me. I’d managed to pass this class last year, but that was because there had been a different teacher.
Mr. Holland had magic—and I’m not talking about his ability to teach an English class. He had forest magic. He was a Woodsburl—and he knew I was the leader of the Keepers. I didn’t sail through English with flying colors, but he passed me just the same. Then he transferred to Bland Elementary, and here came a new teacher.
Too bad you don’t have a drop of magic, I thought, giving Ms. Barker a particularly dark look.
She didn’t seem the least bit worried, only returned my stare, lips held in a tight line as the door opened again and someone else walked through.
My blood ran cold, then hot, then cold again. I didn’t even have to look up to know who had come. And, thanks to my reputation for not caring if I passed English, there was only one seat left in the entire room.
“You may take a seat next to Mr. Black Water,” Ms. Barker informed her, gesturing toward me.
When she turned around to face me, she froze and her eyes widened for the barest of seconds, then she came over to sit down.
The air began popping and cracking. As if she’d noticed it, she turned suddenly, smacking the girl behind us with her book bag.
“Sorry,” she mumbled when the girl complained. She slid her bag off her shoulder, tucked it under the seat, and sat down.
The air around us was snapping like crazy. Magic recognizes magic, I thought. She has something, and my own magic can sense it.
I wasn’t the only one trying to figure it out. I felt her watching me out of the corner of her eye. In an effort to get her attention off me, I bent my head forward, letting my hair swing between us to block her view.
That seemed to do the trick. She turned her attention to the book in front of her, flipping pages as the teacher spoke. It took me another second before I was able to concentrate enough to even open up my own book.
“Page forty,” Ms. Barker repeated, giving me another cold glare. A collective groan echoed in the room. Whatever was on page forty wasn’t going to be a popular subject.
I flipped the pages and finally got to the right place. Sentence diagramming. What on earth is sentence diagramming?
Whatever it was, the girl beside me was getting excited about it. She straightened in her seat and I looked up just long enough to spot the smile on her face.
“First of all,” Ms. Barker began, “I know some of you had problems with this from last year…”
Did I? I wondered. If I had trouble with it, it wasn’t all that memorable. Must not have been too important. I began tuning her out.
“…you will learn this before I pass you…”
Not likely.
“…this is the reason we have decided to have shared seats this year.”
Then, my ears picked up words that had me gripping the book so hard the pages crunched, no doubt making me look like an over-eager student.
“The person sitting next to you is going to be your study partner.”
The air between us was a swirling, hot vortex now. No way would I be able to study anything with this girl. She was a…a…
I don’t even know what she is! my brain screamed. My wolf pushed to the surface and I felt his fur slide along my bones.
Not here. I can’t do this here, I thought, taking a long, deep breath that calmed us both down. Whatever this girl was and whatever magic she held, it could easily be my undoing.
I clutched the side of the desk, my eyes glued to the clock sitting just above the chalkboard where the teacher was busily writing something.
It lasted an eternity. Forty-five minutes crawled by at a snail’s pace and finally the bell rang.
I jumped out of my seat and raced through the door before anyone else had the chance to even stand. I needed to get out of there. Away from that room.
Away from her.
Brian was standing just outside of the door. I shouldered my way past him.
“Hey!” he shouted.
Normally, I would have stopped long enough to apologize. Not today. Today, I needed away. I needed out.
“You’ve got to give it a try,” Erik argued. “If you fail that class, you won’t graduate with us.
“He’s right,” Ed replied, tucking a long strand of hair behind his ear. “If you don’t pass, you don’t graduate.”
“But think of it this way,” Erik said, grinning. “If you flunk this year, you can always graduate with Tommy and Michael. Provided, of course that you don’t fail next year too.”
“You’re not helping,” I said, gritting my teeth.
He only grinned again, then scooped a heap of spaghetti up and shoved it in his mouth.
“I don’t get why they think graduating with us is such a bad thing,” Tommy said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at Erik, then at Ed.
“I know, right? It’s like it’s beneath them or something,” Michael said, leaning back in his chair, folding his arms over his chest.
“Mfft!” Erik managed, waving a hand at the cousins as if to say that wasn’t at all what he had meant. Once his mouth was empty, he looked to his side.
“Penny, won’t you help me out? Could you go over and ask the new girl if she’d please be his study date?” Erik asked. “It’s obvious that he’s not going to do it. And you’re a girl…and she’s a girl…so…you’re both girls…”
Penny rolled her eyes and stood up.
“Hey,” I said as she walked by. She stopped and lifted one dark eyebrow. “Thanks…” I managed weakly. “…I think.”
She smiled, then turned around and walked to the table across the room, where I spotted the girl’s spiraling blonde curls. She was sitting with Brian and a few others. Having my wolf’s keen sense of hearing, I listened easily to their conversation. Ronnie was attempting to get the new girl to sign up for cheerleading and the others were encouraging it.
But that all stopped when Penny arrived and quietly introduced herself and the reason for her visit.
The girl stood up, angry. “Come on, Penny, they’re not putting this on you. He has to talk to me if he wants my help.”
Seconds later, she’d walked over to my table and stuck her hand out. “I’m Nikki, your appointed English study partner.”
“I know. I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” I whispered, staring at her hand. The air was popping and cracking again. Nikki, her name is Nikki.
“Well, if you want to fail, that’s up to you.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.” I shrugged and took her hand in mine. If a handshake was the only thing that would keep her happy, that’s what I’d do. A spark leapt between her fingers and mine and the air sizzled.
“I’m Adam,” I said, still holding her hand. It seemed only right that I should introduce myself. But now that I knew her name, what I really wanted to ask was what she was. There was something more to her that I just didn’t understand.
“I am unavailable to tutor you this evening,” she said in a stiff, professional voice. “However, tomorrow evening, if you wish, I will be available.”
I nodded and let go of her hand, but kept my eyes on hers. Seemingly taken aback, she nodded back somewhat awkwardly, then turned and walked back to her table.
“Good luck at tryouts,” I mumbled. From the way she stiffened, I knew she had heard me, but for some reason I didn’t care that she knew that I knew about the cheerleading after school.
“See? Now that wasn’t hard at all, was it?” Erik joked as Penny punched him on the arm. “Ow, woman!” he said, rubbing his arm, a pained expression on his face. “You can’t beat up on me. I’m important. Who else is going to keep our fearless leader on the straight and narrow?”
Chapter 3
The next morning found us in the parking lot again, but this time it wasn’t a secret that I wanted to wait for her to arrive. I felt anxious, but wasn’t sure why. Somehow, it felt like second-hand emotions, as if that nervous feeling belonged to someone else.
“You know, you can go on in,” I told Ed as he opened up the passenger door to the Jeep. “I’ll be right behind you in a couple of minutes.”
He rolled his eyes and grabbed his backpack. “What? And miss watching Erik poke fun at you? Not likely going to happen.”
“Nope!”
“We’re sticking with you.” The cousins chimed in as everyone got out and leaned against the hood to wait.
Erik, true to form, leered at me from his seat on the bike as Penny pulled off her helmet. “You’re lucky Hannah is driving her mom’s van to drop off the little kids at the elementary school. Otherwise, you’d have a fine mess on your hands.”
“There’s nothing going on between me and Hannah,” I muttered, glaring at him.
“Yeah, whatever you say…” Erik’s eyes locked onto a vehicle over my shoulder and I didn’t have to look to know Nikki was on her way. “Okay, ya’ll. He wants to be alone, let’s roll.”
They all mumbled and complained, but left me and walked toward the school.
I turned to see Brian’s truck lurch into the parking lot, hopping like an uncertain rabbit. Nikki was driving, hands clutching the wheel so tightly that I could see the chalky white of her knuckles through the windshield. When she saw me, she faltered and the truck heaved one final time and died, just as it floated into a parking spot.
I’m picking up on her emotions, I thought, stunned, watching as she leaned her head on the steering wheel for a moment to regroup.
My ears picked up on their conversation. “You only killed it twice. That’s great for a first time,” Brian was saying, giving her a big smile.
“I don’t think I can handle anymore. You’ll have to drive us home after school,” she groaned, finally picking her head up from the wheel.
“Not a problem,” he agreed. “We’d better get to class.”
He hopped out of the truck, his gaze locked on me, and the expression on his face changed. It went from friendly to something worthy of an angry bear.
I had been planning on going over and apologizing to Nikki for acting like an idiot the day before, but one look on his face made me change my mind. I could wait until he wasn’t around.
She got out of the truck and reached back in to grab her stuff. When she turned around, a frown was pulling at her lips.
Good job, Nikki. It will get easier, I promise, I thought.
She looked up suddenly, as if I had spoken the words out loud. Her frown disappeared so I smiled, then turned and ran to catch up with Erik and the others as they went inside.
I didn’t think it would ever be time for English class, and I must say that I honestly never looked forward to stepping into that particular room’s door until that moment. I was even a few minutes early, which caused the teacher’s eyebrow to arch in question. I shrugged as I walked past her and sat down in the same seat I’d been in before.
When Nikki sat down, she barely glanced at me, turning her attention to the book in front of her on the desk.
“Hello, Nikki.” Best to hurry up and speak before I lost my nerve, I decided.
“Hi,” she said, flipping the pages.
“I wanted to apologize for my attitude yesterday. I know it’s not your fault that we got paired up together for this class.” Wow, I thought. That sounded so much better in my head than it does out loud.
Apparently, Nikki thought so too. She scowled. “If you’d rather pair up with someone else, I’m sure we can get Ms. Barker to switch us around.” The words sounded cold, even though an angry, hot blush was creeping into her cheeks.
The air between us swirled, as if it had been brought to life suddenly.
“No, that’s not what I meant at all.” I frowned. I’d always thought that I’d done well saying exactly what I meant to say; but for some reason, whenever I was around her, nothing came out right. I was tempted to switch to my native language. At least she wouldn’t be able to get angry at anything I said in it.
“I meant that I just don’t like this class, and that I had no place getting angry at you. For that, I am sorry.” There. At least that sounds better.
“This place needs to get their ventilation system checked out,” she mumbled. “Maybe the heat pump has gone bad.”
What did a heat pump have to do with anything? I wondered. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. At least she doesn’t look angry anymore.
“So Brian is teaching you how to drive,” I said, attempting to lighten the situation.
She frowned again. Obviously, this was not the best subject for me to mention. “Yeah, he’s trying. I keep forgetting the clutch and then I kill the blasted thing.”
“I saw you. You did a good job. It’ll get easier, I promise,”
I whispered as the teacher called the class to order.
Nikki went rigid for a moment and the air continued to swirl and pop around us. I didn’t pay a bit of attention to the teacher as she spoke; I only concentrated on the girl beside of me, the way her hair spun in perfect spirals as she leaned toward her book…the way her lips turned down in a cute pout when she concentrated on the book before her.
English class didn’t take nearly long enough. Before I knew it, it was over and we were making our way out the door.
I was right behind her when she spun around suddenly and did an about face, plowing right into me. Automatically, I settled my hands on her waist to keep her from toppling over. She put a hand out to steady herself and it landed on my chest.
Both of us froze and I knew that she felt my heart speeding beneath her palm and I swore I could hear her own heart keeping time with mine, pounding hard and fast. She was staring up at me, her face only inches away. How easy it would be to lower my head and close the distance between us…
I sensed Brian a second before he cleared his throat. “Mind if I cut in?” he asked coldly.
Yes! Everything inside of me screamed.
But when I looked up at him, I showed no emotion, only dropped my hands from her waist. “Sure, no problem. Did you forget something, Nikki? You were heading back into the room.”
“No, I was just going to ask how to get to your house to study later,” she stammered, the blush rising high in her cheeks again. I hadn’t been the only one trapped in that moment.
I smiled at Brian, who looked ready to kill me. The muscles in his jaw clenched. “I know where he lives. I’ll get you there.”
“I have a better idea,” I said, turning my attention back to Nikki. “I’ll just come over to your house. That way you don’t have to worry about holding Brian up until we get finished.”
You would have thought I had suggested doing something illegal.
“I don’t mind,” he interjected, giving me another glare.
The Keeper Saga: Wynter's War, Charmed, and The One (The Boxed Set Book 2) Page 22