by ID Johnson
I was minimally disappointed, but I nodded. “That’s okay.” I’d still get to ride home with the coolest teacher ever.
“Alrighty. See you after school.”
“I’m so jealous,” Lucy said as soon as Elliott was gone. “He’s like… a cool big brother who just swoops in and makes you feel all tingly inside, you know?”
“I do,” I agreed. “He’s awesome.”
“I like him,” Emma concurred, wadding up her trash and putting it all inside of her empty sandwich bag, like she did every day.
“And that’s saying a lot,” Lucy replied. “You really coming tonight?”
“Why not?” Emma shrugged. “I’m sure sitting with Dr. Sanderson will be fun.”
“Just remember he doesn’t know that you know anything,” I whispered at her.
“Cassidy, do you honestly think I could forget that?” she asked, her face all serious again. “I practically have an eidetic memory.”
“My mistake,” I replied, trying not to roll my eyes. It would do no good to remind her that he was tricky and might be trying to take advantage of her to get information. I gathered up my trash and headed toward the receptacle. I thought Lucy was right behind me, but when I turned around, it was Liam trailing me. Lucy was still over by our table, glaring in our general direction.
“Hey, Cass,” Liam said as we both dumped our trays. “You talkin’ to Dr. Sanderson?”
“Yeah. We’re… friends. I mean… he’s a family friend.” There was no way I could explain more.
“Cool. He comin’ to the game tonight?”
“As far as I know.” I smiled at him, wondering if there was something legitimately cool I could say that could blow his mind, but I couldn’t think of a single word.
“Awesome,” he said. “See ya.” He gave me a sort of half smile and headed back off toward the table where he’d been sitting. I stared after him until I realized I was blocking the trash can and other students were waiting to use it, and then I headed back to my girls.
“Barf,” Lucy said, passing me on her way to the trash can.
I picked up my stuff and watched Emma shove the last bite of Zebra Cake into her mouth. “I don’t get it,” I said, shaking my head. Why did Lucy hate him so much?
Emma’s mouth was full, but she covered it with her hand and said, “She just doesn’t like him.”
“I know, but why?”
“He’s a jerk.” She gathered up her trash and slung her backpack over her shoulders, a sign she wasn’t coming back to the table.
“No, he’s not. He’s really nice. And funny. And cute.”
“He’s a jerk.” It was Lucy, not Emma, and I turned to see her stomp around me to get her stuff. “You just haven’t figured it out yet. Unfortunately, you will.”
“Why do you think that?” I asked.
“I’ve gotta go,” Emma said. “See you guys later.”
I waved goodbye to her and turned to see Lucy was halfway to the hall now. I hurried to catch up to her. “Why do you think that?” I asked again.
Lucy let out a loud huff. “I just think… I don’t know. I’ve heard things.”
“Like what?”
“I really don’t want to get into it.”
Frustrated, I took a deep breath myself. “Fine,” I spat. “See ya.”
Lucy stopped, and I could feel her eyes penetrating into my back, but I didn’t turn to look at her. The bell rang, and I hurried to my next class, hopeful that we’d both calm down by the next time we saw each other. She needed to tell me what Liam had done to make her think he was so awful. Otherwise, I was going to end up angry at her, and I didn’t want that either. Until she could legitimately tell me otherwise, however, Liam White would still be the hottest guy at SHS in my book.
Chapter 14
We were getting cremated—and I don’t use that term lightly due to recent events—by the time the fourth quarter rolled around. Honestly, I don’t think anyone even cared, though. The cheerleading squad was on fire, and for the first time in forever, whenever we’d turn to the crowd to get them to participate in a cheer or chant, every single person in the audience was with us. It might’ve had something to do with the large, curly-haired man who was encouraging them from his seat about halfway up the section closest to the end of the court where our squad cheered. Every time I looked over at him, he had a huge smile on his face. Even Emma looked happy, and I couldn’t remember ever seeing her happy at a sporting event.
My parents were sitting near Elliott, though not right by him. There’d been such a rush of students who wanted to sit next to him, he’d had to demand they scoot down so Emma could find a seat right next to him, and I was sure the bubble around her was due to his manipulation, not the fact that the kids were trying to give her personal space.
The other team called timeout, so we took our positions to do a quick cheer. This was one where I’d be a flyer—the other girls would pick me up and lift me over their heads before they threw me up into the air and hopefully caught me. The other half of the squad would be doing the same with Lucy. While I liked flying, and so did she, it always made me nervous. Once in practice a few weeks ago, I’d almost hit the ground. If it hadn’t been for the spotter, the girl standing right behind us, I probably would’ve landed on my face. Even then, I’d banged my knee on one of the other girls’ shoulders and had a big bruise.
Still, part of being a cheerleader is selling it. As we began the cheer, I stepped into position. “Give me a V!” we all shouted, and thanks to Elliott, we got a huge response. “Give me an I!” They all did as instructed, and we did our movements, continuing to spell “victory,” something we would not be getting tonight for sure. On the R, I put my first foot up into Jessica’s intertwined fingers. On the Y, I swung up my other foot over to Rachel. We all shouted “Victory!” and they pushed me up toward the ceiling. I raised my pompons and shouted, “Victory! Victory! SHS!” Holding the pose for a split second, I waited for them to toss me, trying to keep my stomach out of my throat. I knew Lucy had the stronger team, that she would likely have no issue at all, but something felt a little off. My foot was coming loose from Rachel’s grasp before they counted for the toss, and I thought I heard her shout, “Wait!” just as Jessica pushed me up into the air. Rachel hesitated for a second, but then threw my right leg so that I was spiraling slightly off-balance. I fought to rotate back around so that I would come down where they were expecting, but I knew they’d tossed me too far back. The spotter, Jenny, wasn’t much bigger than me, and even though she’d kept me from connecting with the gym floor two days ago, I could see from my position above her in that split second, she wasn’t ready.
The ground was rising up to meet me, flailing limbs in uniforms just like mine came shooting out toward my arms and legs, but my head was going to hit the gym floor. It was like it was happening in slow motion. I squinted my eyes closed and braced for impact, fully expecting to feel my bottom teeth burst through the top of my mouth. I could hear the panicked screams from the crowd who realized they were about to see a bloody end to a once promising cheerleading career, and at about the time I expected to feel gymnasium on my face, I felt something else instead. Arms. Around my body, around my head.
Opening my eyes, I heard a cheer from the crowd and looked up into familiar green eyes. How he’d gotten here in time without everyone realizing he’d moved at super human speed was beyond me, but Elliott had me; I was safe.
“You’re okay, lil girl,” he assured me, setting me down gently on the gym floor.
“Oh, my gosh!” Lucy exclaimed, running over. “Are you okay?”
I was still having trouble believing the wood planks of the floor were not embedded into my skull. “I’m fine,” I said, “thanks to Dr. Sanderson.”
He stood up from the crouched position he’d been in when he caught me, and the crowd cheered. Loudly, he exclaimed, “I’m just happy I happened to be sitting right here on the first row so that I had time to catch this cheerleader!”
Everyone cheered again, perfectly happy with that explanation, and then Elliott slowly headed back up to his spot, not on the front row at all. No one seemed to notice.
“Thank God,” Lucy was saying, helping me to my feet.
“I’m so sorry,” Jessica and Rachel were both muttering.
“I’m okay,” I reminded them.
“You went off to the side. I couldn’t get there in time,” Jenny muttered.
I put my hand on her shoulder. She was clearly beside herself. “It’s okay,” I repeated. “I’m fine.” Although, I was thinking I probably didn’t want to be a flyer anymore if Dr. Sanderson didn’t agree to come to the rest of our games.
There were about ten minutes left on the clock when we got back off of the court so the game could resume, and while I was nervous at first that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate, a wave of calmness washed over me, and I looked up into the stands to see Elliott smiling at me. I embraced that feeling of serenity, realizing fully he was manipulating me, but letting it be for now. There’d be time to worry later that I’d almost bit it in front of a crowd of hundreds from my hometown and visitors from the other team. For now, I just needed to get through the game.
We ended up losing by a pretty big margin, which was no surprise. In the locker room, I decided I would just throw my warm ups on over my uniform and go. I didn’t know if Elliott was planning on heading back to KC right then or if he’d come back to our house. While we’d had a nice dinner, I hadn’t really gotten a chance to talk to him without my parents, except for in the car, and he’d been pretty quiet then. Now, I at least needed to tell him thank you. I was surprised to find him waiting for me outside without a crowd around him but then realized he could easily convince anyone that they didn’t want to talk to him right now.
It was dark and the wind was blowing, but he didn’t look cold at all as he stood beneath one of the many lights that illuminates the walkway to the school wearing the hat I’d given him for Christmas. He had his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and a grin on his face. I felt like I was rushing to catch up with my big brother, who was way cooler than me, or an uncle all the girls wanted to date. But he was mine, and all those other people could just keep on walking right past him.
“You okay, lil girl?” he asked as I hurried over to where he was waiting.
“I think so,” I replied, “thanks to you.” I couldn’t help but throw my arms around him. He wasn’t prepared, and it took him a second to pull his hands out of his pockets.
“No big deal,” he assured me, squeezing me tightly before letting me go.
“My cranium begs to differ,” I replied, releasing him. “Where are my parents?”
“Took Emma home,” he said shrugging. “You ready?”
“Yeah,” I glanced around and didn’t see anyone I needed to talk to. I’d told Lucy goodbye, and the only other person I wanted to see was Liam. I assumed he’d still be in the locker room.
Elliott offered me his arm like he was a gentleman back in the day, and I took it. “You guys did a great job.”
“We stank. We lost by forty points,” I reminded him.
“Not the basketball team. The cheerleading squad.”
“Oh, yeah, thanks,” I said. “I don’t think I wanna be a flyer anymore, though.”
He laughed. “I agree. No more lifts for you. That was… terrifying.”
I looked up at him. “You didn’t know I was gonna fall?”
“How would I know that?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I guess I just thought…. How did you get there so fast?”
He pulled the keys out of his pocket and pushed a button to unlock the Enclave. “Reflexes,” he replied. “As soon as I saw that those other girls were not going to keep your head off of the ground, I dove in.”
I climbed into the car, realizing he was a lot faster than I’d given him credit for. He walked around the front of the car like a regular human and got inside. “It must be super hard for you to walk around in slow-mo all the time,” I said, buckling my seatbelt.
“Yeah, it was at first, but I’m used to it now.”
“Is it hard for Cadence?”
He pulled the car out of the parking spot and took a deep breath, letting it out kind of loudly. “I don’t think anything is hard for Cadence,” he replied, “I mean, physically. This stuff that’s going down with Jack, though, now that’s hard.”
“Yeah, I noticed the killings in the Caribbean had stopped, like last week,” I said, recalling what I’d seen on the news. “But… there was a family in Dallas recently. Was that… anything?” There was just something about the article I’d read that sounded suspicious.
“It was,” Elliott replied, heading toward my house. “This has to end. And soon.”
I thought about my poor sister, trying to wrap her head around Jack being dead, and then not being dead, but then having to kill him—or whatever you called it when the person was a vampire—and I felt really horrible for her.
“Anyway,” Elliott said, “I just wanted to let you know we might be kinda busy for the next few weeks. Cadence has got to come to terms with what she’s gotta do, and then she’s gotta do it.”
“Right,” I said. I hadn’t talked to my sister in about a week, and then, when I had, it was nothing important. “And… is Aaron still with Eliza?”
He sighed again, and I almost wished I hadn’t asked. “In a word… yes. But, he’s working on it.”
I didn’t know what that meant, but he’d already told me it was more complicated than I could understand without the background, so I let it go. I hated Aaron, though, with a passion I’d previously only reserved for things like corndogs and brussels sprouts.
Elliott came to a stop in front of my house. “This is as far as I can take you, lil girl. You’ll have to walk the rest of the way.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay. It’s not that far.”
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I grabbed my cheerleading bag from the floor and reached for the door handle. “Thanks again for saving my face.”
“You’re welcome. You have a nice face. I’d like to keep it intact.”
I knew I was blushing and felt like a goof. Maybe he wouldn’t notice—but then, he noticed everything. “Will you let me know how it goes, with Jack?” He’d already told me he would, and I believed him, I just… wanted to be sure.
“Will do. Keep your lips sealed tight, though, okay? And that goes for that blond-headed boy who sits behind you in history class, too.”
I was definitely a bright red color now. “Elliott!” I exclaimed.
“I might be old, but I’m not blind,” he replied, chuckling.
There were no words. I shook my head and took a step back toward the sidewalk. “Be careful driving home.”
“I’ll try to keep it under a hundred and fifty.” Something told me he wasn’t kidding. I waved goodbye and closed the car door. He waited until I was inside to pull away, but I stood at the window and watched, wondering when I would see him again.
My parents were home, and they both wanted to make sure I was all right. I guess whatever convincing spell Elliott had cast to make everyone think he’d legitimately caught me wore off of parents who otherwise thought their child would now be a stain on the gym floor. I assured them I was fine and then headed upstairs to take a shower and go to bed. Even if I wasn’t out chasing vampire Jack, I knew after hearing he had something to do with the family that was slaughtered in a suburb of Dallas, I’d be seeing him in my dreams.
Chapter 15
Valentine’s Day is a big deal at my high school. Maybe it is at every high school, but at mine in particular it’s a day when teachers don’t even bother to try to do anything, even the strictest ones, because they know none of us are paying attention.
Throughout the day, students are called to the office over the loudspeaker whenever flowers
arrive. Almost everyone gets something because all of our parents know this, so if you get your name called more than once, it means someone really likes you. You go up, read the card, and then put your bouquet, or balloons, or whatever on the table marked for your grade level and come back after school to get your stuff.
So, my name was called during second period, and I went up to see that my parents had sent me pink roses, which was nice. And then my name was called again during third period, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Cadence had also remembered the tradition and sent me some red roses. Her note said, “Pretend I’m a dude, if you’d like” with a winky eye, and she’d signed it “C.” I knew it was from her even before I saw the card.
I was walking away when Lucy showed up. I’d heard her name, too, and this was her second trip up to the office, as well. “Hey,” I said. “Were your first flowers from your folks?”
“Yeah,” she said, shrugging. Usually parent flowers arrived first for some reason. “These are probably from my grandma or something.”
Since neither one of us had a boyfriend, we didn’t really expect to get roses from a guy, but then, I was secretly hoping I’d get some from Liam. I know it seemed silly to hope, but he’d been a little standoffish this morning during history class, and I kind of hoped it was because he was nervous about sending me something.
I decided to walk with Lucy, and she approached the front desk. “Lucy Burk,” the secretary, Ms. Penny, said smiling at both of us. “Here you go, sweetie.” She pushed over a large bouquet of red roses.
“Wowza,” Lucy said, plucking the card off of the vase. “My grandma went to a lot of trouble this year.”
I stood back a little way, thinking it didn’t look like a bouquet from a grandmother, but I didn’t say anything. She read the card, her eyes bulging, and then shoved it back into the envelope and into her back pocket.
“Well?” I asked, smiling at her but feeling a little uneasy. “Who are they from?”