Waterdreamer (The Emerald Series Book 2)

by Kimberly James

  “Yeah, I thought so.” He picked up his suitcase, swiped his fob off the counter, and stuffed it in his pocket. He placed his hand on my shoulder and drew me close, planting a kiss to the top of my head like I was eight and not eighteen. “Now, I’d like to drive my daughter to school before I go.”

  “Sure, let me get my bag,” I said and bounded back upstairs.

  That was two votes for going to see my father. I still wasn’t convinced.

  * * *

  Out of the three hundred and forty-six students at Walton County High, I was the only waterbreather enrolled. Admittedly, I was nervous the first few days. Attending a new school was bad enough without the added benefit of being a different species. But in hindsight, my nervousness was a total waste of negative energy. If I started to feel like a sun-dried tomato, it was quickly remedied, if only temporarily, by the Gatorade in my backpack. I wore a sweatshirt most days, but so did half the other girls because it was just that cold inside the building. No one stared at me or shunned me. I’d met enough people through Erin and Ally, the first two real girlfriends I’d ever had, that I didn’t feel like the new girl or an outcast. Actually, I fit in better here than in my old high school back in Kentucky.

  But there’s always that one exception.

  Out of the three hundred and forty-six students in Walton County High, the only person that seemed to have a problem with me sat behind me in calculus. Derrick Nash.

  I was generally a nice person. It took a lot for me to dislike someone, but as soon as I’d recognized Derrick as one of the d-bags I’d interrupted stealing Noah’s hair when I’d first moved here, friends was out of the question. Of course, I’d had no idea that night that we’d be staying here in this coastal community because it was impossible for me to leave. I belonged to this place.

  “You ready to get out of here, sweetheart?” Derrick leaned in behind me, his mouth way too close to my ear. The pencil tapping in my fingers stilled. I hoped to ignore Derrick altogether but he persisted on being in my peripheral, going out of his way to make sure I didn’t forget he was behind me. Dropped pencils. A swift kick to my chair followed by a mumbled, “my bad.” I swear he even pulled my hair once, pretending it somehow got caught in the spirals of his notebook. Pretty hard to do considering my hair hit just below chin length. We didn’t have assigned seating, and every day for the last two weeks I sat in a different desk, and every time I did, Derrick always ended up right behind me. Even if he had to ask somebody to move.

  “Yeah,” I said, turning in my desk to face him. “Aren’t you?” I inwardly rolled my eyes at the lame comeback. My quick wit always kicked in hours too late to be effective

  Derrick was big and burley, probably on the football team, and seemed to carry a lot of clout in the school for reasons beyond me. He had spiky brown hair. If I were in a generous mood, I’d give him the smile—it was decent enough—and the girls seemed to like him. Undoubtedly, he had a sense of humor. He was a guy’s guy. I’d seen his four-wheel drive pickup around the community. The cab always had a passenger or two inside and the flatbed was littered with empty beer cans and purposely displayed empty condom packets. Real party animal.

  “Not as ready as you are, I’m sure,” he said with this absurdly knowing smirk. Like he knew some big bad secret no one else did. “I warned you about Noah and getting bit. Looks like whatever they have is contagious. Too bad.” His eyes skimmed over every part of my exposed skin, holding a cocky grin I was sure was meant to be super sexy. “I might have asked you out… before.”

  “Imagine my disappointment,” I said in a flat tone.

  Blessedly, the bell rang. I sprang out of my desk and my foot caught on something, causing me to lurch forward. That something being Derrick’s large foot. My hand on the edge of the desk saved me from a face plant. My notebook wasn’t so lucky. It slapped the speckled tiles and the loose papers I had tucked inside fanned out across the aisle between the desks.

  “Sorry, sweetheart. Let me help you with that.” Derrick bent down next to me, picked one of the loose papers off the floor, studied it, then held it out to me. I reached for it, but he jerked it back at the last second. It was the test we’d just taken. The one I failed.

  “Fifty-nine. Looks like someone could use some help.” His eyes dropped from my face to my chest. My dress wasn’t particularly low cut or gaping. The leech. “I’ll be happy to tutor you.”

  I straightened my back and waited for his eyes to make their way up to my face. It took a while.

  “Thanks, but no. And don’t call me sweetheart.” I snatched the test out of his hand.

  “Well, Caris,” he practically hissed my name, “let me know if you change your mind.” He stood and took a few steps backward, holding a piece of paper up for my inspection. It was his test. Penned in red across the top was a 98. He swiveled around, the rubber on his Nikes squeaking their way out the door.

  I finished gathering my papers, stuck them back inside my notebook, and was about to leave when Mr. Kanowski, or Mr. K as everyone called him, spoke to me, “Miss Harper, would you come here please?”

  I walked over to his desk. Mr. K was youngish, maybe thirty. He had dark curly hair and a beard and wore thick, dark-rimmed glasses. He alternated between the same two plaid shirts, though I suppose he could just have several of each. I was apt to do that myself. I owned the dress I had on in three colors. The dark burgundy one I wore today was Noah’s favorite.

  “Not your best work today. Everything okay with you?” He took his glasses off and leaned back in his chair.

  “No. I mean yes.” I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t my best work. And yes, everything’s okay with me.”

  “I’ve seen your transcript, and I think you can handle the work. I’ll give you the chance to improve your grade on the test if you’ll go through each problem at home and work them out correctly. You’re better than a fifty-nine.”

  “Thanks, Mr. Kanowski,” I said, not yet ready to call him by his nickname to his face. I was too new for that. “I’ll do it tonight.”

  “I can move Derrick to a different seat tomorrow if you’d like me to,” he said.

  I considered his offer for about half a second. Derrick would think I complained to Mr. K and I knew that would just make it worse. I got the distinct impression Derrick wanted me to tell someone, but I was pretty sure it was Noah he hoped I’d run to.

  “No, you don’t have to do that. I’d like to handle Derrick,” I said.

  “I understand, but if it gets out of hand, I’ll be forced to say something to him.”

  “Yes, sir.” I clasped my notebook to my chest and made my way toward the door. If Derrick was using me to get to Noah, he was destined for disappointment. Nobody was going to handle Derrick but me.

  * * *

  Erin Shaw, my recently minted best friend, and I didn’t have a class together, but our lockers were side by side.

  “Remind me again why I decided to come back for senior year?” Erin asked when I came up beside her and started fingering in my combination.

  “Volleyball. Last first days. Homecoming. Prom. Normal everyday teenager stuff,” I recited back to her some of the reasons she’d put in her pro column when deciding whether or not to come back for senior year or take the GED route. We’d both had decisions to make, and all in all I thought I’d made the right one, even if it was mostly for my dad’s benefit.

  She slammed her locker door closed, startling the boy next to her. “Says the waterbreather to the widow.”

  Erin’s story was simply tragic. Pregnant at sixteen, she married her boyfriend, Jamie, who happened to be Noah’s older brother. Of course, I didn’t know them at the time. I’d been totally oblivious to anything like the idea of a species of human that could breathe water. That’s what Jamie was. What Noah was. What I came to find out I was. A waterbreather.

  Despite his near superhero status, Jamie died in an accident. One of those accidents with obscure details because when you did favors for Ma
rshall, Erin’s dad, the details were sketchy.

  Weeks later, Erin lost her baby, and when I met her she was just clawing her way out of a year of unspeakable grief. The fact that she could even joke about it at all said a lot about her fortitude. She was kind of my hero.

  “Don’t tell Noah this, but I’m really glad I worked out this whole co-op thing at Maggie’s shop. I don’t think I could stand it here all day.” I grabbed the empty Nalgene out of my locker and stuck it in my bag with my calculus book, which left my locker totally vacant. I was only taking two classes, AP English and calculus. I interned at Maggie’s shop for the rest of the day. My dad suggested I take a few basic college courses the school offered to get some of those credits out of the way. I didn’t see the point. I hadn’t shared this with him yet, but I planned on taking a year off from school after graduation. Change had been the theme of my life for the last few months and inwardly, I was feeling a bit of a disconnect with myself. Last night made that horrifically clear. I needed to experience the proverbial find yourself moment, and it was going to be more complicated than learning to swim or giving myself a haircut. I just hoped my dad went along with it.

  “Is he home yet?” Erin asked, not quite able to hide the quiver in her voice. Search and rescue sounded low risk enough, but I knew Erin worried about Noah as much as I did.

  “Yeah, he’s picking me up. He wanted me to find out when your first volleyball game is.”

  “A week from Tuesday. It’s a home match, so that’s good.”

  We joined the train of students on their way to lunch or their next class. A group of girls burst out the double doors leading into the hallway from the cafeteria. The noise level rose dramatically with all of them talking at once. Ally was their epicenter. The upperclassmen. The queen to her ever-expanding court. She clutched a lunch tray in her hands and paused when she saw me and Erin walking down the hall. Her entourage parted, moving on around her.

  “I’ll catch up,” she called after them as they made their way to the courtyard where they ate lunch when the weather was nice. It was nice today. Sunny. A balmy eighty degrees.

  “See what you’re missing, Caris,” she said, indicating her tray with a fan of her heavy eyelashes.

  I eyed her tray. Taquito Tuesday. A spoonful of corn and canned peach slices rounded out what passed for lunch around here.

  “Gosh, that’s so tempting. Taquitos are my favorite,” I said, my tone fat with sarcasm. Another one of those changes I was still getting used to. I might have enjoyed Taquito Tuesday at one point, but now I preferred salty fish and crabs. Meat that grew on land tended to taste like dirt.

  She picked up one of the deep fried beef rolls and crunched it between her teeth rather provocatively. Or maybe my mind was just in the gutter. It kind of had been since Noah’s text and my dad’s declaration he was leaving town.

  “Well, your little Taquito is waiting for you in the parking lot. I saw him when I went to get my bag out of my car.”

  The mention of Noah set my heart racing. A slow heat crawled up my neck. I could tell her a thing or two about Noah’s taquito. Like there was nothing little about it. Yep, gutter.

  “You’re blushing,” Ally said, as if my flaming cheeks held some great significance. Her lips spread out in a Cheshire Cat grin. She and Erin exchanged sly know-it-all glances. “You and Noah totally did it.”

  Of course, I wasn’t going to admit to anything. Not something that personal. Not to Ally. We were friends, despite the reasons we shouldn’t be. Jax was her boyfriend, and even though he was off at college now and out of the picture, my association with the guy who had beat him within nearly an inch of his life put a bit of a damper on our relationship. I’d also kind of horned in on her friendship with Erin, her BFF. Making a move on a girl’s best friend was a more punishable crime than hooking up with her boyfriend. Girls could be territorial like that. I wasn’t about to tell her all my deep dark secrets. I didn’t trust her with that sort of information.

  “Finally someone popped Noah’s cherry,” Ally hooted.

  I really wished she’d keep her voice down.

  “Congratulations, Caris. You’ve accomplished what half the girls on the coast tried and failed to do,” Erin said. Like all best friends, they were totally enjoying making me feel uncomfortable.

  “Do we have to keep talking about this in the hall at school?” I scanned the now relatively empty hall.

  “Not if you promise to give us details later,” Ally said.

  “Sorry ladies, I don’t kiss and tell. Enjoy your taquitos.” I spun on my heel, making my way towards the front door and Noah.

  “Not as much as you’re going to enjoy yours,” Ally called after me.

  I smiled to myself, knowing she was right.

  * * *

  My first instinct upon seeing Noah leaning against his Bronco was to run, not walk, and throw myself at him. But some moments were meant to be savored, and I intended to enjoy every delicious bite of this one.

  Noah was the quintessential golden boy. Nothing dark and brooding about him. As open and fresh as a bright sunny day. I loved every inch of his golden, brown skin. The way the breeze fingered through his sun-streaked hair, lifting it from his shoulders, the more blond strands around his face setting off his green eyes. The way he stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, watching me, acting like he wasn’t enjoying the anticipation of our first touch, our first kiss in what felt like weeks, as much as I was. And maybe that’s what I loved the most. Knowing he was just as crazy about me as I was him.

  I stopped in front of him, an arm’s reach away.

  “Hi,” he said with a ghost of a smile, kind of like he knew I was trying to draw this out as long as possible.

  “Hi.” I held tight to my bag when my hands wanted nothing more than to grab his face and pull it to mine.

  “How was school?” His eyes dropped to my mouth and lingered, arms falling to his sides.

  “I failed my calculus test,” I said absentmindedly. With Noah’s eyes on me, I didn’t care anymore.

  “Sorry.” His mouth quirked in a told-you-so slant. Noah was rather anti-education, at least the kind that came from textbooks and involved sitting in a classroom. He was more into real world experiences. Like saving people’s lives.

  “How did the operation go?”

  “Found one of them alive,” he said, averting his gaze. He uncrossed his legs, one bare toe scrapping the ground. “The other one drowned before I could get to him.”

  “Noah, I’m sorry.” Here I was bummed over a calculus test and some loser jerk that wasn’t worth my time. “It wasn’t your fault they weren’t wearing life jackets. You did all you could.” I had no doubt about that. Noah took these operations seriously, and when he perceived he failed, he took it personal.

  “I know. It just seems like such a waste.” He reached for me then, cupping my jaw in his hand. I turned my face into his palm and kissed it, cherishing the strength of his touch.

  “I missed you.” His hand slid from my jaw to the back of my head, fingers twining in my hair.

  “I missed you, too.” I swayed forward like a sea oat arching in the breeze.

  “Come here,” he said, guiding me through the final step that brought me flush against him. His lips brushed over my cheek and his arms engulfed me. The scent of the Deep covered his skin like one of Maggie’s lotions. A rich, decadent smell that spoke of his time in the salt water, the depths he’d been forced to go. It was enticing and fueled my craving.

  “You smell so good.” He buried his nose in my neck, his tongue darting out for a quick taste, turning me around so my back was against the Bronco.

  “Funny, I was just about to say the same about you.” I pushed gently on his chest, and when he lifted his head, our eyes locked. “How about we get out of here.”

  He gave the door handle a quick tug. “Get in.”

  I crawled into the seat, tossing my book and purse in the back. I immediately reached for the bo
ttle of water waiting for me. I gulped through half of it by the time Noah made it into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

  “What’s in the bag?” A Tom Thumb sack lay on the dashboard. He’d developed a habit of bringing me candy when he picked me up.

  “I thought you might need something to cheer you up.” He reached over, grabbed the plastic sack, and tossed it in my lap. “Besides me.”

  “School is not that bad. You act like it’s prison.” I opened the bag and smiled. Sour gummy worms.

  “Same difference.” He cut his eyes at me as I tore into the package and crammed a gooey worm in my mouth.

  I sat back in the seat, kicked off my sandals, and spread my toes, letting my webs breathe. I put my feet on the dash, looking through the smear of toe prints on his windshield left from previous times I’d ridden with him. I’d gone out with a guy a couple of times. A forgettable guy who gave forgettable kisses. I remembered his truck, mostly because he was so in love with it. The first time I’d put my feet on his dash, he freaked out like I’d just keyed the paint or slashed the tires.

  Noah didn’t mind my feet on his dash. He didn’t mind my toe prints smeared on his windshield. Or if he did, he didn’t say anything. He always brought candy and sometimes doughnuts. He never let me get thirsty. All in all, he was way too good to me.

  I doubt I would feel this melancholy if I weren’t so sleep deprived. If I hadn’t almost died last night. I had this overwhelming urge to crawl into Noah’s lap and have a good cry. He’d probably sit there patiently if I did, run his hand over my hair and whisper sweet words in my ear. I swallowed my gummy worm and the sudden lump in my throat along with it.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked. It would be so easy to unravel under his smooth voice, the feel of his fingers in my hair.

  “Nothing’s wrong. You’re just really sweet and I’m not sure I deserve you,” I managed to say without my voice cracking.

  “It’s just candy.“

  “It’s way more than candy. Thank you.”