Embrace

by Cherie Colyer

  I sighed. I should really be reading too. I opened the car door and got out. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  As soon as Kaylee pulled away, I regretted not taking her up on her offer to have Josh call Isaac. I unlocked the front door and stepped inside to find Chase sitting at the bottom of the stairs, shoes and baseball cap on.

  “Hey, squirt.” I tugged on the brim of his cap. “Where’s Dad?”

  “In the kitchen, talking to Officer Zimmerman.”

  “Let me go say hi, and then we’ll go to the park.” I dropped my backpack on the floor in the foyer.

  Chase nodded.

  Officer Zimmerman’s voice drifted out of the kitchen. I stopped in the hallway and listened.

  “Never seen anything like it. Coroner’s been asked to re-examine the body. Make sure nothing was missed the first time around.”

  “They think there was foul play?” Dad asked.

  “Won’t know until the report’s in, but it would explain a few things.”

  “I thought she died in her sleep. Joe, she was in her nineties.”

  “And as spry as a woman in her fifties, until recently,” Officer Zimmerman retorted. “I was one of the first on the scene when the center called. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, her being as old as she was, but the veins in her face and arms created a roadmap just under her skin. With what people liked to say about her…” There was a pause, then Officer Zimmerman added, “Do us both a favor and keep your kids inside. Okay?”

  “Sure,” Dad agreed.

  After a few seconds of silence, I took the last few steps into the kitchen. They sat at the table, two open cans of Pepsi in front of them.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Madison.” Officer Zimmerman inclined his head in way of greeting. “How’s school?”

  “Good.” I smiled and looked at my dad.

  “Well.” Officer Zimmerman stood and grabbed his hat off the table. “I better get going.”

  I raised my hand in a half-wave goodbye. As soon as I heard the front screen door close, I asked my dad, “Was he talking about Mrs. Lawson?”

  Dad opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. The owner of his own business, he never drank before going to paint someone’s house. I knew then that whatever it was had my dad worried.

  He chugged half the bottle. “They found a suspicious area in the woods not far from where you kids like to get together. It looked like someone was sacrificing animals or something.”

  “What does that have to do with Mrs. Lawson?”

  The news reporter had said she was found in her room, not outside in the middle of trees.

  “Detectives found a locket that belonged to her in the brush. Mrs. Lawson’s nurse said she never took it off.” Dad finished the rest of his beer. “I want you to be careful who you’re hanging out with, you got that?”

  “Sure.” It wasn’t a hard promise to make; I was always with Kaylee when I was out. “Dad, no one was hacked up or anything, were they?”

  “Joe couldn’t say much, but I don’t think so.” Dad grabbed another beer. “I’m going with you and Chase to the park.”

  “Won’t that put you behind schedule with your clients?” October was one of my dad’s busiest seasons because that was the time of year people realized their house really did need a fresh coat of paint before winter.

  “You let me worry about that.”

  I almost told him that if he was going to take Chase to the park, then I would stay home and do homework, but I didn’t. I got the feeling he needed to be with both of us for a little while.

  In the short time it took us to walk the three blocks to the park, I had convinced myself I’d hear from Isaac before dinner, but he didn’t call or text me. I checked caller ID on our house phone as soon as we got home, in case he called there instead of my cell. Nothing. I kept both phones near me the rest of the night. He never called.

  Isaac didn’t call Tuesday either.

  By Wednesday, I was ornery and working hard not to take my bad mood out on Kaylee.

  “Josh said he’s been busy helping his parents,” Kaylee told me on the way to English. “I bet if he knew you wanted to see him again—”

  I blocked the classroom doorway. “Don’t you dare tell Josh to have him call me.”

  “Madison, you’re being ridiculous,” Kaylee whispered back. “Just call him, then.”

  “I don’t want to come across as desperate or a pest or obsessive.” I turned and walked into the classroom.

  Kaylee followed so closely behind me that she stepped on the back of my Converse sneakers twice. When I turned to tell her to be careful, she hissed, “It’s been three days. Wait a couple more and the only thing you’re going to come across as is uninterested.”

  “Ugh!” I sunk into my seat. She was right, which annoyed me. I really wanted Isaac to call me. I wanted him to be thinking about me as much as I was thinking about him, which was obviously not the case or he’d have tracked me down on Monday. “Fine. If I don’t run into him by the end of the day, I’ll call him.”

  “Good,” Kaylee said, “because you’re driving me nuts.”

  “Whatever,” I mumbled.

  I took a different way to my second period Food class, hoping I’d run into Isaac and save myself from having to call him. I was almost to the classroom when I saw him. Even with his back to me, I recognized his olive green jacket. He was talking to Paige.

  Damn her. Why did she have to go after Isaac?

  The worst part was she was laughing—it looked sort of sinister to me, but since I hated her I probably shouldn’t have passed judgment. I’d never really taken a good look at Paige since she’d changed her look, but the black clothes, pale face, and dark make-up worked for her. Her skin was smooth and her eyes big. I still preferred the shy, plain-looking girl I used to know, though, the one who had actually been my friend.

  Isaac leaned in closer to her and said something I couldn’t hear. She listened, wetting her lips.

  Oh! If he kisses her!

  I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep from screaming in frustration. The corner of Paige’s mouth rose to a smirk.

  Kaylee was right; the only thing I was coming across as was uninterested. I’d given Paige three days to move in on the guy I liked. I was such an idiot. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I fought to calm my breathing. I couldn’t break down and cry in the middle of the hallway. Not where Isaac would see me. Not in front of Paige. I ducked into the nearest classroom as Paige stepped around him.

  “You know where to find me,” Paige called over her shoulder as she walked by my hiding spot.

  I didn’t notice the twenty-some sets of eyes watching me until the bell rang. I feigned a smile and mumbled an apology to the teacher of whatever class I had just interrupted. As embarrassed as I was, I didn’t rush out of the classroom. I peeked first to make sure Isaac wasn’t still standing by the lockers.

  I wasn’t even sure if I had a right to be mad or jealous or whatever I was. Isaac and I had spent a day together. That didn’t make us exclusive. I tried to remind myself that he’d only met a few people in Gloucester. Who was to say he wouldn’t meet other girls he’d want to date?

  For one, me!

  I couldn’t have imagined his interest in me, could I? Maybe he brought girls to his house all the time, invited them into his bedroom, and kissed them. Maybe he hated how I kissed.

  I so wasn’t making myself feel better.

  And I was late now. I didn’t think the morning could get any worse.

  As soon as I walked into Foods it did.

  “Madison,” Mark whispered and waved me over to the table he was sitting at. “I saved you a seat.”

  “Thanks.” I dropped my backpack on the floor between us.

  Mrs. Sheppard continued her lesson as if I hadn’t walked in late. Something smelled like day-old garbage or some sort of really strong spice. I hoped we weren’t making anything with onions or garlic.

  “You lo
ok terrible,” Mark whispered a little too happily. “Bad morning?”

  I exhaled loudly. This was the fourth time this week I’d been late to one of my classes. It was only a matter of time before the school called my dad to inform him of my poor attendance. Dad would freak and no doubt lecture me on how I was ruining my good attendance record or drone on about how I needed to be more responsible. The guy I liked wasn’t as into me as I was into him. And I looked like hell. Wonderful.

  “I have a headache,” I said to Mark.

  Mark nodded, and I realized that awful smell was coming from him.

  “Are you wearing cologne or something?” I asked.

  Mark’s pudgy cheeks flushed red, nearly hiding his freckles. “It’s new. Do you like it?”

  “Um, yeah,” I lied, not wanting to hurt his feelings.

  Mark sat up a little straighter, and I noticed that his button-down shirt had deep creases—the sort that come right out of the package. “Want to hang out Friday? We could see that new movie.”

  I should have seen that one coming. He had saved me a seat. He was wearing cologne. He had put on a new shirt. I was blind, as Kaylee so elegantly put it the other night.

  “Thanks,” I said sincerely. “But I can’t Friday.”

  I offered him an apologetic smile before turning my attention to Mrs. Sheppard. Did Mark know Isaac and Paige were dating? Was I the only one that had missed the news? The thought of Isaac looking at Paige the way he had looked at me had me close to hyperventilating. I nearly fell off my seat when Mark touched my arm.

  He waited patiently, and I had the distinct feeling I’d just missed something.

  “What?”

  “How about Saturday?” Mark fidgeted with his pencil as he waited for my answer.

  “Thanks. Really,” I said, “but—”

  “You don’t like me that way,” he finished for me.

  It was true, I didn’t like him that way, but I didn’t want to be mean and come right out and say it.

  “Mark, you’re a really nice guy, but we’re friends, and I wouldn’t want to ruin that.” I could have hit myself in the head for giving such a lame excuse, but it was the best I could do on short notice. And it was true. Then it occurred to me: “Aren’t you dating Emma?”

  “We broke up.” His eyes went to his lap, and his shoulders slumped forward. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a thin silver chain. He placed it on the table in front of me.

  “I’d like you to have it. No strings, just friends.”

  I picked it up and studied the black onyx. It was set in an intricate silver knot. I ran my finger over the stone. It was beautiful.

  “Mark, I can’t—”

  “I don’t want it back, and I spent too much money on it to just throw it out. Please. You’d be doing me a favor by taking it.”

  He looked so sad. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. I slipped the long silver chain over my neck. “I’ll hold it for you. Um, maybe we can see a movie another time.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them. “As friends,” I added, hoping he’d understand.

  Mark spent the rest of the period glancing at me every few minutes, which I might have been able to ignore if I wasn’t stuck in the same kitchen unit as him.

  And we made French onion soup. There should be a limit to what we are expected to cook before nine o’clock in the morning.

  The rest of the day I kept my head down and made a beeline for each classroom. I didn’t want to see Isaac making yet another girl laugh or Mark, who would be expecting me to say yes to the next time he suggested we hang out.

  The end of eighth period couldn’t have come soon enough. Kaylee found me at my locker.

  “Hi,” she said. The word gushed with excitement. For a second I wanted to trade places with her so that I could be that happy, but then she added, “We have to hurry.”

  “Hurry where?” I asked. I was too upset to hurry anywhere if it wasn’t home to my pajamas and a pint of mocha-almond-fudge ice cream.

  “Our first Harvest Festival meeting, of course.” When I didn’t jump for joy, she added, “Madison, I told you we had a meeting today.”

  “No, you didn’t. Kaylee, I want to go home.” I stomped my foot for emphasis.

  “You promised.” She stared at me with big round eyes that I really needed to learn to say no to.

  “Okay,” I conceded and held my arm out to the side. “Lead the way.”

  “Thank you.” She beamed. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”

  Unless she was somehow going to make this meeting as exciting as planning an escape to someplace fun, I highly doubted she’d be able to make it up to me any time soon—not with how screwed up my day had turned out to be—but whatever.

  She looked at the black onyx charm hanging around my neck. “Where’d you get that?”

  “From Mark. It’s a long story.”

  Kaylee stepped in front of me, mouth set in a straight line and eyebrows raised.

  I’d just agreed to go to a meeting I didn’t want to be at; I shouldn’t have had to explain my accessories too. However, I could tell Kaylee had no intentions of budging until I did.

  “We’re just friends.” When her eyes grew wider in disbelief, I added, “I’m just holding it for him.”

  “Uh-huh.” She picked up the stone and examined it. “It’s pretty.”

  I gathered my hair in my hands and smoothed it to one side. I went to slip the necklace over my head. “Here, you wear it.”

  Kaylee placed a hand on mine before I could get the thing off. “Yeah. I’d love to, after the meeting. We’re late.”

  The committee consisted of eight students and two staff members. The desks had been pushed aside and several chairs moved to the center of the room to form a circle. The others were already seated and talking among themselves when we got there.

  It didn’t surprise me that Natalie Parker and Lauren Richards were there. Natalie, a petite girl with dark brown hair and a pixyish face, was about a head shorter than Lauren, who couldn’t have been taller than five-foot-four in heels. Paige was there too, of course. Her mom was one of the staff on the committee. Sarah Johnson, my second oldest friend (Kaylee being my first), made six. Sarah and I didn’t hang out like we used to when we were young, but I knew I could count on her whenever I needed her, just like she knew she could count on me.

  I grabbed Kaylee’s wrist when I saw Mark and Ben. “Why didn’t you tell me they were on the committee?”

  “Because I just found out this morning,” she whispered back. “They must have signed up after I did. Do you believe Mark likes you yet, or do you need more proof?”

  “Shut up.”

  The last two seats were between Natalie and Mark. I practically knocked Kaylee over in my haste to get the seat next to Natalie.

  Mrs. Parris, a middle-aged woman with a small prim mouth and thick ankles, clapped her hands together, and silence fell around us. “Now that everyone is here, I would like to get started. The first thing we have to figure out is how much money we’ll need.”

  Sarah raised a dainty hand. When Mrs. Parris inclined her head, indicating for her to go ahead, Sarah tucked her shiny blond hair behind her ears. “We should be able to re-use most of the decorations from last year.”

  “Ben and I can help with that,” Mark offered.

  Mrs. Parris nodded, her hands neatly folded in her lap as she listened. Mrs. Osborne straightened her navy jacket, tapped the point of her pen to her tongue, and jotted notes in a tan planner with an expression much too serious for a meeting about scarecrows and hot dogs.

  Sarah continued, “And I bet we can get Mr. Hoffman to give us a good price on cornstalks and bales of hay.”

  Lauren spoke up next. “Maybe we could have a bake sale this year. It will help raise cash for future events. We can put up fliers. I bet the Food class will participate if we asked them.”

  Then everyone started to jump in with suggestions. I even managed to forget my
problems for a few minutes, and to my surprise, being stuck in the same room with Paige wasn’t as bad as I would have thought it would be. For the first time in weeks, she was friendly to everyone. It was toward the end of the meeting when I started to think there might be a reason she was so happy. What if she was dating Isaac? It wasn’t until that moment that I actually believed it could be true. My stomach tightened, and I wanted to be sick. Her eyes met mine, and the corners of her mouth rose into a wicked smirk. The fingers of my right hand curled into a fist.

  Mark reached over Kaylee and placed a hand on my arm.

  “Are you okay?” he whispered.

  I forced a smile and nodded in reply.

  Paige’s smile disappeared as her eyes fell to Mark’s hand on my arm and then to the chain around my neck. The weight of the stone pressed against my chest bone, and I found myself turning my head to look at Lauren, purposely making my hair hide the necklace.

  Shortly after that, Mrs. Osborne and Mrs. Parris said we had made enough progress for one day.

  Kaylee and I followed Natalie, Lauren, and Paige out of the classroom. Josh was waiting in the hallway with Isaac, who looked even better than he had on Sunday. First thing that came to my mind was, Finally, he tracked me down, but then I realized he might not be waiting for me. My heart, which had twirled excitedly in my chest just from seeing him, slammed into a wall of ice.

  I wasn’t sure Isaac would be happy to see me. Maybe he was there because Josh was and not because he was looking for me. The image of Isaac and Paige huddled together in the hall replayed in my head in enhanced 3D. Had Paige asked him to meet her here? I slowed my pace as Isaac’s velvet brown eyes scanned those leaving the meeting. His expression hardened when he saw me, or maybe he was looking at Paige, who was a step ahead of me. I nearly ran into her when she stopped walking. Isaac’s eyes closed for the briefest of moments as his head moved ever so slightly from left to right. I would have sworn I heard Paige say, “We’ll see.” Then again, having your heart smashed against an iceberg can make you imagine things.