Cipher (The Cipher Series)

by Cindi Madsen

  Troy sighed. “This conversation went downhill quickly. I don’t think I’m doing a very good job of cheering you up.

  “I can feel it. Things are starting to change. And I don’t think it’ll be for the better.” She might be able to handle all the crap at school if she could just make better progress with Ashlyn and her mom. If she didn’t feel like she was failing at everything.

  “Come on,” Troy said a few minutes later. “I’m not done trying to cheer you up yet.” They walked back down the sidewalk the way they’d come, toward Troy’s Jeep. The sun had disappeared behind the clouds, the temperature dropping without its warmth. Summer slipped on her hoodie, glad she’d brought it. The streetlights lit up downtown, and she scooted closer to Troy as they approached his Jeep.

  He reached into the back and took out two skateboards. He placed one on the ground in front of her. “Hop on. Unless all your months away have ruined your skills.”

  “What skills? I never had any skills to start with.” She put a tentative foot on the board and slowly pushed off.

  Troy eased ahead of her, and she followed. He went slow for her—she knew because she’d seen how fast he usually rode. They rolled down the sidewalks, weaving in and out of people, until they reached the park.

  A few familiar figures greeted them as they neared the fountain.

  “I heard you’re having a bad day,” Ashlyn said, shooting Summer a sympathetic smile. “Troy texted me and told me to get the gang together. Said you might need a pick-me-up.”

  Nelson raised his digital camcorder. “I’m ready.”

  Troy kicked up his skateboard and caught it. “This is how I first met these guys, by the way. Nelson makes movies to put up on YouTube, and he wanted to get a few skate stunts filmed. He saw me riding outside of school one day and asked if I’d be interested. Ashlyn rides, too. So Nelson films, and Aaron and Darren help with calculations.” He gave the twins a charming nod/grin combo. “Although human error often skews the results, right guys?”

  Darren raised a finger. “Yes, our calculations are not at fault. Math never fails. But it’s like that saying of too many cooks spoiling the broth. If you add too many variables, even a computer won’t be able to compute the infinite possibilities.”

  “Wow, good to know,” Summer said, though she had no idea what it was supposed to mean. She glanced from face to face, noticing one was missing. “Where’s Marcie?”

  “Marcie only hangs with us at lunch,” Ashlyn said. “Her parents don’t let her go out much. She’s got like eight brothers and sisters, so it’s school, and then home to help take care of all her siblings. It’s one of the few times I actually feel glad to have the mom I do.”

  Summer felt like she should say something, like maybe make a positive statement about Pamela. Nothing came to mind, though, and she wanted to forget about her troubles, not think about her job.

  Ashlyn hopped on her board. “I say we try by the fountain until someone yells at us.”

  Summer pushed off, rolling after Ashlyn and Troy. When she picked up speed, she teetered, barely catching herself from falling. Dang, I’m rusty.

  She, Troy, and Ashlyn skated around the center of the park. Summer’s trick was to stay on, while Ashlyn and Troy did real, far cooler tricks, like kick-flips and rail slides. Nelson had his video camera up, filming them as they rode.

  “I’m going to go do another rail slide,” Ashlyn said, skating toward the set of stairs.

  Summer wobbled and worked to steady herself. “I’ll just be here in the flat part, trying not to hurt myself.” She skated after Troy as he made another circle around the fountain.

  They were going down a slight incline, when Troy unexpectedly stopped in front of Summer. “Hey, we should—”

  “Watch—” Summer barreled into Troy, unable to stop in time or finish her warning. They went down hard, landing in a tangled heap on the unforgiving cement. Her breath was still somewhere in the air above her, and she heard her skateboard still rolling on without her. “Ouch.”

  In her attempt to dive right, she’d landed on her side, and her hip and knee throbbed. She rolled onto her back with a groan.

  Troy’s face appeared over her. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine, all except for my pride.” She sucked in a breath as she propped herself onto her elbows, gravel digging into her skin. “How about you? I crashed into you pretty good.”

  “I’ve had much worse.” Troy jumped to his feet and extended a hand to her. She let him pull her up and then looked down to assess the damage. The denim over her knee was ripped open, and the exposed skin had a bloody scuff on it. It stung, but there was something cool about it, too. Like it was reminding her that she was still alive and doing something she forgot she loved. Not that she needed anymore battle scars tonight. “I should probably take a break before I break something. Or someone.”

  “Let’s go sit for a few, then.” Troy grabbed both skateboards and tucked them under his arm. He wrapped the other arm around her waist. She almost told him she didn’t need his help, but he was warm and he smelled good, a beach-y scent with a hint of citrusy goodness. Her knee was stiff and not very happy about moving as they made their way over to the fountain.

  Summer lowered herself onto the ledge of the fountain with a sigh, and Troy followed suit, letting out a sigh of his own. He put his hands behind him and leaned back on his palms, the muscles in his arms flexing. With his dark, messy hair and the stubble starting to form on his jaw, he looked tougher than he used to when he constantly bleached his hair. But then there was his constant, easy smile. The delicious mix of good and bad boy had her pulse suddenly skidding out of control. She knew she should stop looking at him, thinking those kinds of thoughts about one of her best friends, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. He was the same guy as always, yet totally different in a lot of ways.

  Darren came over and pointed at Troy’s disregarded skateboards. “Mind if I use yours for a few minutes, Summer?”

  “Be my guest,” she said.

  Darren hopped on and started messing around, skating back and forth across the area. Even though he was wobbly, she was impressed by how many of the basics he had down.

  Troy shifted forward and his knee rested against Summer’s. All the blood in her body seemed to rush to that one spot. “So?” he said.

  “So,” she echoed. The breeze sent her hair across her face and she swiped it off her face and tucked it behind her ear.

  Troy opened his mouth, but then his gaze flicked over her shoulder. She heard a skateboard approaching and glanced in that direction.

  Ashlyn rode up to them, kicked up her board, and sat next to Summer. “It’s been a long time. I came so close to face-planting that last one. Pulled it out last minute, but still got my palms pretty good. She held them up, and, sure enough, they had little bits of skin hanging loose.

  “Still, I’m impressed. Yet another thing you’re awesome at,” Summer said.

  “Mother says it doesn’t count as exercise because it’s got wheels,” Ashlyn pressed a hand to her chest. She was wheezing again, her breaths coming out shallow and fast. Summer knew that Ashlyn hated attention drawn to it, so she didn’t say anything, but she was going to keep her eyes glued to the girl until her breathing normalized again.

  “Watch out, dude!” Nelson shouted. He had his camera up, filming Darren as he rolled toward the large, cement stairs.

  “Stop, Darren,” Troy said, tensing up beside Summer. “The stairs are right—” He jumped to his feet, but it was too late.

  Darren rode backward over the edge of the cement steps, disappearing from view. His yell tore through the air. Then everything fell silent.

  They all sprinted toward the stairs. Summer gasped when she saw Darren’s body crumpled at the bottom, eerily still.

  Ashlyn threw her hands over her mouth. “Darren!”

  Ignoring the pain in her knee, Summer rushed down the stairs with the rest of the group. Blood oozed from the back of Darr
en’s head, and the streetlight lit up his pale, pinched face.

  Oh holy crap. Summer crouched next to him. Dying from a skateboarding incident would be unlikely, but Darren wasn’t the sturdiest of kids to begin with. Bracing herself as much as one could when death was involved, she slowly reached out and touched his arm. Nothing. She went ahead and wrapped her entire hand around his arm. Still, no visions came, and she let out a shaky breath.

  Darren blinked up at her. “I think my brain’s coming out the back of my skull. I heard it crack open. If I move my head, my brain will slide out, I just know it.”

  Troy flipped out his phone and started dialing, and Aaron knelt down next to his brother. Summer shucked off her hoodie and held it against Darren’s head wound, trying to stop the blood, hoping it was the right thing to do. “Don’t move okay,” she said. “You’re going to be fine.”

  “My wrist hurts really bad, and I’ve got the chess tournament coming up. How am I going to play speed chess with a broken hand?” With his left hand, he reached back to where Summer held the hoodie and slipped his hand between the fabric and his head. “Why does it feel so wet?”

  He brought his hand back to his face and screeched at the blood covering his fingers. “I do one crazy thing in my life and now I’m going to die. There’s so much I haven’t done. I’m too young to die!”

  Summer gripped his hand and locked eyes with him. “Darren, listen to me. You’re not going to die.”

  He looked unconvinced, fear etched across his features.

  She squeezed his hand tighter. “You’re a math guy, right? I can give you a one-hundred-percent guarantee that you’re not going to die. If you were an athlete, I’d say a hundred and ten percent, but you’re too smart for that. You know that’s impossible as much as I do.”

  “In fact, giving one hundred percent would cause you to die.”

  Summer smiled. If he was still alert enough to give out mathematical facts, he should be okay. “That’s right.”

  “So how can you be sure I’m not going to die?” His eyes focused in on her, and they looked clearer this time. A good sign.

  “I get a sense about these things. Just trust me.”

  “Mom’s going to kill both of us.” Aaron pulled out his phone. “I guess I better call her, too.”

  Summer squeezed his hand. “You hang on, Darren. Help’s on the way.” She glanced up at the rest of them through the hair the wind kept blowing in her face and noticed someone was missing. “Where’s Ashlyn?”

  ***

  The lights from the ambulance lit up the area, and several people gathered around to see what was going on.

  Summer remained glued to Ashlyn’s side, afraid to take her eyes off her. For those few minutes she didn’t know where Ashlyn was, or if her breathing had returned to normal, she’d panicked, thinking the worst. Apparently she’d run up the stairs to try to find help.

  Now they both watched as the paramedics loaded Darren into the back of an ambulance. He needed stitches and most likely had a broken wrist. The paramedics assured everyone he’d be fine but said they’d probably want to observe him at the hospital overnight to see how bad the concussion was.

  Ashlyn steepled her hands and brought them to her lips. “Mrs. Devlin looked so worried.”

  As luck would have it, Aaron and Darren’s mom had already been downtown. She’d shown up shortly after the ambulance had. Seeing an opportunity, Summer said, “Moms are like that. Always worried about their kids. I guess we should give them a break sometimes.”

  Ashlyn’s shoulders slumped. “My mother would rather me have a heart attack exercising than accept me at what I weigh now.”

  “That’s not true. Besides, you’re fabulous just the way you are.”

  “I don’t think so, but thanks for saying it anyway.”

  Troy walked up before Summer could say anything else about moms or how awesome Ashlyn was. “So, that was a little more fun than I bargained for.” He put his hand on Summer’s back. “Come on, Sunshine. I better take you back to the school to get your car.” He glanced at Ashlyn. “Need a ride, Ash?”

  Ashlyn shook her head. “I’ve got my car. I’ll take Nelson home and see you guys later.”

  “Wait,” Summer said. Even though she and Ashlyn had never hugged, she just went for it. No weird visions. Her breathing was normal. And, well, when Ashlyn squeezed back, it was hard to convince herself to let go. “See you tomorrow.”

  On their way back to the Jeep, a cold breeze kicked up, sending goose bumps across Summer’s skin. Troy put his arm around her and tucked her in next to him. “I’ve got a jacket in the car. Sorry yours got ruined.” He ran his hand up and down her arm. “You were really great with Darren tonight. You calmed him down when he was about to freak out.”

  “I just had to speak a little math lingo.” Images of the night flashed through her head. Pizza, skateboarding with her friends, the crazy ending. “Now that everyone’s okay, is it bad to say that I had a good time?”

  “I think even Darren’s going to like re-telling the story. If he can get over his chess hand being busted, anyway.”

  Summer looked at Troy’s hand on her arm—the long fingers, the fat silver ring he wore on his index finger—and tingly butterflies erupted in her stomach. She glanced up at him and found his green eyes looking right back at her. Her heart thudded in her chest. All day she kept seeing him in a different light. But she was still fresh from a breakup, and she had too much other stuff going on her life to even consider the possibility of her and Troy being more.

  Right?

  Curled up against him, though, she felt safe and warm, the worries from earlier today so far away now. Realizing she was staring, she decided she should say something before she simply started drooling, or some other equally cool thing. “Um, so your plan worked. I’m successfully cheered up.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Thanks.”

  Troy tightened his grip and his lips brushed her temple as he spoke. “Anytime, Sunshine. Anytime.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Things between Summer and her old group of friends got progressively worse with each passing day. Practice was a battlefield. Girls glared, insulted, and made it clear how much they didn’t want to be around her.

  “Nice moves,” Kendall said to Summer as she gathered her stuff. Only the way she said it didn’t seem like a compliment. “Looks like you’ve been putting a little too much effort into being a nerd and not enough into dancing.”

  Something inside of Summer finally broke—that last shred that cared about salvaging her friendship with Kendall. Her getting-walked-over-days were over as of now. “I was on with the rest of you.”

  “You call those spastic movements on? Maybe you were on beat, but you looked ridiculous.”

  Summer lowered her voice and leaned in. “Kendall, why are you doing this? It doesn’t have to be this way.”

  “Why do you think? You made your choice, and your choice was to snub me, so yeah, it does have to be this way.”

  “I didn’t snub you. I still want to be your friend. Not as much now that you’re being such a…” Summer clenched her jaw and shook her head, barely catching herself in time.

  “A what?” Kendall asked. “Go ahead and say it.”

  “Fine. A huge bitch!” Summer had intended to hold it in, no matter how hard Kendall pushed, but apparently her mouth didn’t get the memo.

  The girls all around gasped in horror. Kendall’s nostrils flared as she narrowed her eyes on Summer. “Did you guys know that Summer scrapes most of her clothing from the bottom of an outlet clearance bin? All her shoes are knock-offs.”

  Summer rolled her eyes. “Really, Kendall? Who gives a crap about that stuff?”

  “Outlets are icky,” Lexi said.

  “I think it’s dumb to pay ridiculously high prices, when you can get it for cheaper somewhere else. In fact, I don’t even care about name-brand stuff.”

  “Because you can’t afford it,” Kendall said.

&n
bsp; Shouldering her bag, Summer faced the circle of girls that had gathered behind Kendall. “Did you ever think that there are more important things than name-brand clothes and perfect hair?”

  Kendall shot her a smile that was all ice, not even a hint of warmth to it. “That’s what poor people with frizzy hair say.”

  I give up. Biting back all the retorts she had ready to fire off, Summer headed toward the gym’s exit, making sure to hold her head high.

  “Are you just going to run away now?” Kendall asked. “Don’t act like you’re above all this. You’ve sat gossiping with me tons of times. Lexi, Summer thinks you’re a malicious gossip with nothing better to do than discuss other people’s lives. And Georgia, Summer said that your dance moves are rubbery and awkward looking.”

  Summer swiveled back, mouth hanging open. She shouldn’t be surprised. A few months ago, Kendall had pushed Alyssa out of the group because she’d had the nerve to disagree with her. Summer had been naïve, thinking it wouldn’t happen to her. Thinking that she and Kendall were too close. And instead of helping Alyssa, Summer had watched it happen, just like the rest of the girls were doing now. The entire team glared at her, shaking their heads and acting like they’d never said anything bad about anyone in their lives.

  Kendall had made most of the derogatory comments when she and Summer had their gossip sessions, but she doubted anyone would believe that now. Besides, she’d joined in. Guilt mixed in with the rage heating her veins.

  Kendall stepped toward Summer, a smug look on her face. “Don’t bother coming back. We’ll find someone to fill your spot.”

  “You can’t throw me off the team,” Summer said. “You can be mean and judgmental, say whatever you’re going to say about me, but I’m here to stay. I can dance as good as you, if not better, and I won’t be pushed around.”

  Summer pushed out the gym doors, hoping the loud noise would give her the same satisfaction it had before. She wanted to feel strong. Proud that she’d just stood up for herself.

  But all she really felt like doing was breaking down and crying.