by Nancy Holder
She nodded.
“You buy a set of gym clothes from the office yet?”
“No.” She was kind of glad Mrs. Walker had forgotten to sell them to her. She really wanted just to be by herself for a bit. After only one class period, she was feeling overwhelmed. She wasn’t ready to undress with a bunch of girls she didn’t know yet.
“Then you can sit in the bleachers and watch today. Get some gear for tomorrow.”
“Okay, thank you.” She offered the man a small smile, then headed into the gym, relieved to be excused from participation.
It was still raining. She could hear it beating down hard as she sat on the bleachers and took in her surroundings. It looked a lot like the gym back in Santa Monica—though, she supposed, all gyms probably looked alike. Basketball hoops towered above the shiny varnished floor. Banners were draped on the walls. YOU’RE IN TIMBERWOLF COUNTRY. GO, TIMBERWOLVES! She thought about the saint and his pet in the window. Banjo Land certainly had a theme—wolves, wolves, and more wolves. She’d have to tell Kimi.
Gradually, boys and girls started trickling out of the locker rooms, a handful stretching out, doing sit-ups. The uniform was simple—white shorts, gray T-shirt with a wolf’s head silk-screened on it.
Cordelia appeared, plopping down on the floor, extending her legs, and making a halfhearted effort to touch her running shoes. Her fingertips only grazed her shins. She glanced up at Katelyn and made a little face, then stopped trying altogether and yawned.
“I’m too tired to do this today,” she said.
“Wonder why?” a nearby boy said, snickering. Katelyn looked at him. He had brilliant red hair, redder than Cordelia’s, but his blond eyelashes and upturned nose gave him a piggish look. He was a hulk. The king of the banjo men.
“Mike, honey, I’d appreciate it if you would keep your snorts to yourself,” Cordelia said sweetly.
“Ooh, touchy.” Mike gestured to Cordelia. “C’mon over here and make me, honey.”
Face darkening, Cordelia made a show of ignoring him. Mike rolled his shoulders and grinned.
“C’mon, Fenner.”
Something flashed across Cordelia’s features and she balled her hands into fists. Katelyn blinked, a little startled. Cordelia’s entire demeanor had changed.
But before the confrontation could escalate, Coach Ambrose appeared with a clipboard, pen, and stack of handouts. He blew a sharp blast on his whistle and looked down at the clipboard. “Okay, today we’re starting our section on strength training and balance. You’ll do a series of exercises and record your numbers for comparison against your numbers three weeks from now. Here are your forms.”
He set the handouts on the ground, along with a few pencils. “Let’s start with sit-ups. Everyone grab a partner.”
“I’d like to grab you,” Mike whispered loudly at Cordelia. The coach didn’t hear him, but some of the other students did. Three or four boys snickered, and Katelyn heaved a sigh. Jack-holes.
Cordelia’s jaw was clenched as she paired off with another girl, dark-skinned with gold fingernail polish. They took turns being the one to do the sit-ups and the one who anchored the other’s feet. They had to do as many as possible in the time allotted and Katelyn noticed that Cordelia seemed to be one of the fastest in the group.
“Grab your knees, Cordy,” Mike whispered at her. Again, Coach Ambrose seemed oblivious.
A number of other exercises followed, including pushups and jumping jacks. Students began to drop off, but Cordelia kept going, face grim. She was clearly the most athletic girl in the room. Banjo Boy Mike was the winner among the guys.
“Okay, we’ll finish with chin-ups,” the coach said.
The students each took a position beneath a long horizontal bar and then jumped up to it, hung for a moment, and began to lift themselves until their chins cleared it. Then they would lower themselves and repeat. A couple of girls couldn’t do even one and most of them dropped out after four. The guys began to quit, too.
Katelyn looked on, feeling detached, then glanced down. Her cell phone was vibrating. She’d forgotten to turn it off, but no one but her could hear the telltale buzz.
A text from Kimi had come in. It was a picture of her and Jane, one of the girls they knew, in bikinis at the beach. They were wearing feather boas and had blacked out some of their teeth. They were holding a sign that read BEVERLY HILLBILLIES!
The message attached read OK, we r Santa Monica hillbillies but u get the idea. Good luck first day! XO K/J.
It was incredibly sweet but it tore her apart inside. Kimi and Jane. Kimi had told her that she and Jane had hung out most of the weekend. As much as she wanted to be happy for her best friend that she was having fun and making the most of things, it still hurt to see Kimi having fun without her.
She forced herself to text an LOL and then turned off her phone.
Cordelia and Mike were the only two left on the chin-up bars. As they kept going, the rest of the class started chanting for their favorites, and Katelyn was quick to notice that no one seemed to be crossing gender boundaries. All the guys rooted for Mike, while all the girls called encouragement to Cordelia.
“C’mon, Mike, kill ’er!” one of the guys shouted. “Timberwolves!”
Half the guys in the room erupted into wolf howls, throwing back their heads. The girls followed suit, and the room shook with the noise. School spirit at its finest.
Sweat drenched the front of Mike’s T-shirt. Cordelia’s face was shiny, but the rest of her wasn’t even damp. Then suddenly she blinked as if she’d just woken up, and looked first at Mike and then at the rest of the class. She scowled, hard, as if she was angry about something, and dropped to the ground in a squat. The girls cheered and applauded, racing to Cordelia and helping her up. Katelyn got up off the bleacher and trotted over to congratulate her, impressed at how strong Cordelia was.
The guys began to howl again. Mike did one more chin-up, glancing down at Cordelia, then pulled another. Then he, too, let go, plopping onto the mat with a wobble. Though he was shaking from exertion, he let loose with a howl of his own.
“Okay, good job, guys. Now hit the showers,” the coach said.
The students began to swarm toward the locker room doors, but Cordelia stayed where she was, catching her breath. Katelyn gave her a little fist bump, and Cordelia wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.
“Whoa,” Katelyn said.
“Yeah, I guess I got a little carried away,” Cordelia murmured sheepishly.
“Carried away?” Katelyn echoed. “You were kicking his—”
“Shhh.” Cordelia stopped her as Mike and some of the guys sauntered over.
He adjusted his gym shorts suggestively, his smile fierce and mean. “See, Fenner, men are stronger than women.”
“Yeah, well, odor isn’t everything,” Katelyn said before she could stop herself.
The guys around Mike started cracking up, and Katelyn realized the mistake she’d made. A guy like Mike would not enjoy being laughed at. Face reddening, Mike took a threatening step forward, and she felt the blood drain from her own face. Before Mike could do anything else, though, Cordelia was between them, a hand on Katelyn’s arm.
“Let’s go,” Coach Ambrose said to the group at large.
Mike hesitated, and Katelyn’s pulse quickened. He wouldn’t really try to hurt her, would he? Over that?
“Mike, c’mon,” one of the other guys said, this one with startling dark black eyebrows.
“New girl,” Mike said. “New bi—”
“Shut up, Mike,” Eyebrows said before he could finish.
Mike glared at Katelyn. Then he turned and loped away. Katelyn didn’t realize she was trembling until Cordelia let go of her.
“Don’t mind him,” Cordelia said, her voice a little shaky. “Don’t mind any of them. You know how they are. Jocks.”
“Brain-dead jocks. We didn’t have any of those back in Santa Monica,” Katelyn deadpanned, and Cordelia smiled at her. Katelyn ho
ped Cordelia hadn’t realized that he’d really scared her.
“Be right back,” Cordelia promised, heading for the locker room.
Katelyn looked around for the teacher and saw that he was still watching. He would have stepped in and done something if things got out of control, wouldn’t he? She shuddered, wishing she was convinced he would have. She tried to shrug it off, telling herself that it was just her imagination.
True to her word, Cordelia returned to the gym in what seemed record time. Even more incredible was that she still looked perfect, right down to her hair and makeup.
“You barely broke a sweat,” Katelyn said accusingly, surprised. “You let Mike beat you, didn’t you?”
Cordelia turned red and looked away. “No.”
“Yeah.”
Smoothing back her hair, Cordelia smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Well, I don’t know what it’s like in California but out here men have fragile egos. It’s best not to shatter them or they get all kinds of crazy.”
Katelyn shook her head. “You don’t strike me as the type to be cowed by zombies. And how are you so strong?”
There was a beat. “I used to be a cheerleader,” Cordelia said. “Last year.” Her voice grew breathy, a little wistful. Katelyn knew that tone. Her mom had spoken like that whenever she’d talked about performing on the stage.
Katelyn wanted to ask Cordelia why she’d quit, but the other girl seemed to pull into herself. Her shoulders were hunched, and she cast her eyes downward. Her body language was screaming that she wanted the topic left alone.
Cordelia pushed open the gym door and they joined the bustle in the main hall. Thunder rumbled outside and lit up the stained-glass window of the saint and the wolf.
“I’ll try to introduce you around,” Cordelia said suddenly. “But … the girls are still pretty mad at me for quitting the team. We didn’t make it to nationals this summer. Because of me …” Her voice trailed off again.
“Please, don’t do anything that puts you in a bad spot,” Katelyn replied, both touched and intrigued by Cordelia’s confession.
“It’s okay. Friends will help you … blend in,” Cordelia said.
As nice as Cordelia was being, Katelyn still couldn’t imagine blending in. Wolf Springs wasn’t exactly what she’d expected, but Santa Monica it was not. I’m not staying. I’m not, I’m not, I’m not.
“Anyway,” Cordelia said, clearing her throat as she changed the subject, “we should work on picking out a history topic. I’m free tomorrow afternoon.” A flush crawled up her neck. “I could come over to your place.”
Katelyn didn’t like being at her grandfather’s cabin and didn’t relish the idea of inviting someone over, especially not when she had an excuse to go somewhere else.
Cordelia picked up on her hesitation. “Oh,” she murmured, fretful again. “Um, I’m sorry—”
“It’s just … I’m not sure of the house rules yet. And we live a million miles away from here,” Katelyn explained gently.
“You do? Where?” Cordelia asked, cocking her head to the side.
Katelyn was surprised she didn’t know. Didn’t everyone know everyone around here? And from what Trick had said, she’d gathered that the town loved their gossip.
“I don’t even know. I live with my grandfather. Mordecai McBride.”
“Oh, yeah, he’s way out in the sticks,” Cordelia said. “I didn’t put you together with him.” She smiled weakly. “Should have with the last name and all.”
Thunder boomed above their heads as they strolled down the hall together. Katelyn smelled food. Lunch was being prepared. The school day was both dragging and racing by, the same as the days after her mother’s death.
“We should get together, though,” Katelyn assured her. She didn’t want Cordelia to think she didn’t want to hang out with her. Just not at the cabin.
Cordelia caught her lower lip between her teeth and got quiet. Then she nodded. “You’ll come to us, okay? My place.”
Katelyn hoped it would be all right with her grandfather. But before she could say anything, Cordelia rushed on.
“Yeah, it’ll be okay,” Cordelia said, more to herself than to Katelyn. “Just ignore my sisters if they’re over. They’re both crazy. And Justin’s still gone. So the coast is clear.”
Cordelia’s demeanor had intensified. She was tense to the point of edgy. The invitation wasn’t a straightforward one, that was for sure.
“I’ll need to check,” Katelyn said. “We could go to a coffee shop or something.” That would be nice. She hadn’t seen anything of downtown except on the ride in, and it would be neutral territory.
“Oh, no, my house will be fine,” Cordelia insisted. And before Katelyn could argue, Cordelia gave a little wave and darted down the hall. Katelyn watched her go and smiled as the dark-skinned girl with the gold fingernails caught up with her. Katelyn was feeling protective of her. Cordelia seemed sad, almost frightened.
But what does she have against Trick?
Katelyn spent her lunch buying her gym clothes and getting some more of her textbooks. After lunch was art.
She walked into a small room crammed with wooden tables coated with splashes of paint and was hit by the smell of turpentine and newsprint. Paintings and collages hung all over the walls, and framed prints of famous pieces by Monet, Picasso, and Chagall sat on wooden stools against a chalkboard. Rain spattered a large picture window, where a girl wearing a gray Timberwolf sweatshirt stood facing Katelyn. The girl smiled at her and walked away, giving Katelyn a clear view of the senior parking lot.
Trick was outside, standing with a man who was wearing a suit and holding an umbrella. Or rather, the man was standing and Trick was pacing, bareheaded, flailing his arms. He was too far away for her to see his face, but it was obvious that he was angry.
“Oh, my God,” a girl with chestnut curls cried as she sailed into the room. “Someone slashed Trick’s tires!”
“What?” the girl in the sweatshirt squeaked. “Again?”
By the time she was heading home that afternoon, the sun was setting. It had taken a while to straighten everything out with Trick’s car and to get replacement tires. He tried to joke about it, but she knew if it had happened to her, she’d be pissed and scared. And she’d seen him in the parking lot and seen how angry he was. She tried to ask him about it—who’d done it, and whether it had anything to do with the court trouble—but like Cordelia, he deflected her questions.
“So this is life on the wild side,” she said, feeling bad for him.
“Oh, yeah. It doesn’t get much wilder.” He rolled his eyes, but it was clear by his clenched jaw that the lightheartedness was a front.
“I’m sorry about your car and everything.”
He shook his head and glanced toward the sky. “I’m more worried about getting you home before dark.”
She knew now why that was. Haley—Trick’s … what? his girlfriend?—had been wandering around in the forest by herself when she’d been killed. Katelyn had assumed it had been an animal, but what had Beau been implying in history class? With a shiver, Katelyn thought of the scratching at the door.
She followed Trick’s gaze. “I hate to tell you this, but we’re not going to make it.”
He gripped the wheel tight. “I know.”
“It’s cool, though. You called my grandfather and told him we were going to be late.” It was true; she had heard Trick make the phone call. She was grateful, because she’d realized she hadn’t bothered putting Ed’s number in her iPhone.
“Unfortunately, it’s not cool,” she heard him mumble.
“I’m sure he understands,” Katelyn said. “I mean, you didn’t plan to have your tires slashed.”
“Oh, yeah, he understands,” Trick said, biting the words off.
The road twisted and wound and she watched as trees streaked by, the last light of the sun making them glow. Then it was gone and the trees became shadows, leaning toward the car, branches occasionally il
luminated by Trick’s headlights. They didn’t look nearly as friendly as during the day. She felt like she was in the Snow White ride at Disneyland and at any moment the trees would come to life and try to grab her. Kimi always said Katelyn went for drama.
The road narrowed to one lane and she wondered what cars did when they arrived at those stretches from opposite directions. Then again, there probably weren’t enough cars that came this way for it to be a real problem.
She continued to stare outside as she waited for her eyes to adjust. But even after a couple of minutes, she still couldn’t see anything not directly illuminated by the headlights. The darkness was complete, impenetrable. We’re all alone, she realized. There were no other cars, no house lights, nothing. There were just the road, the tree branches that stretched for them as they went by, and them.
She shivered. What if something happens to the new tires? What if the car breaks down? Fear began to creep into her mind as she strained even harder to penetrate the darkness around her. Maybe it made sense to be so cautious. She glanced at Trick and wrapped her arms around herself, wishing she could laugh off how silly she was being.
Suddenly, as they rounded a tight turn, she saw Trick’s face change. She caught a glimpse of something in the middle of the road; then he was shouting and swerving. The car fishtailed and Katelyn screamed and braced herself against the dashboard.
And as soon as it had started, it was over. They came to a skidding halt.
“Don’t look, Kat,” Trick ordered.
Of course she looked; just inches from the front bumper, a deer was sprawled across the road, its eyes frozen, blank, dead, and wide in terror. Dead! She looked away, her stomach tightening, and thought of the heads on her grandfather’s wall. Someone must have hit it.
Still, she heard herself ask, “What happened to it?”
Trick didn’t say anything.
The deer’s body blocked the road; the closely spaced trees on either side made it impossible to go around. Exhaling raggedly, she turned to Trick and saw the muscles in his jaw working. He glanced up at the pitch-black sky and muttered under his breath.