The knob twisted under my fingers and was jerked out of my hand as the door flung open in front of me. Ryland grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to him, burying his face in my hair. He cradled me against his strong chest, his hand wrapped around my waist as the other smoothed my hair. As his hand moved its way up and down my back, I found my breath slowing, the panic melting away.
“Shhhhh… it’s okay, Jos. Just breathe; I’m here.” I wrapped my arms around him as I came back to myself.
He moved me away from him; his hands never left my shoulders as his thumbs moved over the skin on my arms. I looked up at him in nervous anticipation, but his eyes didn’t leave mine. He didn’t look at what I wore; he didn’t appraise my uncovered body; he just stared straight into my eyes with a passion I had never seen before.
“You’re beautiful.” His hands trailed down my arms, their warmth leaving a trail of goose bumps behind them. He intertwined his fingers with mine for a brief second before leaning down, his lips brushing against my hair.
“Your eyes, they are just like diamonds.”
I shivered at his whisper, his voice lingering in my ear. He squeezed my hand before dragging me off to the kitchen where my mom sat, still in her robe. At the sight of me, she dropped her doughnut. Her face screamed pure joy; it almost felt like she was sending me off to my first day of kindergarten.
“Oh, Joclyn, it’s beautiful.” She cupped my face with her rough kitchen hands. She was crying, and I felt like crying to. I had given her what she wanted, her dream. If only for three days, I was giving her that beautiful little girl she had always wanted. And deep down inside, I knew I wanted to be that too.
Chapter Nine
I didn’t want to get out of the car. Who would? It was nice and warm, the leather of the seats, soft and cozy. Ryland had turned the radio down low and he had his hand on my knee, thumb caressing me in a comfortable way. I scowled at the large red school in front of us.
“Maybe I didn’t think this through enough,” I said.
“What do you think they will do, more than just notice you, I mean?”
I turned to glare at him; I wasn’t in the mood to go over my fight with Cynthia just yet. His hand moved from my knee to trail up the pale skin of my arms, leaving another row of goose bumps behind.
“That would be enough to ruin my day,” I tried to laugh but it didn’t come out right; my panic made it sound more maniacal than I had intended.
“Honestly, Jos, did you think I would feed you to the wolves?” His eyes sparkled as he reached behind my seat for a large wad of fabric.
I recognized the fabric as a hoodie and I couldn’t help the smile that spread over my face. I untangled the mass of fabric to reveal a bright blue jacket with a small stamp of Whittier Prep’s crest on the chest. Ryland shifted in his seat and began to help me pull the sweat shirt over my head, careful not to let it run against my sleek braid. As it moved over me, I caught the strong pleasurable smell that was so Ryland, grass from endless hours on the Rugby field and some sort of heavy smoke, not like the smoke of a drug user, but that heavy wooden smell like a million bonfires or fireworks.
“Thanks Ry.” I looked up at him and gave him my biggest, goofiest grin, all the while chanting in my head: only friends, only friends…
“Anything for you, sweetheart.”
Only friends, only friends.
His hand moved up to cup my face, his thumb trailing along my jaw and I froze, my mind went blank. It was only when he began to move closer that my brain went into overdrive.
“I’ve got to go.” It took all my strength to pull my face away from his touch, to move out of the warm comforting interior of his Lotus. My heart screamed at me as I pried myself away, desperate to get back to him. I closed the door behind me and leaned against it for much longer than would have been natural. When I heard his dark chuckle from inside the car, I moved away and began walking toward the school.
“Hey, Jos.”
I turned to his voice, his body leaning over the passenger seat and out the window so he could talk to me.
“Ryland,” that came out a bit more stiff than I intended.
“I’ll be here to pick you up right after school.”
I nodded at him and began walking again. I only made it about two steps before he stopped me again.
“And Joclyn, the sweater’s a gift, another piece of me, okay?” He winked at me, his blue eyes flashing. My eyes were glued to his for a minute before he tore away, speeding off in his car.
I continued toward the school, my head buzzing in an odd swarm of happy mosquitoes. Nothing made sense; Ryland had sat at my kitchen table less than a week ago explaining that the necklace didn’t mean anything, but since then he has been trying to kiss me. And then all the gifts, like he was saying good-bye. My heart thudded as I crossed the street making a beeline to Wyn who was in a heated conversation with someone tall who stood with their back to me. I was determined to get over the weirdness so we could keep working on our friendship; after all, I would need her after Ryland left.
Wyn’s voice raised a bit, the frantic tone increasing as I moved closer to her. She was so engrossed in her conversation that she didn’t even see me step right up next to her.
“I’m not going to do that! Can you imagine how that would ruin everything? You would be making me start all over again.” I ignored her comment, and looked toward the man standing across from her. My heart seized in an uncomfortable fear. The man who had been following me around campus stood right there, his bright blue eyes burning into mine. Now that I was close to him, I couldn’t help but notice how familiar his eyes were, like I had seen them somewhere before. My mouth just hung open in a sterilized panic I couldn’t quite bat away.
“You know him?” I rounded on Wyn after my brain clicked back into place. She knew him. I mean, she stood here talking to him.
“Who?” Was she joking? He stood right here.
“Him! My Stalker.” I motioned toward him, my heart falling into my stomach to see him staring at me with an amused smile on his face.
“Hello, Joclyn.” He spoke smoothly, his voice laced with some deep throaty accent I couldn’t place. His deep rumble vibrated through me, sending a shiver up my spine.
“Oh, great! You could have at least told me she saw you; I told her you were a janitor!” Wyn’s voice sounded almost hysterical as she shrieked out. The tall man turned toward Wyn, staring down at her. Wyn bowed her head, her lips moving in some form of apology I couldn’t understand before lowering in an unmistakable curtsy - that wasn’t normal.
“Will someone please explain to me, what’s going on?”
“Joclyn, Ilyan. Ilyan, Joclyn,” Wyn said. “Ilyan is my brother, Jos. And, apparently a big jerk. Sorry, if I knew it was him you kept seeing, I would have told you.” Ilyan turned on her again, but this time Wyn stood her ground. They stared daggers at each other for a minute as if engaged in some form of silent conversation. Definitely brother and sister.
“I’m so sorry if I scared you,” Ilyan began, his accent rolling his vowels in odd ways. “I am working on my thesis concerning high school peer groups and how they affect the grades and future outcomes of children and adolescents. I have been conducting my research here.”
“Ummm.” I didn’t really understand all that just came out of his mouth. “So, not a member of a cult then?” I spoke my thoughts aloud without thinking, and my hand flew to my mouth in embarrassment.
Wyn and Ilyan only burst out laughing.
“No, no cult,” he lilted with a curious half-smile.
I let out a big sigh of relief; good, maybe my dad hadn’t acted on his craziness yet. I couldn’t stop looking at his eyes; they were just so familiar. I kept staring, expecting their mystery to jump out at me. I guess I had been staring for far too long as Wyn cleared her throat beside me.
“So, what are you named after? Ilyan isn’t a very common name.” I spoke the first thing on my mind, hoping to end the rather awkward sile
nce. “Are you named after a king or something; I know Wyn is named after a queen.”
“I guess you could say that,” Ilyan laughed with a rich, happy sound that seeped through me. Even Wyn joined into the joke; I must be missing something.
“What?” I asked, looking between them. They shook their heads in unison, the joke, one they didn’t want to share. I looked away in irritation to see the school grounds devoid of inhabitants.
“Oh, gosh! We are going to be late!” I whisked Wyn away from her brother without even bothering to say good-bye.
We parted ways at Wyn’s locker and I kept running, thankful to have gym, and, hopefully, time to dress down before class began. I ran into the locker room, my heart plunging to see it empty. Even if I dressed and went in, the teacher would make me run the mile. No, thank you. I sat down on one of the many metal benches. I was not getting a very good track record, first two classes yesterday and then gym today. My mom was going to kill me.
I leaned against the locker intending to sleep through the hour long block. For some reason, sitting still caused the smell from Ryland’s jacket to increase. I didn’t move, letting the delicious scent waft around me. What was I going to do about him, or even about me, for that matter?
Without any warning, a vision of our bodies intertwined together filled my mind. His heavy muscular form pushing against me as he wrapped his arms around me in a passionate… what was I doing? I shook my head in frustration, emptying the fantasy from my mind. It was obvious he wanted to kiss me, and I knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I wanted to kiss him. My mom was right; we were both hormone-driven teenagers. But what harm could one kiss do? He was leaving after all; I might as well make the most of it.
I slammed my head into a locker. Even with all my rationalization I still had made my mother a promise. As much as my heart broke, and as many times as I would have to reconvince myself of it, I had to keep that promise. Until heaven and hell broke loose and we could somehow be together, no matter what, I would keep the promise.
My mind jerked out of its heart-breaking reverie as my phone buzzed in my pocket.
How’s the jacket?
I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face.
Large, warm, and very hideable. Thanks.
I tucked the phone in the pocket of the hoodie and leaned my head back again. He must be ditching class, too, because the next message came right away.
Hideable?
It’s a word! I knew it wasn’t, but it should be.
Uh huh… I guess it’s good you are a junior, because you obviously still have some leprosy to deal with ;)
Leprosy? My loud laugh echoed around the walls of the locker room. I covered my mouth, scared I would get caught ditching gym.
Spell check! I meant learning
Right, and I’m the one who needs extra ‘learning’? It took a long time for him to reply, by the time he did, students were already making their way back into the locker room, so I stood and made my way out of the room before I was discovered.
Be warned, we are doing pie tonight.
Pie.
We hadn’t done pie for months. Although it wasn’t as cool as it sounded; “pie” simply involved taking a chocolate crème pie, my favorite, up the canyon and hanging out at the fire pit. Normally I would be excited for pie, but right now, it just seemed like a bad situation that would end in forbidden kissing. My heart sputtered and my stomach swooped. I would keep my promise to my mom. I had to.
I can’t, there is no way my mom will let me. I typed as I slid into my desk in my next class.
I’ll take care of your mom, she will let you, don’t worry.
It had taken quite a bit of compromise to get permission for the movie on Saturday; I doubted it would happen. But then, she had already gotten me into a regular old T-shirt.
I can’t. I have lots of homework. I lied, knowing he would see right through it.
Why are you avoiding me, Jos?
I stared at the screen much longer than I should have; class had already started and I wasn’t paying even a scrap of attention. What could I say to him? It wasn’t like I was doing it on purpose. There was just so much I couldn’t tell him, no matter how much I wanted too. There were so many times I wanted to kiss him, to let him kiss me, that I couldn’t. Just being his friend was going to be harder than I thought.
Fine. We’ll do pie.
I put my phone away and attempted to focus on class, ignoring the continual buzzing from my pocket. My next classes passed in quick succession. I worked hard to finish as much of my homework as possible. My phone stopped buzzing as I slipped into my normal spot in the cafeteria, content to disappear for the rest of the day.
“I am so sorry about my brother,” Wyn said as she dropped into the seat opposite me, her tray laden with enough food to feed a group of girls.
“He’s an idiot,” she continued without waiting for me to respond. “If I had known it was him you thought was following you, I would have told you. He’s an idiot.” She repeated and bit into a French fry.
“Hey, I’m just glad to know I’m not going crazy, anymore.”
“Nope, not crazy. He is though.” She rolled her eyes. “Speaking of crazy, what’s with that cult comment?” Wyn raised her eyebrows at me but I just waved her off.
“Just something my dad said once.” She kept waiting for me to elaborate, but I kept staring at my food, hoping she wouldn’t pry.
“Well, anyway,” Wyn began in an odd attempt to break the silence, “can you come over tonight? We never got to watch our movie from Monday, and Ilyan will be home so you can see how non-freaky he is.”
“I can’t. I’m doing pie with Ry.” I said. I was sad I couldn’t go. As much as I was looking forward to the evening with Ryland, I was still terrified at what might happen.
“Pie? Is that code for something dirty?”
My voice rang out in noxious laughter at Wyn’s comment. I was so happy we were in the middle of the lunch room where no one would notice the noise.
“No!” I said through giggling, “It’s just pie.”
Wyn stared at me in confusion.
“You know,” I prompted, “we get together, we eat pie, and we talk.”
Wyn sighed as if that was the stupidest thing she had ever heard.
“We have done it for as long as I can remember. When we were little, it was just a way for him to get away from his dad, and we would hide in the bushes behind the pool.”
“How romantic,” she grumbled.
“Not my boyfriend,” I reminded her.
“So you hung out in the bushes with a boy who may or may not be your boyfriend?”
I decided to let that one slide.
“I was six and bushes were cool.”
“Well, if I ever see a cool bush, I’ll point it in your direction.” Wyn gobbled up a handful of fries in an obvious attempt not to laugh at her bad joke.
“Gee, thanks. Anyway, once he figured out how to drive and steal the Aston Martin, we started going up the canyon, which is where I’ll be going tonight.” Not to have a make-out session with my best friend, I reminded myself.
“So, you’re going up the canyon to have pie with your boyfriend…”
“Not my boyfriend,” I grumbled.
“Whatever. So you’re going up the canyon with Ryland to eat pie. What a romantic date.”
“It’s not a date either, Wyn.” She stared at me as if waiting for me to admit it.
I shook my head at her in frustration. No matter what she thought, this was not a date; it was only pie, which was still part of the problem.
“Well, how about tomorrow night, then? We could even make it a sleepover!” I had never had a sleepover before, and the idea got me excited, but, I knew with all I had to barter for to get permission for Saturday, and now pie, a sleepover was out.
“I can’t do a sleepover, but I can come over for a movie.”
“And dinner,” Wyn added.
“And dinne
r. We better get going,” I said. “They are supposed to run through Act Two today with the set pieces.”
“Do you think if we write ‘Cynthia McFadden wears boy’s underwear’ on the side of the castle, she would get offended?”
“I doubt it, but all the boys might get in a fight trying to figure out whose underwear she’s sporting.”
“So, still worth a show then?” Wyn wagged her eyebrows at me in excitement. I knew she wouldn’t, but part of me hoped she would. I could do with the laugh today.
It was the first time I would be seeing Cynthia since our bizarre altercation in the hall. After the first day, the terrified stares and catcalls from the students had died down. I hadn’t seen Mr. Ray since then either - which left Cynthia.
I opened the door, expecting the worse. Class had already begun. The actors were already in their costumes, so Wyn and I went right into action. Wyn, Jamison and I moved set pieces on and off the stage, as the cast worked through their lines and blocking. At least once in every line, Cynthia would forget something, giggle like a maniac, and then proceed to mess up the rest of the line. It wasn’t even worth it to mention that I knew to whole show by heart. Hamlet had always been one of my favorites.
I had thought I was in the clear; the show was almost over and the last of the royals were dying rather poorly-acted deaths in the middle of the stage.
“I know what you did, you little freak.” I spun around to face Cynthia, her face almost maniacal in frenzied excitement.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said with as much confidence as I could muster.
“I think you do. You’re a freak. I’m going to find out why, and make sure everyone knows.”
Kiss Of Fire (Imdalind Series) Page 10