"So if Morris is right," I babbled breathlessly. "Are we looking at some kind of weird global warming crisis, or weird meteorological, um, cataclysm, or something?”
"What kind of cataclysm?" Haley murmured with a playful gleam in his eyes and began dropping kisses along my jaw.
"The m-metorlgicl cat-calysim," I stammered, stumbling over all the syllables as his kisses moved down my throat. "Snow in September. Everything's dying."
His lips instantly stilled against my skin, and he lifted his head to look down at me, a different kind of passion burning in his gaze.
"That's the way of things in nature," he said quietly. "Everything dies."
"But, it comes back in the spring!"
"The same leaf never returns to the sun."
"But it's the same life, um, life force that makes it all grow again. Different leaf, same plant, same sun."
"Yes, but there’s also the force that makes everything end. Nothing has a beginning that doesn’t have an end."
"Wait, how did we start talking about this?"
"You're worried about a meteorological cataclysm?" he reminded me, smiling and tracing the lines of my eyelids with his fingers.
"Right. What do you think?"
"Hmmm. I think Morris is very close to something very real.”
“Oh, that’s perfectly clear. Solves everything. Thanks.” Wildly in love or not, getting riddles for answers still left me irritable.
“Morris is correct that the weather is behaving unusually,” Haley said, leading me over to a log and sitting us both down on it. “He’s looking in the wrong place for the reasons for it.”
“You mean he shouldn’t be looking at AccuWeather? Or NOAA or whatever?”
“I mean this doesn’t have anything to do with meteorology.”
“But…but, it’s weather.” I felt silly for making such an obvious statement, but if weather didn’t have anything to do with meteorology, then what else was there?
Haley remained silent, looking down at my hand clasped in his. He seemed just as frustrated as I was.
“Can you tell me what you think the cause of the weather is?” I hazarded finally.
“No.”
“Oh.”
“Not directly, I can’t.”
"Can't or won't?" I demanded, tingles of foreboding shivering in my heart and toes. I folded my arms and began to pace.
"Can't."
"Well, at least you would if you could, so I guess that’s something. But what about you and Zack, and all my questions earlier?"
"I can’t actually tell you that directly, either."
My irritation faded at the desperate, forlorn look on his face. I leaned my head on his shoulder and sighed.
"Whatever's wrong, Haley," I said. "I can try to help you figure it out and fix it, but I honestly suck at solving puzzles. I never figure out mysteries before the end of the book."
"I have absolute faith in you," he stated, wrapping me in his arms. "You will figure everything out. You have come so far. You’re closer than you know.”
His vote of confidence didn’t really do much to pull me out of my pout, but he kissed my frown lines smooth and smiled down at me.
“We should go back," he murmured. “Though, I don’t suppose you’d consider just running away with me.”
“Someone has to keep Helen from murdering Zack,” I replied.
“Why?” He made the question sound genuine, and I laughed.
He kept his hold of my hand as we turned and walked back toward the school.
“Speaking of Zack,” I said after a few minutes.
“Do we have to?”
“Why did Zack tell me to talk to you and try to get answers from you? Was that just an excuse to get me to talk to you?”
Haley’s grin grew broader, and he threw back his head and laughed. “Let’s just say that my brother is a romantic at heart.”
“That’s not helpful!” I groaned.
His laughter settled, and he kissed the top of my head. “On the contrary, it has been…very helpful.”
As we walked, the mist grew thinner and dissipated all together as we emerged onto the soccer field. I glanced back at the woods, and there was no trace of the beautiful, isolated world where Haley had kissed me. The woods themselves seemed thin, empty, and ordinary.
I hadn't been lying about my inability to solve mysteries. The only thing I had going for me was that I was determined and had good instincts about things, but that wasn't saying much. I needed to have a pitilessly logical, cool, practical brain and a practically genius-like level of knowledge about science and meteorology. Neither of which was going to happen for me. But for someone like...
Helen. And Morris. The two most logical beings on the planet.
"I need to go find Helen and Morris," I announced, blinking rapidly and slipping my hand from his as we reached the parking lot.
"Oh?"
"Yes. Very important."
"Really?"
"Yes. Meteorological cataclysm thingy."
"Ah."
Entering the gym lobby, we saw Mr. Applebee waiting. My step faltered, but Haley put his hand on the small of my back and kept me walking forward with him.
"And where have you two been, Miss Starr, Mr. Smith?" he intoned, obviously enjoying flexing his disciplinary muscles. "This looks rather bad for you, Mr. Smith, after yesterday's violent attack."
Caught somewhere between wanting to cry and wanting to pee, I looked nervously at Haley. I didn't want to get in trouble, and I really didn't want him to get into trouble. Not again.
Haley smiled sardonically at Mr. Applebee, who started to turn a strange shade of pinkish purple.
"We haven't been anywhere except in our classes," he replied smoothly, and maybe it was my freakovision, but I could have sworn his eyes had little points of light dancing in them.
Mr. Applebee's eyes began to roll back, and I tensed to catch him in case the man was having a stroke or a heart attack or something.
Haley chuckled and nuzzled my hair, but I noticed he kept his eyes locked on Mr. Applebee. Up close, I could definitely see tiny, bright white flecks in Haley’s black eyes. I couldn't tell where his pupils were or the shadings of his irises. It was like looking at a night sky, full of stars.
Mr. Applebee made a strangled noise and went completely stiff.
"What was that?" Haley asked calmly, his thumbs lightly rubbing my waist through my shirt. "I'm sorry, but I didn't hear you. Were you looking for us?"
"N-no," Mr. Applebee croaked, his eyes and tongue starting to bulge.
"Then we'll be leaving. No need to trouble you further. Is there?"
Mr. Applebee shook his head mechanically, and Haley shrugged and looked away. The man's body went slack and then he coughed, straightened his tie and walked away, looking completely normal.
"What..." Words failed me as I spun around in his arms. "What was that?"
He smiled enigmatically at me.
"Oh, wait," I huffed. "This is part of what you can't tell me."
His smile widened a fraction.
"Got it, but let me tell you that if that's real mind control mojo, I'm officially freaked out. Wait, I was freaked out already. Consider this a high anxiety amendment."
He laughed and kissed my forehead.
"Neat trick, though," I mused, toying with a button on his shirt as he kissed the top of my head. "That’s how you got out of being suspended, isn’t it.”
He chuckled, and I took that for a yes.
“I wondered how you did that,” I said. “I wish I could.”
"You can, if you wanted to."
Startled, and I looked up at him. He shook his head to indicate he couldn't say more. He released me then nodded at the clock above the gym doors.
"It's time for lunch," he said. "Go on, I'll meet you there."
He must have noticed my slight hesitation at the memory of the last time he promised to meet me at lunch because he grinned and said, "I'm getting our things
from the classroom. Don't worry. Nothing and no one is going to keep me from you, princess. Not now. Never ever."
***
I did not want to run the gauntlet of Gaggle and Goons by going in the front doors of the cafeteria, so I took the long way around and down a back staircase.
Hurrying over to where Helen and Morris were sitting, I saw Helen toying with a Hot Pocket, and Morris was eating a roast beef sandwich. Thank goodness some things were still normal, even though they were both bundled up in coats and scarves.
Helen looked up at me as I plopped into my seat.
"What the hell is going on?" Helen demanded.
"You look, uh..." Morris added.
"But, mostly, what the hell is going on?" Helen said, crossing her arms.
Grimacing, I took a deep breath. This was going to be very hard and very...embarrassing. But, it had to be done.
"So, here's the deal," I said. "A lot has been going on, and a lot of it is...weird. Really weird. I'm going to tell you everything I know, and you need to listen and not ask questions until I'm done, because you know me. I will get confused and inevitably forget something really important. Got it?"
Helen and Morris nodded.
I told them everything: the changes in my eyes, Mom's strange behavior, Haley's turning the locker to ash, the flowers dying too fast, Zack's trick with my combination, my dream about those voices in the void, and Katie Jones' cryptic comments—all of them. I blushed a LOT when I got to the part about Haley kissing me in the woods, but I told them everything.
Morris’ mouth fell slack when I mentioned Haley's assessment that he was right about the weather being significant. Helen's expression was more guarded, and she was frowning, which was usually a Prelude to Brilliance, a brilliance I was counting on.
Finally, I finished, and I hugged myself tightly as I was still shaking from both the cold and the totality of all the weirdness in my life.
"I can't believe it," Morris muttered to himself, seeming stunned. "I actually got something right for once."
I couldn't help but smile a little bit at that, but Helen wiped the smile right off my face.
“I’m not even sure what you’re asking about,” she said flatly. “Are you trying to figure out why your mom is acting weird? Or why the weather is crazy? Or, if Haley and Zack have some kind of strange abilities? And, what does any of this have to do with each other? It seems all unrelated and mostly circumstantial.”
“Correlate your data points, though,” Morris said. “And, you have to admit that it starts to look like something more than just coincidence. Especially since all the stuff started happening at basically the same time.”
“Maybe,” Helen conceded. “But, why can’t Haley and Zack tell us anything? The only logical reason I can think of is that they’re involved in something with the law, and there’s a gag order on them or something like that.”
“Witness protection?” Morris suggested.
“Whatever. It can’t be good in any case.”
My heart sank.
“So, there’s nothing we can do?” I asked, my voice sounding as small as my hope.
“Did I say that?” Helen demanded. “I don’t think I said that, did I, Morris?”
“Not that I heard,” he replied. “Besides, if something really is going on with the weather that could affect Darbyfield, shouldn’t we figure this out?”
“Right. So we’ll just start figuring all this out, one thing at a time.”
"So...you guys will still help me?" My voice cracked slightly with desperation.
"Of course!" Helen exclaimed as Morris made positive noises around a mouthful of sandwich.
"Witnessed and attested to," I said with a relieved grin of my own.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
"HEY! THE PARTY can start now! I'm here!" Zack announced, appearing out of nowhere with a tray laden with food. He took the chair next to Helen and grinned at her. She pointedly ignored him.
I stared at the food on his tray. He had a cheeseburger and fries, macaroni and cheese, pizza, chocolate cake, cheesecake, a large soda, and a banana.
"Are you going to eat all that?" I asked.
"Absolutely!" Zack replied.
Haley slid into the seat next to me and shook his head, depositing our bags on the floor.
"What?" Zack said, looking at his brother.
"Not subtle," Haley replied.
"But, I love food!"
"We're supposed to be trying to fit in."
"Hey," Helen interrupted acidly. "Sorry to interrupt the bromance, but we have some work to do here. So, either help us or shut up."
"I love it when a woman takes charge," Zack said, propping his chin on his hand and gazing adoringly at her.
Haley scooted his chair so that it was right next to mine and slipped his arm around my waist, dropping a slow kiss on my cheek.
"No," I said, pulling away slightly. He looked at me, puzzled. "Not here in front of everyone in the cafeteria, um, if that's okay?"
"Soon, princess," he promised darkly. "You won't care about what anybody else thinks."
"What does that mean?" Helen demanded, irritably shrugging off Zack who had casually stretched his arm out along the back of her chair.
Haley grimaced.
"Oh, I totally got this one," I said, jumping in and throwing Haley a quick smile. “The answer is that he can't tell you.”
"I got that much," Helen said curtly, but I knew better than to be offended by her In Hot Pursuit of Answers demeanor.
She rounded on Zack.
"I get that there's a lot of you," she snipped. "But would you mind confining your bulk to your own chair? Or at least your own personal space?"
"Bulk?" Zack blinked disbelievingly. "This is all muscle!"
"Are you in trouble with the law?" Helen asked, turning back to Haley.
"Absolutely not," he replied with complete confidence.
"We are completely innocent,” Zack said.
"I wouldn't go that far," Haley said drily, with a wry smile.
“In the eyes of the law,” Zack amended.
"Holy crap!" Morris exclaimed, and Helen and I jumped in our seats.
"What is it?" Helen cried.
"This is horrible!" Morris gasped. "I mean, it's amazing. But, it could turn out to be horrible!"
"What?" I demanded.
"I can't believe they did this," Morris muttered, looking around the back of the cafeteria. He caught Zack's eye, and Zack winked. Morris shook his head.
Helen thrust her hand out over Morris' sandwich, an uncapped green highlighter clenched in her fist.
"Morris," she announced calmly. "Tell us now, or the sandwich gets it."
"It's all over Tumblr," Morris said, finally. He turned to Zack. "Why did you do it?"
Zack grinned and used the excuse of talking to Morris to lean into Helen's personal space again.
"I thought it would be more interesting this way," he said.
"What would be more interesting?" Helen's hand wavered precariously close to the bread.
Morris looked at me and spoke.
"The Homecoming king and queen nominations. Zack dropped out. It's Haley and Jordan now."
My stomach fell into a deep, dark puddle of dread.
"Wait," Morris said. "There's more. It looks like everyone from the back of the cafeteria has started a write-in campaign for you to be homecoming queen. Apparently the fight yesterday made you a poster child."
“I thought Jordan might enjoy a little competition,” Zack said with a smirk.
Now, it was my turn to look blankly around the back of the cafeteria, and I saw that everybody was conspiratorially huddled around their phones, tablets, and laptops. There was a wild, new energy buzzing in the usually stale air back here.
Pings now started rolling down the rows of the cafeteria as everyone got the tweets, texts, and Tumblr posts. There was an avalanche of whispers and nervous nods.
I began to cringe as the beeps and pings m
oved further, past the Goons and to the edge of the Jocks and the Gaggle. I winced and buried my head in my hands, waiting for the inevitable in 3...2...1...
Screech from Jordan.
***
The next few hours were incredibly unpleasant. I was practically being tattooed by everyone's stares, even the nice ones. In a sense, feeling embarrassed and uncomfortable at being the center of attention was a good thing. It kept me from obsessively worrying about all the other really important problems I was supposed to be dealing with. Being the write-in candidate for homecoming queen wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to me, but it was definitely unsettling. While having everyone finally see me as something more than the nerd in the back of the cafeteria, their surprise that I could even be considered a possible match for someone like Haley was more than a little disconcerting.
It didn’t help that all I wanted to do was to see Haley again, to feel his arms around me, to experience the bliss of him kissing me. To be completely honest, I wanted his reassurance, too. I wasn’t new to loving hopelessly, but I was very new to being loved in return.
***
Lost in my thoughts, I walked into the library, and immediately, skinny hands with sharp nails grabbed me by the collar and sleeve, and I was yanked down the aisle toward a back corner and slammed against the shelves.
Gasping, I finally got a look at my attackers.
Jordan and Kara loomed over me, their bodies hedging me in, smirking nastily.
"Soooo," Jordan sneered. "I heard you snuck out of the building with Haley."
"Yeah, did you kiiiss him?” Kara cackled. “Did he tell you he loooved you? Are you guys, like, together now?"
“As if he’d ever go for someone like you.”
“I bet you’ve never even been kissed before.”
They snickered in hoarse whispers, and little flickers of angry heat melted some of the ice off my fear. My ears were burning with the habit of humiliation, and their words hurt. But, not as deeply as they hoped or I had feared.
“You would probably gag if someone stuck their tongue in your mouth.”
“She’d probably gag worse if a guy stuck something else in her mouth,” Kara jibed.
My world had gotten just a little bit bigger over the past few days, and I no longer saw my life as an endless prison sentence with the Gaggle and Goons as my wardens. In a few short months, I would graduate, and I’d never have to see Jordan, Kara, or any of the others ever again. Knowing this made it hard to muster up the usual fear and anguish their teasing usually inspired. Instead, I felt detached and almost bored. Maybe even a little annoyed. I had come to the library to get some work done and see if Morris was there. There were other, bigger things going on in my life now, and I just didn’t have the time or energy to be their emotional punching bag any more.
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