Knight Flyers

by Ann McCune

  “I think I’m feeling better. I have a ton of energy today,” I said, looking out the window, excited and nervous to see Shawn. “Are you excited for your trip?”

  “Yeah, it will be fun. I wish you were coming though. You always keep us from doing something stupid.”

  “You could stop them too, you know.” Remembering a hillside, they looked at for an hour trying to decide if they could run straight up it on their sleds. I finally talked them out of it with threats of Flight-For-Life, and the beatings their mothers would give them.

  “They don’t listen to me like they do you. Hey, have you thought about prom?” His sudden change of subject had me whipping my head around to look at him.

  “Not really, I mean it’s not really my kind of thing you know?” Please don’t ask me to go with you, I thought. If I was going to go to prom I wanted to go with someone who I didn’t think of as a brother.

  “Yeah, I think Tommy is going to ask Tracy in some elaborate way at lunch today.” He was twitching in his seat.

  “I don’t understand why people are doing these elaborate things just to ask someone to prom. It’s not like he’s asking her to marry him or something.”

  “I don’t get it either.” Billy was looking more and more nervous.

  I had a bad feeling about this. Oh no, I thought. Was he going to ask me? “I think it falls into the whole fairytale princess thing. A grand gesture and they will live happily ever after.” We were pulling into the parking lot. I had two choices, I could change the subject, or jump out of the moving truck. Jumping was starting to sound good when I saw Shawn and Jo walking toward the front entrance of the school. “There’s Shawn, I hope he shows up for class today we have a test.”

  “We have a test today?” Billy slammed his hand on the steering wheel. “I thought it was next week.”

  It worked. I blew out a breath. “Is it next week? I can’t remember, maybe you’re right.” Billy parked the car and I opened the door as soon as were stopped.

  “Don’t mess with me, Liz. When’s the test?” He got out, slamming his door.

  “I can’t remember now. I’ll have to look at my notebook.” I started walking toward the school, not waiting for him.

  “Let’s go check now. If we have a test, I’m going to have to cram between classes.” He hurried to keep up with me.

  I was pretty sure we didn’t have a test, but then I started second-guessing myself. If we had a test I was screwed too.

  We got to my locker and I pulled out my notebook. I turned to the last page and smiled up at him. “The test is next week.”

  “Thank God.” Billy blew out an audible breath and ran his hand through his hair. “Don’t scare me like that.”

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t remember, concussion brain.” The warning bell rang. “Look I have to get to class, I’ll see you at lunch okay?”

  “Yeah, see you then.” He turned and started walking to his locker.

  At least I had stopped him from asking me to prom, if that was even what he was going to do. I didn’t want to have to tell him no. Maybe my mom was right, maybe Billy had a crush on me. I shook my head, grabbed my math book, and closed my locker. Talking to Shawn was going to have to wait.

  The day dragged. I tried to pay attention in my classes, but I found myself looking at the clock more often than the teacher. When the bell for lunch finally rang, I all but ran to my locker to get my lunch then forced myself to walk to the cafeteria.

  I was so anxious to talk to Shawn I was the first person of our group to get to the there. I took my normal seat and took my lunch out but didn’t start eating. Tracy sat across from me and I held in a sigh. I was hoping Shawn would sit there. I tried to use the Jedi mind trick on her to make her move, but my Midi-Chlorian count must not have been high enough for it to work.

  Billy sat next to me and it took everything I had not to yell at him. Tommy sat next to Tracy and everyone started talking about their plans for the weekend.

  “I think we need to try and get to the summit of Wolfhead,” Billy said before eating a chip.

  “You can’t get to the top of Wolfhead and back in two days,” Tommy said, around a mouth full of food. “I think we should try Rattlesnake Canyon.”

  “We’ve never tried it, and it’s not too far away.” Billy leaned back from the table and thought about it. “Let’s see what Sam thinks, if he’s in then I am too.”

  “What are you doing this weekend, Liz?” Tracy asked, clearly upset that Tommy was going to be gone all weekend.

  “Car shopping with my dad tomorrow, studying on Sunday. What about you?” I took a bite of my sandwich and looked around the room for Shawn.

  “Dress shopping and homework.” She ate a mouthful of her salad. “What kind of car are you going to get?”

  “If everything goes to plan I will have another Wrangler before the weekend is over.”

  “You’re so lucky. I hate driving the minivan.”

  I couldn’t blame her; the minivan was boring, and it wasn’t very good in the snow. I was about to commiserate with her when Jo took a seat next to Tracy.

  “Hey, where’s Shawn?” I asked, feeling like an idiot. “I mean hi, how are you?” Billy looked over at me with his eyebrows raised in question.

  “I’m good thanks,” she said with half a laugh. “He’s making up work for missing class yesterday. I don’t know what his problem was. He was fine one minute then pissed at the world the next.”

  “Have you two been together long?” I didn’t think they were boyfriend/girlfriend, but you never could tell.

  She laughed. “He’s not my boyfriend; he’s more like a brother than anything. We’ve known each other for too long.” She glanced at Billy for a second before looking back at me.

  I smiled and felt instant relief. It was nice knowing they weren’t together. “I know what you mean.” I looked to the other side of me where Billy had gone back to talking to Tommy and Sam about their trip.

  “Really?” she asked, looking confused. “I thought you two were together too.”

  “No,” I said, a little too loudly and everyone at the table stopped talking and looked at me. I ducked my head as I felt my cheeks start to burn.

  “No what?” Billy asked, looking concerned.

  “None of your business,” Jo said, winking at me. “Just girl talk.”

  “I didn’t think Liz was capable of having girl talk,” Tracy chimed in, looking interested. “I thought all she liked to talk about was engines and hunting.”

  “Maybe she just needed the right girl to talk to,” Jo said, sticking up for me.

  “I’m right here.” I looked from Jo to Tracy. “I am a female, Tracy. I like to talk about engines and hunting more than my beauty regime, but I’m capable of talking about other things.”

  “Sorry,” Tracy said, and turned back to Tommy.

  I looked at Jo and rolled my eyes. “Well I’m going to take off. See you later, Jo.”

  “Yeah, see you.”

  I threw my trash away then made my way to my locker. Tracy could be such a jerk sometimes. I had girl talk with her yesterday, about prom. At least I knew Jo wasn’t Shawn’s girlfriend, not that I cared. I rounded the corner to the hallway my locker was in and found Shawn leaning against it. I couldn’t stop the smile that crossed my lips.

  “Hi,” I said as I approached him. Butterflies erupted in my stomach when I realized he was waiting for me.

  “Hey.” He pushed off the locker and moved a few feet away, allowing me to open it.

  “Missed you at lunch.” I twirled the combination on the locker and looked at him from the corner of my eye.

  “Yeah, I had to make up for missing history yesterday.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels.

  I wanted to ask him about my dream, but I was chicken. What if it was all just a dream? I opened my locker. “So . . .” I trailed off. I had no idea what to say.

  “What are you doing this weekend?” he asked.
>
  “Not a lot. I’m going Jeep shopping with my dad tomorrow. The guys are going on a snow-machining trip, and until I get a new car I can’t go back to work. Why?” I closed my locker and we started to walk to auto-shop.

  “Do you want to go out tonight?” His hands were still in his pockets and he was looking at the floor.

  “Like on a date?” I put my hands in my pockets and felt my face turn beet red.

  “Yeah, I promise it will be more entertaining than the padded room.”

  I stopped in my tracks with my mouth hanging open. “It wasn’t just a dream?”

  “It was a dream, but I was there too.” He looked at me through hooded eyes with a smile playing on his lips. “They all were.”

  I hid my face in my hands and groaned. I didn’t know if I had ever been more embarrassed. “That’s an invasion of my privacy you know.”

  “I couldn’t help myself. You intrigued me after our first meeting.”

  “I thought you were a jerk.” I smiled and brought my hands down to look at him.

  “I was being a jerk. It was the first time I got to save someone and I was feeling cocky. When I found you in the classroom I thought you wouldn’t remember me and I wanted to know what it would be like to kiss you.”

  “Well, I’m still alive, so I guess you did a good job. Who was the girl with you the first night?” I remembered her trying to get me to wake up.

  “My sister, Heather, she’s my partner sometimes. We should probably get to class,” he said as the warning bell rang.

  “Are you going to tell me what being a Martröð Veiðimaður means?” I asked, as we started walking again.

  “If you go out with me tonight I will.” Our hands brushed each other as we walked. I blushed at the thought of holding his hand and walking down the hall for everyone to see. I sighed, we hadn’t even gone out yet and I was acting like all the girls I made fun of. Maybe I was missing something.

  “I’ll have to check with my parents, but I don’t see why they wouldn’t let me. What do you want to do?”

  “You will just have to wait and see,” he said.

  “Hi, you’re Shawn, right?” a high-pitched voice called, and we both turned around. Tiffany, a senior, with bleached hair, a push-up bra, and a shirt at least two sizes too small was almost running toward us.

  “Yeah,” Shawn said, glancing at her then looking back at me.

  “Hi, I’m Tiffany. I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to introduce myself yet. You are kind of hard to track down.” She stuck her hand out and Shawn shook it briefly then pulled his hand away from hers.

  “Nice to meet you.” He looked down the hall that was slowly emptying of people. “Sorry, but we need to go, or we’ll be late for class.” Shawn took my hand and pulled me down the hall.

  “Okay, well, see you around,” she called from behind us.

  “That was weird,” Shawn said, still pulling me along.

  “Tiffany thinks she’s god’s gift to man. Watch out or she will sink her claws into you then there will be no escape until she has sucked you dry.” I giggled at the thought of Tiffany and Shawn together.

  “I would believe it. Besides why would I want her when you’re right here?” He stopped, pulled me into his arms, and he was kissing me. My lips tingled with the feeling of his soft, full lips pressed against mine. It was over as quickly as it started, but when he pulled away, my chest was tight, and it was hard to breathe.

  “Why did you do that?” I asked, when I was finally able to breathe.

  “I wanted to see if it was as good as it was in your dream.” He bumped my shoulder.

  “The real thing was better.” I felt my cheeks heat up as the words left my mouth.

  “I thought so too.” He opened the door to the shop and held it for me.

  I could have stood next to Shawn for the rest of the day and not minded, but Mr. Pearson had us working on our engines throughout class and Shawn’s station was on the opposite side of the room from mine. I tried to get my work done, but I couldn’t keep my eyes off him for long.

  “Liz? Are you alright?” Mr. Pearson asked, dragging me out of a daydream starring Shawn.

  “What? Yes, sorry just can’t seem to keep my mind on my work today.” I bent over the engine and picked up where I left off.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry, I will get this done.”

  “Okay but take it easy if you need to.” He turned and went to the next station.

  I looked over at Shawn to see him quietly laughing at me. I shook my head and forced myself to get to work. I finished my assignment and changed out of my coveralls right before the bell rang. Shawn walked with me to my locker to get my history book, then we went to his locker, so he could get his book.

  I sat in my normal seat and Shawn took the one on my right leaving Billy’s seat for him. When Billy came into the room he saw me and smiled then he saw Shawn and his smile faded.

  “Hey,” I said, as he took his seat.

  “Hey, how’s it going?”

  “Alright, I am ready for this week to be over. Are you ready for your trip?”

  “I will be, but I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night. Oh, hey, Shawn.” Billy finally acknowledged him after getting his books out of his bag.

  “Hey, Billy.” I saw him smirk out of the corner of his eye and I wondered what it was about.

  “I’m sure you guys are going to have a great time,” I said as Mr. Anderson started class and we all settled in to hear him talk about Western Civilization’s royal dynasties.

  I had the same problem in History as I had in shop class. I kept sneaking glances at Shawn and ignoring almost everything Mr. Anderson said. Every time Shawn caught me he would wink, and I would blush. The bell finally rang, and I closed my book.

  “Are you alright?” Billy asked.

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” I asked, trying not to blush.

  “You keep turning red and closing your eyes. Do you have a fever? Do you need to go see your dad?” He looked concerned.

  “I’m fine, I promise. Have a good time this weekend, please be careful,” I said, getting up from my desk and walking toward the door.

  “Are you sure? Maybe I should give you a ride home after all,” he said, from behind me.

  “You need a ride home? I have room, then I’ll know where to pick you up later,” Shawn said, standing up from his desk.

  “What do you mean when he picks you up later?” Billy asked as we walked out the door and into the hallway filling with students ready to escape for the weekend.

  “We’re going out tonight.” I was embarrassed, but I told myself not to be. So what if I had never been on a date before?

  “Hey, my locker is that way.” Shawn pointed in the opposite direction of mine. “I’ll meet you at my car in ten minutes?” he said, making it a question.

  “Sounds good. Thanks, Shawn.” I continued down the hall, dodging around people in my path. Billy kept up with me instead of going to his locker, which was closer to Shawn’s than mine.

  “Were you going to tell me?” Billy asked.

  “I’m sure I would’ve told you eventually. What’s the big deal?”

  “You barely know this guy and you’re going out on a date with him, by yourself.” Billy stopped at my locker and waited while I opened it.

  “You sound like my dad, Billy. Look everyone knows where he lives. If anything happens you can go all Frankenstein’s villagers on the mansion and torch it.” I opened my locker and started loading books into my bag.

  “I’m just worried about you is all. You’ve had a tough week.”

  “Hey, I’ll be fine. You’re the one who needs to be careful. You guys tend to get out of control. Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”

  “I promise, but the same goes for you. Keep your goals in mind. I don’t want you to end up seventeen and pregnant or anything.”

  My face turned bright red, I turned and punched him in the arm. �
��I can’t believe you just said that.” I shrugged my coat on and closed my locker.

  “I’m sorry, but keep it in mind,” Billy said, walking with me up the hall.

  “I’m done talking to you now. Have a good weekend. I’ll call you if I need a ride on Monday.” I walked away before he could say anything else.

  I couldn’t believe how overprotective he was being. Why was it any of his business if I went out on a date? Crap, I thought to myself when it dawned on me Mom was right, Billy has a crush on me.

  CHAPTER 10

  I went outside and made my way to Shawn’s Rubicon. Jo and the other two kids he always gave a ride to were waiting by it. I walked over to them wondering where Shawn was.

  “Hey, Shawn said he could give me a ride home,” I said to the group, feeling awkward.

  “Who are you?” The girl leaning against the car asked, frowning.

  “I’m Liz, I have a couple of classes with Shawn. Who are you?”

  “Mary,” she said, standing up and walking to the other side of the car.

  “I’m Jeff,” the boy said, bobbing his head at me.

  “Nice to meet you.” I nodded at him.

  “You too. Don’t mind Mary she gets jealous of any girl Shawn talks to,” he said, lowering his voice.

  “Oh, are they . . .” I trailed off hoping he wasn’t dating the girl since he had kissed me in the hallway and asked me out. If he had a girlfriend I was going to be pissed.

  “What? No.” Jeff laughed. “She has a crush on him.”

  At least he wasn’t cheating on his real girlfriend with me, I blew out a breath. “Thanks for the heads-up.” I turned and looked at the front of the school. “Where’s Shawn?”

  “Who knows, but he better hurry, I have stuff to do,” Jo said, looking at her watch. “What are you doing this weekend?”

  “Umm, well I think Shawn and I are going out tonight. Tomorrow I’m going car shopping with my dad. I hate not having a car.”

  “I know what you mean. My parents won’t let me get a car in case we move again. It’s expensive to move cars across the country.”

  “Do you think you will be moving again soon?” I asked, praying she would say no. It would be just my luck, actually have a date with a guy I liked and have him move away before I could get to know him. Plus, I didn’t understand why they moved to Twisted Pines in the first place.