I lie down on my bed and exhale. I know what will make me feel better. I put the CD I just bought into the CD player on my nightstand and press play. The music blares from the speakers and drowns out everything. Including all of my teenage woes.
Chapter 13: Lunch Date
I’m dragging. I’ve got a serious case of the Monday’s. No matter what I do, I do it lazily, unable to get myself motivated. Even when I walk to Wren’s car. I feel like I’m moving at a snail’s pace.
My day takes an unexpected turn for the worst when I arrive at first period English and notice Adam isn’t there. Katie, however, has been hard at work spreading vicious lies involving my romantic moment with Adam at the mall.
“You should have seen the way she threw herself at him,” she whispers to a classmate. “It was pathetic really.”
Jealousy is a bitch named Katie Halston. But at least she knows how I felt when I saw him with her. The tardy bell will ring in a minute. Even with a time crunch I know I’ll be perfectly capable of making her life hell in sixty seconds.
At her desk, my fist comes crashing down. Blasting the desk. Shaking it. Katie jumps, breathes, then snarls, “Well, well. If it isn’t the town tramp.”
I laugh. “That’s funny. I thought someone else already held that title. God, what’s her name? Uh. It’s on the tip on my tongue. Oh yeah. It’s your mother.”
She rises from her seat slowly—like I’m supposed to be afraid of her. Then she crosses her arms and shakes her head with a bit of attitude. “You’re just jealous because Adam spent last night with me.”
I’m not buying it. “You’re a liar. Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“Believe what you want,” she cackles evilly. “Adam said, and I quote, she drooled like a dog when she kissed me. And that’s funny because you really are a bitch.”
I inhale deeply and lick my lips. If Katie wants a bitch, I’ll give her a bitch.
Even though Katie acts like she’s all that. I know she has insecurities. Her family being one of the many. She always likes to pretend like she has this picture perfect family. Kind of like the ones you see in the picture frames at the store. Happy. Loving. Normal. When in reality hers is anything but normal.
Katie is ashamed of her background. Ashamed of her flesh and blood. I’m the only one who knows this. Now so will everyone else. “Maybe I should call your Dad and tell him his daughter has a dirty mouth. Oh, that’s right. You don’t know who he is!”
“Shut up!” Her voice goes up an octave.
I command the attention of the classroom, cupping my hands over my mouth. “That’s right everybody! Logan’s Prom Queen is a bastard!” I lower my hands glaring. “My Dad may have left me, but at least I know who he is. Who’s yours? The mailman?”
Thank God I anticipate her fist striking out at me. I dodge it with ease.
“Miss Halston!” Miss Winkle shouts from the door. “To the office, now!”
My face screams pure satisfaction. Game…Set…Match…Skank.
I lean back casually in my seat as Katie gathers her things and as soon as she makes it the door the entire classroom breaks out into a chorus of hushed whispers.
Wren taps me on the shoulder when Miss Winkle faces the chalkboard. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me what happened at the mall, “she whispers disappointedly. She looks down and draws her eyebrows together.
“I’m sorry, Wren,” I apologize with a low voice. “I was going to tell you I swear.”
“I tell you everything. Everything!” she half-shouts, half-whispers. “The worst part is that Katie knew before I did!”
“That’s because she saw it happening!” I raise my voice.
Chalk screeches, cutting into the chalkboard. The entire room winces and I face the front of the room, cringing. “Do you have any plans after school, Miss Graham?” Miss Winkle asks in a sweet yet deadly voice.
“No, Miss Winkle.” A terrifying, psychotic look takes over her features. “Keep talking and you will.”
I take one last look at Wren. I can’t believe she’s this mad about me leaving out one minuscule detail of my life. She won’t even look at me. She twists her head to the left, and folds her arm across her chest. I plead with my eyes for a moment. She still won’t look at me. Then, I give up for now and lie my head down on my desk.
After class, I wait for Wren by her locker, standing in front of the door.
“Move,” she annunciates.
I slide to the left. “Wren, are you seriously that mad about this?” She’s the last person I want to be fighting with. Honestly, I don’t know why I didn’t tell her. I trust Wren with my life.
She completely ignores me. Reaching into her locker, she grabs a few books, and stalks off down the hall. “Come on!” I shout after her. “Wren!”
Aside from this one, Wren and I have only been in one other fight. One fight during eleven years of friendship has to be a record. Well, now two, but I still think that’s pretty good. I also know how Wren reacts. She’ll fume for a few hours, then we’ll talk it out and our BFF status will resume.
This time is different.
In the cafeteria, I stare at our table and neither Wren nor Molly is there. Molly is the third wheel. She’s always following, so I assume wherever Wren is, Molly is probably with her. I debate on whether I should stay in the cafeteria and eat lunch alone or skip it. A loud, rumbling growl escapes from my stomach. I’m starving. I hug myself trying to silence the cries of hunger, but another howl slips out. As hungry as I am, spending the period in the ladies room sounds more appealing than suffering through the humiliation of eating alone.
Turning away, I sulk to the exit, when I bump into Adam. He tilts his head to the side a beautiful, crooked smile on his lips. “Where do you think you’re going?” he inquires.
“To the bathroom.”
He takes my hand and rubs his thumb over the space between my thumb and forefinger. “Are you feeling okay?” He sounds concerned and his eyes examine mine.
“I’m fine.”
“Here I thought I was going to get to eat lunch with you.”
I sigh. Adam. My savior. Spending the period in the bathroom is something I really don’t want to do. “You have lunch this period? How come I’ve never seen you in here before?”
“I’m the new kid, remember. I had stuff to do with registration most of last week.”
I start toward the lunch-line and stop. “I’m going to get in line. You wanna come with or do you want to stay at the table?” It’s best to hop in line early before the football team does. If they beat you to the line, then it takes forever to get your lunch.
He glances toward the lunch-line. “I’ll come with you.”
We walk to the end of the line and I place my back flat against the plaster wall. “Why weren’t you in English this morning?”
He shrugs casually. I bite my lip Even when he’s being casual he’s sexy. “I was running late this morning.”
I think of what Katie said to me this morning about him spending the night with her. “Late night?”
“No,” he says shortly. “I overslept.” The line moves and Adam twists around checking out the cafeteria. “Where are your friends? Don’t you hang out with Wren Thompson?”
“She’s mad at me.”
“For what?”
“It’s complicated.” I don’t think he’ll want me to explain the no-no’s of girl world. One of the biggest no-no's, keeping secrets from your best friend.
The line moves a second time. We’re finally inside the kitchen, standing in front of our lunch options for the day. I turn up my nose. Ugh, Ham Au Gratin. I swear I’ve been blasted with every disgusting lunch combo this school has to offer over the last week. I put my finger on the window, pointing to the cheesy slop behind it. “You don’t want that,” I tell Adam.
He looks at me oddly and raises an eyebrow. “I don’t?”
“No you don’t.”
Picking up a muted brown plastic tray
, I lock eyes with the rotund lunch-lady wearing a hair-net. “Two french fries.” She slides two cartons of thin, stringy french fries on top of the metal counter and I set them on the tray. I slide down to the cashier, she rings up the food and I pay her.
Adam and I walk back to the table. “I could have paid for my own,” he insists.
“It’s no big deal. It’s just lunch.”
Before we have the chance to sit down, Katie spots Adam from across the cafeteria. “Adam! Over here!” she yells, motioning for him to come over there.
I narrow my eyes at him while he glances over at Katie. I hope he doesn’t sit with them. If he does, I’ll have to revert to my previous plan. Ladies’ room reservation for one. Relief swims in my gut when he looks away from her and plops down at my table. I stare at the table, puzzled. “Shoot.”
“What is it? Adam asks.
“I forgot drinks.”
He rises from the table. “I’ll get them.”
“I can get them.”
“You got lunch. Let me get the drinks. What do you want?”
“All right,” I surrender. “Bottled water, please.”
Before I can thank him, he’s jogging over to the pop machine in the corner of the cafeteria. Katie follows him, slithering up next to him like a serpent. Like an Anaconda, about to squeeze the life out its lowly prey. This is agonizing, but I can’t help but keep my eyes glued to them.
Katie gently places her arm on his shoulder and my lungs refuse to work. My heart pounds and falls out of my chest cavity into my stomach. I breathe and my insides flutter when Adam peels her fingers off his arm, draws his eyebrows together, and I assume snaps at her. Nanoseconds later, Katie is sulking back to her table and Adam is jogging back to our table.
He hurls the bottle of water at me and I catch it.” Thanks. What did Katie want?
“What do you think? She wanted me to sit with her?”
We sit down and he takes his fries off the tray. “So what’s the deal with you and Katie?”
I take a swig of my water. “We used to be friends, but all good things come to an end.”
“You don’t regret your falling out?”
“Hell no. She’s one of the shallowest, vapid, and egotistical bitches I’ve ever met. She was never a true friend.”
Adam folds two french fries in his mouth. “I guess I don’t know her that well.”
I nibble on a fry. “According to her, you do.”
“Excuse me?”
“Katie said you guys spent the night together last night.”
Adam is middle of taking a sip of his pop and almost spews the soda out all over me. He swallows, coughs, and then laughs. “You’re joking, right?”
“No. She also said that you told her I drooled like a dog when I kissed you.” My cheeks flush. I didn’t want to mention that, but I feel like he needs to assure me that he’d never say that.
He tightens the cap on his pop and takes both of my hands in his. His touch sends a thrill traveling at a high velocity down my spine. “Ellory, I’d never say that. To be honest, I don’t see Katie that way. She’ll never make me feel the way you do.”
I cradle his words in my heart. I hope they stay there. I hope remember them every day for the rest of my life. “You mean that?”
He reaches out and grazes his fingertips over my cheek. “You know I do.” A blaze whirls through me and I’m overheated. “You are my one and only,” he tells me.
I’m breathless and filled with desire and joy. I run my tongue over my lips. My legs are shaking. Thank God I’m sitting down. Adam moves his fingers from my cheek to my chin. He beckons me closer. I lean forward and receive a soft brush from his lips. He amazes me. “Who are you, Adam Jacobs?”
He smirks. “I’m a senior at Logan High.”
Adam makes me feel alive. I’m bursting with light inside. My wall has been demolished. I’m open—happy and I love the way it feels.
He laces his fingers through mine. My hands belong in his. The empty part of me has filled up. I’m whole. And a second later I realize that Adam Jacobs has just become my first, real boyfriend.
Chapter 14: A New Me
Ellory was changing Adam. Every time he was near her he found himself thinking more about her, than his urges. He’d reached the point where he’d become obsessed. Driving past her house several times during the day, just to see if he could catch a glimpse of her in her bedroom window. He’d even sneak over at night and sit outside her window, listening to her move about in her room. He’d even lucked out once when her blinds were open and he was able to watch her sleep.
There was a small cabin on his property that used to belong to the caretaker to the previous owners of his house. When seeing Ellory in the flesh wasn’t possible, he’d go to the cabin and use his photographic memory to bring her to life on canvas. He’d her portrait at least a dozen times and he knew her perfected every one of her features. After he’d finished her portrait he’d stare at it for a moment or two then crumble it up in a ball, chucking it at the garbage can. He wasn’t satisfied. Staring at her portrait wasn’t like staring at her in person.
Days before meeting her, the urges were getting so bad that he was certain he wouldn’t last a day here without seeking out his next victim. He tried to do things to occupy his time. He played the piano. He painted. He picked up a can of red paint, splattering it against a white canvas. He tried to tell himself that it was blood. He tried to pretend. But he couldn’t. He wanted the real thing. His temperature overheated, his palms started sweating, and his fingers trembled when he thought about blood.
Since meeting Ellory, for the first time in his life, he felt normal. He could look at her neck without seeing blood. He didn’t think about killing. And he didn’t have to act. Adam came to the conclusion that if Ellory made him feel normal, then maybe, just maybe she could aid him in keeping the monster inside of him at bay.
He hadn’t thought about killing anyone in weeks. For him, that was an eternity.
There wasn’t a day that went by, in the past, where he hadn’t thought about killing or blood. Now, because of a girl, his sick fantasies were tucked away safely in a dark corner of his brain.
However, he still had worries. What would Ellory do when she found out what he really was? There were times when the monster poked his head out, and Adam fought to put him back in his place. Even though he had done well so far, if their relationship progressed any further, he didn’t know if he would do so well.
He couldn’t keep himself totally hidden from her. Eventually, there would come a point where he’d have to tell her about the other part of him—the monster inside him.
He blanched when he thought of her running away from him screaming. With Regina, their relationship started with a whisper and ended with a scream.
Somehow, Ellory didn’t seem like Regina. Perhaps, he had met his match. The one girl who could accept all of him for what he was. And that’s all Adam ever wanted. He didn’t like being fake. But so far, in his life, that was the only way he could get along. He thought back to a time when he was with Regina. The topic of blood came up in a conversation they were having. Just hearing the word mentioned made Adam’s insides tingle. “Do you ever think about it?” he asked Regina. He was curious to see what her answer would be.
“Think about what?” she asked.
“Blood.”
She looked at him, disgusted. “Blood?”
“Yeah, do you ever think about it?”
“No,” she scoffed. “Do you?”
Adam shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“What’s wrong with you, Adam? That’s not normal. And that’s disgusting. I mean who sits around and thinks about blood. Ugh, gross.”
I do. He wished he could have said it out loud. “It was just a question, Regina.”
“Don’t talk about stuff like that. You’re scaring me.”
It wasn’t long after that, that Regina found out just how often Adam thought about blood.
Re
gina was the past though—Ellory was the future. And there was one thing Adam was certain of: that Ellory would never meet her demise at his hand. In fact, he knew that if anything, he’d kill for her.
Chapter 15: Off The Market
I sit in the middle of Wren’s driveway and trace the lines in the concrete. Some of the thin lines are rough, some are smooth. It reminds me of how at any given moment emotions can shift. One second everything goes the way you want it to—smooth. The next something disastrous happens—rough. Then you find yourself wondering how you let everything come to that point.
A backfiring engine blasts and carries down the street. Wren’s almost here. I stand slowly and wipe my pants off as she creeps up the drive. She stops, hangs her head out the window, and slits her eyes. “Get out of my way!” she cries.
I stay where I am. “Not until you talk to me!” Wren hesitates for a second, and then revs up the engine. It backfires again and a cloud of black smoke unfurls from her tailpipe. Wren taps the gas lightly and inches forward. I hold my hands out palms up as she gets eerily close to my kneecaps. “Wren! Stop!”
She taps the taps the gas again. “I said move!”
I shake my head. Wren clenches her jaw and shakes her head, finally stopping the car as one of the headlights skims the denim fabric on my jeans. “I stare at her incredulously as she gets out of the car. “Were you seriously trying to run me over?”
She doesn’t acknowledge me. Walking to her front door, she fiddles with the keys on her key-chain, locating her house key. She’s totally acting like a child. I march down the narrow walk-way after her, as she aims the key at the slot in the door. “Wren, you have to stop this. You have to talk to me.”
She faces me and sneers and I hop up the two cement steps onto her front porch. “That’s what you don’t get,” she says coldly. “I don’t have to do anything.” Wren turns back to the front door. I zoom in on her keys and right before she puts her house key into the lock, I smack her hand and they go flying into the yard. She faces me again, her pale blue eyes blazing with fury. “Why in the hell did you do that?” She exhales and blood rises in her cheeks. “Now I’ll never find them!”
A Whisper To A Scream Page 10