The Essential Elements: Boxed Set

by Elle Middaugh

  “I like you, Valerie. I always have.” My pulse quickened as the shock spread. “What I want from you is to be with you. Not today, not tomorrow, maybe not a week from now, or a month, but that’s the end result I’m aiming for.” He kissed my fingers again. “I just thought you should know.”

  I nodded and forced my throat to swallow despite the dryness on my tongue. “I’ll keep that in mind.” My hand dropped to my side like deadweight after he released it. This was not at all how I’d expected the morning to go.

  “And also,” he added with a cocky grin, “I was right. About me making a good lab partner.”

  Realization dawned upon my face in a rush. “I am so sorry!” I hadn’t lifted a single piece of lab equipment to help; none, other than the goggles he’d tossed at me and insisted I put on. How humiliating! “I promise, next time I’ll do the entire experiment myself!”

  “It’s fine,” he assured me with a chuckle as he gestured toward the door. “After you.”

  Finally I turned to leave, but I quickly realized that we were no longer alone.

  Cade leaned against the wall just inside the doorway, eyeing us silently and intently. The warring emotions that blurred in his eyes were like the chaotic flashing of lights. I tried to pin down a few of them, but I wasn’t sure if I actually succeeded.

  Curiosity. Suspicion. Disdain. Jealousy?

  “What’s up, Cade,” Holden said, tossing out a calloused greeting.

  He shook his dirty blond head. “Just waiting for my lab table to open up.”

  His emerald eyes locked onto mine, slowing me, maybe slowing time itself, until I was barely creeping on my way to the door. I so desperately craved for him to talk to me, and jaw taut, lips pursed, he looked like he was fighting the urge to do just that.

  But he didn’t. He just watched with a frustrated expression as I tiptoed out of the room.

  My lime green sandals had barely touched the old checkered tiles of the hallway when I felt it. The whole school began to shake. It sent palpable vibrations up my legs and dust falling from the ceiling like mini waterfalls. Balance and gravity completely eluded me and I dropped to the floor like a dizzy drunk. A siren screamed at the top of its lungs as the already dim lights flickered off and on under the strain of the trembling.

  “This is not a drill!” Principal Bauer bellowed quickly over the intercom. “Use earthquake protocol; drop and take cover immediately! I repeat, this is not a drill! Drop and take cover immediately!”

  All fifty states were at some risk for earthquakes, I knew, but Pennsylvania virtually never had them. It was completely uncharacteristic and absolutely terrifying.

  The lights took their last breath then, plummeting the school into a thicket of shadows.

  I crawled haphazardly on the tiled floor, the ground rumbling violently beneath me, until I reached the classroom across the hall. Most of the desks were unoccupied, so I slid under one in the front and waited. The quaking was subsiding, but the hammering in my chest was as jarring as ever. Each rapid breath I took only prolonged the anxiety as I waited for the aftershock.

  Other students crouched under desks, too, silent with fear, eyes wide and disoriented. Dust hovered like a chalky fog and had a number of kids sneezing, coughing, and gagging. I coughed, then glanced at my hands. My palms were scuffed and stinging, but luckily that was all.

  Lightning flashed blindingly through the windows and across our faces as a violent downpour suddenly unleashed from the sky. I wasn’t sure how to describe the phenomena erupting all around me—an apocalypse, maybe?—but pinning a name to the destruction was the least of my worries right then; I just wanted to get the hell out in one piece.

  Minutes ticked by ceaselessly, but no one called for evacuation. It dawned on me as I heard a solitary set of heavy footfalls echoing quickly through the hall that there was no power, and therefore, no loudspeaker.

  Noise was blossoming from a distance, crescendoing in the wake of the person’s gait. And then he reached our room. Sweat poured from Principal Bauer’s splotchy pink face as he hitched up his slacks. “Evacuation protocol,” he puffed as he thumbed us toward the hall. “Go outside and find your homeroom teacher. Once you’ve all been accounted for, we’ll announce a dismissal. The intention and expectation is that you’ll go straight home and stay out of harm’s way.” He stared at us decisively, then moved to the room across the hall.

  Cade!

  He was the only one over there, as far as I knew. Oh, god what if he was hurt? Why hadn’t I just crawled backward? A knot tied itself securely around my stomach and squeezed.

  From under my desk, I watched as Principal Bauer poked his head in the other room and looked around. “Clear,” he barked into a walkie-talkie before moving farther down the hall.

  Clear? No, that wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. Cade was in there; I was sure of it. A tidal wave of nausea ripped through my core and crashed into my skull, knocking my crouch off kilter.

  Students were rushing the halls, filing like sand through an hourglass. Crossing the hallway now would be like running perpendicular to the bulls, but I was determined to do it anyway. If Cade was still in there, then he was hurt—badly, maybe even unconscious.

  I lurched sideways but was immediately carried forward by the crowd. Weaving quickly and carefully, I eventually made it to the other side of the hall, two doors up from Mrs. Caldwell’s room, where I’d last seen Cade. I hugged the wall snugly as I battled the opposing flow of people, creeping one sidelong step at a time until I made it back to where I’d started, but on the opposite side.

  I slipped in smoothly and dropped to the floor in a crouch. Dust covered the room like a tarp, but it wasn’t difficult to see. Principal Bauer was right. Cade wasn’t there. Relief tingled through the marrow of my bones.

  But it was excruciatingly short-lived.

  As I turned to leave, I noticed rather quickly that the way was now blocked, not by rubble or debris, but by a terrifyingly livid Loren. Hostility swam like a shark in her eyes.

  “You did this!” she accused venomously, and then her fist smashed into my face.

  Chapter Six

  My head snapped sharply to the left as her knuckles dug ruthlessly into my cheekbone. Pain splintered through my bones and heat swelled beneath the surface of my skin. “What the hell!?” I cried as I bent over and immediately cradled my throbbing face.

  She curled her fingers in my white-blonde hair and pulled me upright. “You know what.”

  Wincing, I grabbed her wrist and sunk my nails into her flesh. Seemingly unfazed, she merely yanked harder on my scalp. Her resilience completely surprised me.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, you psycho!” I hissed defiantly as I writhed in her fisted grasp. Truly, I didn’t. I hadn’t known earlier, and I certainly didn’t know now.

  She threw me headfirst to the floor by my hair and I landed hard on my hands and knees. Cheekily, she chipped at some broken nail polish, then squatted beside me and whispered, “Get up you crybaby bitch. This is a little pathetic.”

  Her comment completely infuriated me, mostly because it was true. I’d never been in a fight before, but instinct was definitely kicking in as the urge to inflict pain was rising.

  I threw a wicked elbow from out of left field and knocked her backward onto her ass. Using that off-centered moment, I quickly turned and snapped my fist into her surprised face. I was pretty sure I caught her on the chin, therefore doing minimal damage, but I couldn’t believe it had even happened. I punched someone! My knuckles hurt, but the adrenaline coursing through my veins soothed the ache.

  She gripped a desk and drug herself upward, eyeing me like a predator might watch her prey, but I was not her game, and after all that, I was feeling a little cocky.

  “You want me to kick your ass?” I asked smugly. “I’ll kick your ass, but I’d really like to know why I’m doing it, first.”

  Before I could even comprehend what was happening, she was pulling her fist awa
y from my split bottom lip. Blood dripped to the floor in a slow but steady pace. Damn, she was fast—or maybe I was just slow.

  “You’re not gonna kick my ass, Valerie. Let’s just make that crystal clear, right now.”

  She lunged, fingers wrapping firmly around my neck. Mine followed suit, fumbling in an attempt to peel her off of me. Neck and neck, literally. Who would choke first? In my current state of terror, I was afraid it would be me; the sensation of asphyxiation had my heart hammering faster and my lungs demanding even more air.

  Unsure of what else to do, I pushed her backward and thrust her head into a chalkboard, but not hard enough. Her grip tightened around my throat, and I struggled for even a thin stream of air. Over and over, I knocked her head against the chalkboard in vain, until accidentally, I caught it on the board’s silver edge. A loud crack and a muffled splitting sound echoed through the room.

  She winced sharply and finally loosened her hold on my windpipe, just enough for me to escape. Gasping, I hunched over, sucking in deep breaths of dusty air. I choked out a slurred “Why are you doing this?” as I glared up at her.

  Loren scoffed. “Maybe you really are as ditzy as you look.” She smoothed her long brown hair, but her fingers came back bloody. “How about I give you a warning instead of an explanation?” She eyed me darkly, got right up in my face, and lowered her voice. “Stay away from him.”

  It sank in quickly, but I just couldn’t believe it. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I blurted. “All this? Over a guy?” She swung at my jaw, but this time I jerked backward in time to dodge it.

  The million-dollar question was: which guy? There were only two that it could’ve been, so maybe it was more like the hundred-dollar question, but anyway, two guys. Only one seemed logical. Only one had no desire to conceal his intentions. Holden.

  “Are you talking about what happened after chemistry?”

  She smirked bitterly as she crossed her arms and leaned back against a lab table. “I saw the way you looked at him.”

  I wanted to tell Loren that I wasn’t interested in Holden, that we were just friends, and barely even that. That him putting his lips on my skin was an accident, one I never saw coming. And that, if I had foreseen it, I would’ve stopped it before it ever occurred.

  But I also didn’t want to tell her those things. She didn’t deserve the satisfaction. It was safe to say we had officially marked each other as enemies the moment we’d drawn blood, and according to my knowledge of heroes and villains, enemies didn’t appease one another.

  “He’s not even yours to fight over, Loren,” I argued as I began circling the table. “And you can’t make me stay away from him, especially since he doesn’t want me to.”

  She pushed off the edge and began stalking me around. “Oh, but I can make you.”

  I raised an eyebrow and continued circling, keeping a healthy distance between us. Loren was not just devious, she was lethal, but I didn’t really want to let her know I thought so. “Is that so?”

  “It is.” She continued shadowing me as we each rounded another corner. “I played this fight more than fair, Valerie. Next time, you won’t be so lucky.”

  “Next time?” I asked excitedly. “I already can’t wait.”

  Loren clenched her fists at her sides just as Principal Bauer abruptly poked his head into the room, double-checking, no doubt. I quickly touched a finger to my lip to assure it was no longer bleeding. It wasn’t, thankfully, but there was probably a dried up riverbed of old blood. If so, he didn’t notice.

  “Girls.” His expression was of exasperation. “Evacuation protocol, remember? Let’s go!”

  Loren lifted her nose into the air and marched out to the left, so I resolutely sauntered right.

  “Valerie,” Principal Bauer called out. “That way.” He pointed left. “You’re not dismissed yet. You have to check in with your homeroom teacher and join the rest of your peers for a head count.”

  Shit. I rolled my eyes then turned around to face him. “Yes sir. Sorry sir.”

  A disgruntled expression invaded my features as I walked maybe thirty feet behind Loren. I was probably going to get my ass kicked again. Soon. I’d gotten a single punch in, and had managed to draw blood when I cracked her head off the corner of the chalkboard, but other than that, I couldn’t really boast, because I was pretty sure I’d lost.

  For having never been in a fight before, I didn’t think I’d done too badly, but she had gone easy on me; I could just tell. Next time wouldn’t be nearly so pleasant. I’d all but guaranteed that myself when I’d baited her there at the end.

  Loren really was terrible at being a stereotypical mean girl. Physically, she was way too fierce to be your clichéd popular damsel, and emotionally, her insults were too flat and lacking. It occurred to me then, for some strange reason, that maybe she wasn’t a mean girl.

  But how, then, would she fit into the grand scheme of things? Then again, where did I even fit? Or Cade? Or Holden? Was this small town high school seriously not as easily categorized as I had thought?

  I galloped smoothly down the dusty stairs and made my way easily through the deserted halls, trailing Loren as distantly as I could. My lime green footfalls echoed like pebbles dropping in a cavern as I drew nearer to the long row of glass front doors. It was still raining, but much more contentedly now.

  The doors opened reluctantly as I shoved through them, stopping just under the roofline to pull my hair up into a high ponytail. Since I had nothing to shield myself from the rain, I didn’t want it plastering to my face like wallpaper. Loren didn’t seem to give a damn, and she marched straight over to Mrs. McConnell as if she were impervious to the rain.

  Mrs. McConnell was scratching a pen across a clipboard. “Lor-en Mar-lowe,” she enunciated. “And…Val-er-ie Moore. Check.” She tucked the clipboard under her arm and swiped some rain droplets off her brow.

  Vice Principal Adler came walking around the side of the building in his trademark khakis and aviator sunglasses. The top button of his dress shirt was undone, as always, and he was speaking into a walkie-talkie; no doubt, Principal Bauer was on the other end.

  “We all accounted for, Jennie?” he asked Mrs. McConnell.

  She nodded. “Loren Marlowe and Valerie Moore just showed up a minute ago. They were my last two.”

  “All clear, Bauer,” Vice Principal Adler said into his device.

  Static etched through the air, then Principal Bauer’s booming voice. “Let’s start dismissal, then.”

  “Will do.” Adler pocketed his walkie-talkie then raised his hands and his voice. “Bus riders! Head to the rear of the school for dismissal! All busses will be departing in ten minutes, so get moving!” Three-quarters of the crowd curled around the building and disappeared instantly. “Drivers and walkers! Dismissal as usual! But keep to the front of the school; the back is too congested right now.” He waved us away, and we were off.

  I stepped out, splashing my way toward that winding, battered road through the woods. Right away, a gentle peace slipped over me. All of my worries dissipated and not thinking kicked in on autopilot. I smiled wide and relished the showers that soaked me to the core.

  It didn’t take long for the last quarter of the students to clear out.

  The student lot was empty before I even lost sight of the school, and all the other walkers had trudged off in the opposite direction of where I was headed. Aunt Marge, and apparently the Landstons, lived in the West Woods, but the other ninety-nine percent of the population lived east, in town.

  I hadn’t gotten more than a couple hundred yards from the school, though, when a rogue vehicle approached. I could hear the tires as they kicked up mist from the swampy road, and they were decelerating. A truck, I determined as I glanced discreetly behind. Adrenaline surged instinctually as panic flowed into my system.

  It pulled up right beside me, midnight black and menacing, keeping my pace. When the passenger side window rolled down, my fight or flight instincts were a milli
second from kicking in.

  But then he spoke. “You look like you need a ride.” All the fear flitted away, carried on the backs of a hundred tiny moths. His voice was like a haven for my weatherworn soul. I smiled on the inside as I glanced at him.

  “Why ever would you think such a thing?”

  He grinned and his emerald eyes sparkled. “Lucky guess?”

  I clicked my tongue behind a smirk and stopped walking. The truck stopped, too. When I faced him fully, hands resting playfully on my hips, the smile dropped right off his face. Confused, I searched myself and my surroundings, but found nothing.

  “You’re bleeding…” He threw the truck into park right in the middle of the road and rushed over to me. “Did this happen during the quake?” I realized the rain must’ve undammed the scab on my lip. Damn.

  Cade’s fingers brushed my face softly as he searched for more damage. The feeling of his skin on my skin was more wonderful than I could’ve hoped. A kaleidoscope of delight burst through my veins and rained down in blissful anticipation. I shivered and turned away, but he followed my eyes. “Valerie! Did. This. Happen. During the quake?” The anger and apprehension in his voice were barely covered by a thin cloak of control, hardly noticeable through my lacy veil of elation. He gently trailed a thumb along my bruised cheekbone and slowly tucked a few flyaway strands of hair behind my ear.

  I felt like we were standing at a ledge, teetering on the blustery edge of indecision, faltering in the face of the biggest ultimatum life had ever thrown at us. “Jump, or don’t jump,” life would snarkily say. “Either way, you might regret your choice, but you’ll never walk the path you didn’t take.” Because life was caustic and cryptic like that, I was certain.

  I didn’t want to back away, to not jump, but I wasn’t ready to take the leap either. What I really wanted was to crawl over to the ledge and slowly ease down, feet first, preferably with a rope secured to my waist and a clear view of the hopefully shallow bottom.