B0079G5GMK EBOK (19 page)

Adam touched Clarissa's hand lightly, and every single thought disappeared from her head. He softly fondled her skin on the inside of her wrist and Clarissa sighed with pleasure. Adam's dark eyes flashed dangerously and she felt how her own eyes responded to him by changing in to the golden-brown eyes of a wolf
for a second. Clarissa screamed in surprise, making both Jonas and Blake jump
up. Jonas looked strictly at Adam, but as everything seemed to be fine, he sat back next to the giggling Stella. Blake stared at Adam angrily. He opened his mind and tried to invade Adam's mind. He didn't succeed. Instantly he smashed into a defense so strong that he had to back up, s
tartled. Blake moved his gaze to
Clarissa, who looked at Adam in puzzlement. Blake wiped her mind, but it was covered as well and he couldn't go through her shield without harming her. Adam grinned at him and he sat back and hid behind his table, sulking. Clarissa was speechless. She stared at Adam. How amazing was that!

“Again,” Clarissa whispered silently.

Adam grinned and caressed her hand again. Each time the pleasure fi
lled her, her eyes turned into those of a wolf
. Finally, Adam took her hand away.

“That's enough for now,” Adam smiled.

“No! You can't stop,” Clarissa panicked.

Adam grinned shamelessly.

“If I don't stop no
w, we'll end up making love on
the class floor,” Adam said in a velvet
y
voice.

Clarissa blushed hard, and instinctively pushed herself further away from him. Stella rolled her eyes and formed with her lips: everyth
ing. Luckily the class ended so
she could rush out of the room and straight into the toilet. Stella packed her things as fast as lightning, and ran after her.

Clarissa tried to cool down her burning face with water. Stella rushed in and pushed her lightly. Clarissa glanced at her nosy friend but couldn't meet her eyes. Instead she splashed some more water on her face and weeped quietly.

“Wow!” Stella sighed.

“You forgot to mention you were at that level already,” Stella said and looked attentively at Clarissa.

“What level? There is no level and there is no affair, for sure!” Clarissa yelled.

Stella
turned the water off and shoved
a mass of toilet paper onto Clarissa's hand.

“Clarissa?” Stella asked.

Clarissa stared at her shoes and drained her wet face.

“Clarissa!” Stella yelled demandingly.

“All right!” Clarissa screamed.

Sh
e looked at Stella for a moment in confusion
and raked her hair desperately.

“I've been dating Adam for the whole Christmas holiday,” Clarissa sighed.

“What! How? But what! I mean what about J
oshua? Clarissa! Are you crazy?
” Stella jumped excitedly in front of her.

“Wow! I mean really wow!” she
screamed.

“Shh! Calm down,” Clarissa tried to stop her lunatic friend.

Stella didn't know what she could do. There was no rhyme or reason in her speech, she just yabbered something. Eventually Clarissa decided to have mercy on her and spoke.

“Adam spent Christmas Eve with us,” Clarissa began carefully.

“Yes! And then you kissed,” Stella sighed.

“No! We spent the whole night together and I guess that's where it started,”
said Clarissa
as if in pain.

“You spent the night toge
ther! Oh my! And what did your m
om say?” Stella asked with her eyes sparkling.

“Mom asked him to stay.”

“You're a liar! She did not, did she?” Stella gasped.

“Oh yes, she did,” Clarissa convinced her and Stella pressed
her beating
heart.

“Oh, my God! I wish my mom were
like that!” Stella sighed. “That is so romantic.”

“No, Stella! We spent the night together talking, nothing else happened. I swear,” Clarissa corrected.

“Oh,” Stella said disappointedly.

“But we have seen each other secretly almost every day since that,” Clarissa said slyly.

“So, romantic after all! You're like Romeo and Juliet,” Stella said longingly and pressed her hand theatrically to her lips.

“Stella, stop that! It's nothing like that and besides, Mom knows,” Clarissa snapped.

“What do you mean Mom knows?” Stella asked and looked at her demandingly.

Clarissa sighed and grinned maliciously. “We tried to hide it from her, but the first time Adam tried to kiss me, she howled in his head so hard that no shield could've stopped her,” Clarissa laughed.

“A wolf thing, right,” Stella whispered and tried to look mysterious.

Clarissa laughed and nodded
. Stella was so funny. W
hen she had tried to tell her about her ability to shift shapes, she had said she didn't really want to know anything specific. They
had agreed that
if anything
involved shape shifting, it would be
‘
the wolf thing
’
. One day, though, Stella had to face reality. Especially if she wanted to share her future with Jonas.

“Wait a minute. You said the first time Adam tried to kiss you. What about the second time?” Stella said, obviously satisfied with herself that she hadn't let Clarissa fool her.

“Um
, yes I did,” Clarissa purred. “
And he really knows how to kiss
. Oh, my God Stella! I'm
so in love with him!”

“And Joshua?” Stella asked carefully.

“He doesn't know yet and you better not tell this to Jonas!”

Stella looked at her with disbelief.  “As if! Why would I tell Jonas? You're my best friend! But you have to tell Joshua soon,” Stella said and looked worriedly at Clarissa.

“Joshua thinks you're going to choose him, and if you choose Adam, he will be furious,” Stella said, horrified.

“I know that,” Clarissa mumbled. “I'll tell him soon.”

H
owever,
Adam
filled her mind so completely that January was almost over before she knew it, and she stil
l hadn't told Joshua. Her
birthday was three days from now and she really intended to tell him before that. Well, if not before, then at least then.

The doorbell rang, but before anyone had time to open it, three cheerfully giggling girls rushed in. They said a quick hi to Marie, who stared at them confused from Tiamhaidh's arms. Then they disappeared upstairs to find Clarissa. Clarissa stood helplessly in the middle of a huge mass of clothes and mumbled angrily to herself. Stella had called an hour ago and ordered her to wear the most smashing clothes she owned. What was that supposed to mean? Pants or a skirt? Miniskirt or a long one? Or if she wore pants, should she wear tight or loose ones? And what in the world should she wear as a top?

“Arrgh!” Clarissa yelled frustrated and sat in the mountain of clothes.

The door was pushed opened and Stella, Emilie and Caitlin surrounded her. They yabbered so much that it was impossible for her to hear what they were actually talking about. Finally she pressed her hand to her ears and screamed, “Quiet!”

Her friends looked at her with surprise, but stopped talking. Clarissa stared at them suspiciously before she took her hands off her ears.

“What are you up to?” Clarissa asked.

Stella stared at her like she had asked something really stupid and then flicked her hair theatrically.

“We are trying to organize your birthday party, you idiot,” Stella snapped.

“But,” Clarissa started carefully. Stella silenced her in a trice.

“Not a word anymore. We are so late!”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Clothes on!” Caitlin hurried while Emilie tried to hit Clarissa's hair with a brush.

The girls wrestled in the mess of clothes and tried to put skinny jeans on Clarissa. Clarissa tried to struggle for a while, but eventually she had to give up and under Stella's strict command she was dressed in dark skinny jeans and a simple black tunic that was tied up to her waist with several plaited twines. They brushed her hair so it seemed to
be a shiny honey cloud and
put light make up her face. Finally, after taking a good look at her, Stella announced that Clarissa was ready. Emilie pushed her towards the door and grinned slyly. Caitlin took a black scarf from her pocket and covered Clarissa's eyes.

Clarissa felt
their
hands pushing her and then she thudded on the car seat. She
could recognize Joshua's smell
as he put her seatbelt on and kissed her lightly on her forehead. Everything was over in a moment and she sat helplessly, tied between Stella and Caitlin. With her eyes covered she couldn't see anything but black, but when the car swayed badly and started to move like a kangaroo, she had no doubt as to who was driving. Emilie was the worst driver ever. And she was the only one who could've managed to make the car stop and twitch tons of times on a flat road. Stella and Caitlin
whispered and giggled together
like she was not there, and she wasn't sure she was going to like their surprise at all. She tried to free herself, but her friends held her hands so tight that it was impossible to even move. She sighed deeply and sulked. Stella pushed her lightly.

“Oh, don't be such a baby! Playing a martyr is so not like you!”

Clarissa sighed even more deeply and decided to sulk for the rest of the trip. Stella laughed brightly at her sulking, and didn't let Clarissa spoil her party mood. Instead she kept whispering and giggling even more with Caitlin.

Eventually the haunting trip was over and the car stopped. The door was opened and some clumsy hands that were obviously Ciall's grabbed her and helped her out of the car. Stella poked her
,
forcing her to move forward.
Soon they pushed her inside a
warm building. Emilie took the scarf away from her eyes and as her eyes got used to the light, she saw a room full of people in front of her.

“Surprise!” The people yelled and at that moment the music exploded into the air so loud
ly
that Clarissa had to press her hands to her ears.

Clarissa looked around her, confused. Her grandparents' house was all decorated from top to bottom with hundreds of
glittering ribbons that
made the room look magical. Everyone she even thought sh
e knew was here, even Adam. He
hung around the back corner of the living room and stared hungrily at her. She gulped. Her friends started to sing Happy Birthday and her eyes got all teary. Wow! She couldn't even have dream
ed
about parties like this. Everything was so perfect. Only the knowledge that Marie couldn't be here made a dark cloud over her head. Just a small one, though, and she comforted herself that she could tell everything to Marie later and then live t
his night again. After Marie came
home from the hospital, Clarissa had gone to her room every evening and told her everything about the day. She brushed Marie's wild gypsy hair and Marie listened to her stories. She never said a word, just looked at her with her scary lo
st eyes, but she was sure that o
n some level Marie understood at least part of what she heard.

A pair of s
trong arms grabbed her and Joshua kissed her passionately. She tried to get off, laughing, and glanced at Adam, who was holding a glass of punch so hard that it would break at any s
econd. Blake pushed
Joshua
playfully
.

“My
turn,” Blake laughed and snatched
Clarissa from Joshua's arms.

“Thanks a lot!” Clarissa giggled and prepared for Blake's kiss.

Blake put his hand on her chin a
nd kissed her lightly on the tip
of her nose. “Happy Birthday, little sister,” Blake whispered with his eyes twinkling.

Emilie and Caitlin were beside her
before she even noticed
. They had invented the strangest
versions of some old camp games
. At times Clarissa had to howl with laughter, especially when
Caitlin hung the bottles on the boys' hips and gave them
girl
s for
partner
s
. The girls were supposed to fill those bottles with water as fast as they could, without getting the boys wet. Adam looked really goofy when Kia from the next class tried to fill the bottle hanging from his hips with shaking hands. Every time she spilled the water, her
face got redder and she tried
desperately
to
splutter some apology. Adam stared at Clarissa, who laughed at him, but didn't say a word. He participated in all the games like a real boy scout even when she could see how much he hated them. The peak of the night was a human sandwich.
At f
irst Clarissa was
sure that no one would
want to play the childish game
, but she was wrong. She noticed she was also running around the room, chasing the lost chairs like a maniac and trying to push herself on people's laps by force.