Beyond - Volume 1 (YA Paranormal Romance) (21 page)

“This is …” he begins.

“Nice?” I ask. A flush appears on my cheeks when he looks at me.

“Soothing,” he stammers and smiles.

I rest my head on his chest. His suit smells like aftershave, and his heartbeat increases as I inhale his scent. I think his heart’s going even faster than mine, so it’s not soothing at all. But still, as we’re dancing here, it feels like we’re all alone and like time’s stopped, like it’s forgetting about us.

We twist and turn around a little. I notice I’m beginning to sweat
, and I’d rather not have him notice. He releases his hand from my hip, and right away I think it’s because of my drenched back. But then his fingers brush my chin and push it up.

Then he presses his
moist lips between my eyebrows and kisses me softly. I shudder and feel the warm glow of his touch through my entire body.

When he takes his lips off again, we smile at each other.

“Do you remember that I told you that you owed me something?” he asks. Nervously, I twirl my hair. So he did mean it when he said he wanted something from me.

“You don’t mean …” I wonder if he wants to do what m
any people our age do after a dance.

“What?” he asks.

“I’m not ready for that. We’re only just getting to know each other, and all we did was kiss.”

“Um, what are you talking about?” One of his eyebrows raises.

“Oh, so you don’t mean … well … okay.” My cheeks turn hot again.

“What? Sex? No, of course not,” Damian laughs, pulling
his collar. “Did you honestly think I would ask you that?”

“Well … I … I thought … You seemed so …
convinced. I thought you’d already done …” I stumble over my own words.

“Me? No … Not yet.” He turns his face away, but I can see his cheeks glowing red hot.

“So … What did you mean then?” I ask curiously, hoping he’ll turn his head back to me, and he does.

“You
haven’t kissed me back yet,” he says. “I want a kiss.” A grin appears on his face, and I feel flattered, but embarrassed. It’s true what he says. I’m too afraid to kiss him myself.

“Here,” he says as he points with his index finger to his mouth, while we continue shuffling. I’m attracted to him, so I shouldn’t fuss about it.
Even though he’s the first guy I’ve kissed, he’s given me one so many times now that I should do something back. I want to.

Not for a second longer do I think about it. I pull his head closer and press my lips on his. The warmth that flows into my mouth as I kiss him is delightful.

When I take my lips off him again, I can see Simon Pierce staring at me.

His eyes glisten with unshed
tears.

For a few seconds we hold each other’s gaze
, and then I hold my breath when he winces. The corners of his mouth are crooked, and his eyebrows point down. How could I have hurt him so much by kissing Damian right in front of his nose? I want to walk over to him, tell him I’m sorry, but I’m still hanging onto Damian’s neck.

Then Simon pulls Emma closer to him and kisses her right on the lips.

My pupils dilate. Simon Pierce is kissing Emma Harper; the girl he used to avoid like she had the pox. I can’t believe he just did that.

I take my hands off Damian’s neck, push myself out of his embrace and storm over to the punch table.

“What’s wrong?” Damian asks as he follows me and grabs my arm. I don’t want to look at him. Behind Damian, Simon is dancing with Emma, and I don’t want to see it. That kiss is engraved into my memory. I don’t get why it makes me so mad.

I keep my gaze on the floor and pull my arm loose from his grip, so I can grab a plastic cup and poor some punch in it. The punch almost spills over the cup
, the way my hand is trembling. Out of frustration, I put the cup down with extra velocity and strength, making the punch sway back and forth, fall over the edge and spill onto the table-cloth.

“I thought you liked this,” Damian says as he stands next to me and puts a potato chip in his mouth, while looking at the punch-stained cloth. With a couple of napkins, I dab the punch, so it’s a little less messy.

“Yeah,” I answer. “I do … It’s nothing. I was just thirsty.” I grab the cup and bring it to my mouth to mask my face. I’ve always been quite an open book when it comes to emotions.
Would Damian see through it? Did he see my face as I walked away?

Simon said he liked me, yet now he kisses another girl, when I thought he didn’t like her. Is he doing it to make me jealous?

Well it worked alright.

Why am I so furious? I rejected him. I didn’t want to go with him
, and yet I’m pissed off. Like I’ve been passed for someone else. In one go, I gulp down the contents of the cup.

When I look at Damian, his whole body freezes.

In his eyes I see only fear. The punch he was pouring into a cup cascades down onto the floor. He’s not looking at the spoon anymore, but at something that’s right behind me.

“What’s wrong?” I turn around and try to find what he’s looking for, but it’s in vain.

“It’s here,” he says. His pupils are big, and he’s squeezing the cup until it’s crumpled up, making the punch stream down his hands.

“What?” When I ask that, Damian just storms out of the gym, as he throws the cup to the floor.

I go after him and see him running toward the guys’ bathroom. I don’t even have the time to think about what just happened, because I need to know what’s going on with Damian.

“What are you doing?” I ask, but I’m afraid I already know the answer. I just don’t want it to be true. The person Damian’s looking for must’ve shown himself in the gym. The person he keeps on hunting as a ghost.
I know what he’s going to do now.

Damian’s going to kill himself again. Right here at school.

“Let me go!” he screams as I grab his arm to stop him.

“Don’t! I don’t want you to get hurt!
” It’s no use; Damian’s much stronger than me. He pulls his arm from my grip, hurries into the bathroom and closes the door.

“Please, Damian.” I hammer the floor with my fists and tug the handle, but it’s no use. I can’t stop him anymore. I never could, but I can’t even be there when he does it. I can’t support him when he needs it so much. He won’t let me.

I drop to the floor, bury my head between my arms and let the tears flow again. I want this to be different. I wish he didn’t have to do this, but I have no idea how I can make it happen. Why is he so obsessed with finding this ghost? Every time I try to help him, he won’t accept it. Just like an addict.

***

“Hey, Stone.”

I look up. My eyes are sticky with masc
ara running down my face. Joey puts his hand out toward me. “I’ll take you home.”

“What about your date? And—”

“I don’t care about her,” Joey interrupts me. “You can’t help Damian with this. Nobody can. It’d be better if you just didn’t see it, for your own good. C’mon.” Joey signals me. I grab his hand and let him pull me up.

“Will he come out again?” I wipe away the mascara under my eyes, though I doubt I will look any better.

“I’ll make sure of it later tonight. Don’t worry about it.” Joey fishes out a tissue from his pocket and hands it over to me. Gratefully, I take it and blow my nose. He puts his arm around me and escorts me outside.

I thought he was only a womanizer and a joker who didn’t take life seriously. I was wrong about Joey.

Damian’s nowhere to be seen in class,
which is something I shouldn’t even be surprised about anymore. I sit down at an empty desk and take out my books. I should get my mind off last night, but Damian and his problems keep my thoughts busy.

What’s going on with him?

“Raven, Simon kissed me at the dance!” Emma Harper shouts to me. I didn’t even realize they were there, being so sucked into my own world. Although, I do think it’s strange they talk to me again.

Appar
ently, she’s already forgotten our squabble. Lillian gives Emma a poke in the side, and Emma shrugs like she doesn’t care. I know Simon has her as his girlfriend now, but still, something gnaws on my insides.

“That’s great!” I fake the enthusiasm; I don’t want to fight with them anymore. It’s hurtful to see them angry
, and I need someone to talk to right now. After what happened with Damian, I want to be able to think about something else for once, even if it’s only for a little while.

I stand up and sit down closer to their table. “I’m sorry I got so mad at you,” I say and loo
k Lillian straight in the eyes. She listens with care, like she’s been waiting for me to crawl at her feet all this time. “Can we be friends again?” I ask in the most cutesy voice I have, offering my hand to shake.

“Oh, alright, as long as you promise not to scream at me like that again,” she says with a wink and then shakes my
hand. “I don’t like fighting.”

During the rest of our class, I only pay half of my attention to the teacher. I’m still thinking about Damian, why he’s risking his life to find this ‘person’ and what I can do to find out who it
is.
How can I make him tell me?

The teacher says we’re going to dissect fish eyes. I never really understood much of biology, but I’ve always had a thing for dissecting
: searching through those eyeballs, looking for lenses, flipping them out. Emma and Lillian think it’s gross and stay out of my way. They let me do all the work, but I enjoy scaring them by running after them with one of the eyes. At least it’s a more fun way to distract myself from Damian. Until the teacher stops me and demands that I sit down again.

“Didn’t you go to the
dance?” I ask Lillian.

“Oh, no, absolutely not. I’ll never wear a dress in my life
, and I prefer dancing on my own anyhow.”

“So what’s the deal with you and Damian?”
Emma asks while appearing to be busy taking notes.

Great. This topic again.

I have to think before I answer, since I need to be careful what I say. I’d love to tell them that Damian can become a ghost. That we’ve been to the Shack together and that he died there and came back to life. That his friends do it too and that they’re trying to catch someone, although I have no clue who. I want to tell them that I kissed him.

But I don’t. I can’t say
it, and I don’t want to. It’s my secret, and I cherish it. So I say nothing. Only a flush appears on my cheek.

“Oh … oh!” Lillian s
ays. She was drawing an image of the eye, but puts down her pencil. “You two are a couple.” She giggles and pokes my arm with the pencil.

“I saw you making out at the
dance,” Emma says with a grin.

I turn my head
away in shame. A couple. I’ve never heard him say that. It’s not anything I’ve thought about before. Especially not considering the way he behaves toward me sometimes, like last night. Every time it’s a little bit better between us, he screws it up again, being too busy with his own problems.

“No, we’re not a couple, but I don’t know what exactly we are,” I answer.

The two girls start screaming like hyenas, and the teacher yells at them to be quiet.

I won’t say more to them. Nothing about what I know and what we did. I have to keep them in the dark about last night. I promised Damian not to tell anyone. He only told me everything because I forced him to, down in the basement. I put so much effort into getting him to spill all this information that I should keep my promise to him. He wants to keep this a secret
, and I can’t break his trust. I have to do this so he’ll keep on telling me more.

***

During lunch break, Emma keeps yapping about the dance and Simon. Lillian’s also chatting without end about Christian, who bothered her again by trying to give her flowers she’s allergic to. I eat my sandwich in silence, while glaring at the table in front of me. The table where Joey sits by himself, eating his lunch, without Damian and Jianyu.

“Hey, Raven.”

I look behind me. Jianyu’s walking toward our table. Surprised, I put down my fork and see him picking up a chair and putting it down at our table.

The girls are silent. Lillian’s eyes could murder someone.

“Can I sit here?” He asks.

“You’re already sitting
,” Lillian spews as she rips off the plastic top of a dessert cup.

“
Who are you?” Emma asks, not even looking Jianyu in the eye; she’s filing her nails.

“A friend of Raven
’s.” When he says that, both girls lift their eyebrows.

Jianyu starts unwrapping his meal, placing the food in his mouth, while Lillian and Emma gawk at him.

“Aren’t you going to eat that?” Jianyu asks me.

I look at my
cookie, pick it up, and bring it to my mouth. He smiles and continues eating.