Crossings: A Sovereign Guardians Novel (6 page)

"I'm not saying I don't like Mr. Rochester," I argued back. I had read
Jane Eyre
several times and even watched both the black and white and the more recent version of the screen adaptation, but Mr. Rochester is no Mr. Darcy."

I turned my body, so I could see him better. "Really, Granger, don't you think some things should not be secrets? Say for example, the fact that he had a wife hidden in his house? Wasn't that a pretty important piece of information to tell the second woman he was planning to marry? You know, keeping secrets from other people is usually quite selfish and done to protect the person keeping the secret and not the other way around. Of course, I'm not talking about things like not telling someone what their birthday present is. I'm talking about the bigger, untold lies people choose to hide. I think keeping secrets is rarely a good thing."

Mrs. Holmes started to call roll, and as I turned around to face the front of the room, I couldn't be sure, but I could have sworn I heard Granger whisper, "Some secrets can't always be shared."

By the time class was over, I'd become fully immersed in the ending chapters of the class novel despite having read the book before. Mrs. Holmes was actually a very good teacher, and her lesson held my attention so that after three pages of notes and only a few doodles in the margins of my paper, I was surprised to see the hour was up.

The other students began gathering up their things, and I started to do the same. I had just put my notebook and pen in my bag when the bell rang to dismiss the class. I stood and pulled out my schedule from my pocket and was looking at where I had to go for my final class of the day when I felt Granger's hand on the small of my back. He was looking over my shoulder at the paper I had spread out on top of my notebook.

I didn't always like the feeling of someone in my personal space, but Granger's touch was anything but offensive. I stood perfectly still and admitted to myself I didn't want to move because I didn't want him to take his hand away. Common sense though said I had to walk. Mrs. Holmes next group was already pouring into the room, and after a quick glance at the map printed at the bottom of the page, it looked like I was going to have to hike across the campus to get to the last class on my schedule which was at the back of the school.

Granger's hand fell away, but he moved in beside me as we stepped into the crowded hall. He kept pace with me as we continued to walk.

"Do you think you can find the gym?" he questioned me, motioning to my schedule. "It looks like your day ends there."

"Oversized room, bleachers, basketball goals, not so pleasant smells wafting from the dressing rooms? Yep," I teased, "I think I can find that one by myself."

"Sorry, that sounded like I thought you were an idiot. I didn't mean it like that. I, just, well, ya know, I'm taking my job as the welcome host seriously in Faith's absence."

He grinned at me then, and as much as I wished at that moment that we had at least one more class together, I was glad he wasn't coming with me.

Me and
anything
that involved objects being thrown towards my body, well, it wasn't pretty. I tried to be tough on the outside, but I tended to turn into a bit of a wimp when flying objects with great speed behind them were aimed at my head. I was quite sure ducking and screaming in my gym outfit wouldn't be an image that would encourage the attention of someone like Granger Panera, not that I necessarily wanted to encourage his attention, I hastily told myself.

"I guess I'll see you around then."

Granger said the words more like a question than a statement, so I answered reassuringly, "Absolutely."

I had just turned to start my trek down the hall and away from the English class when I heard him come back up behind me.

"Did you forget something?" I stopped, puzzled.

"Yeah," Granger said slowly. "Your number."

"Excuse me?"

"I was hoping to get your number so I could maybe text you later, you know, in case you had questions about anything that happened in Mrs. Holmes' class."

I knew that students weren't allowed to have their cell phones out during school hours, so I wasn't surprised when he took out a piece of paper to take down my number rather than his phone. I stopped him just as he pulled a pen out of the wire spiral of his composition journal.

"I can't give you my number."

He looked up startled and then slightly embarrassed.

"Absolutely, of course, I understand. Pagan, I wasn't trying to push. Really, I'm sorry." He moved to leave and this time it was my turn to hurry and catch up to him. I put my hand on his arm and turned him around.

"I wasn't brushing you off."

My face was turning red again, a perpetual problem I seemed to have around him, and a problem I didn't remember having until today.

"I don't have a number to give you because I'm probably like the only teenager in America who doesn't have a phone other than the antique wall phone at my Gran's house. The school I went to before this one, well, we weren't allowed to have cell phones there."

The truth was we weren't allowed to have them in class, just like here, but the students living there could use them outside of class. I didn't go on to explain that my father wouldn't buy me a phone because he had no desire to make it any easier to communicate with his only child. Hadn't Granger just tried to convince me that real people kept secrets, and I'd acted as though secrets were wrong? Yet, I definitely had some of my own I didn't want to share. If only he knew all the secrets I had, he'd probably adore me as much as he did Mr. Rochester and his veritable vault of mysteries. I wondered if there would ever be a time when my ideals and my life would be in synch with each other.

I dared to raise my eyes from the floor and look at him. I was silently relieved to see he was smiling at me again.

"Hey, that's fine, really. It's cool that you don't have a phone, Pagan. I like it that you aren't a carbon copy of everybody else around here." His voice deepened as he added, "Even if it means I can't bombard you with annoying texts all night until you fall asleep with my words tucked in beside you."

He leaned forward and was so close to me now I could feel the light stubble on his cheek against my own smooth skin. His breath was warm and sweet against my face as he whispered in my ear. "And by the way, red only became my favorite color today. It looks amazing on you."

He drew back from me and left me standing with my cheeks turning his favorite shade.

As he walked away, I wished I had at least given him my Gran's home number if nothing else. She only had the one wall phone at Fairvue, but at least it would have been something.

I headed towards the gym imagining what it would be like to have Granger Panera texting me as I went to sleep each night.

It was funny, but not having a phone had really never bothered me before now. Something was definitely going to have to be done to fix the problem - and the sooner the better.

Chapter Three

"You should wear short skirts more often, babe. You've definitely got the legs for it."

The look I gave Keller was nothing short of venomous. Over the last few weeks I had given up trying to get him to stop calling me anything but my name; however, I didn't have to pretend to like it. My usual annoyed look when he was around did nothing to curtail the lopsided grin on his face as I sat down at what I now thought of as our lunch table.

I sat across from Keller and beside Faith, being self-conscious enough now from Keller's remark to make sure my skirt was still covering all the important parts the denim material was supposed to be covering. I wished I hadn't given in to Faith's insistence that I wear something other than my normal faded jeans and T-shirt. The skirt being made from denim had been the only redeeming factor when I bought it, but at this very moment even the material wasn't enough to make me believe I'd ever wear it to school again. Apparently, Keller thought it had other positive qualities that I had failed to notice this morning as I put it on.

Once I was sure I was adjusted where nothing that shouldn't be showing was showing, I answered back.

"Not that I'm not just bursting with pride that you approve of my wardrobe, Keller, but I assure you I wasn't thinking about you when I picked out my clothes."

"That's probably true, sweetness. I know you like to think about me most when you're taking your clothes off, not putting them on."

I strangled on the sip of tea I was in the middle of swallowing. The glint in his eyes could only be described as wicked, but I refused to rise to his bait. I took another sip from my drink to keep myself from coughing all over everyone and to give me time to compose myself. If I just ate my lunch and ignored him, maybe I could pretend he wasn't there. That was my weak plan anyway.

Feeling better, I was about to take a bite of my usual chocolate chip cookie when a voice whispered near my ear, "Let me offer my own guess. You were thinking about me this morning when you picked out that skirt, weren't you?"

Keller made a noise that sounded something like a snort, but my attention wasn't on him any longer.

Granger's sudden appearance shouldn't have caught me off guard. After all, we'd been sitting at the same table for a couple of weeks now, but his nearness always had a strange effect on me. After seeing how girls reacted when he smiled or talked to them, I knew I wasn't the only one who wasn't immune to his easy charm and manners.

I couldn't help but compare Granger and Keller. Both turned heads, but with Granger I never had the all-consuming wish that he would disappear. In fact, I was starting to wish I could be around him twenty-four seven. It was the exact opposite of how I felt when Keller was around. With Keller I couldn't think of enough ways that would suit me for his entire being to simply go away.

Each day at lunch he continued to find ways to annoy me. Only yesterday, after he'd made one of his caustic remarks and called me some stupid endearment, I'd launched into day dreaming about ways I could get rid of him. I had a fantasy about a tornado carrying Keller off like in
the Wizard of Oz
, or there was the one where I imagined he was abducted by aliens who left the rest of us behind on Earth. But my favorite was when I pretended he was thrown into in-school-suspension for being so unbelievably obnoxious. And then the powers that be forgot he was there. He simply stayed in detention. Forever.

I sighed. A girl could always dream.

At least I could be thankful that so far I had managed to avoid seeing Keller while he was working at Fairvue, even if I couldn't avoid him at school.

Unfortunately, in some ways that hadn't worked out totally in my favor because I still had to hear about Keller from my Gran. She adored him, and he was obviously at the farm at some point even though I was missing his presence there. I knew this because every evening it seemed like Gran would comment on something wonderful Keller had done for her or Mr. Mac. But luck had to be on my side at least a little bit since so far all I'd had to do was hear about him rather than see him.

If only luck could get me some time alone with Granger. That was definitely something I wanted to find.

Other than my first day at school when he'd walked me to English class, it seemed like we were always surrounded by other people. The day after my first meeting with Granger we'd left the lunchroom to head to class, and I thought I was going to have time with only him again. Keller and Faith had followed us, though, heading straight to the same part of the building where we were going. At first I was confused because I knew I hadn't heard Mrs. Holmes call their names on our roll, but it didn't take me long to figure out they both had language the same period we did but in the room next to our class.

Then Mrs. Holmes, who'd seemed so nice and relaxed the first day I was there, turned into some kind of lecture Nazi after that. Her main mission was apparently to ruin all chances any students would have of socializing in her class as she seemed determined to keep us taking notes from the minute the bell rang to begin class until the final bell where she had to reluctantly dismiss us from English until the next day where she had us trapped for another sixty minutes and could begin her note taking torture all over again.

The lesson I took away from this experience was that finals at JHS were taken very seriously. In most cases I wasn't worried about being behind academically from my classmates because the places I had attended school had been top-notch.

That my father had sent me to some of the best schools around was always ironic to me. If he were going to use the schools so he could accomplish his goal of
out of sight, out of mind
trick, I always reasoned any school should've been fine. But again, I assumed my Gran had somehow managed to intervene.

The schools I attended were great even if I did attempt to get kicked out of each one. And that meant that despite my intentions, I received a good education while in attendance.

At this high school I wasn't sure what the format of the final tests would be, and I didn't want to pull any bad grades because somehow I knew in a town as small as Jasper whatever I did, good or bad, would reflect on Gran. This was the one thing that kept me being civil to Keller. Gran liked him. And if what she said was true about the upkeep of the farm, she needed him.

I had made things hard enough on Gran all those years with the tension I had caused between her and my father. I didn't want that for her now. If I could make things easier on her, I would. Even if that meant playing nice with Keller.

Faith pulled out her food from her lunch bag and smiled at Granger as she began talking. That was one thing I'd come to admire about Faith; she was never short on conversation. I was also impressed that Granger and Keller didn't seem to bother her in the least. Part of that was probably because she was involved with someone who didn't go to Jasper High School, so she wasn't interested in anything but friendship from any guys who went to her own school. Nothing seemed to rock her perfectly matched, manicured world.

"So, does anyone have plans for the weekend?" she asked.

"Work," Granger and Keller said in unison.

I was immediately curious where Granger worked, but I knew if I asked, Keller would make some smart comment that I never asked about his job and we were basically neighbors, so I bit my tongue.

"I have zero plans," I confessed instead. "I keep thinking I should get a job, but Gran doesn't really want me to get one yet. She says if I want to work, she'll pay me for doing chores around the farm, but somehow that doesn't seem right to me when she's already paying for everything else for me. Like, why on earth would I take a paycheck from her, ya know? But for right now I kind of have to take her up on her offer because I don't know what else to do. Or at least until I can figure out where would be the best place for me to work."

"I worked at the Dairy Dip during the winter," Faith volunteered, "but when my grades started slipping, my parents insisted I quit. I can't say I was exactly sorry about having to leave my place of employment. There is nothing so distasteful as learning how the food you love to eat is actually prepared.

Faith sighed. "The Dairy Dip was one of my favorite restaurants, too." She shuddered slightly. "I haven't been able to eat there since my foray into the kitchen of chaos."

"Why, Faith Johnson," Keller said her name as though he was shocked. "You let your grades slip on purpose, didn't you? You needed an excuse to quit work."

Her face flamed red, and I was glad to see someone besides me having that problem for once. I wondered how Keller had known to accuse her of something like that. Before I could speak up to defend her, I heard her mumbled answer of maybe, and I was quick to notice she couldn't quite look Keller in the eye.

"Faith!" I exclaimed. "You didn't. Did you?"

"Well," she drawled out slowly, "I really didn't like working there, and it's not like we need the money. Daddy makes plenty, but my parents wanted me to have the experience of working before college. I heard them talking about it one night after they thought I'd gone to bed. They were under the misguided belief that if I saw how hard it was to work then I'd be committed to having a good college education which is ridiculous because everyone knows I'm already committed about going to college."

She looked around the table and batted her lashes in an exaggerated fashion, and then added in her best Southern drawl, "Let's just say I'm a fast learner of life's lessons and leave it at that."

"Well, I'm shocked," Keller stated, not ready to let it go. "I'm not sure if I'll ever look at you in quite the same way again, Faith."

Granger interjected easily. "This does change things. Now that Keller knows how manipulative you can be, he'll believe he's found a kindred soul. You better watch it; he might try to steal you away from that boyfriend you claim you have but that none of us have met yet.”

Granger nodded his head in Keller's direction. “Keller's nothing if not the master of manipulation. I'm sure he'd love to have a partner in crime as pretty as you." His exaggerated wink at Faith caused her to burst into giggles.

For some reason my own smile felt forced. The idea of Keller and Faith together wasn't something I found particularly amusing.

"You know, there's nothing wrong with being a little manipulative." Keller leaned forward in his seat and stared straight at me. "Especially if it helps get you what you want."

I was ready to inform Keller that only weak men needed to act that way, but I was interrupted before I could speak. It was like
déjà vu
when the female voice on the intercom interrupted our lunch conversation and announced for yet another group of students to come to the library to complete next year's registration.

Granger stood up at the same time I did. For once I found there was an advantage to having a last name that started near the end of the alphabet. The names
Panera
and
Saunders
were both part of the group that was now being called.

"They're playing our song," Granger said as he slid his lunch tray to Keller for him to dispose.

I took one last bite of my cookie, and then added my own smaller pile of trash to the tray. Good manners forced me to say thanks before I walked off.

I was secretly thrilled when Granger laced his fingers through mine, expertly guiding me through the maze of tables and chairs. In my rush to go, I realized I hadn't said goodbye to Faith. I turned my head as we were walking away and was about to give her a quick wave when I caught the look on Keller's face.

His eyes were focused straight on me, and he looked anything but happy. I wondered what his problem was and how he could be so bipolar. One minute he was the first to make a quick joke, and the next minute he seemed ready to pick a fight with anyone, especially me. I turned my head back around before he realized I was looking. I was glad when we rounded the corner and were out of sight of the cafeteria.

There were only a few other students in the hall as we began our walk. Those that were there seemed to be headed in the opposite direction from us. I wondered if somehow we were late or going to the wrong place. Maybe the announcement we'd heard had actually been the last call or something, or maybe there just weren't a lot of people going to register. Either way, I honestly didn't mind. It was nice to have a few minutes alone with Granger.

"So," Granger's voice broke the silence between us. "Why doesn't a pretty girl like you have plans for the weekend?"

My mouth tried to answer but my brain was stuck on the fact that he'd just called me pretty, and he was still holding my hand even though we were out of the crowded cafeteria.

"I'm not much for going out," I managed to answer. "I'm more of a caterpillar than a social butterfly. I like staying in my cocoon all safe and secure. Gran's house makes an amazing cocoon."

I groaned inside. How could I have just given some lame butterfly metaphor to explain my lack of social life? He'd probably think I was crazy after that confession. A normal teenager
would
have plans for the weekend. At least Granger had said he had to work. I couldn't even use that as an excuse.

It wasn't that I wouldn't like to try going out sometime, but before moving back home to Jasper I'd never really had friends I wanted to do anything with once the weekends arrived. The few people I did have connections with always seemed to have homes to go to or visitors on the weekends. A few had invited me to go and visit, but my father always refused to sign the permission slip allowing me to go. After awhile, I stopped asking. Weekends with nothing to do were not new to my life.