Darkest Dawn (15 page)

His mouth upended in an uncomfortable frown as he moved away from her to the space between us. “This is going to work. Remember, it’s just one day.”

“I don’t know why you’re looking at me. It’s you who has to be convincing,” Max said to Jake.

My eyebrows furrowed. What was she talking about?

Bri turned to Jake but her eyes went to mine. “She’s right. You two have to act like friends.”

“More than friends,” Max mumbled under her breath.

Bri bit back a smile and touched Jake’s hand.

He pulled her close to him. “I don’t see why—”

“I need this one day.” She brought his hand close to mine. My heart fluttered.

Jake ripped his hand out of hers and backed away from us.
Don’t blow this!
I silently pleaded. I gave Jake a friendly smile. “I don’t have cooties, you know.” The second the words came out I knew they were the wrong ones. The weight of the kiss we’d shared hovered in the air between us.

Bri chewed on her lip and her eyes slightly narrowed. “What’s the big deal?”

Jake shoved his hands into his pockets, apparently avoiding mine at all costs. He forced a smile and left through the front door. “Come on, we’re going to be late.”

Max followed him and I turned to Bri.

She sighed. “Yes I know, I’ll call you the second I hear anything.” For a brief moment I thought of the psychic powers that Max had suggested, then immediately shrugged the idea off.

I zipped her coat around me.

She squeezed my arm. “Thanks again. I owe you.”

“Let’s focus on getting your mom home.” And me some answers.

I closed the front door and inhaled the fresh air deeply. Then a sour taste filled my mouth, the same one that always appeared when I started a new school. I’d been to enough new schools not to be nervous yet this time I wasn’t going as myself. If I was going to make it through the day I had to focus on the task and not how every cell in my body wanted to turn around to run back inside.

***

I rubbed my sweating hands on my jeans for the hundredth time in the drive to Bri’s school. Tucker and Max were a big help with outlining Bri’s schedule for the day while Jake was silent. I caught Jake’s eye in the rear-view mirror a few times but he looked away each time.

We pulled into the parking lot and the clamminess moved up to my underarms. Instead of turning into a madwoman I sat silent in the backseat, itching to break out of the suddenly stuffy vehicle.

It felt like an eternity finding a spot. I watched the other kids weave through the cars in the parking lot. Tucker stepped out of the car. I quickly followed behind him, slinging Bri’s backpack over my shoulder.

“She wears it on both arms.” Max assisted me in getting the strap over my other shoulder.

I reluctantly pulled my arm through the loop. “Better?”

Max shrugged. “Only trying to help.”

I honestly didn’t think the other kids would pay attention to the difference. Though I wasn’t in my territory here and I had promised Bri I’d try. She’d already had enough pushback from her friends about this situation.

My phone buzzed from my pocket and I couldn’t grab it fast enough. I checked the screen and my heart fell.

“I’m home,” Dad’s text read. “Hope you’re having fun on your field trip. Call me later.”

I turned off the screen and shoved the phone back into my pocket. I’d have to call him later and tell him more lies. The thought of it made my throat tighten. When I’d found out all the answers that I sought, would I be able to look him in the eye?

I shook away the thought.
One thing at a time.

Our group strode up the front walkway. I avoided eye contact with the rest of Bri’s peers—surely they couldn’t tell the difference between us. If her best friend and almost-boyfriend couldn’t tell the difference, I knew these kids wouldn’t bat an eyelash.

Tucker and Max chatted about some assignment next to me and Jake was on the other side. He was close to me. As much as I enjoyed it, I knew it was a ruse. I kept my head down, something I knew instinctively Bri would have done. Her non-confrontational attitude was nothing like my straightforward one. At least I could get that part of her right.

We reached a bank of lockers where the group surrounded me next to locker 641.

“3-24-32,” Max whispered as she rolled the lock on the locker next to Bri’s.

I opened the locker on the second attempt. I slipped off Bri’s coat. The sudden loss of heat made the sweat on my skin turn to icicles. I bit back a shiver and shoved the coat into the small space.

“You need English, history, and algebra II books right now.”

My muscles tensed. “Damn. Bri’s English book.” I checked my watch. “What time is first period?”

Max answered. “We have twenty minutes.”

If this was all I could do for Bri today, I’d make it work. “I can make it in time.”

“See you next period.” Tucker winked at me and went on his way.

Jake’s presence was overwhelming.

“Can you give us a second?” Jake asked Max and she eyed us both before walking into the classroom a few doors down.

I turned to Jake and his eyes were boring holes into the ground. “You okay?”

His gaze snapped up to me as if I’d woken him from a trance. “You tricked me.”

“Excuse me?”

“You tricked me into thinking you were Bri. Then let me kiss you.” The words poured out of him quickly as if he’d been rehearsing them in his head since we met.

“I didn’t let you do anything. You practically attacked me.”

He tilted his head, sending an accusing stare.

I had to look away. He was right. I did kiss him back.

And how much I wished I could do it again.

“I can barely look at her now—” his eyes darted to the faces of the kids hurrying to class around us “—without thinking of you.”

In any other circumstance it would have been a romantic thing to say to a girl, but I knew there was nothing romantic about it. He regretted it.

“I’m sorry.” I rarely apologized for anything. This was a betrayal that we couldn’t take back.

“I’m assuming you didn’t tell her?” he asked, even though he knew the answer. I wasn’t sure she could forgive either of us.

“I didn’t,” I said quietly. “I’m here to find out about my mom and that’s it. I’m out of here. You two can start where you left off before I got here.”

He shook his head. “I’ll always know.”

“We can’t take it back. Both of us know that kiss was meant for her. I won’t ever say anything and you shouldn’t either. It would only hurt her.”

He nodded. For the first time since he’d found out who I was, we agreed on something. The awkward cloud between us got a little less thick and stormy.

“I should go.” He sauntered down the hallway and I headed in the other direction.

***

I kept my head down and nearly sprinted to the annex building. Thankfully no one stopped me. The stun gun in my sweatshirt pocket bounced as I ran and I pressed my hand against it so no one would notice.

For a brief, terrifying moment I thought the building might be locked. At least if it was I could have that excuse for Bri and her teacher, though it wouldn’t help me keep a low profile. The doors moved under my weight and I slipped into the building. Silence greeted me. It was directly opposite to the scene I’d found on Friday. I could almost hear the echoes of the basketballs behind the closed gym doors.

I made my way down the hallways and found the girls’ locker room. I pulled at the door and it didn’t budge. I tried a few more times. Definitely locked.

I checked my watch. I had just over ten minutes until class started. Bri had said she’d left through the natatorium from the locker room. I could try that door. If it was locked I’d be out of there and deal with the consequences for her.

Those thoughts disappeared when the door opened easily for me. A wave of heat and chlorine washed over me when I entered the space. The pool was still as I made my way by the bleachers to the other side. I pushed the locker room door open.

The lights were off and I moved my hand against the wall for the switch. I flicked it on and the room illuminated. I strode down the hallway and weaved around the corners, searching for the lockers. I recalled the locker number Bri had given me and found it quickly.

A door slammed, echoing off the walls. I jumped back, letting out a shriek. My heart thrummed in my ears as I looked around for the source of the noise. My hands trembled over the lock and I found Bri’s English book.

I turned around and came face to face with a stranger.

My hands flew up to cover my mouth as I put two and two together. “Chloe?” The brat I’d met on Friday. And the one in cahoots with Kael. Her eyes were wide as if I’d scared her. Chloe leaned uncomfortably close, staring into my eyes. Her lips pursed. “I’m onto you.”

Another voice joined us. “Ladies?”

A woman stood at the end of the row of lockers. Her wet hair dripped water at her feet. She wore a red bathing suit and held a pair of swimming goggles in her hands.

Chloe stepped forward. “Hey, Coach. We forgot our English book.” She pointed to the book in my hand.

The coach’s dark eyes never left mine. “That doesn’t seem like you. Remember our talk on Friday?”

Shit
. “Um, yes.”

She looked me up and down, with the same scrutiny a starving dog might give a bowl of kibble. “Shouldn’t you be off to class now?”

Chloe nudged me forward. I gave the coach a wide birth, though her eyes burned into me the whole time. Goose bumps raced up my arms. I knew Bri wasn’t close with Chloe—she’d explained their competitive rivalry to me. I’d rather be anywhere than with Chloe and the coach at the moment.

When we reached the hallway to the natatorium I was able to breathe again.

“Sucking up to Coach won’t get you any points. Only what happens in the pool matters.”

I opened the door to the natatorium. “I forgot my book. And what were you doing in there anyway?”

She didn’t say anything and I suspected she had just accused me of exactly what she’d planned on doing. I didn’t have time for Bri’s petty conflicts. I had much bigger things to worry about.

My eye caught something dark floating in the pool. Both of us slowed down. I stood at the edge of the pool and peered at the water. A dark liquid poured out of the center of the thing. “What the hell is that?”

I glanced at Chloe and her eyes widened. She gasped and grabbed my arm with enough force to make me squeak.

I looked at the water. The wake around whatever was in there grew. Tufts of fur stuck up from the animal and as I stared at it, the more the shape started to come together. The still mouth of the animal displayed its sharp white teeth.

My stomach churned. “Is that an animal?”

Chloe’s hand was still on my arm. She snapped out of her own trance and dragged me away. “We need to leave.”

I couldn’t have agreed with her more.

We left the natatorium and a blast of cool air greeted us. My mind cleared. “Was that a dead animal?”

Chloe sprinted to the front doors. “We’re going to be late to class.”

I looked over my shoulder, the image of the dead animal imprinted on my mind. I guessed Bri wouldn’t be having practice later that day.

***

My suspicions were confirmed during morning announcements when swim practice was cancelled. I assumed Bri’s coach had found the animal soon after we did. It made my throat constrict to think she’d been swimming in that water with the creature before it surfaced.

By the time lunch rolled around I needed a break. Pretending to be someone else was exhausting and I needed five seconds to be myself, and to check my phone. The school had a strict cell phone policy but I needed it on me at all times in case Bri found out something.

Bri’s friends found Max and me after fifth period.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” I came up with the excuse the second I found the girl’s room.

“The lines are going to be huge if we don’t get there soon,” Max whined.

“I’ll meet you in there.” That was met with stares from all of them. I rolled my eyes, half annoyed. “I can handle a bathroom break. I know where the cafeteria is.”

“I’ll stay with her.” Jake volunteered to my surprise.

I stopped at the door to the bathroom and Jake took his sentry post on the other side. “Two minutes.” I pushed through the door before anyone could stop me.

I didn’t hear any girls in the room and I took the few seconds of silence to take a breath. I pulled my phone from my pocket but there weren’t any messages from Bri. There were two from my Dad though.

“Damn it.” I’d call him later.

I dialed Bri’s cell.

She picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“Hey, it’s Sloane.”

“Hi.” She sounded out of breath.

“Are you okay?” A whoosh of static carried through the speaker. “I think you have bad service.”

The static cleared up. “I’m fine. I went outside for some air.” She sounded like she’d jogged a mile.

“Did you hear from Abbey?”

“Not yet. How’s it going?”

I glanced at the door. I could feel Jake’s presence on the other side. “Fine. We’ll be coming to your place after school. Your practice is canceled. They found a dead animal in the pool.”

“Gr—oss.” The word was broken by a string of static.
She had no idea.

The door opened and three girls came into the space. I covered the earpiece with my hand. “I have to go though. See you soon.”

I skirted around the girls, wondering if Bri knew them and how I should react. They barely noticed me so I took that as a hint they probably didn’t know her.

The hallway had cleared out significantly in the few minutes’ break. Jake pushed off the wall. “Ready?”

“Yeah.” For some reason I decided to come clean. Maybe because Bri was the only thing we had in common, and the one thing that I could use to possibly make him forgive me. “I called Bri and let her know about practice.”

His eyes widened with concern. “She okay?”

I nodded. “She’s fine.”

Jake visibly relaxed. It was strange to see his reaction to her. And I realized how much he cared. A pang of jealousy pinched at my heart. I wasn’t jealous of their relationship. Well, in a way I was. I’d never had anyone care that much for me outside of my parents. It was a situation I was envious of that I knew I’d think about for a long time after I left. It almost made me want to tell my dad that I wanted to settle somewhere. At least until graduation. A big almost. The hole in my chest that I normally closed up was starting to crack open again. Other than Bri or my mom, I wasn’t sure if I wanted anyone else to fit in there.