Drinking Life (Keeper of the Water Book 1) (8 page)

I spend the rest of my birthday weekend acting fake toward my parents, pretending that everything is okay, that I don’t know how long they’ve been lying to me. I’m a terrible actress. Rain pours from the sky all day Saturday and Sunday. Not only is the weather bad for business, it’s also bad for my sanity. I want nothing more than to go out running or shooting or hiking or do anything that might keep my mind preoccupied. But instead I’m stuck inside our small house with the two people claiming to be my parents.

Paranoia creeps into my mind and sometimes I wonder if my parents already know that I figured out their secret. My father seems to act too nice, my mother too nervous, though I wonder if this is how they
always
act, if I’m just seeing what I want to see. Celeste and Cassie come over one night for cake and Cassie is still annoyed with me—she talks about wanting to leave the entire time so she can hang out with her new friends. I expect nothing less from her and actually appreciate the bit of normalcy.

I try to get Celeste alone but our house is small and there’s always someone nearby. Talking to her has always come naturally but I wouldn’t know how to bring up this topic anyway.
Hey, are you really my mother? If so, why have you been hiding the truth for so long?
I think that spending more time with her will give me a feeling one way or another about my relationship with her. But she seems to avoid me on the night of my birthday and when I try to corner her alone the next day, she’s nowhere to be found.

By the time Monday morning rolls around, I’m happy to be back at school, glad for
any
distraction from the confusion of my home life. But that doesn’t last long. It seems like lacrosse tryouts happened forever ago but I’m quickly reminded that it was only a few days earlier. No sooner do Cassie and I walk into school that she ducks down a random hallway without saying a word to me. I know her locker is in the opposite direction but she wants nothing to do with being seen near me.

And with good reason. Heather, Stacey and rest of the popular girls walk in my direction, angry sneers on each of their faces when they see me. I can feel the hatred radiating off of them. They whisper and giggle conspiratorially but none has the courage to say anything loud enough for me to hear—at least kicking butt during tryouts taught them how dangerous I could be. But while the girls are smart enough to figure this out, the jocks are a totally different story. I hoped the last few days would give them time to cool off but apparently the opposite is true, apparently they had more time to stew about it until they’ve reached perfectly pissed-off proportions. When they see me coming, Tank and his buddies spread out so they block my path down the hallway. If they worked together this well on Friday, I may not have embarrassed them so much during tryouts.

“Excuse me,” I say politely as I walk around Tank.

He steps in front of me again and bares his teeth like a chained dog. He half growls, half mutters a string of threats at me that I barely understand. At least they’re not foolish enough to trying anything physical with me. Jeff is not so lucky. I no sooner step around the jocks when I hear a
slam
against the lockers nearby and turn to see Jeff on the floor, his things strewn about the hallway. The jocks and popular girls have a good laugh, especially when Jeff slips on a notebook trying to stand back up. He receives plenty of sympathetic glances from less popular students but none are brave enough to help him and risk becoming sacrificial lambs for the jocks. I have no such concerns.

I rush back around Tank, glancing up long enough to see that Cassie has joined Heather and the girls. Her eyes go wide when she sees me, a silent plea to stop what she knows I’m about to do. But her potential popularity isn’t as important to me as Jeff’s friendship, which was hanging by a thread on Friday. I hope he’s forgiven me for mistakenly hitting him but he’s just like the other boys: madder than before.

“I don’t need your help,” he hisses at me so I grab some of his books. He snatches them out of my hand. “I can fight my own battles.”

Guys and their fragile egos! I head to history class and sit in my normal seat. Jeff still looks frazzled when he walks into class and I hope to try and calm him down or at least apologize to him in private. But he sits in an empty seat on the opposite side of the classroom and doesn’t even look my way. My fabulous couple of days is now capped off by the loss of my only friend. Maybe I should feel sad or disappointed by this but the truth is I’m made at Jeff acting like such a… well, like such a little girl. Still I watch him for several minutes before class begins, hoping he’ll look at me to see how upset I am.

I suddenly feel a tingling in my body before I hear a smooth voice right beside me.

“Looking at something?” John asks. “Or some
one
?”

I turn and see him smiling at me. I was so focused on Jeff that I didn’t notice John walk into the class and sit in the seat next to me. I’m so surprised to see him that my brain freezes for several seconds, finally giving the command to my jaw to close my mouth hanging open.

“No… I was… I…” I stutter like a fool.

He smiles even wider at my expense. “You weren’t this shy on the lacrosse field.”

“I guess I’m better at fighting than talking.”

“That makes you a lot different than most of the girls around here,” he says. “And I like different.”

I blush and turn away from him, unable to think of any response. I feel all giggly inside—how does he have such an effect on me?

My history teacher walks in and class starts. He drones on and on but I’m too distracted today to pay attention. The giddiness John brings out in me fades when I think about the DNA test I sent off. Obviously my biggest question is whether Celeste or my mother is my
real
mother. Either way, I already know my father isn’t my
real
father so I wonder who it could possibly be, if my
real
mother will ever tell me, if I will ever get to meet him. Will meeting him help me better understand myself? Help me understand my recent aggressive streak or odd dreams? It’s frightening to think there’s a person out in the world that is so vital in determining who I am as a person.

I feel John’s eyes on me throughout class. He certainly isn’t helping to make my life any less confusing. I make a point of not looking at him and I hold strong for most of the period. But near the end of class, I finally steal a glance. He still watches me but his hand dances over his notebook, his pencil barely touching the paper. I
know
he’s not taking notes. When I look closer, I see him drawing a picture of my profile. I’m so shocked that I hold my breath.

Is that really how I look? There’s no doubt the picture is accurate; on top of his other great qualities, John clearly has artistic talent. But the way he draws me is absolutely beautiful. He seems to see me in a way that other people don’t perceive—that
I
don’t even perceive. I stare at the picture for a long time before looking up at John, who wears his usual smile. He winks at me and I turn away, feeling the back of my neck turn red. I want to look back at him and the picture but I somehow stop myself.

The bell
rings
and the rest of my classmates practically bolt for the door. For the second time, Stacey ‘mistakenly’ bumps into my desk, spilling my books to the floor.

“Oops,” she laughs heading out the door. I may have been tempted to seek retribution last week but I have too many other problems in my life now. Besides, John stays behind and helps me pick them up so Stacey unknowingly made my life better.

Some of my papers have scattered and by the time we gather everything together, the classroom is empty. Apparently my teacher was in as much of a rush to get out as my classmates. As John hands me my stuff, he looks directly into my eyes, has faces only inches from mine. The rest of my troubles—as monumental as they are—fade away for the time as I can’t take my eyes off of him.

“This is not why I’m here,” he whispers. He appears as mesmerized as I feel. He leans toward me and our heads turn as he’s about to kiss me…

“Can I talk to you, Nia?” a voice says from across the room.

John and I both snap out of the moment and back away from each other. I imagine my frown must appear as disappointed as his. I turn around and see Jeff standing in the doorway.

“Sorry,” I whisper to John. “I should probably go talk to him.”

“I think I understand,” he says.

The two of us walk out of class together, Jeff glaring at John the entire time. Jeff is at least six inches shorter than John but looks like he wants to attack him. I really hope I don’t have to jump in the middle of another fight. But Jeff is better at staring than fighting and he does nothing but give John dirty looks as he walks by.

“I will see you later, Nia,” John says. The way he says my name makes me even angrier at Jeff for ruining our moment.

“What’s up?” I ask Jeff once John heads off down the hallway.

“I wanted to apologize for the way I’ve been acting toward you,” Jeff begins. “I was the one who forced you into trying out for the lacrosse team so it wasn’t fair for me to get mad when it didn’t work out for me.”

I only half pay attention as Jeff talks. Since he’s so much shorter than me, I can pretend to look at him though I’m really peering over his shoulder, watching John walk away, wishing I was next to him right now. But that longing soon turns to pure panic.

The popular girls—now joined by Cassie—turn the corner and walk toward John. As usual, many sneer at him as they walk by but Cassie breaks off the group and rushes over to him. The two begin to talk and Cassie throws her head back in fake laughter. The sight turns my stomach, especially when she hooks her arm through John’s and leads him away.

“Yeah, it’s okay, don’t worry about it,” I tell Jeff, trying to end this conversation as quickly as I can. I start to walk around him, determined to get to John before Cassie follows through on her threat to steal him away. But Jeff takes my arm and I use all of my willpower to stop from pushing him aside.

“There’s something else I wanted to say,” Jeff says.

“Can it wait till later?” I ask. “I need to do something.”

“This will only take a minute, please,” Jeff says. “I just want you to know how much I appreciate your friendship. I really hated coming to this school for the past two years but ever since you showed up, my life has gotten so much better. You’ve been like a ray of sunlight shining through the darkness of my life and…”

I barely pay attention to what he says. Panic fills me as John laughs. Cassie can be very charming when she wants and I worry that he’s forgetting about me already. The only solace I take is the notebook he holds. I silently will him to remember the picture he drew of me…

“…if you’ve taught me anything it’s that I need to make bold moves,” Jeff blabs on. “So what I’m trying to say is I think I’m in love with you.”

Wait… what? I’m relieved by the sight of John unhooking his arm from Cassie’s but Jeff’s words suddenly register in my mind and I finally look at him again. His face has turned bright red but he does not look away, his eyes full of hope. I don’t know what to say to him; I’m in total shock. I know that Jeff liked me but I thought his feelings were platonic like mine, that he was glad to have a friend, an ally. I can’t ever remember a moment where I gave him mixed signals about having
those
kinds of feelings for him. But Cassie’s words come to mind about the popular girls’ dislike of me because all of their boyfriends want me. Did I really miss that Jeff thinks the same way as the jocks?

“I…” I begin, though no other words come to mind. I don’t know if there’s anything I can tell him to let him down easy and remain friends. Apparently he misinterprets my loss of words for feeling the same as he does. I
do
have those feelings, just about someone else. I can’t stop myself from looking over Jeff’s shoulder again, making eye contact with John from across the hallway…

“Bold moves, right?” Jeff says.

In my peripheral vision, I sense Jeff coming closer to me. He stands on his toes and reaches his face toward mine. I don’t react fast enough to pull away as Jeff kisses me. I don’t know what to do and I mistakenly let his lips linger a few seconds longer than I should. It’s not until I hear someone whistling that I step back.

“Let’s break it up, you two,” a teacher says as he walks by.

Jeff smiles up at me. All I felt from the kiss was moist lips but one look at the goofy smile on his face tells me he felt
much
more.

“I am so in love with you,” he says as more people whistle around us.

I sigh and look beyond him. John’s arm is hooked in Cassie’s yet again and the two have turned away from me, walking down the hallway. As if my heart doesn’t sink far enough, I watch John shove his notebook into the first trash can he walks by.

Mount Pocono High is a small school and news travels faster than a brush fire during dry season. Apparently, Jeff’s
bold move
becomes known as ‘The Kiss Heard ‘Round the World’—or at least around the school.

Once John and Cassie disappeared around the hallway corner, I was forced to confront Jeff. Upset that John saw what happened, I was probably a bit too harsh in letting Jeff know that I didn’t share his feelings. He did not take the news well. His smile vanished, replaced with the same look of anger he had the other times I embarrassed him. He followed through with his usual reaction of storming away.

How is it that
he
embarrassed
me
—
he
kissed
me
when I didn’t want it—but
he’s
the angry one? And
I’m
the one who feels guilty?

For the rest of the school day, I hear about the kiss no matter where I go. The popular girls laugh and point at me more than usual; the jocks pucker their lips in mock kisses whenever they see me. Even my English teacher hears about the kiss and feels the need to bring it up to me.

“I heard about you and Jeffrey,” she says. “He’s such a nice boy. And it’s very brave of you two to be together. My husband is several inches shorter than me, too, but we’ve made it work for the last thirty years.” She leans toward me and whispers, “And don’t worry, height doesn’t matter when you’re in the bedroom.”

Ugh! She chuckles but I’m too disgusted to respond. That was the
last
image I needed in my mind.

I fully expect Cassie to find me—to yell at me for being seen kissing Jeff. But the few times I pass her in the halls, she merely smiles at me. This reaction is probably worse than a tongue-lashing since I don’t know what her smile means.

Jeff avoids me the rest of the day but nobody seems to notice the lack of time we spend together, the signal that
nothing
is going on between us. I get to each class early—the teasings in the hallway are most brutal—and watch the door, hoping to see John in more of my classes. But by the end of the day, I realize we only have history together—unless he’s been ditching to avoid me, too.

At least my mind has been sufficiently preoccupied.

When the day’s final bell rings, common sense tells me to sneak out a side door and get the hell away from school. I’m sure this won’t be the last time I’m teased about what happened but these things always fade with enough time passing. But before I reach the door leading to the parking lot, I spot John down the hall. Most boys just need time to get over this type of thing but I need to explain myself to him right away. The last thing I want is for him to misunderstand what’s between me and Jeff.

“How was your first full day here?” I ask. I try to sound cheery and friendly but feel fake doing so. John doesn’t fall for my Cassie-impression and gets right to the point.

“You should have told me you were taken,” he says. He’s hurt but not whiney.

“I’m
not
taken.”

“Looked like it to me,” he says, raising an eyebrow.

“Jeff totally surprised me with that kiss,” I say. “Believe me, we are
not
together.”

“Uh huh,” he says. He shuts his locker and turns to walk away. This may be his way of dismissing me but I refuse to take the hint. Am I doing to him what Jeff did to me?

“You don’t believe me,” I say, more of a statement than a question. In essence, John’s calling me a liar, which ticks me off. Sometimes I wonder how much easier my life would be if I
could
lie all the time like Cassie. “Jeff and I are friends
only
. He misinterpreted my feelings, which resulted in the k… in what happened. I told him that could never happen again.”

“I see,” John says. “This is not what your friend Cassie tells me. She said you and that guy have been together for a while.”

Hence the reason for her smile I couldn’t figure out before, God, Cassie can be such a b–

“You shouldn’t believe everything she says,” I tell him.

I don’t expect him to believe me. Cassie can be very convincing—as well as very conniving—and the evidence isn’t exactly stacked in my favor. But he suddenly stops walking for a moment and has a faraway look in his eyes. His smile returns and I finally feel like I can breathe again.

“You are right about that,” he chuckles.

He already gave me plenty of reasons to like him but add one more to the list: he can apparently see right through Cassie. The tension between us is finally easing when we run into the group of popular girls. They always seem to find me at the worst possible time!

“Hey Godzilla, you better not let your boyfriend Jeff see you talking to another guy. He might not give you any more smooches,” Stacey says to the delight of her friends.

“Shut up,” I snap at her. Now isn’t the time to test me. A few of the girls back up but Stacey only laughs harder. Still, she’s not foolish enough to say another word. Now it’s Heather’s turn to talk but it’s not directed at me.

“And
you
better not let Cassie see you talking to
her
,” she tells John.

John shrugs as we head outside. I wonder what Heather meant by that last comment. But I don’t want to sound as jealous as I feel so I try to think of anything else to talk about. Unfortunately, my mouth begins to talk before my brain realizes I choose the
wrong
topic to bring up.

“You house is nice,” I blurt, my face instantly blushing. Why would I
purposely
mention my stalking incident?

“I didn’t think you would ever want to talk about that,” he laughs. “You almost ran my neighbor off the road, you know.”

“Sorry about that,” I say. “I was working and didn’t feel like rushing back. I thought I saw you driving but I shouldn’t have followed you.”

“I forgive you,” he says. He turns away and rubs the back of his neck. I’m pretty sure he’s blushing as well beneath his dark skin tone. “I must admit something to
you
now. I drove past your family’s tour business several times before you spotted me.”

Now it’s my turn to grin, though I’m sure I look more goofy than cool. “I
knew
I heard something.”

“I was thinking of taking a tour,” he says. “Maybe a canoe trip.”

John
so
doesn’t look like the outdoors, woodsy type. But I can’t help feeling excited at the prospect of him going on a trip with us.

“You would
love
it,” I excitedly tell him. “The Lehigh River is beautiful this time of the year and so are the national parks around us. You wouldn’t believe all the different types of flowers now blooming. We always see tons of wildlife, too. Deer and birds and maybe if we’re lucky a bear. Nature can be such a wondrous – ”

John wears a smile different from those I’ve seen on him so far. I definitely detect guilt and quickly figure out why.

“You were just kidding about the tour, weren’t you?” I ask. I’m disappointed since I already imagined the two of us floating down the river at night, gazing up at the stars together.

“I have to admit I’m quite fond of civilization,” John says as we cross the parking lot. “But you make it sound very nice; your love of nature is still imbedded in you. Besides, I don’t think any of my motorcycles would fit in a canoe.”

He stops in front of yet another bike, the third different one I’ve seen.

“You
really
like motorcycles,” I say, stating the obvious.

“If you knew some of the slow modes of transportation I’ve been stuck with over the years, you would understand why I appreciate driving fast,” he says.

John can’t be older than eighteen so he’s only been driving for a few years. Maybe his parents drove some old clunkers when he was growing up though that’s hard to imagine considering his huge house…

“Is that what those guys were building in your backyard? Your parents are having a garage made for your motorcycles?” I ask.

This is the first time I’ve thought of that building since I sped away from John’s house. But I can still picture it clearly, feel the strange pull it has on me. I almost don’t notice John’s smile fade until I see the stern expression appear on his face. What did I say?

“Don’t ever bring that up again,” he says angrily, the edge in his voice sharper than a sword.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I stutter, wondering if he’s joking again. “I didn’t – ”

“
Ever!
” he snaps.

The breath feels like it’s sucked out of my lungs. I’m shocked and don’t know what to say, don’t know what I said wrong in the first place. John doesn’t give me time anyway. He starts his bike and zips across the parking lot. I don’t want him to leave until I see him stop near Heather and Cassie. Even from far away I can tell that Cassie is flirting with him. John doesn’t exactly look comfortable by it but he makes no move to drive away. I can’t think of anything to do but stand and watch.

But that doesn’t last long. A nice car suddenly zooms by, veering into a puddle a few feet away, splashing water all over me. I’m a muddy mess. The car stops and its window rolls down.

“Sorry, Big Foot,” Stacey laughs from the driver’s seat. “Hope you don’t smell like a wet dog.”

Stacey’s friends laugh and they speed away, nearly hitting several students in the parking lot. I’m livid, maybe more so than I ever remember. Rational thinking is impossible and before I know, I’ve picked up a large rock from the ground. Although Stacey’s car is speeding halfway across the lot, I throw the rock without thinking what I’m doing.

I mean really, what are the chances of hitting a speeding target from several hundred feet away? Unfortunately, I
feel
the answer in the pit of my stomach the moment I release the rock—it’s instant regret. The rock smashes through Stacey’s back window, causing the mean girl to swerve and nearly hit several other cars.

“Nia Ammo!” a nearby teacher yells, having seen the entire incident.

My life keeps getting better and better!