Escaping Fate (5 page)

Staying safely out of the way, I
watched the guys practice. The quiet Jackson hit the target more
often than the others, even if Evan celebrated his few successes
louder than any of his friends. Tanner ended up practicing on the
target nearest me and managed to question me about Manhattan and
what kind of activities I liked while he worked. Despite the cloud
hanging over me, I actually started to enjoy myself. I clapped when
one of the guys hit the center of the target, but left the ribbing
to them.

“Do you want to try?” Tanner asked
suddenly.

I stared at him stupidly. Was he
joking? Evan snorted, rolling his eyes. That was all it took.
Throwing a withering look at Evan, I jumped up. “Sure,” I said,
reaching for the bow. The weight of it surprised me. Heavier than I
expected, the metal bow dipped my hand slightly. I wanted to hold
it with two hands, but I was pretty sure that would make holding
the arrow quite a bit harder. “If you’ll help me, that
is.”

Tanner smiled and stepped in closer to
me. Was he hoping I’d say that?

“No problem. Come over here,” he said.
Tanner showed me where to place my hand on the bow. “This is the
riser. You want to look right along the top of the riser to sight
the target.”

“Okay,” I said. Tanner’s two friends
moved back, a few yards behind me. Jackson looked a little worried.
Evan just looked like he was getting ready to laugh. “Are you sure
you want me to try this?”

Tanner laughed, bringing a shy smile to
my face. I really didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of
him. “You’ll be fine,” he said. He readied an arrow for me, which
brought him right up next to me and seriously messed with my
ability to concentrate. “Just let the arrow rest on the top of your
hand. Now pull it back as far as you can.”

Pulling cautiously at first, I
struggled against the tension in the string. My arm strained, but
the arrow only moved about eight inches. Evan was doubled over with
laughter. Even Jackson covered his mouth with the back of his hand.
I gritted my teeth and let the arrow drop for a moment. “Let me try
again.”

“Here, I’ll help,” Tanner said. His
smile was soft, but a little crooked. I could tell he was trying
not to laugh as well. I felt like a huge wimp.

Tanner stepped behind me this time and
brought his hands up to my shoulders. I had not noticed how much
taller than me Tanner was until he looked down at me over my
shoulder. Now I felt like a midget too.

“
Bring your elbow up, like
this.” He pushed my elbow up a little higher and covered my hand
that was holding the bow with his own. Bringing his other arm
around me, his hand tightened around my fingers and the end of the
arrow. “Now pull it back towards your ear.”

I pulled as hard as I could. The arrow
moved a little further than before, and then Tanner took over,
pulling the string taught and holding it. “Do you have the
bull’s-eye sighted?” he asked.

I tried to concentrate on the
bull’s-eye instead of Tanner’s closeness, but that was easier said
than done. After inching the bow slightly to the left, the black
circle came in line with the riser. “Yeah, I have it
now.”

“When I say ‘now’, let go.”

“Okay.”

“Now.”

I released my grip and watched the
arrow slide past my hand. It veered from where I had intended it to
fly, sliding past the target and into the tall grass, but I was at
least pleased to see how far it had gone. Evan hooted at my miss.
Jackson pushed him to the ground, but looked glad he had moved
behind me.

“That was good for a first try,” Tanner
said.

“I couldn’t even pull the arrow back
far enough,” I said. I handed the bow back to Tanner. “Thanks for
the help. It probably wouldn’t have gone ten feet without your
help.”

“Did you like it?” he asked.

I smiled. I doubted I would ever be
able to draw the arrow on my own, but watching it fly away had been
breathtaking. Having Tanner as a teacher wasn’t too bad either.
Knowing that my mom would kill me for doing something so dangerous,
as I was sure she would see it, only added to my smile. “It was
neat. Thanks for letting me try.” Tanner’s smile brightened. I
turned away from him, heading deeper into the meadow.

“Where are you going?” he asked
catching up to me in a few short steps.

“You want your arrow back don’t you?” I
asked.

Together we searched through the tall
grasses for the misguided arrow. Tanner was, of course, the one to
spot the bright red fletching. It had stuck in the dirt just
outside the line of trees surrounding the meadow.

“Sorry.”

“No problem.” Tanner wiped the dirt off
the arrow head on his pant leg before returning it to the quiver
tied around his waist. “Hey, a bunch of us are getting together at
the beach on Saturday.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, “for the
bonfire.”

Tanner cocked an eyebrow. “You’ve
already heard about that? I thought you’d only been here a few
days.”

I grinned. “You country kids must be
hard up for company. It was practically the first thing out of that
girl’s mouth at the grocery store. I think her name was Anne or
Amy.”

“Dani,” Tanner corrected. “I should
have guessed it was her. She usually meets the new arrivals first.
Everybody needs to restock the fridge after moving in, I
guess.”

I smiled again. “Yeah, I guess
so.”

“So are you going to come?” Tanner
asked. “I could give you a ride if you want.”

“I don’t know, Dani seemed willing to
show how to get there, too,” I teased.

“She doesn’t even give me a chance,”
Tanner said. The breeze flipped a stray piece of hair into my eyes
and Tanner reached up to brush it away. His fingertips brushed
against my forehead and I literally felt my skin tingle. Tanner
looked at his fingers and quickly dropped them, his cheeks turning
a shade pinker than before.

My earlier concerns tried to drift back
into my mind, but I pushed the unpleasant thoughts away
immediately. “A ride would be nice. As long as I don’t have to sit
by Evan, that is,” I said. “I think he’s still laughing at
me.”

“Evan can drive himself if he can’t
behave,” Tanner promised.

By the time we made it back to Tanner’s
friends, Evan had managed to calm himself down. “Good try,” Jackson
said politely. Evan stifled another chuckle, but managed to keep
his hysterical laughter in check this time. Normally I might have
stomped away from his childishness with my nose in the air, but
here the teasing didn’t really bother me that much. Standing next
to Tanner might have been part of the reason for that.

“Shooting like a girl suddenly has new
meaning to me,” Evan said. He just couldn’t resist.

It was such a relief to be around
people my own age again. Not having my mom hovering overhead,
trying to gauge whether I was moving towards well-adjusted quickly
enough was a huge relief. I was not sure how I would survive the
summer without a few distractions to get me out of the house.
Evan’s playful attitude gripped me, and before I thought too much
about it, I punched Evan in the shoulder, grinning while I did
it.

“Ow,” he exclaimed. He rubbed his
shoulder, pretending I had actually done some damage. “She hits
better than she shoots at least.” That earned him a punch from
Tanner as well. “Alright, alright, it was a good try, Arra.
Actually Tanner’s bow is way too big for you. I would have been
shocked if you had been able to draw the arrow on your
own.”

I turned on Tanner. His grin was his
only answer. I smirked, feeling a little foolish, but still happier
than I had been in a while. “Well it’s not like I carry around
extra bows just in case a pretty girl walks in while we’re
practicing,” he said in his defense.

I did not miss the ‘pretty girl’ thrown
in so casually. I turned away, hoping he didn’t see me blush.
Looking up into the sky I suddenly realized how low the sun had
dipped. My mom had been thrilled to see me leave the house, but I
knew I would be in for a lecture if I didn’t make it home on time.
“What time is it?”

Tanner pulled a cell phone out of his
jeans pocket. I was more than a little surprised to see it. I would
have bet a week’s allowance that you could not get reception out
here in Grainer. Actually my dad had claimed that was the big
reason for cancelling my cell phone before we moved. We might have
to talk about that tonight. Tanner caught my shocked look and
laughed.

“What, you’ve never seen a cell phone
either? I would’ve thought you’d have three or four, being from
Manhattan and all,” Tanner said.

I completely ignored that comment. “The
time?”

“It’s a quarter to six,” he informed
me.

“Oh crap,” I said. My mom would be
calling dad away from the hospital early if her mopey daughter did
not appear in time to help prepare dinner.

“What’s wrong?” Jackson
asked.

“Oh, it’s just that I’m supposed to
help my mom with dinner tonight.” I looked around the forest, my
brow crinkling. Which way was I walking when I ran into these guys?
“Um, I’m not even sure where I am. I was just kind of
wandering.”

“Go get the targets, guys,” Tanner said
to his two friends. Evan grumbled something about doing all the
work as he walked away, but he went anyway. “I’ll drive you back if
you want.”

“Thanks,” I said, “that would be
great.” My mom might not think so, taking rides from strangers and
all that, but it was a tossup on which one she would be more mad
about, being late and making her think I had died somewhere, or
taking a ride from a sweet and good looking gentleman like Tanner.
Maybe I could have Tanner drop me off a block away and avoid having
to find out. “My mom really freaks out if I’m late.”

Tanner flashed his teeth again. “Well,
we can’t have you getting grounded before the bonfire, now can
we?”

“You just want to know where I live,” I
teased. “I think you might be a stalker.”

“I think you might be the one stalking
me.” He pushed me playfully towards his car. “Get in the
truck.”

The ride home didn’t last long enough.
All too soon my house came into view. The awkward moment between
pulling up to my curb and saying goodbye was instantly filled with
a few more jabs from Evan. A quick goodbye was all I could get out.
And then I was forced to get out and face my mom.

“Where have you been?” she demanded as
soon as I stepped through the door. “And whose truck was
that?”

I knew I should have had Tanner drop me
off a block away.

“Relax, Mom. I was taking a walk in the
woods and ran into some guys who live around here.” I consciously
decided not to mention the archery lesson. I knew that would trump
the ride home with Tanner without a doubt. My mom wouldn’t even
carry a pocket knife. When my dad had wanted to get a gun to keep
in the apartment in Manhattan, my mom had all but threatened
divorce when he mentioned it.

“Guys? What guys?”

“Some boys I’ll be going to school with
in the fall. We hung out for a while and they gave me a ride home.”
I really hoped my mom would drop the topic. “What are we having for
dinner?”

“Arrabella, you know better than to
accept rides from strangers,” she said, her stance moving into the
nagging mother position.

“Oh good grief, Mom. Give it a rest.
You’re the one who wanted me to make friends, remember? There nice
guys. One of them lives a few houses down from us. Their names are
Tanner, Evan, and Jackson. I’m sure you’ll meet all their parents
by the end of the week.” I relaxed a little as I watched my mom’s
stance soften.

“You just scared me, that’s all. I’m
just not used to being in a small town yet. I still feel like we’re
in Manhattan sometimes. I just worry about you.”

I smiled at her. I knew my mom had been
the biggest push to move the family out to Grainer. She never felt
safe in Manhattan. Having grown up in a small town herself, she
just never adjusted to big city life. “So, do you still want some
help with dinner?”

Dad was still at the hospital when
dinner was finally on the table, but me and my mom enjoyed sharing
the meal regardless. Eating without my dad was hardly a new thing,
although living in Grainer promised to make it a much less frequent
occurrence than usual. That, at least, was something to look
forward to. I watched my mom carefully prepare a plate for my dad
and place it in the oven to keep it warm, just as I had watched her
do so many times before. Together we washed the dinner dishes and
talked about our day. It felt nice. It felt normal. We had barely
talked at all in the past week. Stacking the last dish in the
strainer, I kissed my mom’s cheek before excusing myself to my
room.

More tired than I realized, I found
myself laying on my bed wondering where I had left the novel I’d
been reading, but too lazy to get up and really look for it.
Opening the nightstand drawer because it was the closest place I
could think of, I was startled to find the photos staring back at
me. The afternoon out of the house had practically erased my
earlier uneasiness. The peculiar eyes in the photos struck me
deeply. I could swear that I could feel their eyes on me, watching
me and waiting. The unsettling shiver returned
immediately.