For Ever (16 page)

Her eyes narrow.

“Someone from your school who drives a
Maserati?”

“It’s his dad’s car, I think.”

That’s the only rational-sounding explanation
that I can come up with.

“Does this person have a name?”

I exhale.

“Ever Casey.”

“
Ever
?” she repeats.

“Yeah.”

“Well, that’s unusual.”

I roll my eyes.

“Come on, Mom. You named me after a bird.
Everybody thinks that’s a little weird.”

“Wren is a beautiful name,” she sniffs
defensively.

I throw my purse on the couch and hurry into
the kitchen, my mom trailing behind me.

“So, who is this mystery guy? Are you dating
him?”

“God, Mom! No! He’s in my Art class, and he
offered me a ride. That’s it!”

I don’t mention the fact that he’s beautiful
and strange, or that he’s making me crazy.

“What about your friends? I thought you were
out with them.”

“I was. He offered to give me a ride, so I
could get back to make dinner.”

I don’t mention that I’m trying to limit my
cash expenditures until I get a car and a job.

“You like him, don’t you?”

My cheeks flush, and I shake my head.

“He’s just in one of my classes.”

“Uh huh, sure. And when am I going to meet
him?”

“It’s not like that. He doesn’t even like
me.”

“You know, honey, he’s an idiot if he doesn’t
like you.”

I smile crookedly.

“How about tortilla soup?”

“Sounds great. I’m going to run upstairs and
change. Be down in a sec, okay?”

I nod. More like a half hour, but I don’t say
that. When she disappears through the door to the living room, I
start gathering up ingredients. Chopping the garlic and onion, my
eyes tear up so badly that I can barely see what I’m doing. But the
tears feel good, like a relief from the pressure. I move on to the
carrots and zucchini. While the garlic and onions are simmering, I
open the cans of broth and tomato sauce. I can’t remember if the
recipe calls for basil or oregano, so I skip that step. I add salt,
pepper, and chili powder. Then I grate some cheese and crumble up
the tortilla chips. My mom reappears, holding out my phone.

“It was buzzing.”

I take it from her, and she sits down at the
kitchen table.

“Can you watch the soup for a few minutes?
Just turn it down when it starts to boil.”

“Sure, hon.”

She’s busy opening the mail, so I’m not
entirely sure she registered my request. Hurrying to my room, I
scroll to Ashley’s number and prepare for the worst as I shut my
door behind me.

“
Oh … my … freaking … god
! What
happened?”

“Lindsay?”

“You’re on speaker. Now tell us
everything!”

I sigh.

“He just gave me a ride home,” I mumble.
“That’s it.”

“Right!
Something
is going on with you
two. Did he ask you out? Are you guys going to the dance together?”
She pauses dramatically. “Did he
kiss
you?”

“No!”

I pinch the bridge of my nose. I need
something that will satisfy my friends.

“He opened the car door for me,” I offer
tentatively. I regret it when a chorus of screams erupts in my ear.
“That’s it.”

“I can’t believe it. He’s totally going to
ask you to the dance!” Ashley squeaks breathlessly.

“Um, I’m in the middle of dinner. I’ll see
you guys tomorrow, all right?”

Hanging up, I sit down on the bed, shaking
and exhausted. After a minute I force myself to get up and trudge
back downstairs. When I get to the kitchen, my mom looks up and
frowns.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just kind of tired.”

And confused. And a little too hopeful. What
happened tonight?

When I get to Art the next morning, I feel a
twinge of guilt for having relinquished my seat to the girl next to
me, especially since I’m now operating under the assumption that
Ever is
not
an evil mastermind. I don’t know what his deal
is, but I no longer think he’s planning worldwide destruction.
Well, I’m eighty-five percent sure he isn’t.

But then what could possibly explain the
sinister visions in his head?

Just before the late bell, Ever glides into
the room and sits down like nothing happened. He turns to look at
me once. The smile on his face practically turns me to mush, and I
wonder if it’s totally wrong of me to feel so giddy. When class
ends, I’m startled to see him waiting at the door. Ashley turns
around and mouths,
Yikes
. My thoughts exactly. I walk
cautiously toward him, and he looks down at me.

“Would you have lunch with me today?” he
asks.

His question is so unexpected that I just
stare at him, waiting to wake up. It feels like someone just walked
up and told me that I won the lottery. Or that Prince Charming just
asked me to prom. Not even my dreams have been this good
lately.

“Um … sure.”

At nutrition, Ashley, Lindsay, and Taylor
pounce on me. Taking an apple from my bag, I try to act normal.

“Ash said you talked to him again.
So
?
Is he coming with us to the game?” Lindsay asks.

I take a bite of my apple to give myself time
to think.

“We’re not going out, guys. He’s just a …
friend.”

“Uh yeah, that’s why you’re the first person
in school he’s talked to—because he suddenly wanted a friend,”
Lindsay says, nudging Ashley.

Desperate to change the subject, I turn to
Taylor.

“Did Josh ask you to the dance yet?”

She nods slowly, clearly surprised. “How’d
you know?”

“He mentioned in English that he was thinking
of asking you, so I just told him he’d better move things along.
But you can’t tell him I told you,” I say, figuring a white lie
won’t hurt if it helps both of us.

“And you didn’t tell us?” Lindsay demands,
turning her wrath on Taylor.

“I didn’t think he was going to ask me,” she
answers quietly.

I wince at the emphasis on the word
me
. Regardless, I’m happy for Taylor and glad to have the
attention off me. I turn when Ashley waves like she’s calling a
meeting to order.

“Did you guys hear?”

The rest of us shake our heads.

“There’s a party tonight after the baseball
game! It’s up in one of the crazy big houses in the West Hills. I
heard about it from a guy in my second period.”

When Lindsay and Taylor start hopping up and
down, I can’t seem to match their excitement. The bell rings, and
we scatter. In French, I find it next to impossible to concentrate.
Chemistry is worse. At the lunch bell, I feel a jolt thinking of
Ever Casey’s invitation. Stopping by my locker, I walk to the
cafeteria convinced that the whole thing was my imagination. I’m
standing at the threshold when a voice behind me causes me to
jump.

“Shall we?”

Swallowing, I look up at Ever. He gestures
toward his table, and I nod, wondering if I’m about to have another
out of body experience. Walking alongside him, I keep thinking this
has to be a dream. How many times had I imagined this scenario? In
my peripheral vision, I notice a few people at the tables around us
have stopped talking. Before I can sit down, Ever pulls out a chair
and waits for me. But the way he does it seems overly dramatic …
almost theatrical. That’s when I realize something’s wrong. A
second later, he sits down across from me, and my chest tightens.
The look on his face is ice cold. Cruel.

“This
is
what you’ve been fantasizing
about. Isn’t it?”

I stare back at him, too staggered to speak.
He gazes back at me evenly. How could I have been so stupid? He was
proving his point—that I should leave things as they were and not
push him.

“I can’t believe I even thought you were
human,” I snap.

Jumping to my feet, I grab my bag.

“I told you things were better this way,” he
says before I can turn away. “You clearly didn’t absorb that the
first time.”

I think of the night before, his fingertips
brushing my cheek. This guy is absolutely, certifiably nuts.

“Yeah? And whose fault is that? Just stay the
hell away from me. I mean it,” I hiss.

I practically trip in my rush to get away
from him. All I want is to crawl into a corner and really lose
it—until I see Josh, Marcus, and Zach walking toward Ever’s table.
I hurry toward them.

“Are you all right?” Josh asks.

“Fine.”

I force a smile, but Josh looks less than
convinced.

“Lovers’ quarrel?” Marcus asks teasingly.

I shoot him a withering look.

“Give it a rest,” I mumble.

“Well, what’d you say to him?” Marcus
presses. “’Cause I thought laser beams were going to shoot out of
his eyes and incinerate you.”

I look back to where I was just sitting. Ever
is already long gone.

“Are you all right?” Ashley asks when we
reach the table.

I smile again.

“Fine.”

I wait for the uncomfortable silence to
pass.

“Hey, you guys want to grab dinner before the
party?” Lindsay asks.

When everyone begins arguing back and forth
between pizza and burgers, she looks in my direction and mouths,
You okay
?

I nod.

Whatever humanity I saw in Ever’s eyes the
night before, it had obviously been a momentary thing. Or, more
likely, it had never existed in the first place.

At the baseball game, I follow along like the
novice that I am. I do not ask questions, since admitting you know
nothing about the American pastime is like telling people you come
from an alien planet—or that you can read their thoughts.

In other words, people think you’re nuts.

Jeff Summers is at the pitcher’s mound. A few
rows down from our group, I see Emily, his sometimes girlfriend,
and her followers. According to Lindsay, Emily and Ashley used to
be friends in junior high.
Used
to be, until Emily started a
vicious rumor about Ashley. Of course, this only reaffirmed my
first impressions, while also supplying me with the additional
motivation to stay away from Jeff Summers and his entourage at all
costs.

When our team comes up to bat, Jeff steps to
home plate, turning once to get a look at the stands. The other
team’s pitcher winds up. A second later, everyone in the stands
leaps up when the bat connects with a cracking sound. Standing
along with everyone else, I feel like a tourist trying to keep up
with another country’s customs. Even after Jeff has made it around
the bases, Emily stays standing longer than anyone else. She blows
him a kiss. Ugh. Two of a kind.

“Hey, Wren. Check it out. Your stalker’s
back,” Marcus says when he returns from the snack stand.

My pulse races as I scan the bleachers, but
there’s no sign of Ever Casey. Shrugging, I give Marcus a look. He
shakes his head and points behind us to the far end of the parking
lot. I swivel and then freeze at the sight of a figure leaning
against the hood of a familiar black sedan.

“Terrific.”

I try to pretend he isn’t there. It doesn’t
work well. At the end of the game, when everyone splits up to go
home for a few hours, Ashley offers to give me a ride. As we walk
to the parking lot, I take out my wallet and hand her some
cash.

“What’s this for?”

“Gas money.”

She shakes her head.

“Take it. And when I get a car, I’ll owe you
about a million rides,” I tell her.

“Thanks.”

I don’t like things being unequal; it’s a pet
peeve of mine. She pockets the money and unlocks the car. I look up
before opening the door. Seeing Ever Casey standing a few spaces
down from us causes my expression to harden into stone. Ashley
glances back and forth between him and me and rolls her eyes.

When I get home, I throw my backpack on the
floor and take the stairs two at a time. Perching on the bathroom
counter, I watch my mom holding her head upside down with the blow
dryer on high.

“Party tonight!” I yell. “Ashley’s giving me
a ride. Okay?”

She turns off the blow dryer.

“Just try to get home by midnight so I’m not
worrying all night,” she says.

I pick up one of her hair clips.

“I don’t have to go.”

“No, I don’t want you home alone all night
again. Go have fun with your friends.” She pats me on the head.
“Just make sure there’s a designated driver, all right?”

I shake my head.

“Mom, I don’t drink. And I’m not going to …
I’ll be careful.”

Two students at Pali were in a drunk driving
accident last year. One of them had third degree burns. I have no
delusions of invincibility.

“Just make sure you have a safe ride home,”
she repeats.

I nod and leave her to get ready. Back in my
room, I rifle through my clothing selection. From the very back of
the closet, I pull out a short-sleeved, emerald-green silk shirt.
It was a present from my mom, one of the few purchases she didn’t
find at her favorite warehouse-sized club store. I trade my sweater
for the blouse and study myself in the mirror. Thinking it over, I
trade my boots for a pair of more attractive, though less
waterproof, ballet slippers that I brought with me from Southern
California.

Changing back into my sweater, I start my
homework, and by the time Algebra is really starting to drive me
nuts, my phone buzzes. It’s a text from Ashley saying she’ll be
over soon. A few minutes later, my mom pops her head in my room to
tell me she’s leaving for work. I follow her downstairs.

“Is your boyfriend going to be there?”

I sigh. I don’t want to get into this with my
mom, but neither “boy” nor “friend” accurately describes Ever
Casey.

“I hope not,” I mumble. More audibly, I add,
“I don’t think so.”