Hidden Moon (6 page)

THE NEXT MORNING, I heard Brian’s truck pull up in front of the house. I glanced at the clock. He was early. He was at the front door by the time I grabbed my books and shoved my feet into my sneakers. I opened the door. His hand was raised up in front of him, ready to knock. He grinned at me and pushed his hair out of his eyes.

“Good morning,” I said, “Sorry you had to come all the way up to the door. I tried to catch you before you had to come this far.”

“It’s okay. I’m a little early.” His eyes sparkled with unexplained humor.

“Okay.” I watched him warily. “I’m ready if you are.”

“I’m ready. I thought we might try something different today if you’re game.”

“You tell me what it is first, and then I’ll tell you if I’m in or not.” I stopped walking and stood still. The last time he had badgered me into something, I ended up being a cheerleader. I still wasn’t happy about that.

“Well, I know how you feel about driving,” he began. My mouth opened to protest, but he hurried on before I could speak, “It’s just that I know you’re going to need a way to get around, you know, to study with Adam a couple times a week. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind taking you anywhere you’d like to go. Actually quite the opposite, but I’m getting off track. What I’m trying to say is, if you had a vehicle you wouldn’t have to worry about me waiting for you. You could come home whenever you wanted to. Besides, what if your mom has the car and you need to go somewhere else? You never know what might happen. Anyway, I thought if you wanted, I could let you borrow the truck a few days a week. We could take turns driving to school. It would be good practice.” He stopped for breath and smiled.

I chewed on my bottom lip. The offer was sweet and well-meant, but we were talking about an extra pedal and a gearshift. How was I supposed to keep both hands on the wheel? And what about coordination? I had to use both hands
and
both feet to drive this thing. Nope, I didn’t see that happening in the near future.

I opened my mouth to say no thanks when I looked back into his hopeful face and said the opposite, “I’ll try.”

“Great! You don’t have anything to worry about. I’m a great teacher and nothing bad will happen, I promise. Here let me take those,” he chattered as he took my books from me and walked over and opened the driver’s door.

He jumped in the passenger side and handed me the keys. After a deep breath, I put them in the ignition got ready to start down the road to disaster.

“Okay, put your left foot on the clutch and start her up. Good. Now put it in first and ease up on the clutch pedal,” he instructed.

The truck lurched three times and tried to die before it started down the road. I made it up to the third gear before I had to stop at the stop sign at the end of the road. Then, I forgot to push the clutch in and the truck shuddered and died.

“Don’t worry, you’re doing great. Just put it in neutral and start it back up,” Brian coaxed.

I hoped he was going to say that was enough for one day, but it seemed he wasn’t going to let me off that easy. I ground my teeth together and started the truck up again. I was paying rapt attention to applying the clutch at every stop until we made it into the school’s parking lot. Then I saw Adam and I forgot everything.

He was leaning against the front of his car with his arms folded across his chest again. He was watching me. All the other guys had already walked to the front of the school.

“Okay, just pull in right there. Slow up a bit,” Brian said as he scoped out a parking place.

I slowed down too much. The old truck coughed, shuddered, and died just as I pulled in. I set the parking brake, leaned my forehead against the steering wheel, and said a silent prayer of thanks.

“You only killed it twice. That’s great for a first try.” Brian beamed a grin that stretched from one ear to the other.

“I don’t think I can handle anymore today. You get to drive us back after school,” I groaned.

“Not a problem,” he smiled. “We’d better head to class.”

I grabbed my books off the seat and got out of the truck, slinging my backpack over my shoulder. The little voice was whispering inside my head again,

Good job, Nikki. It’ll get easier, I promise
.

I looked up and saw Adam smile at me before he turned and started to run to catch up with his friends.

That was weird, I thought, was he waiting on me to show up? I frowned. I was beginning to think the guy was bipolar. One minute he snapped at me, the next he smiled. Prescription medication was in order.

He wasn’t in any of my other classes. Only English. I made it through the morning’s classes, and found myself standing at the classroom door again. He was sitting in the same spot as the day before when I slid in next to him. He was wearing black again. He always seemed to wear dark clothes. Maybe I would buy him a white shirt for a present if he passed this class.

“Hello, Nikki.” He turned and gave me the full effect of his golden eyes.

“Hi,” I tried not to stare at him, so I looked down at my open book in front of me.

“I wanted to apologize for my attitude yesterday. I know it’s not your fault we got paired up together for this class.”

Well, that was rude. Medication wasn’t going to fix that.

“If you’d rather pair up with someone else, I’m sure we can get Ms. Barker to switch us around,” I said as I tried to keep my temper in check. I took a deep breath and looked up at him.

The air had warmed again, but instead of being uncomfortable, this time it circled us like a warm breeze.

“No, that’s not what I meant at all.” He frowned, as if he was trying to decide how to say what he meant without getting into bigger trouble. He started again, “I meant that I just don’t like this class, and that I had no place getting angry at you. For that, I am sorry.”

The air started sparking.

“This place needs to get their ventilation system checked out. Maybe their heat pump has gone bad,” I mumbled, moving my pencils in a neat line above my book.

Adam frowned for a second, causing the little frown mark to dent between his brows. He must have taken my rambling as an acceptance of his apology. “So Brian is teaching you how to drive.”

“Yeah, he’s trying. I keep forgetting the clutch and then I kill the blasted thing.”

“I saw you. You did a good job. It’ll get easier, I promise,” he whispered as Ms. Barker called the class to order.

Weird coincidence, my brain told me, as I fumbled with my book to get to the right spot. Maybe I was the one needing medication.

As we went out the door at the end of class, I remembered I hadn’t asked directions to his house. I turned around only to plow straight into him. His hands came out to steady me. I put a hand out to catch myself and it landed against his chest. We both stood as if we had frozen together. His hands were on either side of my waist and I felt his heart hammer hard and quick beneath my palm. I looked up to see him staring down at me in awe. His face was only inches from mine. I took in his high cheekbones and his long straight nose. He had the slightest cleft in his chin that I hadn’t noticed before. I felt his breath catch as my eyes slid back up to his. His eye seemed so warm.

I jumped when I heard someone clear their throat behind me.

“Mind if I cut in, Adam?” Brian’s voice was cold.

Yes,
an angry voice whispered in my head.

Adam looked over at Brian and dropped his hands from my waist. “Sure, no problem. Did you forget something, Nikki? You were heading back in the room.”

“No, I was just going to ask how to get to your house to study later,” I said as I felt the blood rush back up to my cheeks.

“I know where he lives. I’ll get you there.” Brian’s blue eyes flashed and the muscles in his jaw clenched.

“I have a better idea,” Adam said, “I’ll just come over to your house. That way you don’t have to worry about holding Brian up until we get finished.”

“I don’t mind,” Brian interjected as he gave Adam a cold stare.

I put a hand on Brian’s arm and smiled up at him in an effort to diffuse the situation, “I know you don’t mind, but you’re already stuck with me playing chauffeur twice a day now. Besides, if I’m home I can keep an eye on Emily if Mom needs to go out.”

Adam smiled. “Okay, it’s settled. I’ll come to your house.”

“I live right past Brian.”

“Don’t worry, I know where you live,” he said over his shoulder as he walked away from us.

I’ve found you before
, the whisper echoed in my mind.

Brian frowned as Adam walked away, as if he didn’t like the idea of my spending time with Adam alone. I had to hand it to him. If I had seen what he had seen a few minutes ago, I might be thinking the same way.

He affirmed my suspicion when he said, “Maybe it’s not such a good idea. You did say you saw him outside your window. If you want I can come hang out while you help him. It wouldn’t be a problem. Mom’s working late today, so I’ll stop by the house and leave her a note in case she makes it home before me.”

“No, I’ll be fine, honest. You just drop me off at the house and then go home and get your nerves ready for tomorrow’s driving lesson. You’ll need your rest. I may make it into fourth gear tomorrow morning!” I laced my arm through his and grinned up at him.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind to come up.”

“I’m sure.” I smiled and tried to change the subject, “So I wonder what they’ve got to eat for lunch today?”

He laughed. “That wasn’t very subtle, but I’ll let you off the hook if you promise you’ll call me if you need me.”

“I promise.”

John and Beth were sitting at the same table as we got our plates and came over to sit with them. The table across the room was empty. I felt panicked, though I didn’t know why.

Beth looked over at me and smiled. “They go back to the reservation at noon, two or three times a week to learn their ‘traditional’ stuff. Penny explained it to me last year when I did an article for the paper. It’s part of how they keep their tradition alive.”

“I’m surprised they talked to you. I didn’t think they would like outsiders.”

“Quite the opposite. They are a very proud people and they like to share their way of life with others. They like to teach, you’ll see. I overheard Mrs. Graham say that we’ll be going over to the reservation soon for a field trip. I’ll have to get ready to write the article for that, although it should be the same as it is every year.” She frowned as if thinking of different ways to describe the same thing that happened year after year was going to be a challenge.

“Speaking of articles,” I said, “thanks for not putting me in one.”

“Don’t get too comfortable. The only reason you’re not is that I know that now you’re part of the squad and something better to write in the next few days may pop up. I’ve seen Tiffany give you some evil looks today. I’d watch out if I were you.”

“You could take Tiffany, hands down.” Brian grinned at me, and then he added, “but all kidding aside, you may want to watch your back where Tiffany is concerned. She’s sneaky, so keep your eyes open.”

I sat there staring down at my half-eaten burger and wondered what on earth I had gotten myself into. I now had an arch-enemy and it was only the second day of school.

The rest of the day went by at a snail’s pace. I realized that I was looking forward to seeing Adam after school. I kept replaying the moment outside the door of English class. Thankfully, none of the teachers called on me to volunteer any answers even though a couple of them looked at me as though they suspected my mind was elsewhere.

The bell rang and Brian drove us home. He hesitated when I thanked him and jumped out of the truck. I leaned back in to grab my book bag.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to stay?” he asked in a worried tone.

“Yep, I’m sure. I will be okay.”

“Promise me again. You’ll call if you need me, right?” he asked, catching my hand. “I can be up here in just a minute, you know.”

“I promise. You worry too much.”

“I don’t think so,” he muttered. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Reluctant, he turned loose of my hand and put the car in gear, leaving me to stand and watch him drive down the road. I shook my head. I could take care of myself. After all, it was only Adam.

Mom had left me a note to say that she and Emily had gone out shopping for paint for the house and that they would stop and grab a pizza on the way home. I went upstairs to tidy up my room. I caught my reflection as I went by a window and decided I was the one who needed tidying up. I went into the bathroom to inspect my reflection.

My hair was doing its usual chaotic blonde frenzy around my head. I turned on the water, using my fingers to flick little drops of water in my hair to tame down the flyway curls. I gathered the mass up and pulled it through a scrunchie at the base of my neck. It was as good as it was going to get, I decided. I shrugged and went back outside to see what the construction workers had fixed that day.

On the porch, I noticed a new window that looked better than the previous one that had sported the duct tape. I walked around the side of the house, inspecting all the little changes. I smiled at the thought of the paint that my mother was bringing home.

“It’s looking good.” Adam stood next to me, looking at the house. His thumbs were tucked in the pockets of his jeans as if he had been standing there for hours.

“I didn’t hear you drive up.”

“You wouldn’t have. I walked.”

“You walked? Isn’t the reservation a couple of miles from here?”

“It is,” he grinned.

“Did you walk down the road or come through the forest?” I asked, interested in the location of his arrival.

“The forest, of course,” he nodded toward the little path I had discovered earlier.

You didn’t think I was going to walk past Brian’s house, did you?

He was frowning. The small wrinkle formed between his brows. He saw me looking at him and his face went blank.

“So, did you bring your book?”

“No.”

“That’s fine. We can use mine,” I said, trying not to stare in his eyes again. “Let’s go inside and get started.”