Obscured (The Obscured Series Book 1) (5 page)

There
were a few different conversations going on at our table. I couldn’t follow all
of them so I appointed myself to hang on the ones that Pete was involved
in.  Pete was engrossed in a discussion about football with the boys since
they were all on the football team together. They were talking about drills or
something that they were doing at practice that day. None of it made sense to
me.

From
what I gathered about the group, Zach and Breanne were dating, and Mason and
Alexis liked each other but there wasn’t anything concrete there yet. They both
seemed too shy to do anything about it.

I
caught wind of Breanne, Alexis and Bailey discussing the upcoming Homecoming
dance that was happening in three weeks. Breanne was going with Zach, while
Alexis wanted Mason to ask her. I was guessing she would get her wish. 

I
liked going to dances, though it was pretty uncommon for me to actually go with
a date. I couldn’t deny, at least not to myself, that I wanted Pete to ask me.
Who knew if he would or not and even if he didn’t, I planned to go anyway. I
didn’t care about being a third wheel, because dances were always fun
regardless of whether you had a date or not.

Once
lunch was over, I said goodbye to Bailey and Pete walked me to my class.

“What
did you think of my friends?” he asked as we walked.

“They
were really nice.”

I
truly could see myself becoming friends with them. Their endless banter at
lunch reminded me of my friends back in California, which just made me miss
them even more. I couldn’t help but feel like I wanted to be back in my home
state. 

“Oh
yeah? I'm glad. I had hoped you would like them. I have been friends with them
for a long time.” 

As
we arrived at the door of my class, we came to a halt.

“Well,
I should get to class,” he said slowly.

“Yeah,
me too, I'll see you tomorrow. Thanks for walking me.”

He
winked before he turned to walk away. Before I walked into class, I watched him
until I could no longer see him in the crowded hallway.

The
rest of the day passed uneventfully, but I hit the nail on the head when I
thought I wouldn't like swimming at school. Thankfully, my bathing suit was a
one-piece. I would have been twice as uncomfortable in front of the class in a
two-piece. I am quite modest about my appearance, more-so than most girls my
age. Flaunting what I have isn’t something I enjoy, that’s for sure.

After
changing into my clothes after swimming, I checked the mirror to see how I looked.
Just as I had thought: terrible. My makeup had turned the area under my eyes
black, making me look like a raccoon, and my hair was matted from the water. I
took a few minutes to clean my face and tame my mane before I headed home.

As
I began to walk home, I wondered why I had even tried to make myself look
presentable—it didn’t take long for me to be drenched in sweat. But I wasn’t
even out of the parking lot before a car pulled up behind me and honked.
Expecting to see Eli, I turned around with a friendly smile. I was surprised
when I saw that it was Pete, and then immediately I felt some relief that I
took the extra few minutes to make myself look presentable, 

He
was driving a newer silver Honda. Its chrome rims stood out as they rolled
along, and the rumble of the exhaust was loud. It wasn’t as nice as Eli’s car;
that much was obvious. But it was still decent.

“Hey
Abby, I didn’t know you were walking home, let me give you a ride. It’s
sweltering out here,” he called out his window.

“That
would be great, thanks,” I answered graciously.

The
charcoal gray interior of the car was clean and smelled good. The lights for
the different gauges above the steering wheel glowed bright neon blue. It must be
a guy thing to want your dashboard to glow different colors.

I
was happy not to be walking home in 100-degree weather, but I was already in
Pete’s car when it crossed my mind that Eli might be waiting for me when I got
home. It was far too late to change my mind now. If he was waiting for me, I
couldn’t imagine him wanting to talk to me after pulling up with Pete.

Pete
was attractive, and I suddenly transformed into a frog that couldn’t utter a
word. Apparently neither could Pete, so we sat in silence. Thankfully, it
wasn’t awkward; it was actually a comfortable silence. I’d take a comfortable
silence over an awkward conversation about the weather any day.

We
pulled onto my street, and I looked around quickly to see if Eli’s car was
waiting. It was. I silently cursed myself for having been so stupid. Getting a
ride from Pete had been a bad idea when I knew I had invited Eli over. What was
I thinking? Oh yeah, I didn’t want to walk in the heat. Oh well, Eli would just
have to understand.

“My
house is the one right there with the car in front.” I pointed towards Eli’s
car.

“Who’s
car is that?” he asked.

I
wondered if he was admiring the beauty of it. I knew I did every time.

“It’s
Eli’s. He goes to school with us.”

Pete
stopped in front of the driveway.

“Are
you guys’ friends or something?” he asked.

“Yeah,
sort of,” I answered.

“How
come he didn’t give you a ride home if he was going to come over anyway?” He
seemed almost perturbed.

“He
told me he was staying after school, but it must not have taken as long as he
thought it would and he didn't know where to find me.” The lies were coming out
easier and easier each time. It was becoming a really bad habit.

“Oh,”
he responded, seemingly unconvinced.

“Well,
thanks for the ride. I guess I will see you tomorrow.”

“You’re
welcome. Are you walking to school tomorrow?”

“I
don’t know. It depends on my mom’s work schedule.”

I
opened the door and stepped out.

I
walked slowly over to Eli’s car and looked in the window. He looked mad; worse
than he had earlier in the day. His hands kept gripping and relaxing on the
steering wheel, his knuckles turning white each time. He wouldn’t even look at
me as I peered into the car.

Finally,
he got out and looked at me from over the car.

“This
isn’t exactly what I expected when I came over here. Why did you ask me to come
here? To show me that you don’t care about anything I told you? Is getting a
ride home from him some kind of payback? If so, I’m not sure what I did to
deserve it.”

“Come
inside; I want to talk. I’m sorry you're upset. I didn’t plan on getting a ride
with him. He saw me walking and offered me a ride.”

“Does
it really matter? Either way you still rode with him. If you wanted a ride home
I would have preferred you got a ride with me, even if I am mad at you.”

He
took a few steps around the car and headed up to the house. I was relieved that
he was still willing to come inside, but I wasn’t exactly pleased with his
dad-like approach with Pete. I decided to brush it off instead of dwelling on
it. 

I
unlocked the door and stepped into the cool air, making room for Eli to follow
behind. Thank goodness for air conditioning—I had broken a sweat just by
walking from the car.

“I
didn’t plan it. You haven’t exactly been reachable anyway. You wouldn’t talk to
me.” I reiterated, and motioned for the living room, “I’ll meet you in there.”

I
set my backpack in the kitchen, grabbed two sodas, and went into the living
room. I handed Eli one and sat down next to him on the couch.

“I
realize my being friends with Pete is not what you want, but it is something I
want. I don’t see any danger, yet. I want to see if I can figure out what
happened. But in the mean time I would like to be friends with him. I was
hoping that you would be willing to help me.”

“Help
you?”

“Well,
I sort of thought I could get information from Pete and we could figure it out
together.”

“I
don't want you to get close to him just to figure out what happened back then.
Just leave it be. The past is the past.”

“Well
what about that guys’ family? They must be wondering where he went and probably
want closure if that is what happened. I am hoping that it isn't though.”

“I’ll
think about it, but even if I agree, there will be conditions. For example, you
should not be alone with him.”

He
almost seemed convinced to help. I was fine with not being alone with him. I
had to admit that until I knew the truth myself, being alone with him didn’t
seem all that appealing. I would never admit that to Eli though. I was hoping
that Eli would change his bad attitude towards Pete if he were around him
enough. He would get to know him better and we could all be friends. That was
my overall goal—but first, I wanted to know the truth.

CHAPTER Three

The
next day, Mom yet again couldn’t bring me to school, but Eli found me walking
just as he had day before. His cheerful demeanor was back in place, and
instantly I could tell he wasn’t mad anymore. It was as if his bad attitude had
been a dream.

“So,
I’ve been thinking about what you said about Pete yesterday.” He paused. “I
don’t know that this is something we should be getting involved in, but I don’t
see there being a way to talk you out of it, is there?”

“Nope.”
I smiled smugly, feeling triumphant because I knew he was coming around.

“Exactly
what I thought. I don’t want you to do it alone either. I really have no other
choice but to help you.”

He
was going along with my plan, and I couldn’t have been happier.

“You
have no idea how happy that makes me! Thanks Eli.”

I
saw him smile, although I don’t think that he intended me to see it. Just as
quickly it crossed his face it was gone again.

“Remember though, I said I had my
conditions if I agreed.”

“Yes,
I do,” I said, almost dreading what his conditions were. I had no idea what he
might say.

“My
first condition, as I told you yesterday, is that I don’t want you to be alone
with Pete, meaning no more rides home from school, lunches will be without him
or with me tagging along, etc…”

“I
am fine with that one, though it will be hard because he is in my first hour
and walks me to second hour every day.”

He
thought for a second. “I guess I am ok with you walking to second hour with
him, but I will be waiting outside of our second hour for you.”

“Sounds
fair enough, I guess.”

I
was probably more than accommodating to his conditions than I would usually be,
because he agreed to do what I wanted. I wasn’t about to make it harder for
him; at least not on purpose. “What else?”

“I
will be driving you to and from school every day.”

“Driving
me to and from school?” I looked at him with my face scrunched up.

“Well,
I don’t want to chance Pete seeing you walking alone and offering you a ride
again.”

 “I
can’t complain about that, though it seems like you’re going to be going
through a lot of trouble.”

I
had to admit—it sure would be nice to not worry about getting to and from
school every day with my mom’s hectic and unpredictable schedule. She might
even be excited because Eli was a boy, and of course she would think there was
more to it than just friendship.

“I
won't risk your safety, and it is sort of my fault that you’re even in this
mess in the first place. I just couldn’t let you be around him and not know
what he is capable of.”

“It’s
not your fault. I would be involved with him regardless, you just showed me not
let my guard down. It’s an
if
he is capable of it, that’s what we're
trying to find out. Innocent until proven guilty right?” I reminded him.
“Anything else?”

“That’s
all I could come up with for now.”

Once
we were at school Eli walked me to my first class. I guessed it was just the
start of his terms. While it was nice to have the company, I wondered if I
would get tired of having someone around all the time. For the time being
though, I liked it. Eli was pretty awesome to have around. He never seemed to
run out of things to talk about. I hadn’t thought about it before now, but I
had gotten pretty lonely before school started. I was used to having someone
around me a lot when I lived in California. Living with both of my parents
meant that there was usually someone else home any time I was. Now with my
mom’s work schedule she wasn’t around as much, so I was home alone a lot more
than I ever had been.

The
first half of the day went by quickly. We were assigned homework in math, we
worked on our essays in English, and in science we prepared for an experiment
with different sources of power like batteries. I looked forward to doing
projects in science. It beat sitting in your seat listening to a lecture that
never seemed to make sense until you could actually do it anyway. To top it
off, Eli was my lab partner. He made me laugh as we worked.

Lunch
was pretty crowded after adding Eli to the mix. Pete seemed surprised that he
would be joining us for lunch. I couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or bad
thing yet—but I had a hunch.

“I
didn't realize how close you guys were,” he whispered to me as we stood in line
to buy our lunches.

Despite
what Eli had against Pete, lunch went well. I couldn’t even feel any tension
radiating from him. I had been worried about how Eli would act around Pete, but
now I knew that had been silly of me. What did surprise me was Pete’s
apprehension about Eli. I couldn’t guess why.

“I'll
walk you to class, Abby,” said Pete as we all stood up to leave.

I
looked at Eli to see if he had heard Pete; of course he had. He hadn’t left my
side since we met Pete at the cafeteria doorway.

“I'll
walk with you guys. I am headed in that direction too,” Eli chimed in. 

I
knew that wasn’t true. I don’t know what his problem was; it wasn’t like it was
any different than earlier in the day. Plus, when you’re walking through the
halls, you aren’t really alone anyway. There were hundreds of other students
walking the halls too. In that regard, I felt like he was going a little bit
too far out of his way if you asked me. It was going to get old quickly. I
didn't say anything though, and just made a mental note to talk to him about it
later. We said goodbye to everyone else and walked out of the cafeteria
together.

Suddenly
there was tension, and the amount of it made me speechless. It seemed to have
the same effect Pete or Eli, because it was dead silent unless you counted the
chatter of other students around us engrossed in their own conversations.

The
three of us stopped in front of my classroom after what seemed like the
longest, most awkward walk ever. A long silence followed as we stood there, and
I couldn’t make eye contact with either of them, so I made myself appear
interested in the people around us. Gosh, it was painful.

Finally,
Pete broke the silence. “Well, I was hoping I could get a moment alone with
Abby,” he huffed, looking at Eli expectantly.

I
looked at Eli and wondered what he would do. I could tell that he was annoyed.

“Alright,
I should get to class anyway. I will see you after school Abby, same spot?” Eli
shot Pete a smug glance.

It
was some kind of pissing contest between the two and I couldn’t figure out why.
What had gotten into these guys? Eli added that last part just to annoy Pete,
and to me it looked like it worked. It could get really ugly if this continued.

“Yeah,” I said smiling at him.

He
turned and strutted away, but I noticed he didn’t actually leave. He lingered,
talking to someone I didn’t know just out of hearing range. I would have to try
to make it quick with Pete so that Eli wouldn’t be late. This was stressful!

I
looked back at Pete, who was staring at me. It startled me. He had caught me
staring at Eli again, and I hoped that he didn’t notice the color rising in my
cheeks.

“I
was sort of wondering if you had any plans this weekend...” he trailed off,
looking nervous and avoiding eye contact.

“I
don’t know. Did you have something in mind?”

“Would
you like to go to dinner, and maybe a movie with me?”

So
he
was
interested in me. Instantly I felt butterflies in the pit of my
stomach. I was so excited and nervous all at once. Then I thought of Eli, and
all the excitement vanished. What could I say? If I went it would violate Eli’s
rules and his trust; but if I didn't I would be deprived of something I really
wanted. But what would I say now? I didn’t want to make him think that I wasn’t
interested. I had to think—and it had to be quick.

My
hesitation made me hope I hadn’t already taken too long to respond, so I
quickly said, “I think that sounds good, but I have to check with my mom first
just to make sure it’s ok with her. Which day were you thinking?” I took the
easy way out and blamed it on my mom. I breathed a sigh of relief, because I
knew he wouldn’t question that excuse.

“Saturday,
if that works. Here’s my number,” he replied, handing me a folded up piece of
paper. “You can call me to let me know or you can just tell me tomorrow,
doesn’t matter.”

 “Okay.
I'll talk to you later.”

“Bye.” He smiled and turned to go
to class.

I
looked to Eli after Pete walked away. He smiled before leaving to go to class.

It
was only Wednesday, but it was astonishing to see where my first week had
already landed me. I had two good friends, and a whole group of people to eat
lunch with. I had a date with Pete; well, that is if I could find a way around
this set of rules Eli and I had established with our “mission.” I had never had
so much happen in one week before and it wasn't even over yet.

Reading
and history class passed slowly. I was bored and had a hard time focusing. I
racked my brain trying to find a way around Eli’s rule when it hit me; a genius
plan that just might work. I could ask Pete if a double date was okay. Then Eli
could bring someone to double date with us. I would hate to have to cancel with
Pete, especially using the mom excuse. A date is precisely what I had wanted
since I met him. That could work, but who would Eli bring? I would have to ask.

I
met Eli at our agreed upon spot. I failed miserably the first time I wanted to
talk to him about a tricky subject, and he had to know that something was up
since Pete wanted to talk to me alone. I hoped I wouldn’t put him on the spot.
In the end, I would have to tell him that Pete asked me out and that I wanted
to go. It seemed easy mapped out in my head, but when it came to actually
formulating it in a sentence, nothing came out. 

“How
was your day?” he asked cheerfully.

“Good,
how was yours?”

“Different...”
he paused as if he were thinking. “I'm not used to being around Pete and all
the people we ate lunch with. Since I’ve known what I know about him, I have
tried to avoid him and that whole crowd as much as I could.”

“It
wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“He’s
alright,” he agreed, reluctantly. “The rest of them are pretty cool though, I
have to admit.”

“See,”
I gloated. “Well, I kind of have a dilemma.” I waited for him to ask what it
was to be certain he was listening.

“What
is your dilemma? Should I be worried?” His smile faded quickly.

“Depends
on how you look at it.” I paused. “Pete asked me out.” I waited for his
response or reaction, because I wanted to hear what he had to say about that
part first.

He
didn’t answer right away, so I stole a glance at him. I expected him to look a
little upset, maybe stressed, but he didn’t. He looked like he was
contemplating something.

“What
are you thinking?” I asked. I couldn’t sit there wondering what was on his mind
any longer.

“I
am trying to figure out what the dilemma is.”

“I
want to go,” I stated bluntly, kicking myself almost immediately for not having
any tact. I sounded like a child having a tantrum.

“You
can’t, it is against the rules that
you
agreed to,” he stated.

“I
know. I was sort of hoping you would double with us so I could go.” I waited
for his outburst. It never came. We were stopped in front of my house now. I
turned to look at him, but he was staring straight ahead again. Neither of us
made a move to get out.

“And
who did you think I would be taking on this ‘double date’?” He put his fingers
up and did air quotes.

“I
don’t know, isn’t there someone that you’re interested in?”

“Maybe,
but who said I was planning on doing anything about it?”

“Nobody,
but I was hoping you would,” I replied timidly.

He
laughed, but it wasn’t out of happiness; it was a laugh of disbelief. He was
taking it exactly how I expected him to. I had hoped it would go better than I
expected, but at least it didn’t take me completely off guard. I was asking a
lot, and I knew it. I’m not sure I would feel different if I were in his shoes.

“You
don’t have to do anything, but I just thought maybe you would do it for me, as
a friend,” I said, feeling guilty that I pulled the friend card. After all, he
owed me nothing. We hadn’t even been friends for a week. I figured it might
take some time for him to decide, so I got out of the car to give him the space
he needed.

“You’re
welcome to come inside and hang out if you want. Thanks for the ride if not.”

“I
think I will go home. I have some homework I need to work on.”

I
guessed that wasn’t the only reason he wanted to go home. A little time alone
did wonders the last time, so maybe this time would be the same result.