Outcast (6 page)

The best thing about the first day of school was that it was always a half-day. This meant I didn’t have to put up with Lacy’s sideways glances for too long, or Amber constantly going on and on about what she was going to wear later on. The bell rang, and I was out of there like a shot. Having just become intimately acquainted with the power of a shot, I knew what that was like.

It took around half an hour to walk home. It was one of the disadvantages to living in an isolated old house. But I never really minded except when the weather was really bad. Most of the time it was good for thinking. This time it was good for getting angry at myself.

I still couldn’t understand why I’d lied to Lacy like that. And I wasn’t sure what I’d do at the party. Would I continue with the lie? Build on it? Or should I just come clean? I knew pretty well that lies got found out. Then again, it seemed lately I was pretty good at telling them. Still, how long could I keep up a lie about doing something I had no idea how to do, with someone—and here was the kicker—who didn’t exist? I mean, this was a pretty small town. I couldn’t just make someone up. Except if I said it’d happened in Rochester.

. . .

I could say that.

Actually.

I could say that.

I kicked the ground, sending dust up into the air, and picked up my pace. I hated that I could actually maybe make this work, this pretending. I hated even more that it’d felt kind of nice to pretend to be interesting.

I finally made it home and turned up the driveway. I could see Mother sitting on the porch sipping a lemonade. She seemed pretty content. How nice for her.

“So how did it go?” she asked as I stomped up the steps and collapsed beside her. She examined my scowl and smiled. “That good?”

“Been a rough day.”

“Riley, it’s just your first day back. What could’ve happened?” My mother, despite her constant fear of doom and gloom, could never see the evil and danger inherent in high school. High school had been the best time of her life. Why shouldn’t it be that way for everyone else?

“Everyone in this town is so stupid.” I was pouting. I knew that. I was good at regressing to a ten-year-old when I felt like it.

“Oh, come now. Tell me something good.”

Something good. There was nothing good. The only thing that she’d consider good scared the shit out of me. “I was invited to Lacy Green’s party tonight.”

“Well, there you go!” My mother wrapped her arm around my shoulder and drew me in to her. “That’s a very good thing now isn’t it!”

“Did someone mention a party?”

The moment I heard the voice I was sitting straight up. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might burst out of my chest. This can’t seriously be happening…that was the only way it made any sense, that actually none of this was happening…

And then he came around the corner as casual as all get-out, carrying the same shears I’d used to threaten him a couple days before. In the jeans I’d given him. But no shirt. He’d taken that off, sharing that remarkably sculpted torso of his happily with the world. Why was he so comfortable in his body like that, and why did it make me so uncomfortable?

More importantly, how the hell did he escape from the shed, and what the hell was I going to do now?

I didn’t say anything. I had nothing to say. I was pretty much paralyzed with fear. I reasoned it had to do with a dangerous angel having escaped his bonds, but deep down I knew I was more scared of my keeping him prisoner thing being revealed to my mother.

But she didn’t seem fazed by his appearance. She actually smiled when she saw him, stood up, and poured another glass of lemonade. “Riley, this is Gabe McClure. Gabe’s going to be doing some garden work while your Daddy’s away.”

Say something, Riley, say something, you’ll look suspicious if you don’t. Forget that, you’ll look like you’re shy to meet him. It took every ounce of willpower for me to squeeze out an “Oh.”

“Nice to meet you, Riley.” Gabe wiped his hand on his jeans and stuck it out for me to shake. I stared at it. What should I do? Should I play along?

Was there anything else to do?

I stood slowly, my legs weak and barely holding me up, walked to the edge of the veranda, and took his hand in mine. It was the first time we’d actually touched, aside from the few grazes when I’d untied/retied him, and it felt almost like he had one of those joke buzzers in his palm sending electricity right through me. It made me gasp, which was kind of embarrassing, and I withdrew my hand quickly. We made eye contact for a moment, and he winked at me. The quickest wink I’d ever seen.

“So what’s this about a party?” he asked as he took the glass of lemonade from my mother. “Thank you, ma’am.”

“You’re very welcome.” She sat back down and smiled at him. Then she turned to me with the exact same smile, but it changed just a tiny bit into a warning: Be nice and answer the hot hired help.

I managed to make my way back to the bench and sit back down next to her. I made eye contact with Gabe once more. He looked at me over the rim of the glass, those bright blue eyes twinkling at me. It was a challenge. Who could be more normal? Well, I wasn’t about to let an angel win that one.

“Lacy Green’s having a party. I’m sure you know her.”

Gabe shook his head. “New to town, sweetheart, got in last week. Thought that might be obvious to you, seeing as we’ve never met.”

Damn it.

Angel 1. Stupid girl 0.

“Oh. Well. Lacy Green has a back-to-school party every year.” I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back into the bench.

Gabe nodded and finished off his lemonade, placing it on the edge of the veranda. Pushing his sweaty sandy blonde hair out of his eyes he said, “Well, don’t that just sound like the event of the year?”

“Hardly.”

“Riley.” I glanced over at my mother. What had I done wrong this time?

“Yes, Mother?” I couldn’t help but emphasize “Mother” in that way that just really got to her.

“Why don’t you invite Gabe to come along with you? I’m sure he’d appreciate it, seeing as he knows no one in town. It might be nice for him to meet some kids his own age.”

I hated it when my mother referred to teenagers as kids. But I hated even more that she’d put me in this situation.

“I’m sure Gabe doesn’t want to go. I’m only going because I couldn’t think of an excuse not to. It’s really an obnoxious crowd,” I said to him.

“Well maybe, sweetheart, I’m not as judgmental as you are. I’d love to go along with you to Lacy Green’s back-to-school party.” He smiled broadly, and I could have punched him in the jaw for it.

“Wonderful!” Mother clapped her hands in delight like a small infant and stood up. “Now since you’ll be out for dinner, you two, I think I’ll call up Marcie and see if she wants to come over this evening. You guys have fun getting to know each other!” And she vanished into the house a little too quickly, giving me another smile.

Seriously? Did she really think Gabe and I’d make a good couple? Though you had to hand it to her. Considering all the stupid class issues in this town, my mother was pretty open-minded in thinking her daughter should date the gardener. Then again, she was the woman who’d married some scientist from the North.

Still.

Seriously?

Gabe had gone back to trimming the hedges, and it was pretty obvious he was having the time of his life. I stomped down the stairs so I was standing right next to him. My fear had been replaced by a nice familiar rage, and I indulged it freely.

“What’s going on?” I asked him with an edge to my voice.

He kept his focus intent on the hedges in front of him. “What’s that?”

“How did you end up shaping my mother’s hedgerows when I had you locked in the tool shed?”

“I escaped.” Snip snip. Steady and rhythmical.

“How?” I watched the shears do their thing and wondered for a moment if I should be concerned for my safety. But I just didn’t feel threatened by him.

“I escaped and then realized I had nowhere to go. So I just was standing there, like a damn fool, and then your mother shows up all yelling at me, like mother like daughter. Threatening to call the police, so I say that your Daddy hired me to take care of things, but that when I got to the tool shed it was locked. So I had to bust it open.”

He stopped cutting, turned around and looked at me.

“How did you escape?” I asked again. I worked really hard at maintaining eye contact with him.

“The blade from the push mower.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“That’s…”

“Resourceful.” He glanced up at the house and then back at me.

I looked at him. He seemed pretty proud of himself. “Why didn’t you run?”

“Like I said, nowhere to go. This ain’t my town anymore, sweetheart. Even in the last few hours, working here, watching your ma talk on her little phone. I mean talking, outside, no wires or nothing. It’s all just a big reminder that I don’t belong. Not that I ever did.”

My anger was slowly subsiding. Even if it was all a trick, I couldn’t help but feel a bit sorry for him. “Where are you going to live?”

“Well, sweetheart, my next plan is to tug at your ma’s heartstrings. See if she’ll take on a lodger.”

What? “You can’t live with us!”

“Why not?”

Because you just can’t okay? “I…look, this is all really complicated, our situation, who you are, how you came here. And I just don’t know how we can keep it all secret.”

“I’ll tell you something, dollface,” he said leaning against the veranda. “We’re real lucky. This thing we’ve got going on, it ain’t like we’re hiding a great love affair. That’s something that people always find out. But, see, our current situation makes it easy. You say I’m an angel. And I know that the last thing I can remember happened over fifty years ago. I also know I look damn good for someone over seventy. So I’m thinking that, even if we told everyone the truth, they wouldn’t believe us.”

I shook my head. “Maybe they wouldn’t believe the time traveling thing. But the angel thing is very real to us here, even if it’s not for you. If we’re going to do this, if you’re going to live with us, you can’t make any even subtle angel jokes. Because they’ll be suspicious of that.”

Gabe nodded, seemed to agree with my point. “It’s a deal. Now on to more important matters. What about this party tonight?”

Stupid party that I didn’t want to go to in the first place, and oh my god…

“Oh my god. You can’t come with me.”

“Why not? You don’t think it’d impress your friends if I was your date?” He was all smiles again.

“First of all they’re not my friends. Second of all, don’t give yourself too much credit. And third of all…oh god…that’s not what I’m worried about.”

“What’re you worried about?”

I could feel the color rushing to me cheeks, and I adverted my gaze. “I can’t talk about it…look you can come to the party, but we can’t go together because then people’ll talk.”

“Let ’em.”

I sighed angrily. “Look…I said something today, I said something…and if you come along with me then conclusions will be drawn, and that’s going to complicate everything for us. And we still have a lot of investigating to do.”

Gabe cocked his head to the side and gave me one of his looks. “Sweetheart, I gotta tell ya, I wish you’d sometimes just say what you were trying to say.”

“I can’t. Not about this. It’s too personal. Please.”

He sighed. “I’d rather go with you. But if you’d like me to come on my own, I can do that too. Kind of frees me up anyway, to have a good time, if you know what I mean.”

Yeah, I know what you mean. “Okay, good. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

“I’ll get you directions.”

“Great.”

“And please,” I added, “wear a shirt.”

He laughed. “Sweetheart, you’re the only girl I’ve met who’s wanted me to keep my clothes on.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll meet plenty tonight who’ll feel the opposite.”

“I’m counting on it.”

Now, my house was big. I’m not denying that. And my mother did come from old money, not denying that either. But we weren’t exactly rolling in it anymore. Half of our home was in disrepair, and even though Daddy enjoyed fixing things, he only did so when he had the time. And when one thing got fixed, well then, something else would get broken. A never-ending cycle. Though I kind of liked how the vines, unkempt and wild, twisted up along the walls to the top of the turret on the west side, also how the white peeling paint made it looked more worn with love than age. I guess I was romantic in how I viewed our house, which, in all honesty, was mostly unused and just plain falling apart. Not that I’m complaining by saying any of this. I’m simply setting up a comparison here.

You see, Lacy’s house was also big. But Lacy’s house was flawless.

The last time I’d been inside was as a kid when our mothers spent time together. They’d been friends as girls and tried to keep it up when Mother came back to town. They’d given it a good solid try, many years, but eventually they just gave up. They were too different, probably had been from the start. They still acted nice or whatever when they met at functions and stuff, but it didn’t make Lacy’s mother any more inclined to extend invitations to her daughter’s parties.

Not that I minded.

Crap. I was going to a Lacy Green party.

Well, there was a first for everything.

I met Amber in the town square, and we walked out of town together. I could have probably borrowed Mother’s car, but I liked to walk whenever I could. It calmed me. And I really needed calming right now.

I was glad at least I’d get to go to this party with someone, especially someone who wasn’t Gabe. It was kind of odd. Amber and I hadn’t really spent too much time together before, and now suddenly, in one day, it was like we were best friends. I wondered if this would wind up lasting all year. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

“You look nice,” I said as she came up to me. She did. She was wearing those really short shorts that only look good if you’ve got really slender legs—and she did—and a sparkly pink top. She’d taken great pains to straighten her hair, and it was relatively successful. In fact, she made me feel a little underdressed. I was, again, wearing one of my cotton sundresses. The kind that went just below the knee and cinched in at the waist.

“So do you.” She meant it, which was nice.

We started on our way and walked along a bit in silence. It was really nice out, not as muggy as the last few days. And the trees that canopied overhead made pleasant green and yellow shadows along the road.

Finally I felt I should say something. “I really don’t want to go to this thing.”

“Really?” asked Amber.

“Why did you want to go? I mean, do you usually go?”

“No, never.”

“Then why?”

Amber stopped and I was forced to as well. She looked really excited that I’d asked her that question. “Brett and I spent a lot of time together this summer.”

“You’re kidding me.” Brett was on the football team. He was also Pastor Warren’s son. Let’s just say Brett thought rather highly of himself. Though, I thought, I bet Gabe could give him a run for his money in the ego department.

“I know, crazy, right?” Amber was grinning despite herself. “My parents decided we needed to become official members of the Church of the Angels this summer, like right out of the blue, so we were working crazy hard to make up for lost time. We went on Sunday mornings, of course. And then to Pastor Warren’s lessons in the afternoon. Every luncheon he and his wife held, we were there. We even went to Commune Wednesday nights.”

“Commune? Really?”

“Yeah. I’d never been before. It’s real late, and you sit in the church and do this breathing stuff, and you hold hands, and you commune with the angels.”

“Wait a minute.” This could be helpful. “You actually had communications with them?”

“Well,” said Amber sheepishly, “I never did. But others totally did. You never see them, of course, but they talk through you. Kind of like when ghosts use people to talk and stuff?”

She said it like it was a common thing.

“Yeah, I guess.” It sounded pretty flaky to me.

“It was really scary sometimes, especially ’cause those creepy noises are even stronger at Commune. Sometimes you can even hear voices. And the angels would talk through Pastor Warren the most. All the time. I mean, I can see why he’s devoted so much of his life to the angels. They really respect him.”

“Amber, honestly, it sounds hokey. I mean how do you know he’s not just making it up?”

Amber shook her head. “I’m not stupid, I totally thought that at first. But it seems pretty real. And once…” she leaned in as if to tell me a secret even though we were totally alone, “…Mirabel Jennings floated.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean she rose off the ground just a little ways. And even Pastor Warren was surprised. In fact, he looked a little angry, actually.”

That was interesting.

“Look, anyway, you don’t have to believe. My point was that Brett was always there and stuff, and we spent a lot of time together. And once, up in the tower, he even kissed me.”

“That’s great.” I assumed it was great, at least for Amber.

“Yeah. But now that school’s started and he’s back around all the other girls, I just have to make sure that he’s still interested, and I wasn’t about to let him go to this party by himself.”

“Makes sense. So do you have a plan?”

Amber shrugged and started walking again. “Not really. I’ll just see how it goes.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything. I was still trying to process everything she’d told me about Commune.

“Just do me a favor,” continued Amber. She paused.

“Sure,” I said, but I kind of resented having to agree to the favor before she told me what it was.

“Just make sure I don’t get too wasted. I don’t want Brett to see me like that.”

“Yeah, no problem.” Amber got wasted? Like…often?

“Thanks.”

We went back to walking in silence, which was a good thing. I started formulating a plan to get Gabe to Commune. It wasn’t like I wasn’t skeptical or anything, but the fact that Pastor Warren had gotten all angry when Mirabel “floated” made me curious. He was always so smug, so superior. The only reason I could think he’d be angry is if he felt like the spotlight was taken from him. Didn’t mean of course that Mirabel had had any real connection, of course, but it made Commune worth looking into. At this point, it was at least a good place to start.

“Hello, girls!” My eyes shifted into focus. Speaking of religious leaders…

“Father Peter,” said Amber, and she smiled brightly.

Most girls tended to smile brightly when they saw Father Peter. Even me. That moment, watching him skid to a stop on his bike and barely just prevent himself from falling over, he even provoked a small chuckle.

Poor Father Peter, he was an oddity in the town. After all, there weren’t that many Catholics left. They’d all evacuated once the Church of the Angels got its foothold. Father Peter had been sent to us three years ago. He was young, a little scatterbrained, and he was, unfortunately, pretty good-looking. He had one of those close-shaved haircuts that a lot of guys in school were wearing these days. He also spent most of his time with his shirtsleeves rolled up so you could tell he took good care of himself. Then there was that kind of permanent sad puppy-dog expression he always had, even though he was usually very pleasant, that made him pretty adorable.

Anyway, I say “unfortunately” because it made him a target of some of the more ambitious girls at school. Now, it wasn’t like they wanted to convert him or anything really, they were too scared of going that far. But the way they teased him and flirted with him, well, let’s just say that poor Father Peter was almost always permanently blushing. The Catholic Church would not have approved of that. If they really cared at all about our town.

See, Father Peter had been sent here because they couldn’t really be bothered to send anyone with real experience. He’d been fresh out of the seminary when they’d given him his assignment. He’d shown up and then realized he didn’t have much of a flock to tend. He still had a pretty decent setup. A lovely, if empty, church. A little apartment next to it above the ice cream parlor. Another unfortunate coincidence. Girls really like ice cream parlors.

But he was pleasant about all of it. Took everything in stride, had a good humor about everything, and the town faithfully adopted him. He was invited to dinners several times a week by well-meaning housewives who felt sorry for him. He helped organize town fetes and even had directed the school show last year. He had to keep himself busy somehow, and no one could blame him.

“You girls off to Lacy Green’s party?” he asked as we met up with him.

“How did you know?” asked Amber, suddenly behaving very coy.

“This road doesn’t lead to too many places. Besides, she has one every year.” He smiled and looked at me. “How are you, Riley?”

“Fine.”

He nodded. “Good.” He nodded again.

“You want to come with us?” asked Amber sidling next to him.

Father Peter laughed heartily. “Thank you for the invitation, but I don’t think it’s really my scene.”

“You should get to know the youth in your community.”

“Amber, you make a good point. But I think I’m getting to know them just fine in my own way.”

“If we brought you along, you’d be the most popular person there!”

Father Peter laughed again. “Okay, Amber, you’ve flattered me enough. Thank you. I’m still not going, but thank you.” He hopped back on his bike. “You girls have fun!”

“Thank you, Father,” replied Amber.

I smiled, and he gave me a wave. As he rode off, teetering a little at the start, I wondered what he must have made of all of this. Our town. Our bizarre circumstances. Maybe he didn’t care. He seemed like the kind of guy who was just happy to be alive, which probably was an important quality in a priest. Still. It must have been hard for him. Deep down.

“He’s way too cute to be a priest,” said Amber coming back beside me and watching him too.

“And yet he is. Come on, let’s just get there already.”

We arrived at Lacy’s fifteen minutes later. Though we didn’t actually get to the house until five minutes after that. Her driveway was huge, lined with oaks that soared overhead. It made you feel like you were walking down the aisle of a cathedral. It curled around and down the hill of soft manicured grass until her house finally came into view. Pristine. White. It was a double gallery home, but twice as big as anything in town. Both verandas on top and bottom were immaculately kept with swirling design features that capped each supporting column. With the sun setting behind it I felt like I was on the set of
Gone With the Wind
. In perfect Technicolor. You know: As god is my witness, I’m never going to a Lacy Green party again…

We didn’t go into the house, though, because the party was out around back.

By the pool.

Yeah. Pool. I’d forgotten she had one of those.