Pulse (7 page)

“Then why are
you
here?”

She’d had about enough of Wade Quinn and couldn’t believe what a condescending jerk he was, which made it all the more startling when Faith came to his defense.

“Chill out, Liz. He’s got a plan; it’s just kind of secret is all.”

“What the hell does
that
mean?”

“It means lay off, okay? Things aren’t always exactly as they seem.”

Liz moved closer to Faith, took her hand, and pulled her a few steps away from Wade and Hawk. This left Hawk in the towering shadow of a much older, bigger guy.

“What’s up, bro?”

Wade cracked a half smile but didn’t answer. He stood there wondering why it was that he couldn’t help but put his foot in his mouth every time he met a girl he actually liked, and hoped that the whispering going on between Liz and Faith wasn’t going to lead to the usual: him losing the respect of a girl he liked before things even got started.

“Please, Faith, let’s don’t do this. Let’s just go to the grade school. You can draw and I’ll read.”

“It’s okay, Liz. And you do worry a lot.”

What Faith really wanted to say was that Liz had gotten awfully clingy lately. And that she’d always been supportive when Liz was chasing after a boy. And why was she being such a total freak right about now? But she didn’t say any of those things.

“I don’t think he’s good for you. I think he’s dangerous.”

Faith wanted to scream. Liz had become so needy, with the hand-holding and the moodiness. It was suffocating.

“You don’t have to come along. I’m fine.”

“But I’m not. I need you,” Liz pleaded. She was starting to cry, her voice shaking with frustration and panic. “I can’t keep going without you. Not out here.”

She’d tried to be quiet, but in the end Liz had laid her soul bare in front of two boys. Faith had let it come to this. It was her fault.

“Go on home,” Faith said. “And take Hawk with you. Let’s just talk later tonight. It’s going to be okay.”

Liz let go of Faith’s hand, felt the soft fingers sliding away. She backed up until she was standing alone, staring coldly at Wade.

“If you break her heart, I’ll find a way to ruin your life.”

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? My mistake.”

“Do you believe this guy?” Liz asked, looking to Hawk for support. “Now he’s all nice like he wasn’t a total monster five minutes ago.”

Wade didn’t say anything, but he did look at Hawk, trying to size up where he stood.

“I’m just here to see the monkeys,” Hawk said. “And eat the candy. But I’m thinking, Third wheel here, not ideal.” He moved toward Liz ever so slightly. “You two go on ahead; we’ll catch you next time.”

Hawk was too smart to put himself on the wrong side of a complicated situation, but it made him very nervous sending Faith into a locked section of the school with no backup. He felt helpless as Liz began pulling him down the sidewalk.

“And, news flash,” Liz said bitterly. “Calling our parents crazy just makes you a bigger asshole.”

“Whatever you say,” Wade answered back. Liz had pretty much leveled him, and he wanted out of the situation as fast as possible. He put an arm around Faith, pulled her tightly to his side, and started walking.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m good. She’s been going through a rough time. It’s been a little exhausting.”

Faith felt the sting of grief as she threw her best friend under a bus, but the truth was, she really did feel like she was suffocating. She loved Liz more than anyone else she knew, but she also needed some space. She just wanted to cut loose for one night, then everything would be fine. She and Liz would work things out; they always did.

Old Park Hill had four quadrants connected by long corridors. Only one of them, which also housed the gym, was in use, and even that one had a lot of locked doors. The other three buildings were loosely connected by a series of covered walkways that zigzagged through the grounds outside. It was fall, the days getting shorter; and though it was only four thirty when they entered one of the locked buildings, there was a chill in the air and the sun had moved behind the trees.

“Are you sure no one will find us out here?” Faith asked. She was thinking of the custodian, an old guy who never talked to anyone as he walked around, stooped over his rolling cart of cleaning supplies. He had struck Faith as slightly unhinged, like he might be hiding a shotgun inside the garbage can he pushed around.

“Nothing to mop up out here. No one cares about these old buildings. They’re like coffins.”

Faith didn’t like the sound of that. Wade flashed a key so Faith could see it, and after a final look behind him to make sure no one was watching, he unlocked the door and held it open. Faith had a moment of regret and thought seriously about going in search of Liz and Hawk. It surprised her how much she was growing to like the three of them together. It didn’t seem right, being here with Wade and the two of them without her.

“Come on, you’re going to like it. Promise.”

Wade’s eyes told her that whatever lay hidden inside, it would be at least slightly and possibly
very
dangerous. He tugged on her hand as he stepped through the doorway, and her resolve melted away. When the door clicked shut behind her she jumped, startled and afraid; and Wade pulled her even closer than before, his strong arm wrapped around her shoulder.

Like the grade school, there was no power in this building. Soft, golden light came in through the dusty windows and bounced off glossy linoleum floors. There were shadows everywhere. Faith leaned harder into Wade and tucked in under his arm, where it felt warm and safe.

“I like it here. Cozy.”

Wade flashed his confident smile, then pulled away until they were holding hands and he was turning sharply down a long, narrow corridor. It was one of those school passageways that seemed to go on forever, running the entire length of the building. Faith imagined it humming with hundreds of students talking about the latest gossip, opening and shutting lockers, going through the normal motions of a day.

“It’s sad, kind of. Don’t you think?” Faith asked as they quickened their pace up the long hallway. “There used to be so many people in here. Now it’s just empty. It feels lonely.”

“I don’t know; to me it’s a reminder of how stupid our parents were. They were dead wrong about a billion things. I don’t know why they make us come here at all. I mean, seriously, what’s the point? We get everything we need from the Tablets. World-class education, all the help we need. This place is a reminder of what doesn’t work; that’s all it is.”

Faith didn’t quite agree, though she saw his point.

“I think it would have been a lot of fun to walk these halls with hundreds of other people. You’re a glass half-empty kind of person. I’m going to cure you of that.”

Wade laughed at Faith’s determination to see the bright side of a plan that had been doomed from the start, and it was all he could do not to keep up the debate.

They’d come close enough to the far end of the hall for Faith to see something sitting on the floor in the murky light. She couldn’t tell what it was until they’d arrived right next to it.

“Where’d you get that thing?”

“I built it!” Wade said, sounding more excited than Faith had ever heard him before.

“Why?” Faith asked.

Wade pointed down the endless hallway.

“Because I wanted to put this exceptionally empty hall to some good use.”

A four-wheeled contraption that could be laughingly called a go-cart sat on the floor. There were wheels and axles and two makeshift seats to sit on, one behind the other. The steering wheel was two sizes too big for the rest of the cart and looked like it had been pulled off a 1950s pickup truck. There was clearly nothing to propel the object down the hall. No engine or pedals. As silly as this thing was, Faith was oddly excited to get inside and ride.

“How many girls have you brought in here to ride in your jalopy?”

Wade presented her with his most smoldering look, and before he could answer, Faith was laughing. The truth was, she didn’t really want him to address the question. “You push; I’ll go first,” she said, hoping her willingness to play along would impress him. Maybe he had brought other girls here; but for this one moment, he was all hers, and she was determined to make the most of it.

“Hang on a second; I need to prepare it for launch.”

“Launch?”

Wade didn’t answer, but as he went to work, Faith began to realize how the cart really worked. She watched as Wade attached two long bungee cords, one to each side. The other ends of the cords were tied to doorknobs on either side of the hallway.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Done it a hundred times and only crashed twice,” Wade said as he pulled off his shoes and threw them in a metal box welded to the frame. He took out a set of tennis shoes and quickly slipped them on, then began pushing the cart from the front end.

“Glued Velcro to the bottom of these babies. Pretty cool, right?”

Faith was thinking that if Liz were here, they’d both be debating who was the bigger geek: Hawk or Wade. He’d installed a strip of Velcro tape down the middle of the floor so he wouldn’t slide around, and with each step he took, Faith could hear his shoes ripping away. She was terrified he’d let go and the cart would careen out of control, running her over and killing her in the process. There was nowhere to hide, so instead she ran and jumped over the cord on one side and watched as she stood pinned against the back of the hallway.

“Wade, I don’t think I’m going to do this. I just don’t see it happening.”

He was getting close to the wall, and Faith was having a hard time not focusing on how powerful he was. He was really leaning into the effort, the muscles in his legs and arms tightening with every step he took. When he reached the wall, there was a clicking sound, and he let go.

“Don’t!” Faith yelled as he stood there, hands on his hips, catching his breath. She expected the cart to blow right over him and break his legs; but it stayed firm, the cords at its sides as tight as a high wire. Wade leaned down and plucked the cord like a guitar string, and a murky, echoing sound filled the hall.

“No worries, she’s locked and loaded.”

“You’re crazy if you think I’m getting in that thing.”

“Suit yourself. But you don’t know what you’re missing.”

Wade jumped over the cord on the right side and took out his Tablet, snapping it from small to large. There were windows high up on the back wall, and as Wade walked toward Faith, the golden light moved across his face. He turned and gazed down the long, darkened hallway, then tapped something into his Tablet. A long line of tiny lights lit up along each side, which made the corridor look like a runway for an airplane.

“You really know how to impress a girl,” Faith said. As goofy and dangerous as it all was, it was also pretty romantic.

“I do try,” Wade offered. “And I promise, it’s totally safe. Fast, but safe. I’ve had thirty-seven crash-free launches in a row.”

Faith found herself short of breath. Was she really considering this madness? She imagined one of the wheels falling off, the way it would feel when she hit the first locker. She would die in a hallway go-cart accident. It would take weeks for them to find her dead body; and when they did, they’d all say what an idiot she was. But then she imagined Wade sitting in the front seat, her arms wrapped around him like the two of them were on a motorcycle riding into the sunset, and she lost all hope of ever getting out of the building without first being flung down the tunnel of love.

“This is
so
Titanic
,” Faith said as she settled into the backseat. “You know, that scene in the old movie where they sit in the car and fog up the windows?”

“Too bad we don’t have any windows. I’ll work on that.”

Faith imagined all the broken glass in a high-speed crash and thought better of the idea.

“It’s okay; I like the open air. Keep it this way.”

Wade Quinn sat in front of her, and she realized how wide and strong his back was. Tall people were misleading that way. It was easy to focus on their height and forget about how much it took to fill in the endless space along their spines.

“You’re going to want to hold on for this,” Wade said, inviting her to wrap her arms all the way around his chest and hold on. Her hands were shaking so badly it was embarrassing, but she couldn’t stop. The crazy energy of the moment was pulsing through every part of her. Wade fished around under his shirt, trying to get a hold of something; but Faith had closed her eyes and leaned the side of her face into his wide back. She didn’t see when he pulled out a necklace on a thin gold chain. She didn’t see as he looked at the plastic beads strung on the chain and typed the code into his Tablet. The Wire Code would only work once, Wade knew, and later he would take off the beads and melt them down over a flame so they couldn’t be traced back to him.

“Listen, Faith. I know you’re nervous and all. This will make it easier, and a lot more fun.”

Faith didn’t have any idea what Wade was talking about, but she lifted her head, feeling his blond hair slide across her face. He leaned to one side and looked at her, holding his Tablet where she could see.

“What’s that?” she asked; but before she could get an answer, Faith Daniels was looking into Wade’s Tablet, consuming her first Wire Code. The screen was jittery and filled with strange light. Her consciousness shifted; all her senses were heightened. She could smell Wade’s cologne full but distant; she could taste his lips and feel her tongue sliding along his slick teeth. Were they kissing? She thought they were, but then the cart was moving, and her senses burst awake with colors and light. They were careening down the narrow hallway at forty miles per hour. Faith was in love with this moment, out of control and not caring, pulling Wade close, her hands around his chest as he laughed loudly and happily. She lifted her head off Wade’s back and tried to peer around his shoulder. It looked like they had left the ground, but that couldn’t be right. If she was flying then she was flying; that was fine with her. She took Wade’s head in her hands, spun his face around, and kissed him. The wind tangled their hair together, and she let her hand slip down to his neck.