Run and Hide (6 page)

Right after her shot—that completely missed the hole due to her immense distraction—a new song came on and everyone took notice. There was unanimous excitement at the start of “Sexy and I Know It.”

“Let’s go!” Taylor demanded as she and what seemed like everyone else in the room pushed through the door to the dance floor.

Everyone around me partnered off. The shortish guy grabbed me before I could say no. So I danced with him, fist pumping and “wiggling,” until I had forgotten all about Sydney and her lifetime of problems. I was having a blast as Ana. Through that song and the next, and the song after that, we kept on dancing. Eventually I managed to get Brit to switch guys with me.

She gave a quiet sigh and shook her head as she took Mr. Shortish away from me and I started to dance with Kevin, from Math class. Thankfully I was a decent dancer, and I actually liked to dance. Kevin didn’t seem to mind the switch.

The relief ended, though, when I felt a hand in mine.

“Can I cut in?”

It was David.

“Oh, go ahead, man,” Kevin said, politely enough.

Absolutely, the line was cheesy, but it was still cute. I hugged David, and he held on longer than I had intended, causing me to instantly hope he wasn’t getting too attached.

Either way, David took my hand and pulled me close to dance with him. His body was warm and his arms were strong, and enveloping. He moved without any sharp stops, watching what he was careful not to touch, as I moved with him. A few songs passed, and I looked up to see his eyes anticipating meeting mine. He smiled, and tightened his hands on my waist, letting his eyes fall to the floor. I placed my hands over his.

And then the song changed, clockwork.

The new song magnetized all the guys in the room into a yelling mosh pit in the center of the dance floor. I watched David’s attention drain from me and head straight for the cluster of jumping boys.

“I’m kind of tired,” I told him, letting him free.

He tried to look disappointed, but kissed my cheek before hurrying off into the center of the pit. I glanced around, not able to find any of the girls in my quick scan. I found Arianna, but she was wrapped up in Brandon, literally. And then I remembered: free, not-school cafeteria, not-gas station food.

In the back of the place, past the game room, stood a table covered with neatly arranged refreshments. I surveyed the variety of food before choosing which to indulge in first. Deciding on a Tostitos chip, I dipped it in red salsa and pulled the chip to my mouth, relishing the first taste
.

Mid-bite, I felt a hand graze the small of my back, as if someone were passing by in a crowded place. Except it wasn’t crowded where I was. I looked right, the direction in which the touch had slid, and my breathing stopped.

The tall, dark-haired boy looked down at me, his hand not having left my back. Eric Brantley gave me his smirk that was becoming too familiar to me. His lips puckered slightly, but he didn’t speak. I didn’t either, seeing as I couldn’t breathe. For a second or two that might have been a century, I stood there, a broken chip in my hand and the other half of it disintegrating in my mouth. He chuckled.

I finally remembered to take in a breath. The whole scene was utterly out of character for Ana. As usual, Sydney panicked in search of a napkin to wipe the salsa from her face.

Finally, when my mouth was clear, I said, “Hey.”

He slipped his hand from my back, leaving me surprised at how long he’d left it there.

“There she is,” he said. “I was beginning to question if that girl I saw dancing over there was really you.”

That was right. I’d been Ana while I was dancing. Sydney’s stupidity made him forget any possible awe he could’ve had for Ana.

“I don’t know what to make of that,” I said, and his eyes grazed every spot on my face.

“You and I aren’t so different, you know.”

I couldn’t stop myself. “Oh? How’s that?”

“You don’t want people to know you.”

His words hung in the air, until they submitted to gravity and fell, stabbing my lungs like a thousand sharpened needles. I tried to think of the most Ana thing I could possibly say. “You really think you’ve got me all figured out, huh. It’s cute.”

He looked unfazed. An aura of victory beamed through him I couldn’t afford to ignore. It was like, he
knew
something. I stood in front of him with my arms crossed, unable to formulate speech. My breaths were short and fast. Too scared and uncomfortable to do anything else, I turned away from him, heading back to the dance floor. I knew his eyes followed me, but I didn’t dare risk checking to see. I found Kevin as a Katy Perry song shook the floors.

To my chagrin, Eric wasn’t finished playing. He slid into the big mob of people, and found a girl dancing by herself, just slow and careful enough to catch me by surprise. Since when does the quiet guy who’s also a sarcastic know-it-all, who barely talks to anybody but when he does it’s to people like David and Brandon, suddenly go to parties and know how to dance? My anxiety roared.

I tried to focus on Kevin while we danced. In side-glances, I could see David watching me. He was dancing with a petite girl, looking uninterested at my first glance, but gradually angrier and more invested with each glance after that. Some sort of jealousy had made its way to David, and he broke away from his partner, smooth and confident as always, to tap Kevin on the shoulder.

Kevin whispered a goodbye in my ear and politely let David step in, again. I looked up to see if anyone had taken notice of my discomfort. Of course, Eric had.

How I envied that boy. He did the mysterious thing ten times better than me. After a moment, he took his partner’s hand and led her toward David and me. He watched us with an intent I didn’t understand.

“Is that Brantley?” David’s deep voice called.
Why won’t this kid leave me alone?

Eric nodded in recognition and approached us. I noticed the grasp Eric had on the girl’s hand, and waited for him to stop walking, to see if he would still hold it then. Finally they got to us and stopped; Eric let go, and as he released his hand I exhaled.

He didn’t even look at me. A show for David? A show for me?

The girl with Eric eyed me like I was the dress in the designer store she could never afford. The instant our eyes met she looked to her right, and then around, and then rested her gaze on Eric’s face. Naturally, I followed her eyes to Eric.

In that moment, the moving lights above us turned and shined directly onto his skin so that I saw every line of it. His dark eyes, perfectly round almonds, his nose, soft but angular, pointing forward from between two thick black eyebrows. His thin pink lips curved to the side in his ever-so-charming grin that froze and burned in the same tick. I watched him speak but I could hear nothing, except the urge inside me revving up to the point that I had to hold myself to keep from touching him. Then, the trance was obliterated when I heard the name come from his mouth.

“Oh you did?” David responded to whatever his Ana comment was.

“Yeah, just wanted to talk to her, didn’t mean to interrupt you guys but I just have to speak to her if that’s cool.”

David poked out his lips and shrugged. Then he looked to me, questioning.

“Yeah, sure.” I didn’t know what else to say. The weak, cracking voice that came out was Sydney’s.

I felt David slip away from me but I couldn’t make myself let go of the sight of Eric, his tall, thin figure and his so-typical t-shirt and jeans. He was clearly on some type of mission, and I couldn’t understand why that mission involved me. He nodded and waved his hand, leading me away from the crowded mob of teenagers.

As I followed him to wherever he was leading me, I watched the crowd of Rock Bridgers pass me glances until we had left the main room. We walked through the back, where the refreshments were, and moved outside through a door at the end of the hall. It was dark out, and I didn’t see any probable destination.

“Where are we going?” I asked. I hurriedly reminded myself that I
must
be Ana at all times with him. He made me do strange things.

“Just relax,” he answered, and I couldn’t ignore his overconfident tone. I was nervous. I, Ana, or Sydney, whoever.

He took high steps through the grass and I mimicked him, unsure as to why I was following so obediently. But without even looking back to check, he seemed to know I would.

After the short journey we reached another door in a part of the building that jolted out farther than the rest, like a separate compartment. Once inside he flicked the light on, and the room was exposed. Shelves held endless trash bags, buckets, cleaning sprays, rags, and dust pans. Brooms and mops lined a rack in the right corner of the small room. By definition it was a closet, but with a small, black, square table with four black folding chairs around it.

He stepped aside and let me pass him, gesturing that I take a seat in the chair. The drama of the event was ridiculous, and I couldn’t wait for him to tell me what we were doing on his own time.

Be Ana
.

“Why so dramatic, what’s the deal?” I asked.

He looked amazed for a moment, before his expression changed. “Sit down,” he demanded, eyes rolling. And I sat, embarrassed that I’d agitated him.

“I’m just curious as to why you brought me here.”

“To talk.”

Would he not say more? He sat up straight in the chair next to mine, but kept his hands beneath the table, as did I. Too formal for a common conversation, we stared around the room in silence.

“I’ve noticed you around here, which should be obvious.”

My eyes shot to him.

“And it turns out you’ve caught my interest.” He looked up at me to check my reaction.

What did he mean,
caught his interest
? Each of his words increased my heart rate.

“And I have a question to ask you.”

“What is it?” I fired back.

He pulled his hands together and rested his elbows on top of the table. After watching his hands twiddle for a long moment, he looked back up at me. “Why pretend?”

I inhaled as I took in the question before cawing back, “What are you talking about?”

“You told David and all of them you’re from San Diego. You didn’t even know who the USC Trojans were.”

“Jesus, will you just stay out of my business?”

“And then you left your notebook in class on Friday.”

My planner. I thought I’d left it in my locker. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I opened it to see if it was yours, and found a Georgia number and address written inside the front cover.”

Shit.
Why didn’t I just buy a new planner?

“And the name was different too.”

He knew. He knew everything. I was caught. It was all over.

“It’s my cousin’s!” I shouted. “She let me use it since she didn’t need it anymore.”

“And you had that UGA key chain. And I swear I hear a slight southern accent when you talk.”

“My mom went to UGA. That book was my cousin’s hand-me-down. I’m from San Diego. I just don’t care about sports.” I spit each phrase out, staring at the black table in front of me.

“Didn’t you tell David you played lacrosse?”

“Who do you think you are, coming at me like this? You don’t know me!” The situation was becoming too overwhelming. The one slipup I made had to be around the nosiest, most curious guy in the whole damn school.

“Calm down, why are you yell—?”

“Just leave me alone and mind your business.” I tossed the words at him as I pulled my chair back from the table.

“You don’t understand, Ana.” He slid his chair back to mimic mine. “I want in—”

“You’re absolutely sick. And confused,” I told him. I pushed my hands against the table, hard, moved from my chair and stood. He was scaring me, scaring Sydney, and I had to regain control. He was threatening to take my everything away, to expose me. He rose from his seat, too.

“Listen,” I said, “you’re way off base. You don’t know me or anything about me, and anything to do with me is not your business at all.” Disgust exuded from my face and I turned toward the door, to leave before he could say another word and stop me.

I heard his steps coming after me … closer. As I reached for the door, he gripped my elbow and turned me swiftly, firmly.

“You don’t understand what I’m saying,” he said, a plea, tugging on my elbow until I faced him. His eyes bored into mine, and in his eyes I again found that rare vulnerability. I shook my head, eager to get away. Frustrated that part of me wanted to stay right where I was.

“I don’t want to understand,” I said. “I want to leave.”

He glanced back and forth between my eyes. Then he traced me down with his glare all the way to my shoes, until he finally answered, lifting his head.

“I’ve been hiding myself from these people for years. Whatever it is, I can help.”

I was staring into his eyes when it happened: the inexplicable thing that made me forget any person on the earth existed other than him—including myself. And that thing made me forget what logic was, it made me lose all instinct or intuition. All I could understand in that moment was that feeling … of safety. I could have been out of the door long ago, but his promises of security lured me in like a meteor, into the massive star that was another soul to confide in. We shared an intense silence, before he cracked. He glanced to his side, and let the smirk creep through his lips.