Secrets Abound (Supernaturally Bound Book 1) (10 page)

“Wow.” I exclaimed and then cautiously asked, “Did he ever do anything to you?”

“No, I was only nine at the time. He usually started around twelve. But if it hadn’t been for Damon, he would have.” She explained. “Why’d you ask me about him, anyway?”

“He’s working at the diner. He mentioned living here, so I was curious.”

“He is? Is he doing okay?” She asked her tone a bit too eager.

“I think so. I mean, I don’t know him
that
well, just from working together.” I stated.

“Oh, well, tell him I said hi.” She told me as she tied off a trash bag and disappeared into the hallway.

I woke up the next morning feeling groggy. I forced my eyes open when I heard my alarm going off. I slammed my hand down on the snooze button and laid there for a few more minutes.

When I finally crawled out of bed, I barely remembered that I was supposed to make it perfectly this morning. I spent ten minutes just smoothing out the sheet.

I left the house early so I’d be sure to avoid Judy, and when I got to school, it was nearly vacant. The only person I saw was Jenny, but her back was to me as she headed around a corner. I jogged to catch up with her.

“Hey Jenny, wait up.” I yelled. She twisted around, and I could see that she was carrying a box. “What’s going on?”

“I’m cleaning out my locker.” She answered with a tiny voice. Her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying all night. “My parents are pulling me out of school. I’m moving in with my aunt and uncle in Lincoln.”

“What happened to Vicky and Cal?” I asked.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing.” She sounded defeated.

“So they harass you, and
you
are the one who has to leave?” I was getting livid all over again.

“I guess that’s about the sum of things.” She gave me a tight smile. We strolled to her locker.

“Hey Bridget.” Her rough voice broke the silence. “I don’t want to move to Lincoln. I hate my aunt and uncle. They’re awful people.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her.

“Well, let’s just say my uncle has a temper and my aunt has a blind eye.” She said darkly.

“Did you tell your parents?” I asked, horrified. I thought that sort of thing only happened to foster kids, those of us who didn’t have family or anyone to care about them.

“Yes, but they don’t believe me.” She said.

She twisted the knob on her locker. She put in the right code and yanked the locker open. When she did, a huge pile of condoms fell out and onto her head. Her locker had been filled to the top with them. The floor in front of her locker was now covered in condoms and not a single one in a wrapper.

Jenny stood, staring at the ground in shock. Then, she did something that made me proud of her. She brushed them off her head and out of her locker and continued gathering her things like it had never happened.

When her parents came to get her, we said our goodbyes and gave each other a hug. I had a gut feeling that this would be the last time I saw Jenny White. Maybe, there was nothing I could do about that, but I could definitely seek vengeance on her behalf.

Vicky didn’t show up for school, probably in preparation for her party tomorrow night, so I didn’t have to deal with her. The whole day was uneventful and, might I say, extremely boring. I forgot how dull school was without Aiden. I was so glad he would be back in the morning.

As soon as school let out, I went straight home for the inspection. No matter what foster home you lived in, one thing always stayed the same. There was always an inspection by an agency specialist once every three months.

When I waltzed into the house, I saw that Mrs. Morris was already here and sitting in a chair in the living room. Across from her were Bill and Judy, all cleaned up and looking as though they were leaving for church. They all laughed at something Bill said. Bill and Judy were friends with Mrs. Morris, so she always gave them a heads up when she was going to be coming over. That’s the only way Bill and Judy ever passed these things because it was the only day that there was absolutely no liquor in the house.

I greeted Mrs. Morris and went to wait for my interview in my room. Clarissa was already in there sitting on her bed flipping through a magazine. She seemed bored. I’m sure this wasn’t her ideal Friday afternoon.

“Do you work tonight?” She asked me.

“No, I’m going to the mall in Lincoln with Cassie. She’s going to shop and I’m going to work on my project.” I told her.

“How many people do you have so far?” She asked, making light conversation.

“Around seventy, I need another thirty.” I said.

“Wow, you’ve got a lot done. Where did you meet them all?” She asked.

“Here and there but mostly in Omaha. I’ve been working on it all year.” I said.

We heard a knock on the door and we both straightened up. Clarissa put the magazine in the drawer of her bedside table as I got up and answered the door. Mrs. Morris stepped in. She flopped down into our desk chair and twirled it around to face us.

“How is everything, girls?” She asked as per usual.

“Good.” We said in unison.

“Any problems?” She asked.

We both shook our heads no. Foster Care Tip #4: You can never trust the foster care agent. Sure, there were a few that actually loved their job and wanted to help you, but the majority of them were jaded. Foster Care Tip #5: If you have a problem, suck it up. No one cares about a bunch of unwanted children. You are seen as a burden on society and will therefore be treated as such.

“Good. Then, I will see you girls in a few months.” She stood up and left the room.

“Wow, these are getting shorter and shorter.” Clarissa said to me once Mrs. Morris was out of earshot.

“I know.” I agreed.

I started getting ready to go to the mall. I gathered all my film and put them in my camera case. By the time Cassie drove up in front of the house, Mrs. Morris was pulling out of the driveway. I hopped into the passenger seat of her BMW and buckled up.

“Let’s go before Judy sees me leaving.” I told her and she stepped on the gas.

“We should go check out Club Ice, soon.” Cassie said after we had been driving for a few minutes.

“You just want to see that Hunter guy, again.” I teased.

“Well, yeah. He was
gorgeous.
” She bit her lip. “That hair. Oh, and those arms.”

“I thought things were going great with you and Ryan.” I reminded her.

“He’s fun to hang out with if that’s what you mean, but it’s not like he’s my boyfriend or anything. We’re just having fun.” She contended.

“Does
he
know that? From the way he looks at you, I can tell he thinks you two are more.” I pointed out.

This made her quiet and thoughtful for the rest of the ride to the mall. I didn’t interrupt her thoughts because, honestly, I had my own problems to mull over. So much seemed to be happening so rapidly leaving me with too many unanswered questions.

Mystery number one: How’d I have a dream about Jenny at the school before it even happened? And why? What was the point? It’s not like I could have stopped it from happening, even though I wished I could have. I’d never had a dream of the future before, had I? The most I could ever remember is having a great deal of déjà vu moments when I was younger but nothing as specific as this. I supposed there was nothing I could do about this mystery, for now.

Mystery number two: I wasn’t so sure I could merely write off what happened between me and Vicky as simply being static electricity. First of all, I had brushed against other people moments before and there was nothing. But then, suddenly, when she grabbed my wrist, that’s when it released? And besides, I’d never heard of static electricity actually leaving a red mark on someone. But then, what was it? I couldn’t think of a logical explanation for it. In fact, I couldn’t even think of an illogical explanation.

Mystery number three: What did Aiden’s kiss mean? Was he interested in taking our relationship to another level? Or was it simply a friendly kiss goodbye? Hopefully, I’d have more answers tomorrow.

It truly seemed I wouldn’t be getting any of my questions answered right away. I sighed and stared out the window, watching the buildings as we passed them by. I decided to push everything out of my mind for now and focus on my project. And that included Aiden, which was hard.

Cassie parked in the covered parking lot outside one of the clothing stores. I stepped out of the car and grabbed my camera case, waiting while Cassie brushed her hair and reapplied makeup. I leaned against the car and glanced around. The parking lot was crowded with cars which meant the mall was busy, so maybe, I’d be able to get most of my project finished.

Something caught my eye off in the corner of the parking lot. I almost didn’t notice him because the corner was so dark, but there was a guy standing there. He had on sunglasses and a long trench coat. He was tall, like maybe six foot five from what I could tell. He had short, salt and pepper hair and a long scar on his cheek. He was beyond creepy and he was staring right at us.

“Hurry up, Cassie. There’s some creep staring us down.” I told her, and she hopped out of the car, locking the doors behind her.

“Where?” She asked.

“Right over there.” I pointed to the now empty corner. “Well, he
was
right there. Let’s just go inside.”

I tried to shake off the eerie feeling the man had given me as we wandered into the mall. I spent the first hour watching Cassie try on outfit after outfit. Then, I decided if I was going to get anything for my project done, I had better go off by myself. She told me she’d meet me in the food court in an hour, but I knew that meant closer to two hours.

I spoke with a few people in the food court and a few store employees, basically anyone who was willing to take a second to talk to me. Once I used up all of my film, I still had some time to kill, so I wandered into a cramped antique store.

I browsed through the jewelry. There were a bunch of pendant necklaces that appeared to be a few centuries old. I couldn’t find anything that was my style. I was about to give up when I spotted an open jewelry box. It was facing away from me, so I couldn’t see what was inside, but something drew me toward it.

I lifted the box to peek inside. It held an intricately designed silver ring. It appeared to be something that would have been passed down through the generations of a family. I wondered how it got here. Why would someone get rid of an heirloom like this? I glanced at the price tag.
Five dollars?
That couldn’t be right.

“Excuse me, ma’am? How much is this ring?” I asked one of the employees.

“Five dollars.” She answered.

I wanted to ask why but bit my lip to remain silent. This ring was certainly worth far more than five bucks. I inspected it closer, expecting to find fault in it, but it was in perfect condition considering its age. I smiled as I allowed myself to believe this was actually a fantastic deal. I slipped it onto my finger already knowing it would not fit. The ring was too large even for my thumb. Still, I couldn’t pass up the fabulous deal. As I paid for the ring, my stomach growled. I decided I’d wait for Cassie in the food court.

I ordered myself chicken nuggets and French fries. As I ate, I observed all the people around me. There was a couple being overly cutesy and sharing a chocolate shake. There were teenagers from a private school still in their uniforms hanging around the huge fountain in the middle of the mall. I scanned their faces hoping to see Eli amongst them, but he wasn’t.

I dropped the chicken nugget I was about to bite into when I spotted the scarred man from earlier. He was sitting on a bench across from the fountain, staring at the group of kids. I wished I hadn’t used all the film so I could have taken a picture of him, just in case. He was really giving me the hee bee gee bees. He turned away from the group and locked eyes with me. I held my breath as he stood up and disappeared into one of the stores.

“Hey B, look at this top I found.” Cassie said right behind me, causing me to jump a few inches.

“Cassie, you scared the crap out of me.” I told her.

“Sorry. Why are you so jumpy?” She asked.

“I saw that man, again.” I told her.

“Where?”

“He was right over there. He was staring at me.” I said.

“
Riiight.
Some guy was looking at you. And why is this cause for alarm? You’re hot. He was probably just checking you out.” She said, but it wasn’t at all reassuring. Maybe, I was being paranoid, but I couldn’t help it. The guy gave me the creeps.

“Are you ready to leave?” I asked, deciding I wasn’t feeling all that hungry anymore.

“Yeah, can you carry a few of my bags? Here, one of these is yours, anyway.” She said, tossing me a couple of bags.

“Mine? As I recall, you ditched me at the last party,
again
. I meant it when I said I wasn’t going to another party with you.” I teased.

“Whatever, bitch, you know you love me. You can’t say no to me. Besides, this is for your date on Saturday.” She said.

“My date?” I asked confused.

“Yeah, you know that high school party I wouldn’t be caught dead at? The one Aiden invited you to so he can finally hook up with you.” She winked.

“One kiss and a party do not equal a hookup. Plus, this is totally a reconnaissance mission, not a date.” I declared.

“Whatever.” She tossed a couple more bags my way. I couldn’t believe how much she had bought in only two hours. She loved shopping, so it was a good thing her parents could afford it.

That night, every time I closed my eyes I kept picturing the scarred man’s face. I tossed and turned for hours before I finally fell asleep. I woke up the next morning to someone saying my name. I opened my eyes to see Aiden and was surprised by the excitement that filled me. It felt like he’d been gone for weeks instead of just two days.