| |
Zoe
––––––––
“I’m starving. Must be lunch next,” Aiden said. “I assume I follow the herd to the lunch room? Or is it open lunch?” He waved his hand in front of my face. “Hello? Earth to Zoe?”
I blinked, trying to concentrate. “We don’t have open lunch. They tried that a few years back, but some of the kids didn’t return to school after, so they shut it down.”
“Too bad. It’s nice to be outside to eat. Gives the body a break.”
“Oh, you can go outside. There are tables out on the patio. Just to warn you, though, Minnesota only has two seasons: winter and summer. It’s either super cold or scorching hot. If you can stand either, by all means go ahead and sit outside.”
He laughed, which I figured meant he didn’t think I was serious. I probably should tell him he should also watch out for the state bird: the mosquito.
“So how does this work?” he asked as we entered the cafeteria. He looked around at all the food areas, ignoring everyone that stared at him.
I pointed. “Over there is the grill, and there’s the sandwich line. That’s the salad bar. Prices are listed unless you have the meal card, which basically means it’s prepaid. You just go up and order and pay at the register.”
“Got it. I can handle that.”
“I sit at that table.” I indicated the far table near the windows. I knew Kieran and Sidelle wouldn’t approve, but I couldn’t brush off the Minnesota niceness that had been instilled into me for my whole life. “If you want to sit with us, come on over.”
I headed over to make my daily salad, selected my regular diet pop from the cooler, and then I proceeded to the register to pay for my lunch. Aiden stood on the other side of the cashier, pulling out a thick wad of bills.
“I got hers, too,” Aiden said, smiling. “My treat for showing me around today.”
“That’s nice. Thanks.”
Then I headed to my table. I placed my tray next to Sidelle, leaving the spot next to me open for Kieran.
“The seating is all messed up,” I said. “Where’s Jackson?”
“He can’t sit here,” Sidelle said. “Not with the juniors. He’s over in the sophomores’ section. So what’s going on? Are you better?”
“Maybe. Yes. No. I want to know where Shay is.”
Kieran finally arrived from the lunch line, and he sat next to me. We squeezed Rena between Quinn and Sidelle. Kieran placed his tray next to mine then tilted his head, wondering how I was doing.
As soon as Aiden sat with the basketball team at the next table over, the guys around him all started talking at once. The rest of the cafeteria was quiet, all needing to hear Aiden’s story. The boys peppered him with questions about California, so I guessed Noah had spread the word. Aiden was courteous to everyone and answered all the questions, maybe even embellished some of the stories. Everyone listened intently. Quinn was obviously enamored with him. She stared at him the whole lunch period, and I saw him glance over at her every few minutes.
The lunch shift ended with a shrill ring, and all the students shuffled back out into the main hallway and headed off to class. Aiden and I stopped at our lockers to exchange our books, and I dumped my backpack. I only needed one book for chemistry class, and then it was just gym class.
“Everyone’s nice,” Aiden said when I asked how he was doing. “I’ll fit in well.”
“I love these people,” I said. “There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for them. Most of us have known each other since kindergarten. Small towns, you know?” I smiled at him as we walked the flight of stairs to the second floor. “And yes, you’re fitting in fine. Most of the girls think you’re hot.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “I am, aren’t I? It’s the California tan.”
“Aiden ...” I was going to tell him he wasn’t as tanned as he thought. I decided against it. “Turn left. This is the chem classroom. It has the best view because it overlooks the wooded area.”
Once we were in the room, I pulled him over to the windows, so we could look outside as the rest of the kids filed in. When they were all sitting down, I started to turn around, but Aiden grabbed my sleeve.
“Hey, sorry about earlier. You know, with the phone number? I thought about it, and I think I understand what that looked like to you. So here.” He handed me a folded slip of paper, but his fingers pinched the edge of it, like he was being careful not to touch me. He kept ahold of the paper as I opened it and revealed his number.
“Oh! You didn’t have to do that,” I said, embarrassed. Why wasn’t he releasing the paper? Seemed odd to hang onto it like this. “I could’ve asked for it, too. And I had no right to get all weird about it.” What is wrong with me?
“Well, I also figured that since we live next door to each other, you should have it in case of emergencies or something. I bet Sarah would feel a lot more comfortable having the neighbor’s number.”
“Mr. Mors?” the instructor asked. We both glanced up.
“Yes?” Aiden replied, and then he smiled. “I’m here.” He looked back at me and dropped his eyes to the piece of paper in our hands. He quickly let go and took a step back. “Sorry. Um, I’ll just ... uh ... go.”
I took my seat, all the time watching Aiden as he talked with the instructor about the seating arrangements and the itinerary. He wouldn’t look at me, and I wondered what might be going through his head. I wasn’t quite sure what was going on in mine. Remember Shay? It’s not like I was pursuing Aiden or anything—far from it—but I guess it just felt good for him to connect with me. Every girl in school wanted to be near him, and he’d chosen to give me his phone number. Okay, I was second to get his digits. He was my neighbor, which meant it was almost a practical thing, but it still felt like something more. Like he thought I was special amongst all these sighing girls.
When the final bell rang and the last of the students took their seats, I caught Rena looking at me with questioning eyes. I was sure she’d noticed my expression, but I wasn’t sure if she had any idea why I looked like that.
“Class, I’m sure you know who this is by now.” The teacher waved her hand in Aiden’s direction. “Aiden will need a lab partner for the rest of the year. Who would like to volunteer?”
All the girls’ hands flew up, except for mine. I looked back at Rena to see if hers was raised, but she frowned at me.
“Rena,” the instructor said, choosing my friend. “Thank you for volunteering to be lab partners with Aiden.” She turned back to the teacher. “Rena will catch you up on things.”
“Thank you,” Aiden said.
“Rena,” I said, whispering loudly so I’d be heard over the groans of girls who had not been chosen. “What’s with the look?”
Her eyes went to Aiden as he made his way to a seat. “I saw you guys holding hands,” she whispered back.
What? “But I didn’t!” What was she talking about? “We weren’t holding hands. Anyway, just don’t tell Quinn you saw that.”
“What does Quinn have to do with you holding Aiden’s hand?”
I sighed. She didn’t believe me. “Because she likes him.”
“I didn’t see him holding Quinn’s hand,” she said, regarding me skeptically. “I saw him holding yours. Don’t you have a boyfriend?”
She turned away, and my stomach churned. She was mad at me. “But we didn’t.”
It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t even look at me.
“Okay,” the instructor said. “Let’s turn to page one fifty-three in the lab books and get started. Find your partner, then follow the instructions. If anyone gets stuck, please come to me for assistance.”
The instructor sat at her desk while the rest of us proceeded to the back of the classroom.
“Hey, lab buddy,” Aiden said to Rena. “You’re Quinn’s friend, right?”
“Yes.”
I smiled and tried to get Rena’s attention, but she still wouldn’t look at me. She actually turned her back to me.
“Have you done this lab before?” she whispered to him, but loud enough for me to hear.
He looked the lab over and nodded. “Yeah. I um ... I did it a few months ago. I guess my old school was a little further ahead of you guys.” He browsed through the book. “We had a different book, but most of the labs are similar.”
“If you don’t want to do the lab again, I can do this one alone.”
“No way. You’re the lucky one who got me as your lab partner since I’ve done most of these before. You’ll get all the answers correct.”
I worked in silence with my lab partner, Heather, measuring out various chemicals and dumping them into vials, glasses, and flasks. We watched how chemicals reacted differently when mixed with other liquids, changing when heated or cooled. The room was filled with chatter, laughing, and glasses clanking together. It almost sounded like a party. Aiden and Rena were the first to complete the assignment. They handed in their papers and sat back in their regular seats, waiting for the rest of the class to finish. I felt eyes on me and looked up. Rena watched me while she chatted with Aiden. What’s going on?
The bell rang, and we all walked to gym class, though no one spoke to me. Once we were all there, Coach blew her whistle, and we quickly assembled around the grass center of the track. I stood next to Cali.
“Whoa. Get a look at Aiden,” someone exclaimed in a noisy whisper. “He must work out, like, all the time!”
We all gawked. Yes, I’ll admit it. My mouth dropped open, too.
Aiden wore all black, with an Under Armour muscle shirt and shorts that showed off his tanned and muscular arms and legs. But my eyes had gone directly to the tattoo on his right upper arm.
A Triquetra symbol with red wings.
I was right.
None of this had been a coincidence.
“Okay, class,” Coach said. “Today, we’ll work on our golf game. Go on over and grab a putter appropriate for your height, and go to it.” She held up one hand. “Now, please be mindful that this is putting and not driving, boys!”
She blew the whistle, and we went to the golf bag holding the many putters. We each randomly selected one.
“Hey—Cali, is it?” Aiden asked, stopping by us.
“Hi.”
“Do you play golf?” he asked smoothly. Could the guy even help himself? “I play a wicked game of mini golf. We should go sometime.”
She lifted one eyebrow. “Maybe we can double sometime with my boyfriend, Vash.”
“Nice tattoo.” I pointed at his arm. “Does it mean anything special?”
It did to me.
All Enlightens received a tattoo like that when they turned eighteen. It marked them as a fighter for God. If Aiden was evil, he wouldn’t have one, would he? I wished Kieran were there to see. He’d have all the answers.
Aiden had the good sense to look thrown off guard. “Uh, well, the wings symbolize ... um ... being free. And well, the triangle ... well, you probably don’t know the technical name—”
“It’s a Triquetra symbol.” I shocked him into silence. “Does that mean something to you?” I asked again, looking directly into his eyes.
He hesitated. “No. It’s just something I had the artist mix with the wings. It sort of reminds me of the Celtic symbols.”
“Oh, I see. I’m curious. Why did you pick red for the wings? That’s an interesting color choice.”
He shrugged. “I thought most people would choose black or gray. There were some drawing samples of them. I wanted something unique to me, so I chose red.”
Coach walked up behind us, clearing her throat. “Less talking and more putting, please,” she said.
The rest of the students were practicing, but some were talking, too. They were also watching us being chewed out. To get out of the spotlight, we walked out toward an open area of the track and field area and started practicing. Cali, Luke, and Caden hit the golf balls as a threesome, which was fine. What wasn’t fine was when Caden and Luke thought it would be funny to hit our golf balls with theirs. We ended up joining with them after a few strokes.
“How’s your first day going, Aiden?” Cali asked.
“Great. I’ve met almost everyone in our grade, and all the teachers seem nice.” He looked at me and smiled. As a result, everyone else looked at me, too. “I have to say, I don’t think it would’ve been the same if I hadn’t had the best babysitter ever to show me around.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, I sort of had to be the babysitter today since we have all the same classes.”
“Hey, dude,” Caden asked. “What’s with you and Quinn?”
We all stopped what we were doing and stared. This could get interesting.
Aiden looked genuinely surprised. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“Well, I heard that you and her hit it off in your poly-sci class. And if I heard about it, I bet Morgan has, too. I’m warning you, dude. She has a mean streak—and by mean, I mean crazy. The last guy who broke up with her had his car keyed.”
Aiden shrugged. “I met Quinn in class, but nothing else happened.”
Caden stopped putting and leaned casually on his club. “So you didn’t give her your phone number?”
“Oh. That.”
“Yes, that.”
Aiden waved his hand, as if it really didn’t mean anything. “Sure I did, but it’s not a big deal. She asked if I was doing anything this weekend, and I told her I didn’t have any plans yet. She told me to call her if I wanted to hang out or something.”
Caden’s gaze hardened. “You know she and I are dating, right?”
“No, I didn’t, but I do now. She didn’t say anything about it.”
“We’re going to prom together.”
“Sorry, man.” He shrugged.
Cali shook her head. “She’d better not get hurt by either of you, or else you’ll be answering to us,” she said. “We’ll all be gunning for you, right, Zoe?” She elbowed me in the stomach to get my attention.
“Uh, yeah. So be nice to her.”
After the final school bell rang, Kieran and I waited by my locker for Sidelle, Cali, and Vash.
“Going someplace fun for the night?” Aiden asked, sauntering over.
“Maybe. We always meet here after school,” I told him. His gaze was suspicious. What’s that about? I didn’t need his permission to go anywhere. I didn’t answer to him—or to anyone.
“We have plans,” Kieran said.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were busy. You didn’t mention it last night.”
Something about his tone made me bristle. “Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly think you needed to know. Besides, I’d just met you.” I looked away, uncomfortable. “Maybe you can ask Quinn to hang out with you or something. I’m sure she’d love it.”
Whoa, where had that come from? I liked Quinn. This wasn’t her fault.
“Okay. Maybe I will,” Aiden fired back.
“Kids, kids, kids. There’s no need to fight,” Sidelle scolded, glancing between us. “You guys can hang out another time. After all, you live next to each other. We’ve had this girls’ night planned for a while. No boys allowed.” She yanked my arm and whispered, “What’s going on with you?”
“Kieran. Vash. Are you ready to go?” I asked, impatient. “We’re waiting on you.”
“I thought Sidelle just said ‘no boys allowed,’” Aiden objected.
“Who, Kieran?” Sidelle giggled. “He’s one of the girls.”
He stared at Kieran, wide eyed. “Wow. Tough to be you. And Vash?”
Vash grinned. “Yeah, well, I’ll be hanging around a bunch of beautiful women, and I plan to be the only man in the group.” He draped one arm around my shoulder and the other around Cali’s, and then he ushered us away. I didn’t dare glance back, but I could feel Aiden’s eyes on me the whole time.