Book of Love (4 page)

So, he really was new. “Yeah, I think I’ve
seen him.”

Her smile got bigger—if
that was even possible. “Yes! Wasn’t he totally the
tall dark and handsome
type, or what?”

I shook my head. She was being pathetic.
“Yeah, sure, I guess. I only saw a glimpse of him, so—”

“
Well,
anyway
.” She cut me off. “Pay
attention this week, so we can gossip about it Saturday!” she
squealed some more, shaking her hands with apparent excitement.
“He’s
mine
by
next week.” Her face changed to one of extreme determination. With
that, she skipped off into the courtyard where a group of girls
surrounded her, all vying to be her newest best friend.

I blinked away the disbelief, fanning my
hand in an attempt to clear the air of her perfume. Not much
changed in our town, and most of my class had known each other
since first grade. It was also that fact that made the news of a
new kid spread like wildfire. He was fresh meat thrown into a
circle of boy-starved girls. I gave him until the end of the week;
by then, Liz would surely have her claws into him. He’d be a whole
new person. The mysterious boy that tickled my senses in the hall
would no longer exist, replaced by some unfortunate jock. That was
Liz’s talent.

I shook away the images of him. I’d given
myself a moment to dream, but let’s face it—that moment was over. I
made my way to the library and slinked inside. The dusty smell of
old books wafted into my nostrils, washing away all the stress and
worry.

Emily:

I gave the unnamed senior
a kiss on the cheek. It was no big deal. I liked men to stare. I
turned then, walking away with the bottle in my hand, feeling as
two pills jingled inside. He had given them to me for free.
I loved free
. Not a
penny lost this time around. I was certain that here, there were
many more dealers I could convince just as easily as
him.

My hand shook as I popped the top off the
bottle, fishing inside for a pill. With haste, I threw it in my
mouth and swallowed, stashing the other away in my pocket for
later. I let a breath release from my lungs, my shoulders
dropping.

Alexis was leaning against the wall up
ahead. I stopped, leaning beside her. “Scored once today already,”
I remarked.

She pursed her lips with jealousy.
“Lucky.”

I laughed, pulling the crimson lipstick from
my pocket and applying a new layer. I prayed the pills would work
fast so that I could drown out the thoughts in Alexis’ head—mostly
nasty thoughts about how much she envied me.

I shut my eyes in pain,
pressing my lips together. Opening my eyes, I saw my sister walk
toward the library. I scanned for Wes, seeing him leave the
courtyard and enter the lot. I watched him, curious about why he
seemed to be in a rush. I wasn’t lying when I thought he was
hot.
He was
. In
truth, I was a little confused as to what was wrong with my
sister.

It was my secret that I liked him. I always
had. Growing up, he was the cute older kid, but he was too
infatuated with Jane to ever notice me. I remember watching them as
they played basketball, or sat in the yard. I even daydreamed about
it as though it were me.

I told no one.

It was embarrassing.

The Vicoden started to seep into my blood
like a rush of cold water. I exhaled, the tension in my muscles
melting away, along with the tight feeling in my bones. The
whispers in my head began to silence and I could no longer hear
Alexis’ thoughts. I looked to the ground, finally feeling relaxed
for the first time today. Finally, I felt normal.

Alexis crooned beside me, and I looked
up.

“
Look at him.
I bet he sells.” She
stood tall, perking her chest out and smacking her lips.

I didn’t have to ask who she was speaking of
as my eyes met her target. He was walking across the courtyard with
his hands in his pockets, wearing a black T-shirt that accentuated
his chest and muscles. There was a strange tattoo blazoned on both
his forearms. I tried to concentrate on his thoughts, but they were
faded and strange. I attributed it to the slowly seeping
Vicoden.

“
He doesn’t look like he’s
from here,” I remarked, admiring his bad boy image.

Most kids from around here
came from rich families. Trouble to them was choosing in which room
to watch their flat screen TV. It made for a good pool of
prescription-drugged mothers and fathers that didn’t seem to notice
when their meds went missing. They likely assumed they forgot them
somewhere—
yet again
. It was a flaw in society, an unspoken sin that it seemed
everyone here was committing. There was no lack of medication, and
no lack of people wanting them. It was sick—
but I was one of them.

When my father died, he had left us with an
insurance policy that kept our heads above water. We were one of
the few exceptions to the wealthy gene pool of Glenwood High.

“
Think he’ll give me a
freebie?” She smirked, brushing the hair from her face. Alexis had
money, but she liked the thrill of the hunt and the challenge of
getting drugs for free. She used it as her way to validate how
beautiful she was.

I watched him disappear in the same
direction my sister had—toward the library.

“
Come
on,
let’s follow
him,
” she hissed, zeroing in on her newest
prey.

Alexis grabbed my arm but my feet were
planted. She spun around when I refused to move.

If I hadn’t made it obvious already, I had a
strange talent for hearing people’s thoughts. I figured I was
schizophrenic, but they were often so clear, that I couldn’t deny
hearing them. I didn’t want to know what every student in school
thought, especially when it came to the guys I hustled for drugs,
but it didn’t seem I had a choice.

I furrowed my brow, trying
to concentrate on him. Though the ability to hear Alexis’ thoughts
had faded as the drugs did their job, his thoughts had suddenly
come clear, like a dissipating fog. It wasn’t as though he was any
different than anyone else, at least not outwardly. What was
different was the one thought that
had
made it through. He was thinking
of
Jane
.

“
Em, come on. What’s wrong
with you?”

I was frozen, the whispers repeating her
name.

“
Em-il-
ly
,” Alexis sang. “What did you take? Tranquilizers or
something? Come
on
.” She yanked me once more. I finally gave in.
“Geez.
What’s gotten
into you?” She tossed her ink-black hair over her shoulder as she
pulled my arm behind her. My feet were moving now, but I couldn’t
feel them.

Who was he?

Jane:

I found an empty table behind one of the
library stacks and sat, putting my bag down beside me. I unzipped
it and reached in, pulling a book from inside. Anxious to escape
the day, I folded back the cover, bringing it to my nose as I
breathed deeply. I loved the smell of books, and I loved the way
they filled my head with images—images other than death.

Looking up, something caught my eye through
the stack of books. I dropped the book into my lap, ducking down to
see what it was. I narrowed my eyes, seeing the new kid enter the
library as though looking for someone. I watched him, breathing
quietly, afraid he could hear me.

I felt shameless as I stared. In truth, I
was a little surprised to see him step foot in a library at all.
The only boys I ever saw here had glasses thick enough to be
considered bullet proof and GPA’s fit for Harvard.

The images in my head
began to surface and I shut my eyes, forcing them back. I saw a
graveyard—
I saw him
there
. I didn’t know why my mind always
had to go to that place, but it was hard to prevent. With each
person that got close enough, so followed a small glimpse of their
death.

Everyone was different, and it changed
frequently, like it had for Liz. Just this morning, when I saw her
in my second period class, she had died from skin cancer, only to
be replaced by the drowning incident at lunch. As I’d left the
house, I saw my mother die of exhaustion and Emily die of a drug
addiction. It was hard to believe them to be omens when each was so
fleeting. I always figured it was a result of my thoughts mixed
with their actions at that particular moment.

My eyes shot open, not wanting to see any
more of that scene. Instead, I shamelessly focused on the new kids
eyes, knowing that the stack hid me. They were dark blue, clear and
deep, unlike anything I’d ever seen before. They reminded me of how
death should feel—cold but releasing, like an ocean.

I shut my eyes again, envisioning this ocean
and myself there. Opening my eyes again, I was disappointed to see
he was gone. I glanced around, exhaling slowly before bringing the
book up to my eyes, opening it to a random page and scrolling down.
I tried my best to shrug it off, but I couldn’t pay attention to
the words as I read the same sentence at least five times, his
outline still painted across my memory.

I heard the door to the library open once
again, and I looked up, hoping it was him again. Emily and her
stupid friend Alexis walked in instead. My heart sank. The pleasant
images of the ocean in the new boy’s eyes ceased as I became
fixated on their unwelcomed presence. Alexis was looking around the
room with a determined expression plastered on her face, clearly
not here for the books.

What was it about this new boy that made
every girl go so nuts? Surely there was no other valid explanation
as to why she was here. I doubt she read, let alone turn a
page.

I slammed the book shut and exhaled sharply.
I grabbed my bag, stuffing the book inside as I shrugged my coat
back on, finding my hopes for solidarity and peace destroyed. I
stood and turned away from the stack of books, fuming. Why was
everyone determined to spoil the only time I had to myself? Staring
at my feet, I suddenly halted when a pair of brown leather shoes
entered my line of vision. My eyes shot up, my mouth agape.

“
Hi,” he said.

Our eyes met—the ocean of
blue washing over me. His voice was raspy, but in a seductive way
that sent chills down my spine. The image of him in the graveyard
rushed back, but what I found interesting was the noticeable fact
that in my premonition, he still wasn’t
dead
. My breathing stopped. He
blinked, a smirk animating his face with the dimple I had noticed
earlier.

“
Er…”
I stumbled over my
words, though my head was eerily clear.

He said nothing.

“
Uh…”
I tried again, but no
words came. As I stared, all I could think about was running away,
but he was in my way. His long lean body blocked most of the aisle,
one tattooed arm leaning against the stack. A lock of his hair came
loose, sweeping into his face.

My eyes dropped, feeling my cheeks flush
with dumbfounded embarrassment.

“
Excuse me,” I whispered,
ducking my head and squeezing through the small space between him
and the stacks. I walked away at a brisk pace, looking over my
shoulder to see that he was following me with his eyes. Not
watching where I was going—or caring, for that matter—I collided
with another student.

“
Ouch!”
The person squealed,
their death colliding with the other thoughts in my
mind—
Alexis.

I nearly screamed as I saw her dead face,
repositioning my gaze to look at her alive one. Emily rolled her
eyes, leaning against a nearby worktable. A boy with bulletproof
glasses sat at the table, glaring at the three of us.

“
Alexis,”
I hissed.

She shrugged me away from her as though I
were a giant coodie.

“
It’s not
my fault. You ran into
me.
You were the one not watching where you were
going.” Her voice was much louder than it needed to be.

My cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red. I
didn’t need this kind of attention. I looked to Emily, but she
seemed distracted, almost disturbed by some thought brewing in her
head. I watched her for a moment, wondering what was wrong with
her. Her foot was shaking nervously, and I willed her to look at me
so that I could determine if she was high.

I gave up, exhaling resignedly and grabbing
her arm, although at first, she still refused to look at me. I
shook her roughly, and our eyes finally met. Her pupils were
dilated. My eyebrows pressed together with frustration. I pushed
her away in disgust.

“
Emily,
it’s the first day and
already you’re—
”
I stopped myself, realizing I was talking rather
loudly.

Emily looked ashamed, but
still nervous. She said nothing to me as she grabbed Alexis’s
arm.
“Let’s go,”
she murmured to her.

Alexis continued to glare, trying to
intimidate me, which was laughable. She was so frail and thin, that
there was no way she could ever win in a fight. I stood my ground,
seeing her as nothing but a bad influence.

“
Alexis, let’s go.” Emily
pulled her away from me, causing Alexis to stumble backwards. They
made their way to the door.