Branded (The Branded Series) (26 page)

“Did they find
out anything else, Noah?” I asked.

“Not that I
know of,” he said as he kept his eyes on Rachel.

“Who is it,
Rachel?” Nick asked quietly.

She looked up
at us with a torn expression. “Simon. Five-year-old Simon,” she said.

“Oh, right,”
Claudia exclaimed. “But he's so young. Do you think they were able to read your
mind on who it is?”

“I don’t think
so,” Rachel said softly. “I tried really hard not to think of him so I could
convince myself that I didn't know a miracle worker. And if I
was
convinced of it, then I might have a chance of convincing Ryan.”

“I don't get
why he wants a miracle worker,” I said. “What's in it for him?”

Rachel rocked
back and forth in the chair as she chewed on her fingernail. “It would be so
disastrous if they got their hands on a miracle worker. They would be able to
manipulate any situation. Anything that they wanted, they could have. He could
even make me fall in love with him again, if he wanted to.”

Noah
stiffened. “Well, let's just make sure he doesn't get his hands on Simon. We'll
call James and let him know what just happened.”

“Simon is well
protected,” Claudia assured us. “He'll be fine.”

“We'll call
James as soon as we get back to the school,” Nick said. “Your mom is probably
going a little crazy not having heard from you yet, Rachel.”

“What time is
it?” Rachel asked as she stood up and dug her keys out of her pocket.

“Four thirty,”
Noah said. “Man, I can't believe the time. Let's get going.”

“Did you say
four thirty?” I frantically pulled my sleeve up to double check my watch.
“Guys, we gotta go. I'm supposed to be at the Coffee House right now with
Anna.”

We piled back
into the Jeep and Rachel drove us back toward the school.

“So you're
meeting Anna?” Rachel asked hesitantly as she looked in the rear-view mirror at
me.

“Yes. But just
to make a clean break,” I said.

“Do you think
that's a good idea?” Rachel asked.

“We were
friends before any of this, why shouldn't we be friends now? And friends have
coffee.”

She didn't say
anything else, thankfully. I wondered if Claudia was listening to my ranting
thoughts about Rachel or minding her own business. I wondered if that's why
Claudia seemed so motherly—because she always knew what you were thinking, just
like my own mother always seemed to know.

“See you
guys.” I hopped out of the Jeep and into my car. I peeled out of the parking
lot and toward the Coffee House. Two minutes later, I whipped into a parking
spot hoping Anna was still there. I needed to see her.

Anna was sitting
at our
favourite table in the back. She was playing with an empty coffee cup—not a
good sign.

“I am so sorry
I'm late, Anna,” I apologized as I leaned over and instinctively kissed her on
the top of her smooth hair.

“Jake, you're
forty-five minutes late,” she said, her disappointment apparent.

“I know, I—“

“I guess this
wasn't that important to you.” She looked crushed. I hated that I made her feel
like that. I seemed to be doing it a lot lately and it killed me. She deserved
so much better.

“It's not that
at all, Anna. This is very important to me. More than you know.”

She smiled.
Finally, I broke the ice.

“Where were
you?” she asked.

I hesitated,
then remembering my promise not to lie to her, I said, “Rachel needed me—” but
I stopped when I saw her expression go from hopeful back to disappointed.

“Rachel? I
should have known.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I'm sorry,
Jake. I guess I wasn't ready for this, either.” She stood and before she turned
on her heel to go, she murmured, “I have to go.”

“No, Anna,
wait!” I called after her, but she wasn't turning back. I knew that walk. She
was determined and I wasn't stopping her without making a scene, which after
the day's events, I wasn't in the mood for.

I spent the
evening in my
bedroom, laying on my bed, staring at the piece of folded-up paper that Anna
gave me before I left for camp. Every half hour or so, I picked up the phone
and called Anna's house, left another message for her, then called her cell
phone and left yet another message.

The last time
I called it was almost midnight, and my message was no different than the
previous ones: “Anna, it's me again. I am so sorry. You have every right to be
upset. I just wish you'd call me back. Please call me back.” This time I added,
“I don't deserve you, I know. Actually, I don't even blame you for not calling
me back. I'm a jerk. You deserve so much better. Good night.”

I was getting
sleepy and delusional, but I hoped that my message would at least make her
smile. Maybe she'd call me back in the middle of the night when she got lonely.
Maybe.

The next day
as we pulled
into our regular parking spot, my stomach was in knots. I felt sick. Was I just
nervous to see Anna? Noah and I walked into the school and I immediately sensed
an uncomfortable atmosphere.

“What's going
on?” Noah muttered.

I looked
around at all the prying eyes. “I have no idea.”

Then we saw
Rachel coming out of Ms. Peters' office. Her smile quickly faded when she
caught my eyes.

“What?” I
demanded.

“Have you
heard?” she asked without taking her eyes off of me.

“What are you
talking about?” I swallowed the dryness in my mouth.

Rachel looked
around and leaned in to whisper, “I heard that Eric and Anna were on a date
last night, and he asked her out again, tonight.” She watched me carefully.

The colour
drained from my face as my stomach threatened to release its contents.
How
could she do this?
I fell a step backward and caught my balance.

“Jake, if you
think about it, this is a good thing. She's in no harm this way,” Rachel tried
to reason.

“Shut-up,
Rachel,” I said and stormed off down the hall. I had to find Anna. I didn't
know what I was going to say or do when I found her, but I needed to hear something
straight from her mouth.

I found her
standing outside the classroom door talking to Monica and Lexie. They were
giggling about something, but Monica’s face turned serious when she saw me
coming. Anna turned and gave a weak smile in my direction.

“Ladies,” I
politely greeted.

“Wow, Jake,
have you been working out?” Lexie said as she ran her hand along my bicep.

I was a little
caught off guard. “Uh, yeah,” was all I could say.

“Not hard to
tell,” Monica joined in.

“Anyway!” Anna
glared at her friends. “What’s up, Jake?” She knew very well what I was upset
about.

“I need to
talk to you,” I said as I pulled her away from her friends. She didn't object,
so I kept talking. “Is it true? Were you out with Eric last night?”

“Jake, keep
your voice down,” Anna warned in a whisper. “Yes, I went out with Eric last
night. We went to see a movie. I didn't really feel like going home after you
stood me up at the Coffee House and when he called me, I took him up on his
offer.”

“He called you?”
It took all my strength to refrain from punching a hole in the wall.

“Yes, Jake. At
least I can count on Eric to be there. He doesn’t hide stuff from me.”

Ouch. “I . . .
I
. . .
” I stammered.

“Don't bother,
Jake.” She held up a hand to suggest she wasn't going to believe anything I
said anyway. “Just answer this: Have you been one hundred percent honest with
me?”

I paused and
closed my eyes remembering my promise not to lie. I answered, “Anna, all you
need to know is that I am scared to death of losing you, but I still care so
much about what happens to you.” It was the truth, but I knew it wouldn’t be
enough.

She took my
face in her hands and looked deeply into my eyes. “Jake, you're not telling me
everything. I wish you would so I could help you. This hurts me so much.” Tears
filled her eyes.

I turned so my
lips could touch her hand. The warmth of her fingers melted my face and I just
wanted to stay like that forever. I hung my head in defeat. “I know it hurts
you, Anna. And it kills me that it's hurting you. I just . . . I just can't.”

Anna huffed
and then adopted an annoyed expression. “Anyway,” she said as she threw her
hands up in the air, “until you figure things out, I'm moving on.” She looked
past me and her expression changed again as she regained her composure.

“Hey Anna,”
Eric slid in beside Anna and put his arm around her shoulder. I was pleased to
see her smoothly step out of his reach.

“Eric,” I
reluctantly said.

“Jake,” he
nodded. “So did you hear Anna and I are going out tonight?” Eric said smugly.

And that was
all I needed to push me over the edge. I felt my temperature rise and my fists
clench. I saw nothing but Eric and red. My plan was to throw him through the
wall, or maybe through the second-storey window, far away from Anna. But then a
soft, smooth, familiar touch landed on my arm. It was Anna's touch. I melted
back to reality and looked at her perfect face.

“Jake, I'll
see you later, maybe,” she said in her sweet attempt to calm me down. It
worked. Sort of.

I turned to
Eric and warned, “Be careful with her, Eric. I swear I'll be watching.” Then I
left and went to homeroom where I agonized over leaving them alone in the
hallway. Would he kiss her? Would she let him? I felt sick again.

I laid my head
on my desk and groaned. The sound of Rachel's heels clicking across the floor
brought me back to the present as she stopped beside my desk. She knelt down,
put her arm around me and whispered, “It'll be okay, Jake. She's much safer
this way.” She paused and took on a disgusted tone, “And don't worry about
Eric. I'll take care of him.”

I felt a
little relieved and thankful for Rachel’s presence. I smiled at her. “You'd do
that for me?”

“Of course I
would. We're family now.” She slid her watch up her arm, revealing her mark.

Maybe Rachel
wasn’t that bad after all. Anna walked into the classroom and stopped when she
saw Rachel and I huddled together. I couldn't read her expression but it wasn’t
hard to assume she was disappointed, or maybe she felt justified. Whatever it
was, I didn't like it.

When the bell
finally rang
for lunch, Noah and I made our way to the cafeteria.

“So how did it
go this morning with Anna?” Noah asked uncomfortably.

I kicked at a
stray sneaker in the hallway. “Not so good. She's going out with Eric tonight.”
My temperature began rising again.

“I can't
believe he'd do that,” Noah snorted disgustedly. “Hasn't he heard of the Bro
Code?”

“Apparently
not,” I said as I pushed open the doors to the cafeteria. I scanned the room
and caught sight of Anna sitting at a table with Eric across from her. She was
laughing at something.

“Maybe we
should sit over here,” Noah suggested, leading me away from our usual table.

“Yeah, maybe.”
We sat down at the empty table, only to be followed by Rachel, Claudia and
Nick.

Rachel sat
down, took out a banana and started peeling it. “Rumour has it he's taking her
to play minigolf tonight,” she said nonchalantly.

“Maybe we
shouldn't talk about this right now,” Noah said.

“No, it's
okay,” I tried. “Minigolf?” Ha! She hated minigolf.

“That's what I
heard. Monica told me.”

Then I had an
idea. “Claudia, can you go over and let me know what Anna really thinks of
Eric? Can you do that?” What an ingenious idea. This could set my mind at ease,
or make it ten times worse. Who knew? Claudia could.

“Jake, I can't
believe you'd even ask me that. I can't do that. It's a clear violation of her
rights.” Claudia was disgusted.

“What? And
reading our thoughts isn't?”

“That's
different. I can't help it. I'm not doing it on purpose and then telling
everyone.”

“Yeah, yeah.
Okay, I get it. You're not a team player. I get it,” I teased.

She threw me a
nasty look and then smiled as she shook her head at me.

“You guys want
to do something tonight?” I asked in the hopes of spending my evening doing
something other than obsessing over Anna’s date.

“Sounds good,”
Noah said.

“I'm in,” Nick
added.

“What did you
want to do?” Claudia asked. “Play minigolf?”