Dead Is a Battlefield (4 page)

She fidgeted while I stood and listened. The sound was gone.

“Someone could be in trouble in there,” she said. She reached in her hair and pulled out a bobby pin, then she bent down and inserted the pin into the lock.

“What are you doing?” I hissed.

“Picking the lock,” she said. “What’s it look like?”

“Like you’re going to get us in trouble,” I said. “Andy, get up! Someone is coming.”

She stopped but didn’t seem rattled at all. Instead, she knocked on the door again, more calmly this time.

A light went on and the door opened.

“Can I help you?” It was the same boy who’d given Eva and me fliers.

“We heard a noise and thought someone needed help,” Andy said.

He stared at her. “As you can see, I’m fine.” But there was a trickle of blood near his nose, and a bite mark nearly covered his entire forearm.

I stared at it. It was filling with pus. What kind of teeth would make a mark that big? I’d never seen anything like it. Definitely not a vampire bite.

“You’ve been bitten,” Andy said.

The boy glanced down. “My . . . puppy got a little too rambunctious.”

Puppy? That wasn’t a puppy bite. He was lying.

“But the noise?” I asked. I tried to step into the store, but he blocked the way. “And you have blood on your face.”

“I was moving a box and bumped my nose. I bleed easily,” he replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a lot to do before the store opening.” He shut the door in our faces.

Andy and I looked at each other.

“Do you think we should tell Flo?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Tell her what? Seems like everything’s fine.”

Afterward, as I walked home, I thought about everything that had taken place. Why me? Why now? Those were questions that not even Flo had been able to answer.

CHAPTER FIVE

The first day of school was
Thursday, which was probably to ease us back into the school year. Mom had surprised me with a quick trip to the mall, so I had a couple of new outfits to choose from. Eva and I had been on the phone for hours the night before, debating what to wear.

“Why don’t you call Samantha?” she had suggested. “She can tell us the perfect first-day-of-school outfit.”

Eva was my best friend, but even she didn’t get why I didn’t like my brother’s girlfriend. I wasn’t always sure, either, except that Sam had done the one thing in high school that I wanted to do. Which was being, hands-down, the most popular girl in school. And I didn’t want to follow in her footsteps and be found lacking.

“She’s busy with college stuff,” I said.

“She would have time for you,” Eva replied. I wasn’t so sure. I wasn’t usually that nice to Samantha. It irritated me that Katie, my littlest sister, seemed to think Samantha was some sort of goddess, just because she made cookies with her once in a while.

I would have to figure out what to wear without the Divine Devereaux’s assistance. I had other things on my mind, though. Like what to do about the virago thing. What
could
I do? Flo made it sound like none of us had any choice in the matter. We were viragos and that was that. It made me feel like something had been decided without me, which I hated.

And what did being a warrior mean, anyway? It wasn’t like I’d be fighting bad guys at my high school, or anything. Principal Amador would suspend me in a heartbeat for even thinking about it. I finally fell asleep still thinking about my complicated new role.

The next morning, I spent an hour trying on outfits to make my critical what-to-wear decision.

I still hadn’t figured it out when Mom’s “Jessica, you’re going to be late!” prompted me to go with the outfit I had on: jeans that had cost me four weeks of allowance, stacked heels, and a pale green floral top.

“Can you believe we’re finally here?” Eva asked me as we walked to school.

“In high school? The day was bound to come eventually.”

“I guess.” She surveyed my outfit critically. “I see you managed to get in touch with Samantha.”

I shook my head. “Nope, I picked this out all by myself.”

Our conversation was interrupted by a car horn.

“Hi, Eva. Hi, Jessica.” It was Evan Delaney, calling out from the passenger side of his mom’s Volvo. “Want a ride?”

“No, thanks, Evan,” I said. “We’ll walk.”

Evan and I had gone to a couple of middle school dances together. He was well-mannered, good-looking, and popular.

“I can’t believe you turned him down,” Eva said. “He’s so cute.”

I shrugged. “I guess so.”

“What are you talking about? He’s the complete package.”

“Maybe,” I said. My mind turned to Dominic Gray, but I blocked the thought immediately. Dominic was not the perfect guy. He couldn’t be. I couldn’t take all that competition.

“Leave it to Miss Popularity to find Mr. Perfect lacking,” Eva said. There was a tiny hint of something envious
in her voice and I stopped walking.

“Maybe I’m not Miss Popularity anymore,” I said. “And maybe I find perfection a little boring.”

“I’ll take Evan off your hands,” she replied with a giggle. That sour note in her voice was gone and I felt relieved. I didn’t want to start my first day of high school fighting with her.

“He’s all yours,” I said.

Eva gave me a shrewd look. “Maybe he’s easy to give up because you like someone else.”

“Like who?” I asked, but Dominic’s face popped into my mind again and I blushed.

“I thought so.”

“Dominic Gray is cute,” I admitted. “But every girl in town is interested in him.”

“They’re just interested in Dominic the lead singer,” she scoffed. “That’s not what you’re interested in, is it?”

“I can’t figure him out,” I said. “The fact that he’s in a band doesn’t matter to me, but how he treats me does.”

“He seemed genuinely sorry that he snapped at you,” she said. “Those other girls don’t matter. Not if you really like him.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I replied.

“You know I’m right,” she said. “That’s what best friends are for.”

I grinned at her. “You’re the best best friend ever.”

“It doesn’t bother you, does it?” Eva asked me.

“What? You liking Evan? You’ll make a cute couple,” I said. Even if their first names were alike enough to cause massive confusion.

Wolfgang Paxton and a bunch of other sophomore boys were lounging on Nightshade High’s front steps. As Eva and I walked by, a stocky boy I didn’t know said something rude that I didn’t quite catch. I guessed it was about me from the way the boys stared at me and snickered.

Wolfgang was the last person I would have expected to come to my defense. “Leave her alone,” he said.

“Why? Do you want her for yourself?” the stocky boy asked.

“I have a girlfriend, Tim,” Wolfgang replied. “I was just trying to prevent you from losing a few teeth.”

The stocky guy got in his face. “From you?”

“No,” Wolfgang said calmly. “She’s Sean Walsh’s little sister.”

“He’s all the way in Orange County,” Tim scoffed.

I wanted to grab that Tim guy by his thick neck and show him I could take care of myself. That would mean revealing something I wasn’t ready to show the world.

“Yeah, but his best friend is right here in Nightshade,” Wolfgang said. “You willing to tangle with Ryan Mendez?”

Before Tim had time to reply, Eva and I ran into the building.

I couldn’t find my locker combination and had to try it three times before I finally remembered I’d written it down on the back of my schedule. I had trouble finding my English class, and I only had one class with Eva. All in all, not a fantastic first day of school.

I caught myself looking for Dominic in the halls, but I didn’t see him anywhere.

After my last class, Eva dragged me over to the bulletin board outside the office. “Sign up with me,” she begged.

“For what?”

“Show choir. It’s after school, once a week. And it won’t interfere with soccer.”

“I haven’t even made the team yet,” I pointed out.

“You will,” she said. “Please sign up with me.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in singing,” I said.

“It’s a recent interest.” She avoided my eyes, but I knew that look.

“Is Evan in the choir?”

She blushed and I knew I was right. She said quietly, “He’s in the science club and choir. And according to the school bulletin, the science club meets the same time as HACC.” HACC stood for Horror and Cinema Club.

“That was fast,” I commented. She’d already memorized his schedule, which was something I’d never seen her do before. Normally, she was much more interested in old horror movies than boys. Eva wanted to be a director someday and thought it was never too early to start.

She gave me puppy-dog eyes, and I sighed and took the pen out of her hand. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

She squealed and hugged me. “Thank you, thank you!”

I hoped I wouldn’t regret it.

CHAPTER SIX

I had to walk home alone
on Wednesday because Eva was doing some casual loitering by her new crush’s locker. I’d just left school when it started to pour down rain. It was early fall, when it rarely rained, so I didn’t have an umbrella or even a jacket with me. Within seconds, I was soaked.

A car pulled up alongside me. “Want a ride?” Dominic Gray was behind the wheel.

“No thanks,” I replied. “Don’t you have some groupie to bug?”

“But I want to bug you,” he said. “C’mon, please get in.” He asked with a devastating smile and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Well, it’s better than drowning,” I said. “But just barely.”

He let out a snort of laughter. I didn’t say anything as we drove, but I noticed that he seemed to know where to take me.

“How did you find out where I live?” I asked him as we turned onto my street. He parked the car in front of my house before he answered me.

“I asked Eva,” he said. “She’s your best friend, right?”

“She is,” I said. “But why did you want to know?”

“Look, I know I acted like a jerk the other night,” he said. “I wanted to tell you I was sorry. That’s all. I’m not stalking you or anything.”

“Apology accepted,” I said, because he seemed sincere. “And thanks for the ride.” For some unfathomable reason, I wanted to prolong our conversation. It couldn’t be that I had noticed his bright blue eyes, could it?

“Thanks for hearing me out,” he replied. “I’d love to talk more, but I’m supposed to meet Aunt Katrina and I’m late.”

“I’ve got to go, too,” I said. “Guitar lesson.”

“Guitar lesson?” he asked. “When did you take that up? When you met me?”

The question seemed hostile and it dawned on me that he thought I had taken up the guitar to get closer to him.

I stared at him. “You do have a fat head, don’t you?”

“I just meant—” he started to explain.

“I know what you meant,” I said. “For your information, I’ve been playing the guitar for three years.” I didn’t wait for a reply, but got out of the car and slammed the door, hard.

I ran up the driveway to the house. I was going to be late for my lesson and it was all Dominic’s fault.

I grabbed an umbrella and my guitar case and then ran all the way to my guitar teacher’s house. I
was
late and Ms. Minerva already stood at her door. “You know the rules,” she said. “One minute more and I was going to cancel your session.”

She was the best teacher in Nightshade and she had kids who were just waiting to snag my spot. “I’m sorry!” I said. “It won’t happen again.”

“Well, then, let’s get started,” she said. “I thought I’d teach you a new song today.”

The first part of my lesson went well, but my attention drifted. I couldn’t stop thinking about Dominic, which irritated me to no end.

“Jessica, pay attention!”

My fingers tangled in the chord and I broke a string.

Ms. Minerva scolded me at the end of my lesson, which only made my mood worse. I blamed that on Dominic, too. He’d been sweet when he’d apologized, but then implied that I was chasing him. I wondered who the real Dominic was. Charming nice guy or sullen rock star?

I ran into Connor as I left Ms. Minerva’s house. He was coming up the walk as I was going down.

“Hi, Jessica,” he said. “How was the lesson?” His brown hair was matted with rain, but he was still smiling.

Connor was a sophomore,
played in the school’s jazz quartet, and was one of the nicest guys I knew.

“She’s in a mood, so watch out.” I started to walk away, but Connor kept talking.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he said.

The rain was turning my hair into a mass of frizz, but I waited for him to finish his thought. And waited.

He finally gulped it out. “Do you want to catch a movie sometime?”

“Sure,” I said, still thinking about my hair and Dominic and how my day generally sucked. “Eva’s been begging me to go see
Night of the Living Dead
at that theater that shows classic movies. Maybe we could all go?”

“Uh, that would be nice, but I was thinking just the two of us.” He looked at me meaningfully as he said it.

I finally realized what he was getting at. “Oh!”

His smile disappeared.

“Um, I mean, I’d love to, but you’d better get inside,” I said. “Or you’ll be late.”

His smile reappeared. “I’ll call you later,” he called out as he dashed up the steps.

Had I just agreed to go on a date with Connor? He was cute, but he wasn’t exactly who I’d been thinking of. I banished the thought of a pair of blue eyes and an amazing voice.

The rain had turned to a light mist by the time I made it home. Eva was sitting on my front porch, wearing an oversized raincoat, with an umbrella over her head. “Jessica,” she said, “I was wondering when you were going to come home. I was just about to look for you.”

“Here I am.”

“You won’t believe what I just found out,” she said. “Remember that creepy guy who tried to give us the fliers?”

“Uh-huh,” I said. My mind was still on my disastrous day.

“You’ll never guess who he is!”

“Who?”