Demon Girl (Keeley Thomson Book One) (3 page)

   The black haired, and probably too cute girl, Eve, nodded. Her hair was short and sporty and she looked like her grandmother was Latino. Lineage left a mark on form, even if most people didn't see it all the time. It worked, leaving her face just soft enough not to look mannish even though Eve was pretty lean. She wasn't the tallest one in the group, Darla was by nearly two inches, but she was still about five-seven, the same as Keeley.

   “That's... Awesome. That poster is better than anything I've ever seen here. People just keep stopping to stare at it. Are you planning to do that for all the dances? If so we should coordinate with you, because I'm betting that a lot more people will be going now. We need to make sure the dance meets up with the hype.” The girl actually seemed excited by the prospect.

   So did the coppery red-head with light skin next to her. Hally. Her look was different, but kind of fresh and happy seeming. Like a puppy. Excited by everything.

   “Oooh, good point. I wonder if we could get the budget increased? I'd love a live band, if they don't suck. Even a professional D.J. would be good. Last year we got the A.V. Club and... Well, it wasn't stellar. I had to go home and look up who Barry Manillo was. It made me sad.”

   Darla nodded, and turned suddenly, walking away. Everyone else followed her instantly, as if tied to her with string. Keeley held out longer, but the girl just tossed her hair a little and looked over her shoulder.

   “Everyone riding with me? I don't know if you drove yourself Keeley...” She said as if it were just natural that anyone else would have a car. Because you know, people just gave those out on the street corner.

   Keeley was torn. It wasn't that she hated people or didn't want friends, she really did, but a barefoot walk back from the middle of a desert would suck. Should she take the chance or not? Finally she started walking along too. Deciding that the normal thing to do would be giving in to peer pressure. Gary, if nothing else, seemed like a nice guy. Not all rapey or anything. Unfortunately not all into making out with her either, but she really didn't think he'd let them do anything bad to her.

   The parking lot was half empty already, since no one wanted to wait around for too long after school. They had to dodge a few cars and a few horns got beeped at them. Not to get them to move, but to get the cheerleader's attention. They all waved and smiled at people.

   A few girls even called out to Gary. It was interesting to watch. Couldn't they see that the boy wasn't their type? It was written all over his face and the way he held himself after all. Maybe they thought they could change him? Like that worked.

   When they got to the little red sports car, just big enough for four, Darla gestured to the front seat. Looking at Keeley winningly.

   “You can sit up front. Passenger seat... unless you want to drive?” She said sounding genuine about it. She even held the keys out.

   It was a stick shift, and Keeley could drive it, even had her license in her pocket, but everyone else looked uneasy for some reason. Panicked even. A little unfairly, but then they didn't know her. They didn't even know if she knew how to open a car door yet.

   “I'll pass, just to keep everyone else from having a fit, I think. Maybe later though? This looks like it would be fun to drive.”

   “It is. We'll do that tomorrow then, if we have time, after we dump the chickens in the back or distract them with nick-nacks. OK, everyone pile in on Gary and see if you can't change his sexual orientation for him. It will make his dad happy.” She laughed and so did Gary, but the other two kind of did have to squeeze in with him. If you didn't know better you'd think Gary was a real player, which, if Keeley got the gist of things, was the plan. Other guys were certainly giving him envious looks as Darla pulled out of the parking lot carefully.

   The car was smooth, the engine so quiet it could barely be heard at all and she drove perfectly. Not just well, but following the law to the letter. It was the same way Keeley drove herself, so it got her attention. Signaling for each lane change and driving exactly the speed limit, until she hit elm street, where she slowed to twenty-seven miles per hour, which let her drive without hitting any red or yellow lights at all after the first stop. Timed lights. She hadn't asked how to get to Keeley's house, but was driving there by the fastest route.

   Because that wasn't suspicious at all.

   Turning to look at her, brown ponytail flapping just a bit in the wind, since the top was down on the convertible, Keeley tried to look curious without being accusing. It was rude to just assume someone wanted to do horrible things to you as a joke, wasn't it? At least until they proved it one way or the other.

   Darla winked at her, a playful smile on her pink lips.

   “Obviously I've been watching you. Don't worry, I just want to make sure I pick good friends, I'm not trying to pick you up or do anything weird. Not too weird. Well, maybe a little...” The girl kept looking out the front of the car with perfect concentration.

   “I do have a guy I want you to “date” for a bit. Gary's boyfriend, Rob. That way they can both get in to the homecoming dance without a lynch mob attacking them. We're still a little provincial here that way, I'm afraid. He's cute though. You'll like him. He likes girls too, so he may even dance with you.”

   Oh.

   “Well... That beats the being left out in the country thing then, doesn't it?” Keeley said without explanation.

   That just got a nod from Darla.

   “Trust me, I wouldn't do that to you anyway. After the way you just got a sixth of the football team suspended for three days and on probation it's pretty clear that no one sane would want to mess with you. I know I like to consider myself pretty sane most days.”

   Keeley felt the color leave her face. Or at least the blood.

   She knew? Already? Keeley stared hard, getting the girl to wink at her again without looking away from the road at all.

   “What? It was obvious. I watched you set the whole thing up. Brilliant in fact. Because of the thing with Maria?”

   From the back seat there was a giggle.

   “What was brilliant?” Hally, the red-head said, her hair whipping around madly.

   “Keeley's poster.” Darla called back loudly, ignoring most of what they were really talking about.

   “Oh, yeah! Hey, um, could you help me do up something for my room? Like a wall montage or something?” The girl said suddenly, sounding confident and like they were friends already.

   Keeley shrugged and turned halfway around just as they pulled into the driveway of the off mint-green single level ranch she shared with her parents.

   “Sure? Why not?”

   Darla grinned.

   “Great, now, everyone on best behavior, we want to liberate Keeley for the weekend, so we need to convince her mom we're not cannibals and won't bring her back missing limbs, or too pregnant.”

   With that the stunning blond that made Keeley more than a little jealous, got out and walked toward the front door like she owned the place.

Chapter two

   “Um, mom? I'm home... I have people with me, as amazing and baffling as that sounds.” Keeley called out loudly enough to be heard through the whole place.

   That wasn't hard to do, after all it only had three bedrooms and one level. The carpet was new though and if the furniture looked a little sparse in the living room, it also looked nice, clean and fresh, since they'd gotten it that way when they moved. Dad's new company apparently took care of employees like that, footing the bill for moving expenses. The whole place seemed sharp and clean even. Her mom worked, but at home, so she spent part of her day making sure the place stayed nice. A big part.

   OCD nice. A bit of a mental problem really, but that part of it worked out pretty well. They were always tidy and had clean clothes to wear, didn't they? It got hard at times, especially if they wanted to go anywhere as a family, since her mom had to check – and recheck – the stove, oven, all the showers and faucets, the iron and every other appliance in the place before they could leave. Even if they were unplugged and hadn't been used for a week. Three or four times usually. The drugs for it she took helped a bit at least. They still didn't go places too often. Moving had been... fun.

   An adventure in mom management.

   The woman that walked out of the office slash bedroom looked a lot like Keeley, she knew. Just older. Brown hair, brown eyes and cute, but slightly buttonish nose. Trim enough, but a little round cheeked. Her eyes and smile sparkled though, above the nice white shirt and brown vest she was wearing even though she had shorts on. A lot of people dressed like that in the area, or close enough, so no one thought twice about it. Her mom, only in her late thirties, looked good, Keeley realized. Good enough that the look she was giving Gary probably could have led to something inappropriate if the guy hadn't been gay. It was a little off-putting to come to that kind of understanding.

   That was something she'd only recently gotten about her mom. She liked guys. Not just dad, but most of them. The only thing stopping the complete meltdown of her parent's marriage was how distracted her dad was and her mom's habit of staying in most of the time. Her father was the jealous type, so he pushed her to do that, and given her natural predilection, it just worked for them. Sort of.

   “Hi, honey. You brought home friends? Well... Make yourself at home. Would you like some cookies... or, I don't know, what do kids like as a snack these days? We have some wine...” The tone said she was joking, thank god, and everyone chuckled at it.

   Darla grinned and stepped a little closer to the older woman.

   “Oh, no need to put yourself out. We just want to steal your daughter away for the weekend.” Darla dimpled and gestured at the others, making introductions. Bold ones. Saying things that would be too blunt for most people, most of the time. Then, Keeley's mom was used to her, so maybe that helped in this case.