Good vs. Evil High (18 page)

I glanced down and saw what looked like metal
shoes partially covering the front and back of his feet. The ground
getting farther and farther below made me queasy. I looked over at
the side of the school instead.

“How’d you get it? Are you an inventor
now?”

“No, but I know the main guy who is. Cash was
challenged to a fight he knew he couldn’t win. Titus, that guy with
me in the hallway the night you got here, might have even killed
him-”

“Killed him?! Wouldn’t he have gotten in
trouble?”

“Maybe. Headmaster lets us resolve our own
problems, though. Cash was scared and Cinders love making deals. So
he asked me to step in for him. He offered to give me one of the
two Cyclones he’d made for the competition. Told the other
inventors he’d dropped it and broken it enough that it was garbage.
They probably weren’t too happy, but I got this one and he’s
safe.”

“So, so you fought that big guy who
introduced you to Roman?”

“Mm-hm. I knocked him out with the first
blow. I learned how to fight to survive a long time ago.”

Suddenly he leaned to the side and we were
flying to the left. I screamed as he sped around in a couple of
wide circles and then stopped.

“I thought you said this thing was safe.”

He laughed and leaned to the right. “It is.
I’m just having fun.”

I screamed again as we sped faster and faster
to the side, stopping a few feet away from the walls of Southland
Cinder High.

“Relax, Kristine. I won’t let anything happen
to you.”

“I know, but this thing’s dangerous.”

“I wouldn’t have brought you up here if I
wasn’t sure you’d be safe. Watch the stars or the snow below
us.”

He took off to the left again. I tried to
relax as I looked up at the starry sky. It was really pretty, but
my stomach kept churning. I kept quiet for as long as I could,
putting my trust, and my life, in Luke’s hands, but I could feel
what little I’d eaten that day coming up. “Could we stop for a—” I
tried to lean away from Luke as I threw up. It grazed his Cyclone,
but if I leaned over any farther, I was afraid I would fall.

“Cyclone two, descend.”

I spat as much rancid saliva out as I could
while we went down. A few feet off the ground, I pushed away from
Luke and jumped off so I could heave out some more. It was a good
thing that ski mask had such a wide opening for the mouth. I didn’t
even hear Luke approaching or his Cyclone closing, but I felt his
hand on my back as I stood up still clutching my aching sides.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know this
would make you sick.”

“It’s not your fault. My stomach’s been upset
all day, knowing I would be running tonight.”

“You wanna go back in?”

“No! This is the first time I’ve been outside
since I got here. I love it outside.”

“We could walk around.”

“Okay.” My insides began to settle as we
walked along the outside of his school.

“You know, that Cyclone thing’s pretty cool,
but what we’ve got is definitely going to beat it,” I told him.

“Really? Are you an inventor now, too?”

“No, I saw it accidently. It was awful.” I
went on to tell him the whole story of my run-in with The Baring
Springs. I knew I could trust him not to tell anyone about it. He
had trusted me with his school’s invention, after all.

“You think that’s going to beat this? It’s a
fog-fountain. Those have been around for years. This lets people
fly. It doesn’t even use fuel.”

“But The Baring Springs can read your
emotions and the fog creates an entire person reflecting that.
Nothing like that exists yet.”

“But it just sits there.”

“Whatever, we’ll see which school wins.”

“Can I see your medals? I’ve only seen
Titus’s, since they won the Snow Riders’ competition last
year.”

“Sure.” I had to dig around my neck to grab a
ribbon and pull it off. “What’s his look like?”

“The ribbon’s black, instead of white like
this one, and a gold flame hangs on it.”

“You would think they’d both be gold. But I
guess Headmaster does seem to have a thing for white and
silver.”

“Too bad, since gold’s your favorite
color.”

“I’m surprised you remember.”

“How could I forget? You haven’t forgotten my
favorite color, have you?”

“No, it’s purple...I see what you mean. It’s
hard to forget even the little things about your favorite
person.”

His pace slowed. He smiled over at me and
handed me my medal back.

“Oh—” I stopped and grabbed his arm. “I
wanted to ask you something. Were you recruited two and a half
weeks ago, on a Tuesday night?”

Luke thought about it as we began walking
again. “Yeah, I think it was a Tuesday. Why?”

“We were recruited the same night. When we
were leaving the hospital we ran into some Cinders. A guy named
Bane was there. He and Roman got into a fight. They said they were
there to recruit someone, too.”

“Bane did come get me. I must have been that
recruit.”

“That’s crazy. Out of all the people and
places in the world, we both get recruited on the same night.”

“Like it was meant to be...” Luke tilted his
head as he smiled at me. Then he looked really embarrassed. I felt
bad, because I wanted him to keep going.

“Can I ask you something?” he said.

“Anything.”

“After you won the fifty yard dash, was the
favorite guy you thanked Roman?”

“No.” I laughed at how ridiculous that was.
“I can hardly stand the guy. I was talking about you. When I was on
the field, terrified, I tried thinking about your twelfth birthday
and I felt better. It got me through the whole night.”

“The year of the skateboard. The last good
birthday I ever had. I’ve still got that thing stashed under my
bed. It’s missing a wheel and it’s cracked, but it’s there.”

We walked in silence for a few minutes and I
began to wonder if Luke planned to go back in through the front
doors or through some other mysterious hidden door. I was beginning
to get cold, and I did
not
want to circle the whole
thing.

“If you can’t stand the guy, why are you with
him?” Luke asked unexpectedly.

“I’m not. It’s complicated. Roman’s been
obsessed with me since the night I got recruited. He hangs all over
me and calls me his girlfriend and he never even asked what I
wanted.”

“What
do
you want?”

“I want it to end. He’s possessive and mean
and it gets worse by the day. I never liked him in the first place.
But I’m too big a coward to tell him so. I keep hoping he’ll get
the hint, but it’s not working. It’s like the more distant I become
the harder he pushes it. Isn’t there some way to make a guy not
like you anymore?”

“You’re gonna have to tell him. And I’d be
straight if I were you. Sugar coating it and dragging it out’ll
only make it worse for you and for him...I could do it for you, if
you want, but I probably won’t be as nice as you will.”

“No, I should do it. I’m just—scared. He kind
of hurt my arm when he found out you spent the night in my
bed.”

“He hurt you?” Without even being there,
Roman ignited fire in Luke’s eyes.

“He just grabbed my arm too hard. He was
really mad.”

“Kristine, he hurt you. I have half a mind to
go hurt him right now.”

“No! It’ll hurt him bad enough if I tell him
how I feel. I’ll just avoid him for as long as I can. Maybe he’ll
figure it out, eventually.” I could see the faint light of the
front of Southland Cinder High.

“Why? You could be free and single. Why put
it off?”

“Because I am free and single. Roman’s built
this whole thing up in his head. I’m not his girlfriend; he’s just
convinced himself I am.”

“Come on, Kristine. You don’t belong with
that jerk.”

“I know...” The front drew slowly closer. The
still night sent a shiver down my spine. “I’ll talk to him after
you two compete. I don’t want to ruin his first big game.”

“Good.” Luke stopped and turned to me, taking
both of my hands in his. I wished there wasn’t so much padding
between us. “Now that that’s settled, who’re you gonna be cheering
for? Me or your boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend, and it wouldn’t
matter. I’d cheer for you no matter what, Luke.”

“You’re shivering,” he said, looking down at
my hands.

“I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not. You need to get inside.” He
took the Cyclone out of his pocket and threw it down, stepping onto
it the second it had opened.

“Not that again.”

“It’ll be quick.” He reached out and pulled
me on. Then we were zooming back the way we came. We stopped as
quickly as we’d started.

“How do you know where we are?” I asked as I
got off. Everything looked the same to me.

“Practice.” He picked up the Cyclone and put
it back in his pocket. “I put a lot of time into mentally mapping
out this place.”

Luke pressed a spot on the wall and it sunk
in. The doorway opened. It was much warmer inside with the burning
torch he picked up and carried between us.

“There’s something I wanted to give you,” he
said as we walked. He pulled a thick bundle out of his pocket and
handed it to me.

I held it up and let the black fabric fall
until I was holding a suit. “Is this a Cinder shadow suit?”

“Yeah, I thought it might make it easier for
us to see each other.”

“Thanks, Luke.” It looked like it was my size
and everything.

We walked silently after that until we
reached the exit way. I took off the snowsuit and handed it to
Luke. He hung up both of them and threw the dark cloak over me
again. “If Roman does anything else to hurt you, I want you to tell
me,” he said, tying it under my chin.

“He’s not going to hurt me.”

“Promise me, Kristine.” He put his hands on
my shoulders and stared at me with great intensity, making me feel
like a child.

“I promise.”

“Good. Keep that on and I’ll take you to your
quarters. I don’t want you going anywhere alone.”

I felt such a growing attraction toward him.
As he took my hand and we made our way through the small dark
space, I wondered if it was possible that he felt it, too.

Chapter
Twenty-Three

~ One-Sided? ~

With my new shadow suit, spending time with
Luke was a cinch. Finding the time was the hard part. Like Roman,
he had practice for the better part of every weekday and weekend
evening. When we did get together, we explored the underground
castle and took the secret passageway outside. Riding around on
Luke’s Cyclone with him wasn’t so bad once I got used to it. Mostly
because I got to press against him and feel his arms surround
me.

The only bad thing was that every second was
an internal battle. I was in seventh heaven being with Luke again,
but this unexplainable sensation I felt inside for the first time
made me want so much more.

Unfortunately, those Cyclone rides were the
closest I ever got to him. He held my hand when we couldn’t see
each other in the shadow suits, but we would have lost each other
without that. I never knew where I was going. I began wondering if
these feelings were one-sided.

Weeknights, I would meet him right inside the
door of the dark gym and he would throw a black cloak over me
before we made our way to the little snack room with all the
two-person chairs. No one ever thought it strange when a dark,
hooded figure entered the room and took a seat. It was nice to curl
up by the fire with Luke and have dinner each night.

Avoiding Roman was an added bonus. Only my
roommates knew what I was doing, and they kept telling him I was
sick in bed. I just had to remember to tell my con to power down
during these times.

Harmony bounced on my bed to wake me up
Friday morning. “Your two boyfriends are competing today,” she said
quietly.

“Neither of them’re my boyfriend,” I
responded sleepily. I rolled over and pulled my pillow over my
head.

“Whatever.” She gave it one more good bounce
before she got up.

The anticipation began to set in as I climbed
out of bed and did my morning thing. I would finally get to watch
Winter Competitions from the stands. Last Saturday, the Tracers and
I gathered in Rose’s hospital room to celebrate our victories and
watch the academic competition on her con, so I missed out on it
then.

And by the way, Sassy was right. Academics
were definitely the most boring part.

All the way to breakfast, my roommates kept
giving me advice about how best to let Roman down:

“Be gentle. Let him down easy.”

“Tell him you don’t want to be in a
relationship right now, and you’d be happier as friends...”

Luke’s advice was the only one that mattered,
though, because he’s a guy. He knew how their minds worked. Short
and simple. That was the plan.

“Roman Armstrong, team captain of the North
Haven Snow Riders, will be leading his team today,” Connie was
saying as we entered the dining hall. I looked back at the
projection and watched him glide with his snowmobile to the top of
a hill and ram someone else’s hard enough to send its rider flying
on the other side. His picture, which happened to be a
really
good one, appeared in an upper corner as Connie gave
his stats.

I felt sad, as I took my seat, that I would
be breaking his heart that night. At least I was giving him his big
day first.

The rest of the team was briefly highlighted
as we started eating, but Roman had obviously been given the
spotlight.

As I was finishing my last piece of bacon,
the room darkened. Purple flames glowed against the bottom of the
wall and a picture of Luke leaning against a black wall with his
arms crossed over his chest appeared. “Leading the Southland Cinder
High Snow Riders this year is Knight,” a low voice said.