Impostor (9 page)

Mrs. Coleman, the biology teacher, chose that moment to enter the room, as a few late students scurried in behind her and everyone scattered to their seats. She leveled her eyes on me and gave a curt nod before she turned her attention to the books she’d set down on her desk.

“Wow, what a welcome,” I said under my breath. Ana shrugged.

“People want to know the truth. The newspaper has been reporting about the murders for weeks and everyone’s scared. You’re the only victim that survived and people are making up their own theories about that, how you’ve come back from the
dead
.”

“I wasn’t dead,” I said.

Ana’s eyes turned soft. “No, but you were so still. I was there once, in the hospital. You looked so . . . lifeless.” I remembered the way Madison had looked. So small in the hospital bed, so lost.

I smiled at her. “I’m back.”

Mrs. Coleman harrumphed, seemingly drawing up to twice her height—which wasn’t much—until every gaze settled on her. “Darwin’s theory of evolution.”

I bit back a groan. Evolution was the last thing I wanted to hear about, especially since the way most humans learned it was wrong. They never learned of nature’s slip or whatever you want to call the existence of people like me or Alec or Kate. Variants.

Speaking of Alec. Where the hell was he? I thought he was supposed to arrive at school today and I knew he had biology with me—I’d compared our schedules beforehand. Had he somehow managed to weasel his way out of it? If so, I’d have to have a serious talk with Major. It was unfair that I had to suffer through high school while he was doing God knows what. Probably having phone sex with Kate. The thought of it made me want to puke up my pancakes.

A knock interrupted Mrs. Coleman’s bland introduction of Charles Darwin. With a cutting glare that would have made me squirm if I wasn’t already used to Major, she turned her attention to the door. Alec—every tall, muscled, self-assured inch of him—entered. The fury instantly vanished from Mrs. Coleman’s face. She blinked at Alec, and his gray eyes held her gaze. She was a goner.

“I’m sorry for being late. I’m new and I had to meet with the principal first.” He didn’t hand her a slip of paper that would have confirmed his statement but she didn’t ask him to. In moments like that, I couldn’t help but wonder if Major wasn’t the only FEA agent with a hidden mental Variation. Or was it really just Alec’s good looks that made people react to him the way they did?

Mrs. Coleman nodded and pointed Alec to the sole free seat—next to Franny, one row behind us. Our eyes met briefly as he walked past my table but his face didn’t show any recognition. I hoped I’d managed the same. My face always seemed to go still when I saw him. Every girl—even Mrs. Coleman—watched Alec as he lowered himself into his chair. That was why being in love with someone like him was such a bad idea. Even if he wasn’t with Kate, there’d still be all the other girls who’d give their right arm to be his.

My eyes met with a pair of olive green ones at the end of the room and the face they belonged to immediately rang a bell. It was Ryan. I hadn’t even seen him come in. He must have been among the late arrivers who filed into the room behind Mrs. Coleman. He had dark brown shaggy hair that brushed his ears. His face was unreadable. A girl with a cute bob that framed her oval face tried to get his attention but he ignored her. I turned around, stunned by the intensity of his gaze.

I jumped when Ana’s voice pressed against my ear. “Dude, he’s so not over you. Before you were attacked he tried to get you back by making you jealous with other girls. Such a jerk.”

I was sure the note wasn’t the last I’d hear from Ryan.

I tried to focus on Mrs. Coleman, in case she asked me a question. Most teachers would probably cut me some slack because I’d gone through so much but Mrs. Coleman seemed to be the unrelenting type.

Boredom turned out to be my biggest problem during class. Linda and Ronald really had been worried about nothing. I definitely wouldn’t overexert myself.

The sensation started with a light prickling in my neck and slowly raised the hairs on my arms. Someone was watching me. That’s one of the things you learned to notice during your training at the FEA. A gaze could be something physical, something solid if you focused hard enough to detect it.

I turned around. The blond boy with the hunched shoulders sat two rows behind, his focus squarely on me. When our eyes met he looked down and pretended to scribble on his notepad. His irises were watery blue. They had the same unsettling vibe as Kate’s eyes. I remembered his face from the yearbook: Phil Faulkner. He stared intently at his writing as if his life depended on it. I faced the front of the classroom, not sure what to make of him.

Mrs. Coleman had her back turned to the class and was writing something on the chalkboard.

I leaned over to Ana, deciding to play the amnesia card. “What’s his deal? Why is he staring at me like that?”

She threw a glance over her shoulder, then turned to me. “Who, you mean Phil?” I gave a nod. Ana rolled her eyes. “Don’t get me started. He’s such a dork. The guy’s hopelessly in love with you, probably since kindergarten. After you broke up with Ryan, he came to your house and told you he was sorry and that he was there for you if you needed someone to talk to. Who does that? I can’t believe he’d ever think he’d actually have a chance with you.” She snorted.

The sound earned her a glare from Mrs. Coleman.

I glanced over my shoulder once more to get another glimpse at Phil’s eyes, but his head was bowed.

I wanted to ask why Madison had broken up with Ryan. If one person must have known, it was her best friend. But biology really wasn’t the place to do it.

The lesson dragged on ’til infinity. I fidgeted with my pens, looked around the room, shifted on the uncomfortable plastic chair. It had been too long since I last attended school. Sitting in a classroom and listening to a teacher lecture wasn’t what I was used to. I even missed the morning runs and push-ups. Hell, even taking a swim with a straitjacket would have been an improvement over
this
.

The moment the bell rang, I stuffed my books into my backpack and jumped out of my chair.

“Whoa, you can’t wait to get out of here, can you?” Ana asked, scurrying behind me.

I slowed. I should have waited for her and not stormed out of the classroom but the walls had started to close in on me.

“Sorry, I just needed to move. I hate sitting still for too long.” Ana eyed me carefully as if what I’d said was out of character. We walked through the crowded halls toward our next class. I felt a twinge of nervousness but quickly convinced myself that it wasn’t enough to make her suspicious.

“Is it because you were confined to bed for so long?” Ana asked. I stopped in the doorway to our next class.

“Yes, I guess that’s why. I just feel like there’s too little time to spend it sitting around doing nothing.” A heavy silence spread between us, but then Ana’s face lit up.

“Don’t let Mrs. Coleman hear that.”

“Have you noticed anything strange about Phil?” I asked, not able to get over the way he’d looked at me.

“Why?” she asked. “Do you remember something?”

I shook my head. “It’s just . . . his eyes, they creep me out.”

“They creep out everyone. Rumor has it that he’s got a cataract.”

Creepy eyes didn’t make someone a suspect. But I decided I’d keep an eye on him anyway.

• • •

Eyes and whispers followed me all the way to the cafeteria. Ana glowered at anyone who dared to look at me for longer than a second. I really liked her. She reminded me a lot of Holly.

“Can we sit somewhere quiet? I need to talk to you,” I whispered after we’d purchased our slices of pizza. Ana led us to a table at the end of the room, delightfully close to the bathroom. No wonder no one had chosen it yet. But it was perfect for my purposes, as it also gave me a fantastic view of the room.

We sank into the hard plastic chairs and I started chewing my pizza. Too much cheese with the texture of chewing gum, dotted with unidentifiable pieces of some kind of sausage. Bleh. I dropped the slice on my plate. Ana hadn’t even started hers yet. She was too busy watching me.

I wiped my greasy hands on a napkin, buying myself some more time to word my question. “Um, why did I break up with Ryan?” So much for eloquence.

Sadness flashed on Ana’s face. She smiled tightly. “You never told me.” She shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal but her voice and eyes told another story. She was hurt and disappointed to be left out. “I’ve always thought it was because he cared more about his buddies than you, but you were kind of secretive about the whole thing.” Her eyes searched my face.

I’d hoped for another answer. If Devon wouldn’t talk, that left only one other person who might know why I broke up with him—Ryan. And I wasn’t sure if talking to him about it was the best choice.

“So you really don’t remember?”

I shook my head. “I have a lot of blanks in my memory. I wish I could remember more.”

“Maybe it’s good that you don’t remember everything.” She picked the pieces of sausage from her slice and arranged them in a tiny circle on her plate.

“No, it would help if I remembered. Then maybe the killer wouldn’t still be out there.” The words came out harsher than I’d intended.

Ana’s eyes grew wide and her hands froze. “Sorry, of course. I just meant—” She trailed off, her eyes darting away.

I reached out for her hand. “I know. It makes me nervous to think of what really happened. You really don’t know anything else, like if Ryan and I had a fight or something?”

Ana’s hands balled to fists. “No. I mean, you told me you and Ryan had grown apart, but never anything about a specific incident. Though there were the other rumors.”

“Rumors?”

“About you and another guy.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know.” She kept glancing at a table across the room. The popular kids—it was easy to tell who they were because the entire lunch room seemed to center around them. Ryan and the girl with the bob haircut sat there. Another familiar face was beside them—Franny. She was throwing glances our way.

I’d never attended high school before but I knew enough about hierarchy, which was Major’s favorite topic. Madison must have been one of the popular kids to date Ryan.

“Why aren’t we friendlier with them? Weren’t we part of their group before I was attacked?”

Ana’s face darkened. “No, we left their group a while ago.” She began fumbling with the remaining sliver of her pizza slice.

“Why? What happened?”

Devon entered the lunch room with a group of boys and smiled when his eyes found me. He sat with his friends, but I could tell he was keeping an eye on me. I allowed myself a look around the rest of the cafeteria. A group of goths sat behind Devon and his friends. The table to their right was occupied by two chubby girls wearing nearly identical outfits, and at the edge of the room, all by himself, was Phil. His eyes darted up to meet mine for a millisecond before he returned his focus to his plate.

“Like I said, when you broke up with Ryan some people thought it was because you’d cheated on him. Franny apparently saw you one night—with another guy.”

“With who?”

Ana grimaced. “I don’t know. No one does, Franny couldn’t tell. She just said the guy was shorter than Ryan and definitely wasn’t him. Franny likes to hear herself talk. She’s a liar. But the group was on Ryan’s side and so we left and just did our own thing. They called you a skank and a whore. I hate them.”

“You left your friends for Ma—me?” I’d almost said Madison but managed to catch myself before the name escaped my lips.

“They weren’t real friends or they wouldn’t have talked shit about you.”

“Was Kristen one of them?” I asked, following a sudden intuition.

“Yeah, she was the worst, always talking shit about you. She and Franny were best friends.” Guilt flashed across her face. “I got in a big fight with Kristen a day before she died. I called her horrible things. I still feel really bad about it.”

“You couldn’t have known what would happen.” I took her hand. “So did Franny take the tragedy very hard? She doesn’t look like someone who lost a friend a few months ago.”

“She broke down crying when she found out and wasn’t in school the following week, but when she returned she acted like nothing had happened. She’s trying to keep up appearances. I don’t know how she manages. I was a wreck while you were in the hospital. I’m so glad I didn’t lose you.”

But you did
. I looked down at the table top. “Did you tell the police what you just told me?”

“Yeah, but not in that much detail. They asked about you and Ryan but it wasn’t something that seemed very important to them.”

“Why not? Shouldn’t an ex-boyfriend make the top of their suspect list?”

“You would think, but I guess it’s because of the other murders.” She gnawed on her lip, her eyes becoming distant. “It really doesn’t make sense. Why would someone do this?”

My cell phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my backpack. It was a text from Ryan, asking if I’d gotten his letter and if I was going to meet him. When I looked up, both Ryan and Devon were staring at me, but after a moment Devon followed my gaze to glare at Madison’s ex. Ryan didn’t notice. He only had eyes for me, his expression hopeful. I almost felt sorry for the poor guy.

“A text from Ryan?” Ana asked. I looked up, startled. “Yeah, he really wants to talk.”

She bit her lip. “It’s up to you, but I think you should listen to your brother.” I typed a short reply, telling Ryan that I got the note, but I couldn’t make it.

The moment everyone’s attention shifted, I knew Alec had entered the lunch room. He scanned the rows of tables and our eyes met. He was wearing the Chucky shirt. It was physically painful to pretend not to know him. I wanted to wave him over but someone else was faster.

Franny rushed over to him, a saccharine smile plastered on her face, and suggestively touched his arm.
Paws off, Franny
, I thought. But to my surprise Alec actually followed her to the table with Madison’s former friends.