Rise of the Moon (Moonlit Series Book 1) (7 page)

Chapter 7: Maddie

“Three attractive guys?” I laughed, looking at myself in the mirror. I was just about ready for bed, after I washed my make-up off, anyway. But that could wait until I finished on the phone.

“Well, and a rather attractive girl,” Evelyn added. “You left too early, Maddie. You should have seen them.”

“You’re definitely making me wish I had,” I frowned as I leaned closer to the mirror. Was that a bruise or –I rubbed the shadow on my face, relieved that it was just a little bit of dirt. Probably ash or something from the small fire at Kristy’s place that we’d had. She’d wanted to roast marshmallows, since this gorgeous weather wasn’t going to last much longer. I couldn’t blame her.

“Oh, you still might,” she said suddenly. “Two of them will be coming to our school.”

“Well, almost in time for the fair,” I pursed my lips and released them. “Weird time to move. The semester just started, what, three weeks ago?”

“Well, I’m sure they have their reasons,” Evelyn sighed. “Shayne texted me while I was at work.”

“And?”

“We’ve got another date this weekend,” she sounded like she was smiling. I was happy for her. “He’s planning on toning it down a bit.”

I laughed, “Oh, good.”

“As far as I know, it’s just a walk through town. Nothing extravagant.”

“So maybe I should do my own little walk this weekend, and finally meet the guy you’ve been hiding?” I joked.

My comment was met with silence, which took me a little off-guard.

“Evelyn?”

“Sorry, it’s just… I’m a little scared, Maddie. You know I don’t have a lot of self-confidence. I’m worried he’s going to see you and realize a girl like me isn’t his type.”

“Evelyn, a girl like you is
every
man’s type. They’re just too stupid to realize it,” I told her. “And if he gives you up so easily, he’s not worth your time.”

“You’ll meet him,” she promised. “Just… let’s just wait a while?”

“Fine,” I sighed. “Anyway, I’m going to go to bed. Sleep tight, Evelyn. I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“Night,” she replied. I waited a few seconds to see if she’d say anything else before hanging up the phone. I went into the hallway, putting the phone back on the charger before going and washing my face.

*              *              *

“You need to stop sleeping in,” my mother told me in front of the school. “Be happy that I had the morning off.”

“Thanks mom,” I said, glancing at her as we sat in the van. She had no idea about my reoccurring dreams. I was willing to gamble that she, like Evelyn, would also chalk it up to the stories I read.

“You’re welcome,” she said. “Have a good day at school. Tell Evelyn I say hi.”

“Of course,” I opened the door and got out, waving as she drove off.

I glanced at the time. Twenty minutes until the buses would arrive. My stomach growled, and I headed inside, intent on getting something from the cafeteria. The muffins filled the hallway with their warm scents, and as I neared I knew I’d be buying one. Maybe I’d get a carton of milk, too.

“Maddie,” Maegan fell into step beside me. “Slept in again?”

“How’d you guess?” I felt another yawn come along, fighting to suppress it. My eyes watered as it won the battle.

“It’s written all over your face,” she teased. “Getting a muffin today, hm?”

“Yeah,” I replied, not bothering to figure out how she knew, since we hadn’t even entered the cafeteria yet. Maegan always seemed to know, ever since we were little. Evelyn said we were all just really predictable, and Maegan picked up on our usual tendencies.

“Hey, Maddie –have you seen those two before?” she grabbed my arm, nodding down the hall. I’d been looking but not seeing in my sleep-deprived state. I never slept properly after those dreams. I woke up every hour until my mother came and kicked me out of bed. But Maegan got my attention, and my gaze focused on two guys standing just outside the cafeteria door, eating the breakfast fajitas that they sold inside. She was right –I didn’t recognize them, though I had a vague idea of who they were.

“They must be the ones Evelyn was talking about,” I glanced at Maegan. “They just moved into town.”

“Hmm,” was all she said. “Anyway, I need to grab something from my locker, so I’ll catch up with you in a bit, okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding at the two guys as I slipped into the cafeteria. Had I not been so tired, maybe I would have flirted with them, but it wasn’t like they were going to move out of town as fast as they moved in, so I figured I had plenty of time to strike up a conversation over the next two semesters.

There was only a line of three people, so getting my muffin and milk didn’t take long. Figuring I should go to my locker and drop off everything I didn’t need for the first two periods, I headed in the direction Maegan had gone off in. She had chemistry when I had math, so our lockers were pretty close together. I went to the stairwell, the doors propped open, and headed up the stairs. I could hear people talking , the sound echoing up and down.

“I knew they were here, but I didn’t know they had a mission here. I thought they were just like us. Kinda just… drawn to the area.”

I paused, recognizing the voice. It was Maegan.

“Well, if you hear anything, let us know,” a guy said. Him, I didn’t recognize.

“Will do,” she replied.

Footsteps started coming down the stairs, and I looked up to see the two new guys walking down. I continued up, past them, sparing them a glance. They barely looked at me as they went on their way. When I got up to the next floor, Maegan was gone. I ended up finding her at her locker. It was wide-open, and she was crouched, digging through her bag to retrieve her water bottle. She was given a faulty locker with no hooks to hang her bag or coat on –not that she’d need a coat until late October. But she didn’t really seem to pay it any mind.

“Enjoying your muffin?” she asked as I approached.

I looked down at it in my hand, not yet having a chance to actually take a bite.

“I’m enjoying looking at it,” I answered, going to my locker, which was almost directly opposite of hers on the other side of the hallway. I wondered if I should ask her about the two guys. I mean, it had been her talking to them, right?

“Something wrong?” she asked.

I glanced at her over my shoulder as I opened my locker. It was like she was lining me up for the question –I could ask. But, instead, I opened my bag, setting my milk on the top shelf in my locker and pulling out the notebooks I wouldn’t need. “No. I’m just tired still.”

“If you say so,” she answered.

I regretted not asking a little bit, but shrugged it off. It was probably nothing anyway.

Chapter 8: Evelyn

At school the next day, I was surprised to see Blake. Well, not so much surprised to see him as surprised to find him leaning against my locker. Deliberately, by the looks of it, as his face lit up when he spotted me. Somehow, I found it irritating. It felt like he was intentionally seeking me out, and I didn’t understand why.

“Good morning,” he greeted.

“Morning,” I crossed my arms. “I see you found my locker. I’m not even going to ask how.”

“I asked around. You’re pretty popular,” he shrugged before giving me a smile. He had nice teeth, I realized. I almost scowled at myself. I hated that I found him so attractive. But it wasn’t just me. There were more girls in this hallway than ever before, and they were all staring him down.

“I doubt it,” I said, waiting for him to get away from my locker so I could get in and gather what I needed for first period. He didn’t move.

“I thought I’d take you up on your offer. This school is pretty big,” he said, cocking his head to the side. “Show me around?”

“I’ll show him around,” I heard a girl say down the hall. Her friends giggled. I glanced over my shoulder to see Olivia, from work, with a group of her friends.

“Class is about to start,” I pointed out.

“At lunch, then?” he suggested.

“I’m sure any number of girls would want to show you around, Blake,” I snorted.

“You remembered my name,” he grinned.

“Don’t take it to heart, I know eighty percent of the student body by name,” I told him. “Now, excuse me, I’d like to drop off my things.”

“Of course,” he said, finally stepping aside. “Anyway, just a quick tour. I have no idea where the art room is.”

“Down the hall, make a left, third door on your right,” I opened my locker, shoving my school bag in and taking out my gym bag. “It says ‘art room’ on the door. Hard to miss.”

“See? This is why I chose to come to you,” he laughed.

“Blake,” Jason appeared, dressed and ready for gym class. That was almost more surprising than Blake being at my locker. He greeted me with a small smile. “Hey, Evelyn.”

“Jason,” I acknowledged him with a small nod.

He turned back to Blake, “So I spoke with Dante. He said he’ll be in town around lunch, if we want to meet up.”

“Lunch,” Blake looked at me, a look of disappointment quickly finding a home on his face.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I shook my head, closing my locker. “I never actually agreed in the first place.

“Rain check?” he asked.

“We’ll see,” I said, heading for the ladies’ change room.

Just as I finished getting changed, Kristy walked in, dropping her gym bag beside mine and starting to pull out her clothes. “Morning.”

“Morning,” I said, sitting on the bench to wait for her. “How was your weekend?”

“Long. I worked Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and my mom’s been away, so I have the entire house to myself and you know how I’m, like, a clean freak sometimes?” she babbled. “So, naturally, I cleaned the house top to bottom.”

“I need to hire you one day,” I joked.

“Please, don’t,” she laughed. Chantelle walked in, joining me and Kristy. Kristy greeted her, then turned back to me, “Anyway, I’m not sure if you saw them, but there are two really attractive guys by your locker.”

“Oh, she saw them,” a girl interrupted our conversation. “But she practically turned down the one.”

“Evelyn,” Kristy turned on me with a mocking tone of offense. “How
dare
you?”

“I don’t see the big deal. He might be attractive, I guess, but he’s also turning out to be way too assertive.”

“Assertive?” another girl snorted. “He ignored everybody that came up to him except you.”

“Even worse,” I made a face. “He’s inconsiderate and rude.”

“Are you placing him in the same category as Cole?” Chantelle asked. “Because, last time I checked, you use those same words to describe Cole.”

“No,” I said slowly. “But, only because Cole has quite a longer history at being inconsiderate and rude than Blake does.”

They just laughed. Laughter that died slowly when Marissa walked in. I took the opportunity to get out of the change room. While I waited for the Kristy and Chantelle, I went and filled up my water bottle.

“Surprised to see us so soon?” Jason slid into place beside me

I twisted the cap onto my bottle tightly, “Surprised is one word.”

“And another word?” he asked.

“Put me on the spot like this, and surprised is the only word,” I looked at him. I got good vibes from Jason. Much different than the vibes I got from Blake. Not that I got bad vibes from Blake. I hated myself for admitting it, even if only to myself, but the most accurate description of what Blake made me feel was hot under the collar.

And it kind of scared me, to be quite honest.

“Kaya was right. You’re witty,” he chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I exhaled loudly. “So what’s Blake’s deal?”

“Blake’s… deal?” he questioned.

“According to my sources, Blake’s rude to everybody. So why’s he being nice to me?”

“Blake
is
rude to everybody,” he agreed. “But trust me when I say his intentions are not evil.”

“Well, whatever the intentions, he can forget them. He’s making me uncomfortable,” I told him, waving Kristy and Chantelle over as they exited the change room.

“I’ll let him know,” Jason promised.

“Thank you.”

“Just to let you know, I’m rude to everybody, too,” he told me.

I shook my head, fighting a laugh, “Well, screw your intentions, too.”

He just laughed.

“Going to introduce us?” Kristy asked as they approached.

“No. Jason’s a dick,” I said, earning another laugh.

“Jason, huh?” Philip, too, had migrated over.

“Jason, meet Kristy and Chantelle. Vice versa. And this is Philip. Philip, Jason has just moved to the area. Feel free to treat him just like the new kid he is. Take his money, push him around. Go hard.”

“Then this is going to be fun,” Philip joked. He held out his hand, “Nice to meet you.”

“Wish I could say the same,” Jason replied, ignoring the gesture. Man, he wasn’t kidding when he said he was rude.

“Anyway, soccer field is occupied. We’re aiming for home-runs today,” Philip recovered quickly, talking to Kristy, Chantelle and I.

“I hate baseball,” Chantelle muttered.

“I just want volleyball to start up in class,” Kristy said.

“Are you trying out for the team this year?” I asked.

“No. My mom really wants me to focus on my grades this year.”

“Your grades aren’t bad, though, are they?”

“They’re not great, either. And gym aside, my course load is pretty heavy. University level courses are just as fun as they sound.”

“Which is not at all, right?” I grinned.

She just laughed, “You know me so well.”

*              *              *

“The word on the street is that you have two very attractive guys following you around,” Evan teased as we left the music room after class.

“Jealous, Evan?” Maegan asked as we headed across the building.

“Yeah, in fact I am,” Evan laughed. I looked at him, a little surprised, but he continued, “I can’t have anyone stealing my best friend.”

Of course. I wanted to roll my eyes, but I wasn’t even that disappointed that by all definitions of the word I was officially “friend-zoned.” Usually, I was giddier around him. Maybe Shayne coming into the picture had more of an effect than I thought.

“I thought Philip was your best friend,” I replied.

“I do believe I’ve actually known you longer than I’ve known Philip,” he said. “That has to count for something.”

“I guess,” I shrugged.

“Meet you in the cafeteria?” Maegan asked, branching off from our group.

“Sure,” I replied. I looked at Evan. “Meeting up with Philip?”

“Yupp,” he said. “So let me accompany you to your locker.”

“I couldn’t think of a better person to walk a hundred or so steps with.”

“Well, shucks,” he grinned. We walked a few steps in silence before he asked, “So, who are these new guys?”

“Well, they’re new. And they’re rude. Philip can attest to that,” I said slowly.

“I feel like I know them already,” he joked as we turned down the hall that led to the gym.

“Speak of the devils, there’s one of them,” I said, nodding up ahead. Jason was at his locker alone. He looked up, spotting me immediately. He gave a small nod as he closed his locker, then waited as the two of us approached.

“Hey,” I greeted. Evan stuck close, since Philip wasn’t there yet. “Evan, this is Jason.”

“What’s up?” Evan accredited him with a nod.

“Uh, okay,” Jason looked him over, assessing him before looking at me. Somehow, I felt that was better than the introduction to Philip. “How was music?”

“How –?”

“Kristy likes to talk about you,” he said slowly. “She ever so kindly helped me out in biology today. Now I get to spend the semester between her and Maddie, who
also
likes to talk about you. Your favourite musical is
Footloose
?”

I’d forgotten that she’d had biology after math. At least the second half of her day was lighter with English and her food and nutrition course. “Well, she is my best friend. And hey,
everybody
’s gotta cut loose. Footloose.”

The two of them laughed at me.

“Waiting for Blake?” I changed the subject, digging out my water bottle from my bag.

“Yeah, he should be here soon. He’s driving.” The student parking lot was just out the exit by the gym and around the corner. “Ah, here he comes now.”

I glanced over my shoulder to see Blake walking down the hall. He offered that same smile I’d seen this morning as he neared and my water bottle fell from my hand. He conquered the last few steps, swooping down to pick it up before I could. “Here.”

“Thanks,” I clutched it tight, feeling stupid as I twisted off the cap and took a sip.

“Long time no see.”

I recapped my bottle. “Sooner than I would have liked.”

“Dante’s waiting,” Jason reminded him.

“I’ll see you around, Evelyn,” Blake said, fishing his keys out of his pocket. Brushing off my comment like it was nothing. Which it was. I didn’t mind looking at Blake –in fact, I could look at him all day. But I think I would die before letting him know that. “But before I go. English… Mrs. Cornwall –”

“Second floor. Room 216. Third period?”

“You, too?” he asked, a small grin.

I just nodded.

“Then I’ll see you in English,” he told me.

“Bye,” I gave a small wave as they walked away.

“You’re amazing,” Evan said as the exit door closed behind them.

“What do you mean?” I finally got around to opening my locker.

“You, my friend, are too nice for your own good. If you don’t like them, then don’t treat them nicely,” he said, as if it were simple. “You give off mixed signals.”

“No. I met these guys yesterday when they came to the parlour. But I don’t know them at all. I’m nice to them for that reason. And they call themselves rude –that’s not me trying to influence their reputation.”

He laughed, “Interesting. But really, if they’re bothering you, tell me.”

“You don’t like them.”

“Well –”

“I know they’re new and, yeah, they really do come across a little rude, but I really think they’re good guys, Evan. And if not good, than at least better than Cole; I’d rather you hang out with the likes of them.”

“Cole can be a good guy,” he said.

I stopped to give him a doubtful look, “Well, good luck with that.”

“No, Evelyn,” he began as I headed down the hall. Maddie, Maegan, Kristy and Chantelle were all waiting for me. But now I was going to be poor company, because Evan
knew
what Cole and Marissa had been putting me through the last three years, and it was frustrating that he still stood up for him.

“You know I didn’t mean that, right?” Evan said, popping up beside me. “Sorry.”

“Don’t deny it. You meant it,” I told him. “But… it’s fine.”

“We’re cool?” he asked.

“You have to ask?” I rolled my eyes.

“Can I buy you lunch?”

The guy I had a crush on for years wanted to buy me lunch. And I wasn’t going to say yes. What was wrong with me?

“No, it’s totally fine,” I told him. Shayne, I reminded myself. Shayne. There was a chance with Shayne. A real chance with a boy –something I don’t remember having in the last seventeen years of my life. I couldn’t ruin it over “what if”s when I didn’t know what the outcome was going to be. I, personally, didn’t want to be a crazy cat lady when I was older. “No worries.”