Seclusion (25 page)

“Did you have to remind her
of him?” Chase said, elbowing Jay in the arm.

“You didn’t think one twirl
would make her forget him, did you?” Jay replied.

“Whatever, Sanelle,” Chase
said.

“Let’s dance, Raegan,” Jay
said as he pulled me out in front of the stage. No one else was dancing.

“Are you crazy, Jay?
Really?” I laughed as Jay started rocking out on the empty dance floor. “Maybe
later.”

“Sure, as long as you keep
that smile on.”

We sat around the table
laughing more than I had in a long time. Chase and Jay were hilarious together.
New people stopped by every few minutes to say hi to one of us or to introduce
themselves to Chase and me since we were newbies. Elsie spotted Sara walk in.

“SARA! SARA!” She waved her
over. Jay started choking.

“What’s your problem,
Sanelle? Do you have a crush?” Chase asked.

“Shut up, McPrince.”

I giggled. Then I linked my
arm through Jay’s and invaded his privacy. He was being weird, after all. Just
like that, I knew Jay really did have a big crush on Sara! According to him,
she didn’t even realize he existed, and he was pretty sure she was into Damen.

“What?” Jay elbowed me and
eyed me to shut up.

I started laughing. “You
are crazy, Jay!”

“Hi, guys!” Sara said.
“Elsie, I was curious if you’ve finished your quad decorations and if you
wanted to do them together. I figured I better get them done with everyone
coming back.”

“Sure, we can do them
together. You hungry? You want to join us? Do you know everyone?”

“I think I do know
everyone. I actually have a class with Raegan, Jay and Damen. I haven’t seen
Damen lately though.”

Sara looked at Jay and me
with a questioning look. I elbowed Jay. He coughed again. What was wrong with
him?

“He’s taking a break for a
while. Family stuff…you know,” he said.

“Oh well…it was nice seeing
you guys. Sorry I can’t stay. I have so many suite officer duties I need to
take care of.”

 “Hold on, Sara,” I said.
“Elsie, I’ve been meaning to go to that day spa. I haven’t been before. What do
you guys think of a girls’ day Sunday?”

“I’m always in for a day at
the spa,” Sara said.

“You know I’m in, Rae,”
Elsie said, narrowing her eyes at me. She knew something was up.

Jay was just sitting dumbfounded,
but at least he wasn’t drooling.

“Great! Let’s say 10:30 at the spa on Sunday. That way Jay and I can get our run in beforehand.” I elbowed
him again.

“Oh, you two run together?
Good for you guys. I wish I was motivated. Okay, see you at ten.” She ran off
in the direction of the to-go line.

“I hope you know I might
have to kill you now, Raegan!” Jay said, squeezing my ribs till I squealed and
kicked him.

“What? I didn’t do
anything. I’m just gonna help my friend,” I said with what I thought was a sly
grin.

Jay pulled out his phone
and snapped a picture of the five of us attempting to squeeze into the frame. He
winked in my direction. “Two can play at that game.”

We all decided to hang out
at our quad since our roommates hadn’t arrived yet. “Hey guys, we kinda need to
have a meeting,” I prompted.

“Are you sure you’re up for
this, Rae? We were waiting for you to feel better,” Elsie said.

I grabbed a bean bag and
laid it in front of Jay and Chase against the couch. “I think I’m as ready as
I’ll ever be,” I said.

“So is Jay just part of the
group now? I mean, I’m cool with it,” Chase asked.

“Oh, thanks, buddy,” Jay
said.

“Well, Damen’s updated him
on everything, so I don’t see why not,” I said.

“So, I think we need to do
some recon on Dr. Z. Nothing dangerous, just some observing to see if anything
fishy is going on there. You know, keep our eyes and ears open,” I said.

“I was actually looking at
the job boards, and I noticed he is looking for a student assistant. That might
provide the best intel,” Chase said, looking at us girls pointedly. I laughed
at his use of the word intell. He patted me on the head.

“I guess I’m the best
person for the job then,” Elsie said.

“Really? ‘Cause I could do
it,” I said.

“Mmm, I don’t think he’d
hire a telepath to be his assistant if he is keeping secrets,” Jay said.

“True.” I replied.

“So it’s final. I’ll apply
Monday. Connor, why don’t you tell Raegan what you’ve found?” Elsie said.

“Well, I’ve been searching
around in the school’s computer archives, and I found your mother’s name. She
was hired as a science teacher/researcher. Her paperwork states that she never
showed up. She had a phone interview with Dr. Z and was hired. But she never
showed up here.”

I felt two hands, one under
each shoulder, picking me up and setting me on the couch. Both boys gave me
their hands in support.

“Oh my gosh! So this is
where she was coming!” Tears ran down my cheeks. I was shocked, and all I could
think of was that I needed to tell Damen. I looked around in shock.

“Jay, you’ll let Damen know
the new events. I don’t know that this information is of any use to him, but
it’s good to keep him updated just in case,” Elsie said.

“Sure,” he said.

Jay is in contact with him
, I thought, feeling
depressed.

“We still don’t know if
this has anything to do with her…death,” Chase commented.

“I hope it doesn’t,” I
said.

“I think we should lighten
the mood…what do we want to do?” Jay asked.

I sat shocked, staring off
into space. Jay looked concerned.

“Chase, I think we should
try what we were talking about last night…” Connor suggested.

“How will we get ice
blocks?” Chase replied.

I looked at Elsie
questioningly.

“I have no clue,” she
whispered in my ear, handing me a glass of water.

We heard a whoop and a
holler coming from Jay. “Yep, that’s what we’re gonna do, ice blocking!
PERFECT!” he shouted.

“Are you a mind reader?”
Chase asked.

“No, I just saw our future,
and let me tell you, nerd boy over there kicks your ass in ice blocking!”

“Did your premonition tell
us where and how we are gonna do this dangerous stunt?” Elsie asked.

I watched Chase and Connor
jump around and high five each other in mad idiocy.

“Well, I saw us in a meadow
with rocks and a pond nearby, but I have no clue where it is,” Jay said.

“I do,” I whispered.

“Okay, one problem solved,
but what about the other?” Elsie asked.

“Mmm, I’m not sure, but I
know I saw Raegan hovering over buckets of pond water. I think she makes the
ice,” Jay said.

“What? I can’t do that!” I
shouted.

“I’m sure you can. I all
but saw it,” Jay said.

“Alright, we’ll meet you
girls in the parking garage in fifteen minutes. We’ll get everything we need,”
Connor said as he looked from Jay to Chase.

“Jeans, tennis shoes and
tee-shirts then?” I asked Elsie.

“I guess so. I don’t know
about this. I have a feeling at least one of us will be visiting the nurse
after this, and I can’t see the future.”

“Well, they are basing this
wacked out idea on the hope that I can change water to ice!” I said.

“True… Maybe you should
bring your textbook along.”

“I guess that’s a good
idea,” I said, grabbing the book off my desk.

I looked in the mirror. My
holey Lucky jeans were loose. I’d have to get my new measurements to my aunt
and get some new clothes sent here. I put on the thermal Victoria’s Secret shirt
and pink bra that reminded me of Damen. I had a feeling I was going to be
getting wet and dirty. I pulled my hair up and twisted a skinny braid around my
rubber band.
Not great
, I thought,
but it’ll do for ice blocking
.

Elsie, Chase and I squeezed
into the back of some four-door sedan.

“Elsie, are they actually
wearing board shorts and tee-shirts to go ice blocking? Or are we swimming?” I
asked.

She giggled. “My thoughts
exactly. I told you we were going to the nurse’s tonight.”

“So Raegan, did you study
up?” Jay asked.

“No, but I did bring my
textbook.”

“You better start studying.
We only have a few hours of light left,” he said.

“Okay, I will. You guys
know we are going to a graveyard to go ice blocking?”

“Sweet! Ghost stories and
fire after,” Chase said.

“Yeah, right. They are
gonna be whining like babies after this,” I whispered to Elsie. “Sounds great!”
I replied.

In the car, I skimmed the
chapter on transmutation. It seemed basically the same as moving something with
your mind, but there was some science-y stuff to it if I was trying to make the
water into something else. Luckily, water in frozen form held the same
properties as in liquid form, so to make ice, I just had to condense the water
molecules.

“Guys, how do we get the
ice out of the buckets after I freeze them?” I asked.

“You can’t do that too? I
know I saw Con-man and McKnight racing,” Jay said.

“Seriously, Jay, where do
you get these nicknames?” I asked.

“Why? Do you want one?
Don’t worry, I’m thinking up a good one.”

Ice blocking ended up being
the disaster we’d thought it’d be. The longest Elsie and I lasted before
tumbling down the hill on our backsides was eight seconds. The boys looked like
they were having a blast, even though they were all shirtless and had bloody
bruises and burns all over.

“Raegan, get over here.
Chase…take a pic.” Jay said. He tossed his phone to Chase, but Chase dropped it
with his wet hands. I stopped it with my power and sent it back hovering in
front of his face. Jay tugged me up the hill.

“Really?” I said. “I don’t
want to eat it the whole way down. I haven’t lasted longer than half a minute,
Jay.”

“Trust me, Raegan. I’ve
seen it. We got to the top with our two ice blocks. Now form a sled,” Jay said.

“Oh sure…really?”

“Yes! How come you never believe
you can do anything? We are gonna have to work on that. You are way stronger
than you know.”

I crouched down, focusing.
I opened my eyes, and sure enough, there was an ice sled!

“I did it!” I said, giving
Jay a big hug.

“Save it for the picture!” he
said.

He sat down on the sled,
spread his legs, and motioned for me to sit down in between them. It did seem
safer that way. I sat down, and he wrapped his muscular arms around me and put
his chin on my shoulder.

“Are you ready? McPrince,
you better get some good shots!” he shouted.

Jay pushed off, and I
started screaming and grabbed on to his legs as he held his arms around me. If
it had been Damen, I would’ve been hyperventilating, but Jay felt like a big
brother.

“What’s up with all the
pictures?” I asked.

“I thought we had a deal…
You help me with Sara, and I help you with Damen.”

“Oh…I didn’t know it was
official.”

“Oh crap, I didn’t see
this,” Jay said.

 “How do we stop this
thing, Jay?”

“I think we have to wait
for it to stop on its own or melt.”

The pond was ten feet away,
and we were still going strong.

“AAAAA!” I screamed.

“Crap, I hope you can swim,
Raegan.”

I closed my eyes and was
waiting for the cold water to hit me when I noticed we were gliding on top of
the water like a little boat. “What’s going on?” I asked.

“I’m guessing you just used
your telekinesis to float us across the pond. Pretty sweet!”

We slid onto the opposite
shore. Jay helped me up and gave me a high five.

Chase ran over. “That was
sooo epic! Can we do that?” he shouted.

“Ha! I’m not chancing that
I can do that again, but if you want, I can slide you across from here,” I
said.

“I dare you to, jock boy!”
Jay gave Chase an evil smirk.

*
* *

“What a long day!” I whined
to Elsie as I pushed myself into the shower.

“Rae, I’m gonna be so sore.
Hey, we have a note from Taylor. She wants both of us in her office at 10 a.m.”

“What do you think she
wants?” I yelled through the door.

“I don’t know, but last
time I got one of these notes, I ended up going to Caleb’s. Alright, night,
Rae.”

“Night, E. I had fun with
you tonight.”