Second Sight (14 page)

“
Like?” I concentrate on
his dark eyes, trying to read the expression, but I can’t. Usually
I’m good at that sort of thing, but lately, I suck at pretty much
everything.

“
She’s an emancipated
minor, for one thing. Said she and her parents never saw eye-to-eye
and didn’t figure it much mattered if she were living with them or
not. So she chose not.”

I think back to the nice outfit Jayzee wore
on the first day of school, and suddenly I’m confused. “So how does
she pay for where she lives and stuff? Does she have a job?”

“
Not that I can tell. Maybe
she’s got a rich relative none of us knows about.” We slowly begin
walking down the hall which begins to fill with other bodies. Most
of them cluster at lockers, talking. A few zip between clusters,
probably spreading gossip. “Besides, Jayzee doesn’t like questions.
They make her mad. If she wants you to know something, she’ll tell
you, trust me. It’ll usually be with volume because she’s always
got a strong opinion about everything.”

“
Is she dating?” I figure I
might as well ask Kane because Griffin, no doubt, is going to ask
me.

“
Right now, no. Although
after you left, she did express quite an interest in Griffin.” He
shakes his head. “Don’t even ask me to go into details. There are
places guys just don’t go. Ever.”

I start laughing at his horror-struck
expression. “Coward.”

“
Yeah, right.” A cluster of
girls in front of us blocks all but a narrow path, and Kane grabs
my hand and starts through, leading me as we go. Although the girls
are giggling at such close proximity to Kane, they do part enough
to let him through, but it’s obvious they’d rather him stay in
their midst and I go fly a kite. Unlike Lev, who seemed to stay on
the fringes of things, Kane always attracts attention, usually of
the female persuasion.

“
So what about your friend?
How long have you known him?” Kane asks, once we’ve sifted through
the crowd and can walk side by side again.

“
Less than a year.” Of
course, if I told Kane what transpired in that year, he’d probably
understand why Griffin was such a good friend, but I’d rather not
go there, thank you very much.

“
So there’s nothing…between
you two?” He levels a narrowed gaze at me, forcing a nervous
laugh.

“
No. Not in the least.” I
shake my head. “He’s like my older brother.”

At his locker we stop, and he grabs the book
he needs. “So why did he come up here instead of going to
college?”

“
He’s not really the
college sort,” I finally say, remembering my conversation with
Griffin about his father. “Doesn’t see much point in it. And he’s
here because there was a…situation…where Jimmie thought I needed
looking after.”

He shakes his head. “Wait. Let me get this
straight. Jayzee and Sarah go looking for trouble and can’t find
it, but you manage to make it happen in the few weeks you’ve been
in this dead little town? Really? I’ve got to hear the story behind
this one.”

I take a step away from him, shaking my head.
“No, I’m really not comfortable talking about it. Maybe some other
time.”

Just ahead, I see Mrs. Gillman, the
counselor, stapling scholarship information to the bulletin
board—yet another aspect of my life I haven’t quite decided on.
Maybe I’ll be like Griffin and not go to college because I’m not
sure I’d know what to major in. There’s nothing much I’d really
care to learn that much about, except angels, and we all know how
that turned out in the end.

It seems like Kane is reading my thoughts as
he nods toward the flyer. “You thought about post-high school?”

I drop my pen, and he stoops to get it. I
shake my head. “Are you a spy for Mrs. Gillman?”

“
Of course. Did you really
think I was a senior who wanted to ask you out or something?” When
he hands me the pen, our fingers touch, and a heat courses through
me. I’m not expecting it and I jump.

“
You okay?” he
asks.

“
Yeah, just cold chills,” I
say, smiling weakly. For a moment, I’m angry. I don’t want to meet
someone to make me forget about Lev. I want to find him, but
something tells me that just isn’t in the cards, no matter what I
do.

“
So, what do you think?” he
asks, scrutinizing my face.

“
I’m not much for college.”
We stop just outside a classroom, and I lean against the locker.
Kane faces me, and I realize my head doesn’t even touch the bottom
of his chin. Is he taller than Lev was?

“
Not about college,
Lizzie.” His voice rumbles through me, and I find myself lost and
breathless in his dark eyes. As he’s looking at me, a couple of
guys brush past, their shoulders harshly nudging Kane’s back,
thrusting him toward me until our faces are inches apart. His hands
shoot out and land on the lockers on either side of me, and I feel
his body brush against mine.

For a couple of seconds, we just stand there
like that, both of us breathing fast and shallow. My lips part, and
I’m mesmerized by his dark eyes. Then an image of Lev dances into
my head just as he bends low to kiss my mouth, his lips instead
landing on my cheek. Stunned by my sudden movement, he ducks his
head, and I squeak from beneath his arms and scurry down the hall,
feeling lightheaded.

“
Lizzie?” He strides after
me, and with his long legs, it doesn’t take much until he catches
up, his fingers wrapping around my forearm, gently stalling me. “I
didn’t mean to upset you.”

I paste a crooked smile on my face. “It’s all
right. Really.”

“
Those jocks just sort of
pushed me, and you were looking at me. Next thing I know, I lost my
head.” He’s blushing as he rambles the thoughts off, his expression
clearly dazed, as though he’s not really sure what just happened,
either. Then again, I don’t think he’s got the same sort of baggage
I do, which means, this kiss didn’t sucker-punch him like it did
me.

“
It’s all right,” I say
again, heading toward the classroom, hoping to slip inside where
there are people so that maybe he’ll forget he was trying to ask me
out in the first place. It’s not that I have anything against Kane.
I’m just not sure I’m ready to date anyone.

Although he doesn’t say anything, I feel the
words weighing between us all the same. It’s not about what is
spoken; I learned that one from Lev. He follows me into the room,
and we find Jayzee and Sarah have already taken their seats in the
back. Both are laughing and glancing at us as we walk in, telling
me they probably heard about the kiss. At lot of the kids in the
class are looking at Kane and me. Nothing like living in a small
town to fully appreciate the finer points of humiliation.

As I flip open my notebook, all three of them
gaze at me expectantly, but I’m not saying much. I don’t know what
to say anymore. It all comes back to Lev, and sometimes I wish I’d
been the one to take that bullet, not him. I never knew surviving
could feel like this.

“
So,” Jayzee says, “Sarah
is going to hang out on Friday night at my place. I thought it
might be cool if you could come.” She taps her long nails against
the desk with one hand. Her elbow rests against the desk, and she
sets her chin on it, looking bored. Somehow, considering Jayzee is
an emancipated minor, I don’t think school holds much interest for
her.

“
Maybe I was going to hang
out with her,” Kane argues, his words exaggerated so he sounds more
like a child than a teenager. “I bet you didn’t think of that, did
you?”

“
You and Colin always play
basketball on Friday nights. Don’t even start,” Sarah says, waving
to dismiss him.

“
So, Lizzie, what do you
think?” As Jayzee stares at me, I realize how mischievous her eyes
appear, like she’s always planning something devious.

“
Well, I need to check with
Jimmie, since technically I’m supposed to be grounded.” I focus on
my binder, cringing inside at the questions I know will be
coming.

“
What’d you get grounded
for?” Kane asks, leaning toward us. His long legs splay into the
aisle, forcing other students to go the long way around. I have to
say that even though he’s cute, he’s not gaining any popularity
votes for that.

“
The same thing that got me
therapy at the center,” I mutter, knowing that sooner or later all
this stuff will come out whether I want it to or not. Somebody is
going to know somebody who heard this or that. It always works that
way.

In my peripheral vision, I see all three
exchanging glances—you know, the what-do-we-do-now look people get
when they’ve put their foot in their mouths and realized they don’t
much care for the main course. Sensing their trepidation, I figure
I’ll answer as the first bell rings and more students start to
filter in.

“
I was almost shot in the
middle of a gang drive-by in Knoxville.”

Sarah does a double-take. “You’re grounded
for that?”

“
And what good is therapy
when you aren’t the wacko with the gun?” Jayzee adds, wearing an
indignant frown.

I look at Sarah. “I didn’t exactly explain
where I was going.” Then I turn to Jayzee. “And they thought I
walked into the drive-by intentionally as a way to off myself.”
Then I turn back to my notebook to take notes, quickly noticing how
that shuts up all of my new friends. Can’t blame them. I’m not sure
I’d know what to say in that case, either.

For the rest of the day, I feel like I’m
walking on eggshells around the three of them. So I guess they’ll
just have to assume I’m crazy or something. The thing is, what I’ve
said really doesn’t seem to affect Kane’s desire to be around me,
and while he tries to keep things light, I can’t just let things
go; they’re buried too deeply.

Still, by the end of the day, I’m kind of
glad to crawl into my Jeep and leave school behind. I’ve always
been kind of a loner, and right about now I’m feeling just a little
claustrophobic around all these people. It may be a small town, but
I can’t breathe with it closing in around me. I sit in the lot
until most of the cars clear out, and then I start the engine to
drive away.

As I head down the road, I try to relax the
muscles in my neck, but it is so stiff, probably from carrying the
weight of the world on my shoulders. I’m halfway to the house when
I hear a familiar tell-tale thumping noise. Gritting my teeth, I
look at the curve just ahead, and I slow and round it before
tapping the turn signal and gradually pull off to the side of the
road to check the tires.

The two back tires are fine, but the
passenger front tire is shot. I shake my head, dreading changing
the tire. As I go to the back of the Jeep to grab the jack, I gaze
toward the forest, and it is then I see someone standing there. The
August light shimmers in his blond hair, and even in the distance,
I recognize his body because I’d know him anywhere.

“
Lev?”

My keys fall to the asphalt, and I turn my
body toward him, awaiting his response. I’ve been waiting for so
long. The world dwindles to the sound of my breath and collapses
inward, slowing until everything is moving at half-speed. He turns
and then walks away, heading deeper into the stand of trees before
him.

“
Lev!” I scream. Without
realizing I’m moving, I start across the road, my gaze never
wavering from where I last saw him. I can still see his golden hair
glittering in the light, but he’s so close to disappearing. My
steps hasten. Then the world becomes chaos.

I hear the blare of a horn and turn as a semi
barrels my way, but I can’t seem to move. Forward, will take me to
Lev but I won’t make it in time. Backward and I lose him. So I
stand still, at least until I feel someone suddenly wrap his arms
around me and drag me back to the shoulder. I start struggling
immediately, flailing my arms and legs, just trying to break
free.

“
Lizzie! Calm down.” The
arms release me as the truck thunders past, the turbulence of its
passing billowing my hair out hastily. Once the truck has passed, I
squint toward the other side of the road. No Lev. He’s gone
again.

“
What are you thinking,
Lizzie?” In my peripheral vision, I realize Kane stands there, a
confused frown tugging at his lips. But I don’t have time to
explain. I blink and start across the road again, determined to
search for Lev, at least until Kane grabs my arm, stopping
me.

“
Let go.” I snap, trying to
jerk free. Although he’s holding me tightly, it’s not enough to
hurt. That doesn’t mean I can get loose, either.

“
Why? So you can walk in
front of another truck? What is going on?” He scans the woods where
I’ve been looking. “What is it you think you see?”

“
A guy.”

He shakes his head. “No one’s there. I pulled
up behind you as you were getting out, and there was no one
there.”

“
You’re wrong!” I finally
break free and purposely look both ways before crossing the road.
It doesn’t take much for me to know Kane is following me, but I
don’t care, and while it’s difficult to slip between the lines of
barbed wire crossing the posts, I manage.

“
You do realize you’re
trespassing, right? And there may be livestock in that
field?”

“
I’ll only be a minute.” As
I start toward the trees, I hear Kane tromping after me. He’s big,
and he’s anything but silent.