The Pull of Destiny (54 page)

There was no way from me to
hide as I stared up at Nate, fear chilling my bones. “Nate- I didn’t do
anything.”

My voice came out in a rush
and to my own ears I sounded guilty.

“I saw you, little slut. You
got out of a Mustang. And that wasn’t no Robyn I seen driving it. So tell me.
Where you or were you not with that boy from the deli?”

Nate sounded so reasonable,
so sober, but I could sense the anger in him rising to the surface. Its target-
me.

“I was but- Nate, listen to
me,” I said, my voice breaking. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I swear-.”

“Oh, really?” Nate said, a
bland interest in his tone that made the scene more terrible.

My eyes darted from left to
right in hopes that someone would come through and put a stop to whatever was
going to happen. But the entire building was silent and all I could hear was my
terrified breathing.

“Nate, please. He just gave
me a lift from Robyn’s house,” I lied.

“That’s funny, because you
weren’t at Robyn’s house,” Nate said casually, leaning over me with his hands
on his knees. My mouth gaped open. How did he know. As if reading the question
on my face, he smiled evilly. “I called her last night. You see, I, unlike you,
was home all night. And now I’m going to teach you a lesson, slut. You
don’t
bite the hand that feeds you.”

I felt the slap across my face
before I even realized it was coming. This couldn’t be happening. Not in the
entrance of our apartment building. Luke and I hadn’t even done anything!

“Nate-,” I whispered, looking
up at him pleadingly just as he hit me again. And again. And again.

I lay on the floor, sobbing
as he shot a disgusted look at me before stepping back.

“You think I liked doing
that? I just don’t want to see you go the same way your mom went.” His voice
softened as he reached down to help me up. I shrank away from him, tears
rolling down my face as I shook. I knew I had a cut under my eye because the
tears made it sting. How could I go to school like this? Why would Nate do this
to me? Looking uncertain, he said, “Go upstairs, get cleaned up.”

And then he sauntered up the
stairs to our apartment, leaving me huddled against the elevator door, crying.

CHAPTER 22

the truth will
out.

Luke’s Point of View

I fidgeted all through
Science class on Monday, my eyes not leaving the spot where CiCi should have
been sitting. My mind asked frantic questions I didn’t have answers to, the
most frequent one being ‘why isn’t CiCi at school today?’

Don’t think I hadn’t tried
getting in touch with her to ask her. I’d sent so many texts to her cellphone,
tried calling her so many times over the weekend that I actually felt like a
legitimate stalker. And she didn’t reply to one text. Not one.

She wasn’t the type of person
to miss school, I was positive (unlike me). I let out an apprehensive breath,
tapping my pencil on the desk. Was she sick? Or had something more sinister
happened? Something that had everything to do with her violent, foul tempered
cousin?

No. Don’t even think that
way, Luke.

I tried to push that thought
to the back of my mind and concentrate on the lesson, but I couldn’t help
coming back to it, and often.

What if Nate had somehow seen
me drop CiCi off outside her building on Saturday morning? Again, I gave myself
a mental kick for letting CiCi talk me into that. I had been going to drop her
off a block away, just in case Nate was lurking, but she had convinced me that
it was okay for me to let her out right outside the building because ‘there’s
no way he’ll be up at this time’. Stupid, stupid idea. I had already seen
firsthand what a violent prick her cousin was. He obviously hated the idea of
CiCi having male friends, as he had showcased the day I showed up with CiCi at
the deli. Imagining how he would react if he knew that not only had CiCi stayed
over at my place, but we had slept together (get your mind out of the gutter)
made me feel queasy, and it had nothing to do with the on-off headache I had.

Something just wasn’t right.

As soon as Science class was
over, I found myself in the one place I rarely ventured- the office of my House
Advisor, Mrs. Williams. Nervously, I poked my head around the door. She claimed
she kept her door open on purpose because she thought that all teachers should
be accessible to students or something like that. I personally thought that was
a crock of bull but hey, whatever helped her sleep at night.

Mrs. Williams was sitting
behind her old, rickety desk, looking through a file. I hoped to God that it
wasn’t my file. She was pursuing a PHD in Psychology and had actually asked me
to be the topic of her dissertation. I turned her down, but I knew she was just
watching me from afar, biding her time.

She looked up as she heard me
and her face cracked into a welcoming smile. Well, I’m assuming she meant it to
be welcoming, but in reality it was as hair-raising as hell.

“Lucas! What a wonderful
surprise,” she exclaimed enthusiastically, sweeping the files off her desk into
a drawer in one movement. She leaned forward, her elbows on her desk as I stood
at the door, knowing that this was just going to be another bad idea. “Don’t just
stand there! Come on in, have a seat!”

I should have left right then
and there, but I didn’t. Maybe I was just misguided, but I felt like I had to
know what was going on with CiCi, and Mrs. Williams was the right person to
tell me. If she was sick, Mrs. Williams would know. It was her job to keep
track of things like that. And if anything was wrong with CiCi, if her cousin
had done something to her, it was almost certainly my fault. And I had to know
about it, so that I could take the blame.

So I squared my shoulders,
took a deep breath and stepped into Mrs. Williams’ office, shutting the door
behind me. Screw the ‘my door is always open’ policy. Whether she liked it or
not, it was one-on-one time with me right now.

And I’m pretty sure she liked
it, if that smile on her face was anything to go by. No, Mrs. Williams didn’t
have a crush on me- shudder. What she did have was an insatiable urge to be my
‘person’, someone I could spill my guts to and tell my problems to. For over 5
years now, she’d been trying to score a therapy session with me. I intrigued
her, she said. When she found out that I’d stopped seeing my therapist (thank
you Hope), her efforts to delve into my psyche and examine why I was the way I
was doubled. I managed to avoid her by walking very fast in the opposite
direction when I saw her come my way- it worked every time. But now I was in
the dragons den and I hoped it wouldn’t all be for nothing.

“So, Lucas,” Mrs. Williams
beamed, steepling her fingers, “what can I do for you this beautiful morning?”

Beautiful? Are you kidding
me? It had been raining for two days straight! Still, at least she hadn’t asked
me what I was doing in her office instead of being in class.

“Um,” I started, nervously
pulling on my earlobe. “I was just wondering- do you know why Celsi Sawyer
isn’t at school today?”

Immediately, a guarded look
flitted onto Mrs. Williams face, piquing my interest. Something was up.

“Why do you want to know,
Lucas?”

“Well, I- I just missed her
in Science today and...”

My voice trailed off as Mrs.
Williams fixed me with her eagle eye. God, if she could only stop looking at me
like that for a minute I might be able to come up with something convincing to
say!

“Celsi Sawyer won’t be coming
in today,” Mrs. Williams stated firmly, in a voice that clearly said ‘and
that’s the last I’ll say on this matter.’ But I was nothing if not hard headed.
Hey, what can I say, I got it from my dad.

“Do you know what’s wrong
with her?” I pressed, also leaning forward. “Like, is she sick or – or
something?”

That ‘or something’ had a
deeper meaning, and Mrs. Williams was smart enough to catch it.

“Like I said before, why do
you want to know?” Her lips tightened. “It’s not like you two are friends.”

I gave a silent groan,
resisting the urge to roll my eyes. Was she perhaps the only person in the
entire school who missed my PA announcement?

“Mrs. Williams, at the
moment, Celsi is practically the only person in the whole school who isn’t
treating me like a leper,” I said with feeling. “So, if anything’s wrong with her,
if anything happened to her- I think I have the right to know.”

Yeah. No dice.

“I’m sorry, Lucas. I can’t
tell you anything. Celsi herself called in to swear me to secrecy.” She gave me
a faint smile and reached across the table to pat my hand. “I am however glad
that you’ve started reaching out to people who come from- shall I say-
different walks of life.”

Whatever . It was time for me
to make my exit. Since Mrs. Williams had failed me, I would have to get my
CiCi-related news elsewhere. As in Shazia and Robyn. I didn’t really want to
mess with Shazia, coz Ahmed was still being a dick about the whole CiCi thing
and I didn’t want to put Shazia in the doghouse. But Robyn- she had a big
mouth. Keep her talking long enough and she would let something slip. Hell, it
was worth a shot, since I had learnt absolutely nothing from Mrs. Williams.

Standing up, I said, “Well,
thanks for your time, Mrs. Williams,” as gratefully as I could, even though
what I really felt like doing was shaking her and yelling ‘tell me what’s wrong
with CiCi!’

But I’m glad I didn’t.
Grounds for expulsion right there.

She looked up at me, her grey
eyes wide and startled. “Oh, but Lucas, I wanted to talk to you about something
your stepmother told me.”

Oh. Shit.

My heart nearly jumped out of
my chest as I stopped dead, my hand on the doorknob. So close to freedom, then
Mrs. Williams had to spring that on me. It had to be about the aneurysm, just
had to be. Why, Hope? I remember telling her that I didn’t want her telling
anyone about my aneurysm. At the time it seemed like she understood, but now
this. Fuck. Now Mrs. Williams would take it upon her to tell every member of
the faculty and they would all treat me like fragile goods. Like I needed this!

“Uh,” I managed to croak out.
My throat was dry and I could barely think, my head was pounding so hard. How
could Hope do this to me when I plainly told her
not
to? Why would she
out me to Mrs. Williams?

A huge smile on her face,
Mrs. Williams said “I was so happy to hear that you’re back in therapy!
Congratulations!”

Oh my God.

I practically sagged against
the door, relief coursing through my body. Was she trying to give me a heart
attack? God!

“Oh, uh- yeah. My dad kinda
made me go back. No biggie.”

“But it
is
a big deal!
It shows that you want to get help. How’s it going? Are you doing better?”

I nodded. Mrs. Williams
didn’t even know what I was in therapy
for
. Neither did I, actually. All
I seemed to do was lie on a couch and avoid questions my therapist asked about
Shane, my mom and how I was dealing with the aneurysm. How that was going to
help me I had no idea, but it wasn’t my money being wasted.

“Yeah,” I lied. “My therapist
says I’m improving at a rapid rate.”

Mrs. Williams ate it all up.
I am such an awesome liar. “Fantastic news, Lucas! I’m so happy for you! And
I’d also like to remind you- my door is always open if you ever need to talk.”
A meaningful look. “About anything.”

Again with the open door!

“Sure.” I put on my best fake
smile. “Thanks, Mrs. Williams. I gotta go, though. Get back to class.”

I booked it out of her office
before she had even finished saying ‘see you later’ and stopped outside in the
hallway, almost panting. My nerves were shot! And the CiCi thing really wasn’t
helping. Time to weed out Robyn and see what light she could shed on the
situation. One thing was true- something had happened to CiCi and judging from
Mrs. Williams’ tightlipped refusal to tell me, it was major.