The Pull of Destiny (55 page)

***

I ran into Shazia and Robyn
later on, almost by accident. It was lunch time and I was heading reluctantly
to the canteen for a solitary meal.  Lunch had been a nightmare ever since the
PA incident. People who now didn’t want to talk to me had no problem with
talking about me, and very loudly too. I had gone from being one of the most
popular and liked students at school to being one of the most hated and
infamous in a second. Charming.

Shazia and Robyn were huddled
together just outside the canteen entrance, whispering. I almost walked into
them because I wasn’t looking where I was going, lost in my own little world.

Robyn’s head snapped up.
“Watch it, dumbass- oh, hi Luke.”

The irritated expression on
her face disappeared as she gave me a small, cautious grin. I smiled back. Just
the people I wanted to see.

“Hey, guys. So, um- where’s
CiCi today?” I asked without preamble.

“CiCi?” Robyn repeated,
smoothing her hair back nervously. “Oh. Don’t worry about her, she’s fine.”

My eyes narrowed slowly as I
folded my arms across my chest, fixing a fidgety Robyn with a steady look. “I
didn’t say I was worried,” I pointed out, making Robyn look even more nervous,
if that was possible. “Is anything wrong with her?”

Robyn’s eyes darted wildly to
Shazia, who bit her lip but didn’t say anything. I stared. What was going on?
How could it be so hard to get a straight answer out of people?

Finally Robyn looked at me
again, panic shining in her eyes as she threw me a giant, fake smile. “No, why
would anything be wrong?” she asked. “Everything is just peachy!”

I watched her carefully. She
was definitely lying- her cheeks had gone beet red.

Shazia threw her an
exasperated look and turned to me. “Luke, we can’t talk right now. We have a
project to work on,” she said, her brown eyes chilly, even though she was
obviously trying to hide it. What did I do to her now?

Sensing a save, (damn, I just
knew I would have been able to squeeze the whole story out of Robyn if Shazia
hadn’t been there) Robyn eagerly chimed in, “Yeah, a project!”

Sighing wearily, I spread my
hands imploringly. “Guys, just tell me. What’s going on? Did her cousin do
something to her?” I looked at Shazia, who averted her eyes. “Is that why
you’re mad at me, Shazia?”

Unconvincingly, Shazia shook
her head while staring at me in a shrewd way that I didn’t much care for. “I’m
not mad at you,” she said blandly.

Sure you’re not.

“Look. Whatever’s going on, I
just want to help. That’s all. I’m on your-,” I started, moving closer to the
girls.

“Yo, Astor.”

Shit. I took a step back as
Ahmed’s voice came from behind me, groaning silently. Shazia gave her approaching
brother a frightened look. The jerk probably told her not to have anything to
do with me but screw that. We went to the same school, had some classes
together. There was no way we weren’t going to run into each other from time to
time. But logic has never been Ahmed’s strong point.

“What the hell, dude? Leave
my sister alone!”

Deliberately, Ahmed swung his
shoulder violently into my back, trying to get me to lose my balance. I didn’t
and he scowled, slinging an arm around Shazia's slight shoulders.

“I’m talking to Robyn. Or is
that a crime as well?” I asked, feeling fed up about everything. Why did
everyone in my life have to make things so complicated?

Ahmed sneered at me. “No, but
breathing in the same air as my sister is.”

He steered Shazia into the
canteen and Robyn followed, her blonde hair bouncing as I yelled, “Grow up!”
after him.

His response- flipping me the
bird. Well, some things just never change.

***

My luck switched around after
school was out. By that time I was in a really bad mood. After managing to
corner Robyn in the library, (don’t ask me what I was doing there) I was truly
pissed off because she wouldn’t tell me anything, even when I used my best
interrogation skills on her. It’s all Shazia's doing- I blame her for giving
Robyn tips on how to keep her mouth shut. It was nice that they were loyal to
CiCi but just one tiny piece of information was all I was asking for!

As I stood at my customary
spot by the school entrance, waiting for my ride, Ahmed jogged past me and down
the stairs, leaving behind the strong smell of Hollister cologne. Epic fail. I
watched him get into his ride and drive off before I realized that Shazia was
nowhere in sight. She definitely hadn’t gotten in the car with Ahmed. I would
have seen her. Oh well, whatever. I shrugged to myself. She was probably headed
to Robyn’s house after school. Hell, if I had a brother like Ahmed, I’d want to
get out of the house once in a while too.

Sure enough, Shazia and Robyn
appeared a few minutes later, deep in conversation. I glowered at them, leaning
against the pillar. Something was definitely up. I really wasn’t liking the
fact that I was being left out of the loop like this. CiCi was my friend too,
even though she was still ignoring my texts. Scowling, I slid my phone from my
jeans pocket and tapped the screen. Nothing.

Robyn’s dad pulled up in his
sporty red Mercedes as I watched idly. To my genuine surprise, Robyn hugged
Shazia and skipped down the stairs to get in the car.

Well, now. This is getting
interesting.

Shazia walked purposefully
down the stairs, her wooly beret jammed on her head. I took a couple of steps
forward just in time to see her stride down the sidewalk. What the...

“Where the hell is she
going?” I murmured to myself, staring.

Before I could call out to
her and (nosily, of course) ask where she was going, my personal driver pulled
up to the school entrance in the Range Rover which had been mine before dad saw
fit to take it away from me. I sighed with relief. Fairly inconspicuous car.
Perfect. Ignoring the baffled look Troy gave me as I slid into the front seat;
I slammed the door shut and pointed at Shazia's departing back. As soon as she
hit Lexington Avenue, I knew she would be swallowed up by the crowd. I didn’t
want that to happen, not before I knew where she was going.

“Hey, Troy, do me a favor and
follow that girl with the red backpack,” I said, craning my neck to keep Shazia
in my sight as Troy started the engine.

“Master Astor, I’m supposed
to take you to your therapy session,” Troy reminded me gently as we rolled down
the street.

I completely forgot I had
therapy this afternoon. However, following Shazia was far more interesting than
lying on a couch while my therapist undoubtedly played Sudoku.

And if my dad got pissed at
me for not going to therapy, what else was new? He was always getting pissed
off at me for something. Flushing the toilet in the middle of the night.
Scraping my spoon on the bottom of my soup bowl. Talking. Whatever, I was a big
boy. I could handle his anger.

“Yeah, I know,” I said.
“We’ll go. Just- follow that girl. I have to look out for her.”

Not for Ahmed’s sake, either.

 To the best of my knowledge,
Shazia had never ventured out into New York City by herself. She led a
sheltered life and whenever she had to go out, she was either with her brother,
parents, friends or bodyguard. Her family was uber protective of their little
princess and I was inclined to be the same. After all, I’d been friends with
Ahmed ever since he was held back in the 6
^th
grade (which is why
he’s in the same grade as his year younger sister). Shazia was kinda like my
little sister, in a way. I didn’t want anything to happen to her and know that
I’d seen her leave school by herself but didn’t do a thing to stop her.

Plus, I was really curious as
to where she was going. My mind raced. Did quiet, sensitive Shazia have a
secret boyfriend stashed somewhere? I grinned to myself as Troy drove a few
feet behind an unaware (I hope) Shazia. If she did, I was so rooting for her.
Good for you, Shazia.

A block away from Dalton,
Shazia suddenly stopped. I was pretty sure that my whole spying mission had
been for nothing and that she would turn around and head back to school, but
she surprised me yet again by flagging down a taxi.

And the plot thickens.

I scratched my chin.
“Curiouser and curiouser,” I murmured to myself.

Troy took charge of the
situation as the cab pulled away from the curb. “Follow the taxi?” he asked
perfunctorily, already trailing it.

“You know it.”

This whole Shazia adventure
had actually taken my mind off CiCi, which was a momentous feat since I hadn’t
been able to stop thinking about her the whole day. So imagine my surprise when
I suddenly realized that we were in East Harlem. Shazia
didn’t
have a
secret boyfriend; she was visiting CiCi undercover, which meant that something
had
happened to her!

The taxi swung up to the curb
outside the decrepit housing unit that CiCi lived in. I bit my lip as Shazia
paid the cab driver and opened the door.

What to do? She was obviously
going in to check on CiCi. I had to act fast. This was probably the only chance
I was going to get to find out what was going on, although I had the sinking
feeling that I already knew.

Shazia got out of the cab and
slowly walked into the building, her arms wrapped around her as she looked
around with a nervous air. I felt nervous too- I’d heard bad things about this
neighborhood, even though it seemed deserted right now.

Half getting out of the car,
I told Troy to go park up a block. “I’ll call you when I’m done,” I said. There
was no way I was gonna have him park where Nate might see him.

Before he could reply and
talk me out of it, I ran into the building, hearing Shazia's heels
click-clacking on the stairs on the floor above me as I followed. Thank God for
noisy floors.

 The building looked far
worse on the inside. Peeling paint hung off the walls in strips, puddles of
stagnant water on the floor, mold on the ceiling- I could barely believe that
CiCi lived here.

I caught up with Shazia on
the second floor, thanking my extremely lucky stars that she didn’t use the
elevator or I would have been screwed. Come to think of it, though, the
elevator was almost certainly out of service.

“Shazia, wait up,” I huffed
and puffed- hey, I’d like to see you sprint up two flights of stairs in one go.
There’s a reason I ditched the football team, alright?

Shazia, who was striding
resolutely towards the end of the hallway, jumped. She twisted to face me,
clutching her bag like she thought I was going to jack it from her. Didn’t she
recognize my voice?

Her face went slack-jawed
with shock as she stared wide-eyed at me. “Luke!” Her voice came out in a gasp.
“What are you doing here?”

I shrugged, walking up to
her. “I followed you.” Duh. “It was pretty easy. So- why didn’t you tell me you
were coming to visit CiCi?”

It was hard to keep the
irritation out of my voice. I mean, I had asked her point blank whether
anything was going on with CiCi. The least she should have done was drop a
hint!

Blinking hard, Shazia said,
“Because she told me not to! Oh, Luke, why did you have to follow me?”

Shazia looked about ready to
cry, but I honestly couldn’t feel bad for her right then, for purely selfish
reasons. Hate it or love it, I was here and I intended to find out how CiCi
was.

Surprised that I cared so much?
Yeah, I was too. But- there was just something about that girl that brought out
my protective side.

“I was looking out for you,
Shazia,” I said softly.

Shazia shook her head, her
hair framing her small face. “You should go, Luke.”

“No. Hell no. I’ve been
trying to find out what’s up with CiCi all day and I’m not going anywhere now
that I’m here,” I told her adamantly. “After you.”

Looking at me, Shazia pursed
up her lips. “She’s not going to like this,” she sighed.

“Say it’s my fault.”

A hard look. “It
is
your
fault.”

No sense in arguing.

I followed Shazia as she led
the way to a shabbily painted door right at the end of the hallway. Before she
raised her hand to knock, I asked, “Do you know if Nate’s there?”

Yeah, I was a bit nervous
about seeing him. But if he tried to start something, I could always say that
we were bringing CiCi her homework or something.

Laughing caustically, Shazia
said ,“If he
was
here, I wouldn’t be.” Makes sense. “CiCi told me he was
out.”