The Stranger Inside (16 page)

“Maybe she worked with your dad?”

I shook my head doubtfully. The girl didn’t sound like a nurse—or old enough to be a nurse. But. “Maybe she was a patient … and trying to blackmail him—for malpractice or something.” I bit my lip, thinking. Someone at the hospital might know if Dad was having trouble with an unhappy patient. But I didn’t really know anyone that worked with Dad … except Darcy. And I didn’t really know her. She was one of Grey’s girlfriends.

Finally, I decided to send Grey an email, just to see if Darcy might know something, anything. I was going to do it later, alone, but Sawyer talked me into doing it now.

Hey Grey,

Do you know anything about the murdered lady’s younger sister—the one Dad was supposedly asking for? Do you think you could ask Darcy if Kiki Jones was his patient or something?

That was all I wrote. Because, really, that was all I had to say. Even if Sawyer wasn’t here, watching over my shoulder, I was pretty sure that was all I would say. ‘Cause what else was there?—
By the way Grey, Dad wasn’t the only Logan lunatic running around loose, there’s now me too. I’m completely bonkers!

Call me crazy, but I’d just as soon not have him know. Not have anyone know. There was no way anyone could possibly understand. Only … well, I guess that wasn’t totally true. Sawyer knew everything now. And he seemed to understand.

I squeezed Sawyer’s hand, sitting closer beside him. “Thanks,” I whispered.

He tilted his head, gazing at me curiously, but smiling. “For what?”

“For being you.” That’s what I said aloud, but in my head, I added, “
And not being Jeremy.”

Last night had been so disturbing, seeing Jeremy in action. Just thinking about it now made me want to cry. One minute he was toying with a girl, the next he was staring at me, saying he had a crush on me. Was everything a game to him? Everything? Was he really like Eve said? Like Mom said? Was I just another girl to him now? Another girl to toy with?

It hurt too much to think about. It killed. But really, what else was there to think about? What? Kenzie? Shadows? Axes?

I couldn’t even think about Dad anymore. I couldn’t. Whenever I tried, all I could dwell on was his “blood message” and the fact he might have
murdered
someone. It was all too crazy. And Dad wasn’t crazy. He wasn’t.… At least not until right before he died.

CHAPTER 12

“It’s going to be fine,” Sawyer said, glancing over at me as he drove us to school. “Maybe we’ll have classes together—we can pass notes and stuff.”

“Yeah,” I sat up a little. That would be fun. It was our first day of school. I sat slumped in the passenger seat, biting my nails the whole way to Roosevelt High. The thing was, I had more than nervous jitters. I was actually sick. Kenzie and shadows were now a normal part of my life. I didn’t want to be Freak Girl at school. I wanted to be normal. Blend in totally unobserved.

But really, it wasn’t just the scary stuff that had me shaking. There was still the Jeremy thing, too. I didn’t feel ready to see him every day—see him with other people. When I lived here before—back when we were together—Jeremy and I were inseparable. It was just him and me, always. What we had—it was special.

I wished Jeremy and Sawyer weren’t friends so I could just avoid Jeremy. Life would be so much easier if I just didn’t have to see him, face him. But now that Sawyer introduced me to his band, I knew how important they were to him. Like he said, they were his family.

“Oh, hey,” Sawyer said, changing the subject as we pulled into the school parking lot. “I can pick you up myself from now on—even when your mom’s around. You can just tell her you met me at school.”

I looked at him skeptically. “You said she hates you.”

“Yeah. I
said
that. But she doesn’t.” He grinned. “She loves me. You can invite me in for milk and cookies if you want.” His blue eyes twinkled as he pulled into a parking spot. “Corrine will be glad to see you dating a fine, upstanding young man such as myself.”

Um, huh?

I tilted my head. “Then why’d we go through the hassle of having Parker pick me up all the time?”

He gave a small laugh, tucking his keys in his pocket. “Because if I picked you up she would’ve been suspicious that I was only doing it for Jeremy—so he could see you.” He glanced at me quickly, then darted his gaze away to focus on the crowd of students passing by, as though they were fascinating. But his feigned interest was just distraction. Because he went on talking in that way he does when he’s making a confession—all solemn and frowning. He tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel. “But more than that, I didn’t want you to know I knew Jeremy.”

Suddenly I felt kind of strange. It was just so weird. Creepy. The way he had gone to such elaborate measures—elaborate schemes—to hide such simple truths. It was unnerving. Still, I had to admit things worked out probably for the best. If I had known Sawyer was Jeremy’s friend from the beginning I probably wouldn’t have wanted anything to do with him—wanting to avoid Jeremy as much as possible. Also, Mom really would have thought Sawyer was only picking me up so Jeremy and I could see each other. Even I had to admit it was a strange coincidence that I met Jeremy’s
best
friend that day at the mall. I doubted Mom would have believed it, her being so suspicious of Jeremy and me. But meeting Sawyer at school—a whole month later—I didn’t see how even Mom could be skeptical about that.

When we finally left the car, Sawyer led me to the registrar’s office. The lady at the front desk was Mrs. Daniel’s, the lady who called and left a message for Mom that day I had come home from Sawyer’s all stressed from waking up making out with a stranger.

Mrs. Daniels scowled at Sawyer as she printed out my schedule of classes.

“My mom used to work in this office,” Sawyer explained once we were out of the lady’s earshot. “I’m not sure what was up, but apparently that hag—Mrs. Daniels—didn’t like her. I have no idea why.”

“Oh.” I didn’t know what to say to that, but Sawyer didn’t seem to care either way. He studied my schedule, then gave it back to me.

“We don’t have any classes together,” he said.

I glared at the list, wanting a different one. This one sucked. Roosevelt was a huge school. I didn’t want to go to classes alone. I needed Sawyer.

As we walked through the crowded halls, I was amazed how many girls stopped to flirt with Sawyer. And gush about his band. I couldn’t believe it. Hello, we were holding hands. Still, they full-on flirted. It was like I wasn’t even there.

Grrr!

Thank goodness Sawyer didn’t flirt back. He was friendly with the girls, but respectful to me at the same time. Every time we were stopped he would say, “Hey, by the way, this is my girlfriend, Jodi. She’s new.” He always stressed the girlfriend part. He was awesome. But still.

Then
we ran into Hanna. The girl from Looks. That was a different story, completely. Unnerving.

“Hey Sawyer,” she said, smiling at him all friendly-like, but then she saw me and paled. “Uh, hi,” she whispered, then bolted away from us—from me, like I was wielding an axe. Seriously.

“That was weird.” Sawyer gave a bewildered smile, watching Hanna as she lunged away from us through the crowd of students.

“Yeah, no kidding. I told you she quit Looks the day after Nora hired me. I think she’s afraid of me.”

Sawyer glanced at me as though I was nuts. “Why do you think that?”

“Because. She acts scared of me. Didn’t she act scared? Like she thinks I’m going to grab an axe and start hacking?”

Sawyer grinned, raising an eyebrow. “Yeah. That’s probably it.”

I was serious. She was scared of me. Maybe she had read about Dad on the Internet, or maybe she had been in New York when the incident happened, saw the story on the local news. Something.
Something
about me had her spooked and that stuff about Dad, that was spooky stuff. And it was all I could think of. So, I figured that was it, somehow. She knew about Dad.

“Hanna’s just weird sometimes,” Sawyer said. “I mean, she’s cool, but weird. We used to be friends, back in the fifth grade. But then she just stopped talking to me. No reason. Actually, it wasn’t until this last year that she started talking to me again. I don’t even know why.”

Hm.

Sawyer guided me up to the football bleachers where the rest of The Clutch lounged. It was a relief to see familiar faces after the mob of strangers in the hallway.

“Hey Jodi!” Trista called, smiling. I gave her a friendly wave, feeling we were actually friends.

“First day of school, huh?” Zack asked, grinning, and once again I was amazed how nice he was. It was just that sinister look about him. It threw me off every time.

“She’s nervous,” Sawyer said, giving my hand a squeeze.

We sat with the group and Sawyer wrapped his arms around me. Suddenly, I felt … okay. Almost. It was weird thinking back to when I first moved here—only a month ago. I had been frightened, envisioning my first day of school, terrified I’d never make any friends. But more than that, I’d been terrified that Jeremy would laugh at me for being all alone. The thought had made me cry at night. Not that I truly believed Jeremy could be so cruel, I didn’t. But late in the dead dark of the night, I wasn’t so sure. I was afraid maybe he could.

But this morning, sitting there with Sawyer and his friends, my worries seemed to have faded away, almost forgotten. Only not completely forgotten. ‘Cause there was one worry that was always, always, always looming in the back of my mind, always—Kenzie. What if she showed up here? At school? The thought made me hold on tighter to Sawyer.

 “Hey, we have a party gig this weekend,” Zack said to Micah and Sawyer. While they talked about Clutch stuff, Trista looked over my class schedule. She smiled. “You have chemistry with Micah and me. You can be our lab partner. Micah’s been stressing about me abandoning him when I move.”

“Yeah, I’m sure being lab partners with me will ease his pain.”

She laughed. “Well, he
has
been stressing over having to find another lab partner.”

“When are you moving?”

She sighed. “At the end of the month.”

“That soon?”

“Yeah, isn’t it horrible?” She hugged her knees. “Right at the cusp of my senior year. But my aunt is going through a … thing. My parents think we should be near her. So …”

No! I didn’t want her to move.

She grinned. “Don’t look so dejected Jodi. You’re as bad as Micah.”

“Well,” I said, my cheeks slightly burning, “I was planning on us being friends.”

“Oh.” She pursed her lips, seeming kind of taken aback, but only for a minute. Then she flashed a smile. “That would have been nice, really. But you’ve got the band. They’re just a bunch of rowdy boys, but they’re really sweet.”

Jeremy strolled over to the bleachers, holding hands with a blond. Seeing him made me catch my breath. But seeing him with the girl made me let it out, slowly.
Just breathe,
I told myself
. You can do this.
Breathe in, breathe out. In … out. Good girl.

Jeremy had been talking with Sawyer and the guys, but he glanced up at me, probably feeling my gaze. His eyes latched onto mine and my heart caught. I quickly skirted my gaze, realizing I’d been staring.

Awkwardly, I tried making small talk with Trista, but still, I could feel Jeremy come and sit beside me, feel his heat.

“Let me see your schedule,” he murmured in my ear, his warm breath making me tremble. He studied my list a moment, then handed it back, crushing my heart. He flashed a sad smile. “We don’t have any classes together.”

I tried to be glad, relieved I didn’t have to see him in a class every day, but deep down I was sad that I didn’t get to.

The bell rang and we made our way down the bleachers in twos. Until now, I hadn’t noticed Zack was alone—Eve wasn’t with him.

“They broke up,” Sawyer said.

Not a good sign. Two break ups in one weekend, and Trista was moving away. Couples didn’t seem to survive with The Clutch. Great.

Sawyer walked me to my first period class, pre-calculus. I held on tight to his hand, wanting him to linger, afraid to go into the room alone—what if Kenzie popped up? What if I grabbed an axe? This whole classroom could be a bloody sea of carnage before the next bell rang.

“You’ll be fine,” Sawyer said, giving me a lingering kiss. “I have to go though, Jodi. I’m gonna be late.”

I watched him as he walked down the crowded corridor. He gave me a wave before turning the corner, disappearing down the hall.

“Go into class, Jodi!” I heard him call. And I smiled. But then a movement caught my attention. I froze, a chill running down my spine. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move.

A black shadow—dark and ominous—crept along the wall, coming toward me.

My heart slammed against my chest.

No, no, no!It’s not real
. I grabbed at the rubber bands around my writs, snapping them painfully hard, causing wounds.
It’s not real. It’s not. There’s no shadow
.

I blinked.

It was gone.

***

At lunch I stood waiting for Sawyer at my locker. The whole area was thinning of students, becoming barren. Where was Sawyer? Thoughts of the shadow creeping along the wall still loomed in my brain, hovering, making me shiver. Being alone now was freaky.

Finally, Sawyer barreled around the corner. “Hey, sorry I’m so late,” he said. “Were you getting worried?”

I fidgeted with my rubber bands. “A little.”

He eyed my wrists, saw the red marks around them, and furrowed his brow. “Jodi …”

I shook my head.

He took a deep breath, seeming to count to ten, yet after still seemed to struggle with keeping silent. “Okay,” he finally said, reluctantly changing the subject. “There was this girl—in my last class—Lindsey.” He unfolded a pink slip of paper. “She left me this weird note—like the one in my car that day. I guess that one was from her too.”