“I bet you do.” Elliot raised his eyebrows.
“Not like that.” I threw him a droll look. “I just want to solve the mystery that is Danielle Harrison.”
“Dude, there is no mystery.” Elliot slapped his hand lightly on the table.
“Yes there is. I can feel it.”
“Careful, Zachy, your Nancy Drew is showing.” Jaeda’s green eyes were large and round as she gave me a playful look.
“I don’t care.” I shrugged, confident in my perceptive abilities. “That girl over there has secrets and I’m gonna figure out what they are.”
She suddenly looked my way, piercing me with those blue eyes of hers. Even with the distance, they affected me. My breath was snatched away before I could raise my lips to a smile. The edge of her mouth quirked to the side as she closed her book and packed her things into her bag. She didn’t look at me again as she rose, brushing off her jeans and heading away from our table. I kept my eyes on her, stupidly unabashed. Part of me wanted her to know I was studying her.
Flicking her fine hair over her shoulder, she politely made her way through a group of students. Her manners were impeccable. She was self-assured and capable. All those things made her different from the girls I’d made the mistake of falling for in the past.
Not that I was falling for this one, I reminded myself quickly.
I couldn’t deny that tug though. It always started as an urge to protect the girl. I could easily figure out why I’d ended up dating all my past errors, but what had me stumped this time was why I was so captured by a girl who didn’t look as though she needed any kind of protection. Why did I feel an overwhelming urge to hide her away, tuck her in my arms and tell her I wouldn’t let the world hurt her?
My friends were laughing over AJ’s latest culinary class. He told the best stories about his teachers. Everyone was in hysterics except me. I was too busy watching Dani disappear around the corner.
Watching.
Wondering.
My parents always said that they found out more about a student during parent/teacher conferences than any other time of the year.
“To some degree, everyone is a product of their upbringing.” That’s what Mom always said.
I couldn’t help wondering what Dani’s parents said about her.
Chapter 4
LUCY
February 2009
The table was set, the meal was cooked. Lucy’s mom placed the plates of hot food at each setting and they were all pulling their chairs out to sit down when Lucy couldn’t hold it in anymore.
“I got the part.” She beamed.
“The part of Milly?” Edith Tate’s eyes grew wide with excitement.
“Uh-huh!” Lucy’s head was bobbing stupidly, but she didn’t care. The look of pride on her dad’s face would keep her happy for weeks. He stepped away from his chair and enveloped her in one of his bear hugs. She nestled her head against his chest and squeezed back.
“So, so proud of you, Lulu.” He kissed the top of her head and pulled back, holding her at arms length to give her a wide smile.
She grinned back and bit the edge of her lip.
“Let’s eat before the food gets cold.” Her mother pulled out her chair and sat down. Flicking out her napkin, she laid it over her lap and clasped her hands together. They said a quick grace and as soon as everyone had said Amen, Edith touched Lucy’s hand. “Have you got the script? We can start practicing tonight.”
“Yeah, it’s in my bag.” Lucy picked up her fork and pierced a carrot slice.
“So how did you find out? Tell us the story.” Her father cut off a square of meatloaf and smothered it with mashed potato.
Forgetting about her food, Lucy dove into a lengthy story, not leaving out one detail. She even talked about how Patrick congratulated her at the end of the day. She was sure she was blushing up a storm. Her parents both grinned at her, obviously trying to hide their laughter.
“Shut up, you guys.” She flicked her hand.
This set them off and they were all soon laughing.
At the end of the meal, Lucy’s mom suggested they treat themselves to ice-cream to celebrate.
“Sweetie, run down to the freezer and grab it for me, will you?”
“Sure.” Lucy jumped up and headed for the basement stairs off the kitchen, listening to the clink of cutlery being gathered up for rinsing.
She never liked the basement much. It was always so dark and creepy. That was probably because she never bothered turning on the light when she was down there. Her priority was only to run to the chest freezer and back out again so she didn’t see the point of fussing with the string light switch that dangled in the middle of the room.
Above the freezer was one tiny window that was never opened. A large cobweb covered the left pane of glass; she couldn’t see a spider in it, but yuck! She shivered, dashing over the cold concrete on her bare feet.