Jess blinked at me in confusion and, not wanting to ruin a potentially good school, lied like a pro. “Are you okay, Jess? You asked me if I had plans on Saturday and kinda blanked on me for a minute. Want me to walk you to the nurse’s office?”
It took effort to sound concerned and caring. Bigger problems floated around in my head. Jess shook his head and walked off absently. I went to my next class. I’d been right about the move. Nothing had changed, except for maybe keeping me safe from bullies… for now.
For the rest of the day, I debated about telling everyone at home. The guilt of not telling them about Clavin’s visit also weighed on me. I knew it hurt to keep secrets, but I didn’t think moving, which is what they’d want to do, was the answer. If it’d followed us from the other house, what would keep it from doing it again? But I worried that staying might mean that it would find a way to hurt my family like it had Clavin. I had to trust that the precautions we’d been using, to lock up the house at night, and the chant that they spoke would be enough to keep us safe.
When the final bell rang, I put my books in my locker with relief. No sign of the thing since lunch. I thought about checking out the school’s library. There wasn’t much hope that this library would have more than the other school, but asking for books about demon possession would cause less suspicion here. My reputation hadn’t yet had time to grow. Plus, here I could easily walk home instead of taking the bus. I thought of the cold walk home from the Coffee Shop and shivered. Walking home from school would be just as chilly. If I saved what I made working, I’d talk mom into taking me to the thrift store. The image of a thick fluffy jacket popped into my head, but I hesitated getting excited over it. My current jacket had been a gift from everyone at home. Would getting a new one hurt their feelings?
“Doesn’t that hurt?”
I spun around recognizing both voices. Beatriz stood beside me, studying me.
“What?” I croaked looking around to see who stood close enough to hear our conversation.
“Biting your lip. Doesn’t that hurt?” It tilted Beatriz’s head looking pointedly at my mouth.
“Uh… I’m careful?” I hadn’t even known I was biting my lip. It nodded as if it understood and I waited wondering what it would say next.
“What did Belinda write in her book?” It didn’t relax its searching gaze or its alert stance.
Its question surprised me. When it mentioned the book before, I thought it knew something more than I did. If it didn’t, then how did it even know about Belinda’s book? I wondered what I should reveal. Should I pretend I didn’t know what it meant? Was there something in the book that could hurt us if I shared the information? I didn’t think so. The fact the information was unhelpful in my own search for answers prodded me to answer honestly, yet vaguely.
“Rules and everyone’s first name. Like a family tree. That’s it.”
“What rules?”
Talking about our weird rules in public, after a lifetime of secrecy, unnerved me. In my mind, I imagined everyone hearing my words, even though I spoke softly.
Looking around again, I murmured, “Home before dark. Close up the house. Sleep.” I didn’t elaborate on that part. “And choose a boy before seventeen.”
It was quiet for a long moment, actually breaking eye contact to look away, its gaze unfocused. “Haven’t you ever wondered why you’re choosing a… boy?” It said the last word with contempt.
I wondered about its distaste for the word, but could only nod. Yes, I did wonder why. I wanted to know badly, but wasn’t sure if anything this thing said could be trusted.
It looked back at me and answered as if it had seen my nod. “I’ll sit with you tomorrow at lunch. We’ll talk more then.”
Again, it left me feeling torn and dealing with a confused person. I walked outside with Beatriz pretending she’d just walked up to me at the locker, hoping no one would mention us having a conversation.
Tomorrow would be a good day to stay home sick.
No matter how much I wanted to stay home, I couldn’t come up with a good enough reason for my mom to let me. I didn’t want to tell them. Imagining my mom telling her boss we needed to move already less than a week after arriving, made me cringe for her. How awkward would her relationship be after that? Especially, when he’d been so nice about setting up this place for us. No, I firmly decided to keep my problem to myself. But I also didn’t want to have to sit with that thing while eating lunch.