“I can’t stop them.” I’d tried, every time.
“You can’t,” he said after a moment. “But maybe I can.”
I looked up at him.
His eyes had been flaring a soft silver for the past couple minutes and I hadn’t even noticed. He met my gaze. “First, I need you to trust me. Completely. Can you do that?”
He wasn’t trying to trick me or mess with emotions. I don’t know how I could tell, but I could. I nodded.
“Good. Second, I need you to tell Trish that you’re spending the night at her place tonight.”
I blinked. “Why would I do that?”
“Because that’s going to be your alibi for coming to my house. Trish will cover for you.”
I tensed. But he’d asked me to trust him.
“Stay with Trish for the afternoon. Before dinner, I’ll pick you up, and Trish will tell her parents that you felt sick, so you went home.”
I swallowed. “And then?”
“And then you’ll eat dinner at my place. We’ll do some homework. And you’ll sleep in one of the spare rooms.”
My stomach felt tight with fear. “And then what?”
“And then, after you’re asleep, I’ll see what happens.”
I paled. I didn’t like this plan at all.
But he wasn’t finished. “If you seem to be getting too upset, I’ll wake you up and siphon off the fear and see if I can figure out where it’s coming from.”
I liked that a little better. Actually, I liked that a lot better.
“Okay.”
He seemed surprised, but pleased. I glanced at the dashboard clock and grimaced. “We’ll be late.”
“I’ll tell them we had engine trouble.”
Adrian and Caitlin, boyfriend and girlfriend, showing up late, together. I’d get grief from Trish about it, especially when I told her what the plan was for the evening.
*
“You want me to do what?” I frowned at Trish. She’d heard me perfectly well. “All right,” she said, “but could you at least tell me why?”
I sighed, knowing that I’d have to tell another lie that made it sound like Adrian and I were more than we were.
“Look, we just want some time alone, and we can’t do that at his place or my place or school. We’re both stressed out and we just want to be by ourselves for one night.”
Trish looked at me skeptically. “This from Miss Sex-Doesn’t-Solve-Everything.”
I couldn’t leave her thinking anything would happen, because then she’d ask for details I’d be unable to give. “Believe what you will, but we honestly just want to spend some quality time together. Alone. Can you do that for me?”
“Oh, fine,” she said, giving up. “But if anything does happen, I want details.”
I smiled.
The bell rang and we headed off to math with Mr. Cliff, which I was not looking forward to. I’d gotten my homework done, but I knew at least half of it was just flat-out wrong. As we settled in, Mr. Cliff smiled at us, which was a bad sign.
“Congratulations, juniors; today you have the privilege of taking a pop quiz.”
I didn’t like Mr. Cliff very much.
Since science came right after math, and Mr. Cliff taught both classes, we stayed in the same seats for two periods, which was strangely exhausting. All we had to do was a stupid lab about wheat germ DNA, but I was so tired that Trish did most of it.
Fourth period with Mrs. Leckenby was a welcome break. We were starting on a new clay project, so I could just sort of mindlessly work with my hands for forty-five minutes without having to do much thinking. Lunch came and went with the usual chitchat. Norah came by and started a conversation with us about Christmas plans. She managed to worm out of Adrian that I’d be spending Christmas Eve at his place, and I knew that she’d be informing her parents as soon as we were home.
In history, Mr. Warren was midway through a unit on westward expansion. He handed us back tests from the week before, and I was surprised to see that I’d gotten an A. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trish do a little victory jig in her seat—apparently she’d gotten a good grade, too, which made me happy.
Music was as painful as ever. I felt bad for Mrs. Leckenby—the choir only had a few talented singers. I was mediocre at best, Trish was downright awful, and most of the others just mouthed the words without actually producing any sound.
When the bell rang after Study Hall Adrian gave me a hug and said, “See you later,” before walking to his truck and driving away with a little dorky wave. It was adorable, and made me smile.
Trish found me outside the library. “So we’re going to my house and hanging out until you have a mysterious stomachache and have to leave before dinner?”
“Yep.”
She nodded. “Sounds good.”
We drove to her house and holed ourselves up in her room. I realized I hadn’t been here since the night of the Halloween party.
“You want anything to drink?” she asked, slinging her backpack down. I hesitated, and she saw it. “I’m gonna get a soda anyway, so it’s not an inconvenience or anything.”
“I’ll have whatever you’re having.”