01 Untouchable - Untouchable (22 page)

He sat me down on a lab
stool and handed me tissue, after tissue as I got myself under
control. He finally must have felt that I was holding it together,
so he asked me to tell him exactly what happened.

A million stories raced
through my head. But the only one that was going to work was the
truth. “Remember how I passed everyone on the bridge?” I said
snuffling back a tear.

“
Yeah, you scared the hell
out of all of us,” he gave a little laugh.

“
I got to the circle before
any of you and—well, I learned how to spin a car three-sixty when I
was fifteen,” I glanced up to see the look of surprise on his face.
“Evan didn’t know what I was going to do and I was feeling a little
crazy…”

“
You
were the one who made those
marks in the parking lot?”

“
Yeah, I spun out the car
and kind of freaked him out. He didn’t mean to grip my arm so hard
and he really did feel bad about it afterwards. Please don’t start
anything with him over it, okay?”

He still had a perturbed
look on his face, but he finally broke into a grin. “Would you like
to drive my car?”

I choked out a laugh and
smacked his shoulder. “It’s a thrill-junkies’ wildest ride if you
put me behind the wheel.”

“
Anytime
,” he stated with emphasis,
“you want a walk on the wild side, my vehicle is available—and I
won’t freak.”

I thanked him for his offer
and put my damp over-shirt back on. “So we’re cool, right? You
aren’t going to get to the cafeteria and flip on me are
you?”

“
I’ll be fine, but if he
ever lays a hand on you and does mean it, I’m gonna hurt that
boy.”

We headed down to the
cafeteria with only about ten minutes left in the lunch period.
Just before opening the cafeteria door for me, he paused. “Do you
really, really like him? You’re sure you don’t want me to kick
his…”

“
Ryan!” I
stopped him. “Yes, I really do like him, and
please
be
good.”

Every head at our regular
table snapped our direction when we came through the door. I was
looking a bit like a drowned rat and Ryan still had that, ‘I’d like
to choke someone,’ expression on his face. Evan was on his feet and
moving toward us. Ryan had promised me he would be good, but he
must have not been able to resist clipping shoulders as they passed
each other. Thankfully, Evan seemed more concerned about what had
happened to me than Ryan’s challenge. With any luck, he’d just
think that was left over male ego from this morning’s
race.

“
Where have you been? And
what,” he said letting a handful of my wet hair slip through is
fingers, “happened? You’re soaked.”

“
I had to stay after and
clean up in chemistry class. Ryan had a little accident with a
water balloon.”

“
If he had the accident,
then why did you have to stay after and clean up?” He was already
starting to look Ryan’s direction and the visual challenge was
beginning.

“
I—I called him an—I cussed
in class,” I said dejectedly.

“
You
cussed?” he mused.

I only nodded.

“
Good girl,” he said as we
sat down at the table, his warm arm wrapping around my damp, chilly
shoulders.

“
Don’t call me good for
doing that. I almost got a referral.”

I could tell he was trying
hard to hold in the laughter. He pushed his salad toward me, “I
saved you half. Hurry up and eat; the bell is gonna ring any
minute.”

He and Ryan began their
usual staring competition. I ignored them and simply followed
orders because I was starving. Six bites down and one sip of coke,
and the bell rang.

Once we made it to math
class and took our seats at the back table, Evan lean toward me and
whispered that he wanted to know what really happened in
chemistry.

“
I told you,” I tried to say
it calmly.

“
Leese, he was looking at
me like he could kill me—and, I mean really kill me.”

“
He saw my arm,” I finally
admitted. “He was trying to help me get off my wet lab coat, but he
got my over-shirt, too. Can we talk about it later,
please?”

He was staring intently at
me and then it was as if he flew right into me. He and I went
sprawling across the classroom floor, the chairs and table going
every which way. My head went back hard but it was cradled in his
hand, keeping me from hitting the terrazzo. I heard two loud cracks
and glass shattering, everyone was screaming and diving for the
floor. I laid there trying to make sense of what was happening, but
Evan wouldn’t let me up. I was covered by his body and he had my
head pulled into his chest.

“
Crawl for the door!” he
yelled, half dragging me and half allowing me to move on my
own.

People were still shrieking
and cowering as we reached the door and pushed it open; others
began to follow. Once in the hallway, he pushed me against the
wall, frantically looking me over. “Are you okay? Were you
hit?”

“
I—I—I don’t know what—what
just happened?” It was as if my body had gone in to convulsions
from shaking so hard. I looked at myself, realizing I was whole.
“I’m—I’m okay,” I finally managed to say.

The P.A. system went off as
Principal Lykman’s voice came over and urgently told everyone we
were going to immediate lock-down. The teachers were instructed to
move the students to safety and lock the doors.

There was a small teacher’s
lounge not far away, and I could see Evan’s mind working as he
looked at the door. “In there, no exterior windows—come on.” We
moved into the darkened room, the only light coming from the glass
panel in the door.

I was still shaking as he
held on to me, yet as frightened as I was, I felt safe and
warm.

“
I still don’t understand
what happened. One minute we’re talking and then you got this
incredible look on your face and we were on the floor. Were those
shots?”

His eyes were wild as if
his whole body was running on years of instinct and training. “You
were talking to me when I saw the red bead hit your shirt. This
would have been really hard to explain if it had been someone’s
laser pointer instead of a laser sight, but there was no time to
wonder that at the moment.

I know my eyes batted
several times before I could process what he’d just said. “You mean
there is another one, someone else like you after me?”

“
Just be quiet and lean
against me. I’ll find out what’s going on.” He pulled his cell
phone from his pocket, he always carried it, but I had never seen
him use it. “Damn it,” he muttered. “There isn’t any signal in
here.”

“
What are we…”

“
Shhh, don’t talk,” he
whispered as soothingly as possible. “We’ll wait here until they
give the all clear and then we’re out of here.”

I laid my head against his
chest and listened to the rapid beating of his heart. I closed my
eyes and began praying.

Within an hour, an
announcement was made for the student body and faculty to calmly
proceed to the gymnasium. We stepped into the hallway. Police were
everywhere, and there was yellow tape around our math classroom
entrance. He was pulling me left as I was going right toward the
room.

“
No!”

“
Wait, give me a second,” I
pleaded.

He was still moving me the
opposite direction when I pulled from his grip and approached one
of the officers.

“
Young lady, you are
supposed to be going to the gym. You’re not allowed…”

“
Please, that’s my
classroom. My purse is on the floor…”

“
You’ll have to
wait…”

“
I can’t go home, no car
keys, house keys, my—my medication for—epilepsy.” I lied, but I was
still so shaken that he probably thought I was on the verge of a
seizure.

“
Oh—okay, what does it look
like?”

I pointed just past the
tape line. “There, the small black leather one, by the orange
chair.”

He ducked under the tape and quickly
retrieved it.

“
Thank you so much,” I said
grabbing my bag and turning to Evan. “Let’s go.”

He wrapped his arm around
me as we headed toward the gym. “Very nice job, but you should have
told me you were epileptic.” He smiled.

I looked at him and rolled
my eyes. “Aren’t we leaving?”

“
Not yet, you’d stand out
like a big bulls-eye if we were the only ones in the parking lot.
We’re getting a change of clothes.”

“
I don’t under…”

“
If the shooter is anywhere
around, he is looking for you in your yellow top and white
over-shirt, with blue jeans. We’ll get you into the girl’s locker
room, and I want you to put on your gym clothes. I’ll try to do the
same.” We rounded the bend to find the gym hallway was packed with
students. He moved me like a chess piece until he got me to the
girls locker room door which was, fortunately, unlocked. “If you
can make it to the boys’ locker room door, wait for me there. If
they make you go in the gym, I’ll come in through the west doors.
Keep watching them until you see me.”

I nodded and slipped into
the locker room. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to get my stupid
combination lock undone, but finally it gave way. I pulled on my
shorts and tee-shirt when I remembered my arm and put my over-shirt
back on. The counselors and office staff were moving everyone into
the gymnasium. I tried to slip around them undetected, but it
didn’t work and I was sent into the throng of nervous
students.

Within minutes, Evan came
through the west doors. He was frowning as I walked up to him. “No
over-shirt,” he stated firmly.

“
But my arm...”

“
It doesn’t matter, take it
off. Do it now. And here,” he said, handing me a ball cap. “As soon
as they release us, put up your hair.”

I cringed as I removed my
over-shirt and tossed it onto the bleachers. “What now?”

“
We wait, but we’ve got to
work out a ride.”

“
My bug…”

“
Out of the question. I
don’t know how long this person has been watching you, but I’m sure
they know that you drive that bug and probably what your boyfriend
drives, too, so we can’t use my car either.”

He looked around the gym and then
grabbed my good arm, “Come on.”

I could hear Jewels before I actually
saw her, but Evan must have found her by looking for the tall guy
with extremely black hair.

“
I need to talk to you two,”
he said as we walked up behind them.

Ryan turned first, a look
of confusion and shock as he seemed to appraise the fact that we
were in the wrong clothes. Then his eyes darted to my arm and then
back to Evan’s face. “What do you want?” he growled.

“
Leese needs your
help.”

That took me by surprise as
much as Ryan. Evan reached over and grabbed Jewels hand, “I need a
couple minutes to talk.”

“
OMG! Leese, what happened
to your arm?” She said as Evan was pulling her along. The four of
us proceeded toward the storage room door where the floor mats were
kept. The door was locked but no one was back in that dim, small
alcove.

Jewels was still babbling
when Evan got her attention by taking her chin in his hand and
turning her face toward him. “Jewels, you know what happened just a
little bit ago, right?” I think he was trying to see what rumor was
traveling around school. Only the twenty-five students in Mr.
Lucas’s algebra class had the first hand knowledge.

“
Yeah, someone was shooting
at the school.”

“
They weren’t shooting at
the school,” He began. “They almost shot Leese.”

Ryan’s face went dark, “What the hell
are you talking about?”

“
It’s true, Ryan,” I said,
reaching out and placing my hand on his forearm, trying to cool the
furious look that seemed to take over. “Just before the shots hit,
Evan saw the laser dot on my chest. He knocked me to the floor a
split second before the windows blew out.”

“
But why?”

“
I don’t know, but I’ve got
to get her out of here as soon as we’re released. She can’t use her
car, and probably not mine either.”

“
What do you want us to do?”
Jewels suddenly seemed calm and ready to help in any way
possible.

“
Jewels, I need your car
for a little while. You and Leese ride with Ryan—take her anywhere
except home.”

I started to object, but he silenced
me.

“
I’ll meet you guys at five
o’clock at the diner by the Car Star body shop.” Then he turned to
me, “I want you to call Bev and Matt, tell them to pick up Kimmy
but not to go home for any reason.”

I opened my mouth to speak,
but he stopped me again. “It’s imperative they don’t go there. Tell
them to wait for us at the Holiday Inn where we got on one-ten
yesterday. Call them now, if you’ve got signal.” I started digging
for my phone as I listened to the rest of his instructions. “As
soon as they say we can go, you two drive up here to the gym.” Then
he turned to Jewels, “Leave your car running, and get in with
Ryan.”