Aven's Dream (24 page)

“What’s up?”

“Is it true?” she asked breathlessly.

“Is
what
true?”

“That you and the new guy are hooking up!”

My cheeks flushed as I tried to think of some way to dissolve into the floor.

“Sort of?”

I cringed when my answer came out more like a question.

“How’d that happen? I thought you guys were just partnering for a paper.”

“We were. I was feeling better on Sunday, so we got together to study, and things just sort of happened.”

“Half the school is talking about it! People were thinking Allison Monroe was going to dump Jason Everett just to hook up with the new guy. And then you snag him!”

“Great,” I muttered.

“You score with the mysterious stranger of hotness—no offense to Sean—” she giggled, “and you sound depressed!”

“It’s not that. I just wasn’t expecting it. At all.”

Apparently neither was anyone else, not that I could blame them. The bell rang, and Lizzie paused.

“Hey, real quick—do you want to have lunch in the cafeteria with us?”

The thought of the cafeteria made me physically ill, but I nodded anyway, because I couldn’t come up with a good excuse not to go—other than the fact that I hadn’t told Sean about Will. My one friend in Winters, and he was going to think I had been lying to him. As Mr. Morgan walked down the rows collecting the homework assignments from the weekend, relief washed over me that Will had brought my books to his house the day before so I could do my homework. If he hadn’t, I didn’t know if I would have had the willpower to leave. Again, class passed by at a ridiculously slow rate as I watched the clock, trying to make the minute hand move faster. Then, halfway through Mr. Morgan’s lecture, I heard someone whisper my name.

“Really?
Her
?” the second voice asked in disbelief.

Looking behind me, I saw two girls looking in my direction. I sank lower in my seat as I realized they were on the cheerleading team with Allison Monroe. By the time the bell rang, I had packed my bag and was headed for the door, ready to escape. Will was outside waiting, and my heart took off in a disjointed gallop as he walked toward me. He smiled, which made his face even more beautiful. He leaned down and brushed my ear with his lips, causing a shiver to run through me.

“I’ve missed you.”

“It’s only been two hours,” I teased, feeling overwhelmed by my good luck.

“I’ve known years to have passed by faster than the last two hours.”

The look in his eyes was so intense that I nearly melted into him when he touched my cheek. He took my hand as we walked to my locker. After I exchanged my Trig and Health Sciences books for my English binder and U.S. History textbook, he took my hand and began leading me down the hall. I kept my eyes averted as we passed people, only looking up as Will opened the door of the empty classroom he had brought me to before. Pulling me in after him, Will left the lights off and guided me to the counter along the back of the room. He took my bag from me and lifted me onto the counter. Then, reaching up, he brushed my cheek, his touch feather light.

“It’s difficult to be apart from you,” Will said.

“I feel the same way,” I whispered. “Is that strange?”

Will paused and looked like he was weighing the question.

“I can’t say. I’ve never felt this way before.”

“Never?” I asked quietly, looking down.

“I’ve never felt the way I do in your presence.”

His answer left me silent.

“I spent hours watching you, oddly fascinated, unable to discern what it was I was feeling. Craving? Madness?”

“Gee, thanks.”

Will stopped picked up my hand and kissed it softly.

“Then he came after you that day in the woods—”

“Wait. What?” I gasped.

“Do you remember anything from the day before I arrived in school?”

My skin prickled.

“Yeah, I had a freakish nightmare. Something about chasing Darcy through the woods. … Wait. You mean … that was
real
?”

“You were jogging with Darcy, and Fidatov lured him into the woods. He was there waiting for you, and I was nearly too late.”

Bits and pieces were coming back to me, indistinct, but disturbing. I remembered an overwhelming feeling of terror, the sensation of something flying toward me from the trees above.

“When I took you from him, it only confirmed what he had already suspected, only worse. He knew then that he could use you to his advantage.”

“Why don’t I remember this?”

“You lost consciousness, and I thought it best that you didn’t remember two immortal creatures fighting over you in the woods.”

I stared at him, realizing that I probably would have thought I was completely insane. Will’s hands circled my waist.

“The thought that he or any other could take you from me left me with a rage I’ve never experienced before. And now that I’ve found you, I can’t bear the thought of losing you.”

I shivered, suddenly reminded of my mortality. Will bent down, his lips touching mine with the slightest pressure when the classroom door suddenly swung open, the lights flicking on. An unfamiliar teacher looked over at us.

“Out!” he grumbled.

Will lifted me from the counter and took my backpack before leading me from the room. I giggled when we reached the hall. Then, as we walked toward Ms. Gilbert’s English class, I suddenly remembered Lizzie’s invitation to lunch in the cafeteria. I looked up at Will, waves of anxiety coming rolling through me as I thought about going to lunch with a bunch of strangers—and Will.

Before I could say a word, he grabbed me, gently pushing me up against the lockers before taking my face in his hands. Then his lips were on mine, urgent and feverish. His hand fell to my waist, pulling me closer. He growled, his teeth nipping my lower lip before his tongue pushed past my lips. I moaned and felt myself opening to him, craving him.

“
Get a room
!” someone yelled from across the hall.

I pulled back, shaking and dizzy as a strange energy coursed through me.

“What was that?” I gasped. “Did you just …”

The bell rang, and Will bent down until his lips were at my ear.

“
Yes
,” Will growled in a low voice. “I needed you. Your emotion was more than I could bear.”

He pulled back, and his eyes were an even brighter, more intense blue. His expression made my knees weak.

“Now would you like to tell me what that was about?” he asked.

I frowned.

“Lizzie invited me to have lunch in the cafeteria with Sean and some of her friends.”

“Have you eaten in the cafeteria once, Aven?”

I made a face.

“Large groups of people, remember?”

It also didn’t help that, according to Lizzie, I was suddenly infamous for hooking up with Will Kincaid.

“Whatever you wish,” he smiled.

“We might as well go,” I sighed as we stopped outside the classroom. “I don’t have a lunch because I was kidnapped yesterday—” I lowered my voice “—by a flawless immortal. I should at least attempt to be normal.”

Will’s expression changed as he leaned down and pressed his lips to my forehead.

“There’s little chance of that for you now.”

He touched my cheek softly before disappearing down the hall. Frowning, I walked into Ms. Gilbert’s classroom and sat down. Most of the class was nowhere near finishing
For Whom the Bell Tolls
, so it was easy to let my mind wander. Usually I liked English. In fact, I looked forward to it, and it was easily my favorite class. Today, though, it just plodded along.

I knew why, of course. Will. The strangest part was how difficult it was now to imagine my life before him. His presence took up an excessive amount of space in my mind, and by the end of class, I couldn’t wait to see him again. I didn’t think I would ever get over the high of seeing Will waiting for me—and I knew the pain would be devastating if I lost him.

“Part of me keeps expecting you to disappear,” I said quietly.

“Only if you wished it so.”

“I would never wish for that.”

My tone was urgent, but deep down, I realized that eventually we would be parted. I would turn eighteen this year, nineteen the year after. And in another hundred years, Will would still be perfect and nineteen. When he looked down at me, his eyes searching mine, I was afraid he could sense the hopelessness I was feeling. Without thinking about it, I rushed ahead as we got closer to class. Will easily kept pace and pulled me to his side as we walked into Mr. Anderson’s room. I tried not to pay attention as most of the eyes in class turned toward us. Even Mr. Anderson’s glasses slipped down the bridge of his nose as he watched us. I glanced back and saw Sean, who shot me his ‘
We need to talk
’
look. I sighed. At least he wouldn’t have the opportunity to grill me during lunch in front of Lizzie’s friends. Not that it was much comfort since I was going to walk into the cafeteria with Will in full view of most of the school knowing they were all thinking the same thing I was:
What’s
he
doing with
her?

When Mr. Anderson asked if anyone was having problems with the papers, I thought about the week before when I had come so close to asking him if I could do the paper on my own. I wondered how different things would be now if I had actually gone through with it.

Or if Will had never come back to Winters.

In the middle of scribbling notes from Mr. Anderson’s lecture, I felt Will’s hand stretch across the desk behind me, his fingers grazing my shoulder blade and tracing the skin through my sweater. My eyes closed, and my pen faltered on the paper. Suddenly I couldn’t seem to understand what Mr. Anderson was saying, and it was a struggle just to slow my breathing. I jerked myself upright. He was going to kill me!

I looked around self-consciously before realizing that Will was the only one in the room who could feel my emotions spinning out of control.
He
knew exactly what he was doing. When Mr. Anderson finally asked for the rough drafts of our outlines, Will had to stop torturing me to retrieve ours. I sighed in relief, aware that I would never pass the AP test if Will kept distracting me.

At the end of the period, I got up and avoided the looks from Allison Monroe and her cronies only to catch eyes with Sean, who remained at his desk, smirking at me. I walked up to him with Will right behind me.

“Can anyone explain why I’m always the last one to hear about these things?” he asked mockingly as we reached him.

“Lizzie told you?”

Sean nodded with a grave expression. Then, to my surprise, he stood up and grinned at Will.

“You sure move fast for the new guy,” Sean laughed.

Will smiled as I turned and cuffed Sean on the shoulder.

“Shut up, Sean.”

“Relax, Casey. I was just giving you some well-deserved grief for not telling me anything. Licking my wounds, so to speak.”

“Yeah, yeah. Come on. You don’t want to keep Lizzie waiting. Are Matt and Jeff coming with?”

Sean nodded and rolled his eyes.

“Yup. It’s all part of Lizzie’s diabolical scheme. She’s trying to set them up with a couple of her friends, if you can believe that,” he snorted.

I looked down. There was no way I was ever going to tell Sean that he had been the unsuspecting target of a set-up. When we were almost to the cafeteria, Sean saw Matt and Jeff and took off ahead of us.

“Were you trying to make me insane in class?” I demanded, looking up at Will.

“I was being very well behaved by my standards.

“Yeah, well that’s not going to help me pass the AP test.”

We reached the doors to the cafeteria, and I stopped, feeling panic overwhelm me. It was loud, and I could nearly feel the competing emotions of so many people threatening to swallow me. I took a quick breath.

“Maybe we can find another dark classroom,” I whispered, only half joking.

Will propelled me forward, his arm firmly around my shoulders as we walked through the doors. Had he not been holding me, I probably would have run in the opposite direction. As it was, I kept my gaze straight-ahead and unfocused to avoid the looks of those we passed. Finally I caught sight of Lizzie, Sean, Matt, Jeff, and a couple of girls I didn’t recognize. Lizzie jumped up to introduce everyone as we approached.

“Aven and Will, these are my friends Amy and Megan.”

Amy was about my height with long black hair and friendly almond-shaped eyes. She smiled warmly. Megan, who was several inches taller with golden blonde hair and light blue eyes, looked me over coolly before looking Will up and down. I was surprised when she didn’t lick her lips. Turning, I tried to figure out Lizzie’s matchmaking attempt. Matt, who had slightly longer, light brown hair and hazel eyes was shorter and slighter than Jeff, who had a more athletic build and short, dark brown hair and brown eyes. Whichever one of them Lizzie was trying to set up with Megan—I already felt bad for him, because Megan clearly wanted Will.