Bird Song (37 page)

Sitting in fifth period English reminded me that today was the last Friday of the month.
 
It didn’t look like there’d be a renewal of our RHPS tradition.
 
How could there be when he wouldn’t even speak to me?
 
The thought was enough to bring that annoying burn of tears to the edge of my lids, but I fought with them to stay inside.
 
I had cried enough over Graham for one lifetime.

As soon as the bell rang, I was out of the door.
 
I looked around for Robert but he wasn’t there and I knew the reason for it.
 
At times I would wonder when it would be that the reality of what he did finally hit me, but today wasn’t one of them.
 
I simply sighed and walked towards Mr. Danielson’s class.

“So now everyone knows you’re a liar.
 
How well do you think that’s going to go over with Mr. Kenner and your little threat?”

I felt the burning of bile as it rose in my throat.
 
I turned around to look at Erica, her face smug with satisfaction.
 
“I’m sorry, who are you and why are you relevant again?”

She laughed, a throaty, deceptively beautiful laugh.
 
“My
my
, you’ve developed quite the backbone haven’t you, freak?”
 
Her eyes narrowed as she stepped in closer.
 
“There’s something very off about you, and I’m going to find out what it is.
 
And when I do, no one is going to want to even admit to knowing you.
 
Not Graham, Robert, or that
Glamazon
he calls a sister.”

She shoved past me, her shoulder roughly pushing against mine as she walked through the classroom door.
 
I stared at the wall directly across from me and tried to calm myself, tell myself that there was nothing that she could learn about me that would cause the people I loved the most to turn away from me.

I steeled myself against the growing fear inside of me and walked into the classroom, determined not to let her see any type of reaction at all.
 
She had chosen to sit in the seat I normally occupied, the one immediately next to her reserved by her overly large and obnoxious purse.
 
She smiled sweetly at me and I smiled back.
 
If this was going to be a battle of wills and wits, I was determined to prove that she had come unarmed.

“Hey, Grace!
 
Come and sit by us!” a voice called out from my left.
 
Shawn, one of a group of three friends who referred to themselves as Chips, Dip and Salsa waved at me and pointed to a seat next to him that was vacant.
 
I grinned and headed towards them.

As soon as I sat the door to the class opened and Robert entered, looking for all the world like he’d just stepped out of some black and white epic.
 
His gaze never veered in the direction of our normal seats.
 
Instead he made a beeline for me, a broad smile on his face.

“Hey guys, thanks for taking care of my girl for me,” he said as he greeted the three characters around me.
 
They all started speaking at once and their words were lost in the confusion, though Robert heard every word, every sentence.

“So we’re taking a tour of the classroom I take it?” he said, his eyes flicking quickly to look at Erica who fumed in the corner next to an unoccupied seat.
 

I nodded.
 
Robert reached for my hand and for reasons I wouldn’t understand until much later, I pulled my hand away.
 
“Not now,” I whispered, hoping that those two words would be enough.
 
His smile slowly disappeared and I saw his eyes turn to steel as he turned his head to look at Erica.

I don’t know where this desperation is coming from.
 
I don’t see a source for such vindictive hatred.

The tone of Robert’s thoughts felt heavy in my head, like thick syrup, and it coated each word with confusion and irritation.
 
I didn’t know what it was that he saw in her mind, and part of me didn’t want to know either, but the way he looked at her—with such unmitigated disgust—you would think that she’d stop trying to gain his affections.

Instead, she moved her purse to the floor and patted the empty chair beside her.
 
I looked at Robert and waited for his reaction.
 
He looked at me and reached for my hand once more.
 
This time I let him hold it.
 
I’m going to find out what it is that she wants.
 
I need to get to the bottom of this before she acts out again and I’m not here.

I felt him squeeze my hand gently before he stood up and walked over to her, much to the surprise of my companions.

“He isn’t really going over to her, is he?” Shawn asked in a low voice.
 
“That’s like throwing a small child to a lion.”

“I was thinking shark.
 
A rabid shark,” Chad, the “Chips” in the trio commented.

“Can sharks even get rabies?” Dwayne asked.

“Dog sharks, maybe,” Chad replied.

The four of us watched as Robert smiled at Erica and allowed her wandering hand to cover his.
 
He didn’t move, didn’t even say anything.
 
He just sat there, smiling at her while she spoke, her mouth moving a mile a minute, pausing only to see if his reaction would change with each one.

As Mr. Danielson went over a script that we were supposed to perform for our final exam, I continued to watch the one way exchange between Robert and Erica.
 
I knew that there was nothing that she could say or think that could threaten my relationship with him but the insecure part of me that always felt intimidated by her couldn’t help but start to panic as time went on and he didn’t leave.

“Shouldn’t you go and, like, take him away from her or something?” Chad whispered to me and motioned towards the two with his head.
 
“She’s probably already planning on what they’re going to name their grandkids.
 
She’s psycho.”
 
He circled his ear with his index finger to emphasize his point.

I smiled and shook my head.
 
“I trust Robert.
 
He’s not going to do anything to hurt me.
 
He’s just trying to find out what makes her tick.”

Dwayne leaned forward and nudged Chad’s head out of the way so that he could be heard more clearly.
 
“I know what makes her tick, and he’s not going to find it by listening to her talk about lip gloss.”

I looked at Dwayne and pressed him for details.
 
“She’s got a boyfriend, one that she’s been dating since before Graham.
 
They never broke up, even when she and Graham were together.
 
He’s one of those
über
rich guys that are always traveling and stuff.
 
She brought her car into my dad’s shop one day and he was with her.
 
She was all over him but he wasn’t having any of it.”

“What did he look like?” I asked.

Dwayne smiled at me.
 
“What?
 
You want me to describe him like a girl would?”

My eyes rolled at his question and he laughed.
 
“He’s okay, I guess, if you like that blonde, muscular, super handsome type.
 
All the girls I’ve gone out with prefer the dark and handsome type.”

“So what happened with you?
 
Charity date?” Chad piped in.

While the two of them started quibbling, Shawn squeezed in.
 
“You’re so very different from the other girls, Grace.
 
My girlfriend would be screaming with jealousy if she caught me sitting next to any girl.
 
It’s a good thing she goes to a private school.”

I laughed and sighed, turning my attention back to the two beautiful people sitting in the corner of the classroom.
 
“I hear that a lot.
 
The different part.”

Shawn’s head bobbed in agreement.
 
“You’re the good kind of different, though, and Robert’s very lucky to have you.
 
Don’t tell him I said that.
 
He might think I’m hitting on you or something.
 
And forget I said the first part, too; you might get a big head and totally want my body or something.”

My laughter continued, my face turning red with both amusement and embarrassment.
 
“I give you my word.”

He smiled and leaned back.
 
“Uh-oh.
 
I think Erica just got a bit of bad news.”

I could see what he meant when Erica’s face went from gleeful to devastated with just the few words that Robert said to her as he stood up to leave.
 
I could have felt sorry for her, her face was that pained.
 
But she focused her gaze on me and I saw the cold venom there and I knew that there wasn’t pain there.
 
It was a hurt pride.

“Well, that was informative,” Robert said as he sat down next to me.
 
“I feel like I’ve just been sucked through a vacuum bag that was filled with her entire life story.”

Chad held his nose, as did Shawn and Dwayne as Robert spoke.
 
I looked at them curiously and they all winked at me.
 
Robert chuckled as he filled me in.
 
“They’re preparing for the pile of…well, you-know-what that they’re fairly certain she told me.”

Dwayne smiled and said with a nasal voice, “You got that right.
 
That girl can drop loads like an elephant at a diuretic party.”

I watched Robert’s face light up as he saw Shawn’s reaction to Dwayne’s comment.
 
“She did tell a few pretty outrageous stories, I’ll say that much.”

The bell began to ring, heralding the day’s end and I jumped up and out of my seat, eager to hear what it was that Robert had discovered from what Erica hadn’t said out loud.
 
He gripped my hand and threw my bag onto his shoulder quickly.
 
He said a polite goodbye to Chad, Shawn, and Dwayne and then pulled me out of the classroom with as much speed as he dared without appearing unnatural.

We were out of the school and on his bike before anyone else had exited.
 
I didn’t see the faces of any students as he sped out of the parking lot and down the street, heading in the direction of his home.
 
He said nothing to me, leaving me alone in my thoughts as we raced past homes and trees until we came to the large, white walls that surrounded his house.
 
The gates that kept the outside world at bay opened up and allowed us inside.
 
I had once asked how exactly they did so without a keypad or some kind of remote control and he had simply smiled and wiggled his fingers.

He pulled the bike into the garage that was located on the side of the large house and parked it next to the black Charger that my dad had insisted I be driven in should Robert ever want to take me somewhere.
 
A fine layer of dust covered it, a testament to the lack of use it had received since Robert had convinced my dad to allow me back onto the motorcycle.

I climbed off the seat and looked at the empty stall next to the car.
 
“Your mom isn’t here?”

He shook his head.
 
“She’s away.”

I said nothing else.
 
Over time I had learned that that two word phrase was all I would get as an explanation whenever she was somewhere I wasn’t allowed to know about, answering her call.
 
The small, white Honda that she drove was as inconspicuous as it got until it was parked next to the collection of ebony vehicles that Robert owned, so its absence was just as noticeable.

Robert’s hand lashed out and he caught me by my waist, pulling me into his embrace.
 
“Hold on,” he whispered and before I could even process what it was that he had said, we were whizzing by walls and furniture, doors and windows until we were in his room.

He chuckled as he pried my hands from his jacket, my nails digging so far in, they left little half-moons in the leather.
 
“That wasn’t that bad.
 
I’ve put you through much worse.”

This was true, but he’d never done so while taking me to his bedroom when everyone else was gone.
 
Stacy and Lark would be together somewhere most likely and I doubted that Graham would suddenly appear out of nowhere to disturb us.
 
“So what’s with the rush anyway?” I asked as I felt my heart rate return to normal.

“I wanted to talk to you about what I learned, but I wanted to do it in private.
 
You can’t get any more private than an angel’s bedroom, right?”

I laughed nervously and quickly shifted my focus to the wall behind the bed.
 
He had been doing some redecorating, it appeared.
 
“What’s with the photos?”
 
I pointed to a collage of photographs, all framed in black that were staggered and stacked in a large, asymmetrical grouping.
 
Each photograph was of the two of us, shots from various outings and moments.
 
Some I recognized, others I did not.