Blood Like Poison (14 page)

I got out of the car and closed the door on my lie.  I caught myself before I stomped off petulantly.  Instead, I took a deep breath and bent down to look at Bo through the open window.

“Thanks again,” I repeated, trying to appear nonchalant when I felt anything but that.  It was impossible to feel nonchalant about something that was crushing my chest. 

When Bo said nothing, I walked quickly to the house, rushing to get inside before the tears that welled in my eyes fell and embarrassed me further.

As I was opening the front door, I heard Bo call from the driveway, “See you tomorrow.”

I didn’t get much sleep that night either.

********

The next morning, I woke up surprisingly alert and energetic.  Not surprisingly, my first waking thought was of Bo.  His scent, his eyes, his voice, even his name hummed through my veins.  It was as if my body was as consumed with him as my mind seemed to be.

It has to be done if I’m gonna heal her.

Throwing off the covers, I ran into the bathroom, turned on the light and looked into the mirror.  I almost wanted to see a rainbow of colors across my face, as if that would make the memory of those troubling words less bothersome.  But, much to my consternation, there was no swelling, no discoloration, no evidence at all that I’d been brutally punched only twelve short hours before.

I opened my mouth wide and wiggled my jaw left to right, front to back.  There was not even a twinge of pain. 

“Huh,” I said to my reflection.  I know I didn’t imagine the excruciating pain, nor did I imagine passing out and waking up in Bo’s room.

It has to be done if I’m gonna heal her
. 

Shaking my head, I tucked the disquieting thoughts into a dark corner in the back of my mind, deciding instead to be grateful that I hadn’t spent the night in surgery getting my jaw wired shut.

After getting ready in record time, I got in my car and headed for Starbuck’s.  I’d have plenty of time to make a coffee stop, especially since the shop was so close to the school.

The drive-thru was packed so I got out and went inside.  When I stepped through the door, a gush of pleasure and relief washed over me.  It was so intense and so unexpected, I literally had to stop to catch my breath.

I looked around at the many faces inside the tiny store.  I recognized several people and, if the way they were looking at me was any indication, my outburst from the day before had only gotten juicier over night.

It wasn’t until my eyes collided with Bo’s unforgettably absorbing ones that I realized what I was so excited about, what my blood and my body had known even before my eyes could confirm it.

We stood facing each other, separated by tables and bodies, music and laughter, but we might’ve been the only two people in the world.  My heart strained against my ribs as if someone had tied satin threads to it—threads that were tethered to Bo, threads that were insistently pulling me toward him.

I leaned back against the wall beside the door, pushing away from Bo as hard as I could, determined to resist.  As I watched him, unable to tear my eyes away, one side of his mouth tipped up in a knowing grin and he took a step toward me. 

Like a predator, he made his way through the crowd, stalking me with his eyes.  With every step that brought him closer, my anticipation grew until it was almost unbearable, at fever pitch.

He didn’t stop until he stood only inches from me, his body so close our chests would touch if I inhaled deeply enough.  I couldn’t take a deep breath, though.  My lungs had seized and I couldn’t breathe at all.

Bo bent his head and whispered at my ear, “Breathe.”

And just like that, it seemed the spell was broken.  On a
whoosh
, I let out the air I’d been holding and Bo leaned back to look at me.

“What are you doing to me?”

His brows pinched together, but he said nothing.  I hadn’t intended to say that out loud; it was more of an internal musing, one to which I didn’t really expect an answer.

“Bo, are you ready?” It was a girl’s voice that called from behind him.

I looked over Bo’s shoulder and there stood Savannah.  She grinned when she saw me peek up at her.

“Sorry to interrupt,” she chirped happily.  “I didn’t see you there, Ridley.”

“You’re not interrupting,” I assured her.

When I looked back to Bo, one brow was quirked.  Ignoring that my stomach was aflutter and that my blood pounded in my ears, I slipped out from around Bo. 

“He’s all yours,” I said, steeling myself and heading for the cashier.

Without so much as a glance behind me, I placed my order, paid and moved to the other end of the counter to await my coffee.  I could feel Bo’s eyes on me, but I refused to turn around.

I didn’t have to look to know when he left.  I felt it, like the draining away of something vital.  I ached to turn and follow him, but I didn’t.  I waited for my coffee and then took it to my car where I waited for my pulse to return to normal.

When I finally managed to get my body under control, I drove to school and parked at the top of the lot.  On the few occasions when I drove, I parked in that same spot.  It was always available and it was always in the shade.

I walked slowly toward the building.  I dreaded school more today than I had in…well, actually, more than I ever had.  I knew it was just a matter of time until Trinity either exploded or executed some sort of vicious sneak attack.  It hovered over me like a huge guillotine, its razor-sharp blade glinting in the morning sun.  All Trinity had to do was pull the lever and
thwack! 
I’d be headless.

Making my way quickly through the halls, trying my best to ignore all the stares, I saw a tight knot of people in the same general vicinity as my locker.  My stomach curled in dismay.

I politely asked to be excused as I pushed my way through the masses to get to my locker.  When I finally managed to wiggle my way through, I saw what was garnering all the attention, what they were all looking at. 

Trinity had been hard at work during practice last night.  She’d been defacing my locker.  I knew without a doubt she was the responsible party and I’m sure everyone else knew that, too.

Taped to my locker were several photo-shopped pictures of me doing disgusting things with old men, other girls and farm animals.  In between the pictures, written in black magic marker, were words like
traitor
and
whore
among many other, much more colorful slurs. 

Unfortunately, though, that wasn’t the worst of it.  An overpowering stench was emanating from my locker.  Upon closer inspection, I realized that there were feces smeared all over the pictures and a big hunk of it was stuck to the lock. 

But there was something else.  Beneath that smell was something that had an even more rancid odor than the crap all over the door.  I feared that it was coming from inside. 

I wondered if Trinity might have managed to get into my locker and put something nasty in there, something dead.  It sure smelled that way, and it sure sounded like something she’d do.  In addition to being curious just like everyone else, I was also a little concerned about my belongings.  I hated to leave them in there with the funk, but there was no way I was touching my locker without a HazMat suit.  If there was road kill ‘possum in there, it would just have to wait.

Turning on my heel, I went straight to Home Room.  I could do without books for one day.  I’d just explain what happened to the teachers so they’d not penalize me for showing up without them and without my homework.  I could take my duffel back to the car after first period so that I wouldn’t have to lug it around with me all day.

No biggee,
I told myself, but even so, I could feel tears of humiliation stinging my eyes.  I’d known Trinity was vile, but I hadn’t expected something like this.  I had assumed it would be something much more…social, her revenge.  And I still suspected that it would be.  I could only assume that she was biding her time, which didn’t bode well for me.  That probably meant that it was going to be epic.  I just wished she’d just get it over with so I could move on in peace.  Waiting was the worst part.

I kept to myself through all my classes, but I made sure that, when I walked the halls, my chin was held high and my face as pleasantly blank as possible.  I’d die before I let her or anyone else see that she’d rattled me.

Thankfully, I didn’t see Trinity until lunch.  When I walked out the cafeteria door, I saw that she had assumed my position between Drew and Summer.  The door shut behind me with a loud click and all eyes turned toward me.

At my former table, several people shifted, scooting their chairs this way and that to make sure that there was not enough room for one more person to squeeze in between them.  That person, of course, was me.  Wordlessly, I was being put in my place, exiled. 

I scanned each face one by one, challenging them.  Many either dropped their eyes or glanced away when I looked their way.  Only a few held my gaze, eyeing me defiantly. 

When my eyes met Trinity’s from across the patio, she glared at me in silent triumph.  I hadn’t really expected much more from such a group of blind followers, but the betrayal hurt nonetheless.

Having long since lost my appetite, I took my Coke to a huge maple tree and sat down in the shade at its base.  I leaned back against it, facing away from Trinity and the others, trying to pretend that the rest of the world had disappeared.

I jumped when Bo spoke.

“Want some company?”

“Not really,” I said without looking up.  Even as the words left my lips, I craved his nearness like I craved fresh air.

“Too bad,” he announced, sitting down beside me and leaning his back against the tree, too.

My plan was to ignore him, but that only lasted for about three minutes.  My jealousy couldn’t be contained any longer than that.

“Where’s Savannah?”

“Enjoying the fruits of your labor.”

Puzzled, I looked over at Bo.  His head was turned and he was looking back at the picnic table he’d been sharing with Savannah.  There was no mistaking her dark red hair glistening in the bright sunshine, but she wasn’t alone.  Devon sat across from her, laughing at something she was saying.

“How is that the fruit of
my
labor?”

“You stood up to Trinity,” he said with a shrug, as if that explained it all.

“That has nothing to do with Devon, though.”

“Maybe not directly,” Bo answered meaningfully.  “You’re like an unsung hero around here.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking around at my own little spot in purgatory.  “It sure looks like it.”

“You can’t see it now, but you will.”

We spent the few remaining minutes of lunch in companionable silence.  Afterwards, out of habit, I went to my locker.  It wasn’t until I was almost there that I remembered what Trinity had done to it.  I nearly turned around, but I stopped myself.  Going back the other way would take me longer to get to class than to just go the way I usually went, so I headed on.

My mouth dropped open when I rounded the corner and got a good look at my locker.  It was perfectly clean.  Well,
mostly
clean.  Some of the words were still visible, but the pictures were gone and it had been scrubbed clean of poop, which was the biggest thing anyway.

I looked around, searching the faces for some idea of who’d cleaned it up.  My eyes stopped on sparkling chocolate ones staring at me from the end of the hall.  It was Savannah.  She held my gaze for a few seconds and then winked at me and walked away.