Connection (Le Garde) (20 page)

I stood, glaring at them. A breeze blew past us, and the wet spots on my neck sent goosebumps along my arms. I moved down the stands. “Come on, Steven.”

Jordan completely ignored me, looking at Steven with raised eyebrows. “You know she’s sleeping with Aaron, right?”

Steven bared his teeth. “Don’t you have better things to do with your time?”

“
Just the other day, he was sticking up for her.”

“‘
She’s not a slut!’” Vickie said in a high-pitched voice. “‘Just leave her alone!’”

I grabbed Steven’s hand as we moved past them. I kept my gaze forward, shaking my head.

“
I’ll tell you the same thing I told him,” Jordan called after us. “Be sure to get tested!”

My face burned, and I fought back tears that smarted my eyes.

“
Oh, you—” Steven began, spinning around, his hand slipping out of my grasp.

I gabbed his arm again. “Steven, come on!” I hissed.

“
Go on, Stevie!” Jordan said, waving his hands. Snickering, he and Vickie turned and walked in the opposite direction.

Fuming, Steven wrenched his arm from my grasp. I thought he was going to go after Jordan, but he stalked past me, his hands clenched into fists. I trailed beside him, worried he was angry with me. I’d told him Jordan would say something like that.

Neither of us spoke until we got inside Building C, where Yearbook was. Steven stopped by the door and punched a locker. The loud noise made me jump. His colorful string of swear words as he shook his fist in pain echoed in the hallway.

I stepped back, crossing my arms. “I don’t know why you’re mad at me.”

“
I’m not mad at you!” Steven flung an arm out, motioning to where we’d just come from. “I’m pissed at him! How could he say shit like that? Who the hell does he think he is?”

I gave a weak little shrug.

Steven took a deep breath and put his hands on my shoulders. “I’m not mad at you, okay?”

I nodded. He touched my jaw lightly. Another gesture Aaron couldn’t do without worrying about the lights.

“
You coming this afternoon?” Steven asked.

“
This afternoon?” I repeated, trying to think.

“
Yeah, my sister’s soccer game?”

My shoulders sagged. I’d forgotten all about the game. Steven had wanted to officially introduce me to his parents, and he said his sister’s soccer game was the perfect place to do it. “Oh, Steven.” I paused. Was I really going to lie to him again? But I couldn’t tell him the truth, and I couldn’t reschedule with Kristina, she was coming into town just to meet with me and Aaron. “I totally forgot. I made an appointment with some advisors from Stanford who are in town.”

“
Oh.” Steven’s face fell, and he dropped his hands. “I didn’t know college advisors did that kind of thing.”

“
Well, not usually, but Mrs. Hart set it up. She knows them.” I bit my lip. “I really want to meet your parents, though. We’ll have to think of a great time to do it. Or maybe I could even catch the end of the game.
 
.
 
.”

“
Don’t worry about it,” Steven said, waving his hand. “I don’t want you to rush your meeting. Stanford, I think I’ve heard you talking about it before, haven’t I?”

More in a dream-college-that-would-never-happen kind of way. Stanford was way too expensive. Without scholarships, there was no way my mom and I could put me through Stanford. I smiled. “Yeah, a few times. But are you sure, Steven? I.
 
.
 
.I feel really bad for forgetting.”
And for lying to you.

“
It’s okay.” Steven shrugged. “We should get back to Yearbook.”

“
We have to work something out,” I said, taking his hand. “I really want to meet them.”

“
Well, I can’t wait for them to meet you.”

That was a hyperbole, to be sure. We’d been going out for nearly six months, but he avoided talking about his parents much. From what I understood, his parents had divorced when he was young, and Steven lived with his mom. He didn’t get along with his stepdad, and his real dad was in between jobs. And maybe in between houses, as well. Last week, Steven told me that even though he might be kind of embarrassed of his parents, he wasn’t embarrassed of me. He told me that right after I spent two hours with Aaron in an abandoned house, so I felt just great.

Aaron

I was the first to arrive at the coffee shop. I’d never been here, but Anna said she and Kaylie came here all the time. It was half coffee shop, half used bookstore, so that’s probably why she liked it so much. I ordered a drink and sat at the grand piano in the back. I started playing. The thing was way out of tune, but I had fun.

I felt Anna approach, and she sat on the bench next to me after getting a smoothie. “Hey,” she said with a smile. She seemed uneasy about something. Maybe she was nervous about meeting Kristina and Drew again.

“
You want to play something with me?”

I taught her a song, and she played the low part while I took the melody. She relaxed as we played along. Our arms brushed against each other a few times, but she was wearing long sleeves. I wished I could just touch her, feel my skin on hers, without worrying about what we might do.

When we finished, someone clapped behind us. I turned around; Kristina and Drew stood a few feet away, clapping.

“
Nice job,” Kristina said, walking over to the piano.

I grinned. “Thanks.” I nudged Anna with my elbow. “It was all her.”

We sat at a table in the back. “Have you been practicing?” Kristina asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, there’s an abandoned house on the outskirts of town.” I dropped my voice. “We can do a lot, it’s pretty cool.”

“
Are you still going out with that other guy?” Drew asked Anna.

Kristina shook her head. “Drew, come on.”

Anna nodded, staring at her smoothie. I got the sense that’s what she’d been anxious about earlier, lying to Steven about our meeting.

Drew let out a low whistle. “I don’t understand that.”

Kristina rolled her eyes. “When’s the next time you can get to the San Francisco area?”

Anna and I exchanged glances. I wanted to go down tomorrow, but being seventeen and all, I knew that wasn’t possible. “Probably not for a while,” I said. “We’re not exactly independent adults yet.”

“
Joseph wants to meet you and tell you a little about Le Garde.”

“
Le what?” I repeated.

“
It’s what the Pairs used to be called,” Drew said, “when they were all official and shit.”

“
The guard,” Anna said. “Is that French?”

Kristina nodded. “You speak it?”

“
Yes, my mom’s from the Congo, and my dad was French.” She paused. “I wonder if my dad was.
 
.
 
.paired with someone.”

“
If you could meet up with Joseph somehow, you could ask him yourself.”

Annoyance sparked in her, and it came through in her voice. “How are we supposed to do that? Just take Aaron’s brother’s car and leave town for a couple days?”

Kristina and Drew looked at each other, probably communicating nonverbally.

I glanced at Anna. “We could find a way.” 

“
How? You know my mom.” She looked at Kristina. “Can’t Joseph come here?” She dropped her voice. “When you teleport, can you bring other people with you?”

Kristina shook her head. “Only each other. I’ll talk to him, but you should keep an eye out for a chance to go back down there. A school trip, maybe? You could visit a college down there, like Stanford.”

My mind was working over the possibilities: if we could get away for just one weekend, it could work. The drive was only two hours at the most. Maybe just one day. If we got up some good excuses.
 
.
 
.

“
I’m tired of lying to everyone,” Anna said. She bit her lip.

“
I thought you said you were going to tell your mom,” I replied.

“
Even if I did, she’s not going to let me go down to San Francisco with you.” She could hardly even look at me. Yesterday, things had been just fine between us, but something had happened since our study session at the library. I tried to probe her to figure out what it was, but she looked at me sharply. “Stay out of my head, Aaron.”

“
Look,” Drew said, leaning across the table. He ran a hand over his buzzed hair. “We get that you guys are young and at the whim of your parents, but this is big. Bigger than getting grounded, for sure. You need to think about your future. With this power, you could do things together, and we want to help you with that. Joseph, especially.”

“
He can answer your questions,” Kristina said. “He can guide you guys along as you’re practicing. He’s smart and he cares about the Pairs.”

“
We can’t even do that much,” Anna muttered. “We can turn a few light bulbs on, so what?”

Drew laughed. “Come on! You can do way more than that. Either you’re in denial or you just haven’t tapped into it yet.”

“
It’s denial,” I said. Anna glared at me, and I tried to give her a cute smile. It didn’t work.

“
Electric Pairs are powerful,” Kristina said.

I felt a spark of alarm from Anna. I followed her gaze: Kaylie and Sam had just walked in.

“
I need you to be Stanford advisors,” Anna told Kristina and Drew.

“
You can’t just be hanging out with friends?” Kristina asked.

“
I already told people I was with Stanford.”

Kaylie and Sam saw us, and they walked over. Sam trailed behind Kaylie, her arms crossed. “Hey, guys,” Kaylie said.

“
Hey, what’s up?” Anna said.

“
I thought you were going to Steven’s sister’s soccer game,” Sam said, stepping forward.

“
Yeah, I was going to, but today was the only day I could meet with Kristina and Drew,” Anna said. “They’re advisors from Stanford.”

Sam raised her eyebrows at Kristina and Drew. They only looked a couple years older than us, and Drew had a leather jacket on. Sam narrowed her eyes. “Wait.
 
.
 
.you look familiar. Were you at that party in San Francisco? At the condo?”

Kristina smiled. “At Liz’s house?”

Sam shrugged. “I didn’t know the host.”

“
Yeah, I was there,” Kristina said. “I think I remember meeting you.”

“
So, you approve of underage drinking even though you’re a ‘college advisor’?” She actually used air quotes. I laughed out of secondhand embarrassment.

“
I don’t remember anyone drinking,” Kristina said with a smooth smile.

“
I’m going to order something,” Sam told Kaylie, and she stalked off.

Kaylie winced. “Sorry,” she told Anna.

On the outside, Anna seemed to shrug it off as she waved a hand. “I’ll talk to her later.” I could tell she was upset, though. For a moment, I wondered what it would be like to know Anna without our connection. I couldn’t imagine it.

“
We’ll see you around,” Kaylie said. She gave me a small wave and joined Sam.

“
She’s charming,” Kristina said, running a hand through her brown hair. “Maybe we should go. Wouldn’t want to get you in trouble with your friends.”

“
We’ll think about San Francisco,” I said. “I really want to meet Joseph.”

Drew stood up, stretching his arms over his head. His shirt rode up, showing a glimpse of his abs. I had a feeling the guy could break me in half. I glanced at Anna, wondering if she’d noticed his muscles. She seemed distracted. I looked down at my torso. Maybe I should start working out. Steven worked out. But she had been checking me out at Matt’s house, for whatever reason.

“
We’ll be in touch,” Kristina said as she stood. “Think about what Drew said. This is
your
life, even if you’re only sixteen.”

“
Seventeen,” I added.

Kristina smirked. “One year closer to freedom.”

“
See you guys later,” Drew said. “Keep practicing. I want to see something cool next time we meet.”

The two of them left, and Anna stood. “I should go,” she said. “Maybe I could catch the last of the soccer game.”

I stood, grabbing my drink. “You need a ride?”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, sure, that’ll look great when you drop me off.”

I frowned. “What’s up with you today?”