Games of Fire (29 page)

It was almost
a pleasure seeing the smirk melt off Suzy’s face as she stepped over the threshold and joined the two in the tiny foyer. Spencer closed the door behind her.

“You got everything?” He turned to his sister, raising a hand and ruffling her hair.

She swatted at him, glaring. “This isn’t a good idea!” she told him.

Spencer sighed. He took her shoulders, physically turned her around and gently nudged her towards the living room. “Go watch your movie.”

On the coffee table, Sophie could just make out the small mountain of treats. There was a bed made up on the sofa and something was on pause on the TV.

“I don’t want to watch—”

“Keep it down or you’ll wake up mom,” he told her as he guided Sophie towards the stairs.

Suzy turned, narrowed blue eyes finding Sophie’s. She didn’t say a word, but the look on her face filled Sophie with a surge of embarrassment and shame, like Suzy knew exactly why they were going to Spencer’s bedroom and it had nothing to do with the movie. Which wasn’t the case, but the implication and accusation was there, burning into Sophie as they climbed the stairs.

In his room, Spencer took the movie from her, turning it over in his hand as he stalked to the machine.

“Are you trying to tell me something?” he teased, popping the disk out of the case and slipping it into the player.

Sophie started out of her reverie. “What?” She shook her head to clear it. “Oh, no. I just like that movie.”

He set the case down on the shelf and headed for the bed. He flopped down and patted the spot beside him. “Coming?”

With nothing else to do, Sophie shuffled over. She toed off her sneakers and climbed up on the mattress.

“Are you going to take your jacket off?”

Having forgotten all about it, she quickly shrugged out of the warmth and draped it over the foot of the bed. Then sat back against the pillows and drew her knees to her chest.

The movie started, but Sophie didn’t watch any of it, although her eyes were fixed unblinkingly at the screen. Her toes tingled from her curled position, but she couldn’t seem to find the strength to uncurl her legs from her chest. Moving
, period, felt like a tedious chore. Beside her, Spencer didn’t speak, a bonus in this case. But by the end of the movie, the building pressure in her chest threatened to explode. She could feel the climbing tension rise inside her until she felt near mad with it. When Spencer struck the stop button at the credits, Sophie all but lunged off the bed. She had her feet in her shoes and her jacket in hand before he even got to his feet.

“Sophie?”

“I have to go,” she blurted, already backing to the door.

Even in the near dark, the confusion was evident on his face. “What? Why—?”

“I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Sophie—”

But she had already spun on her heels and bolted from the room. She didn’t stop running until she was safely inside her own room, protected by two sets of doors. She fished her phone out of her pocket and texted Lauren.

“Can’t do this!”

Lauren answered a second later.
“???”

Sophie sniffled, not realizing she was crying until she had to swipe her forearm across her eyes to see the screen.
“Come over?”

“Be there in 10.”

True to the text, Lauren and Jessie were crammed inside her room ten minutes later, squishing her between them as they huddled on the floor next to the bed. Jessie gently stroked her hair, making soft soothing noises while Lauren threatened to beat the snot out of Suzy.

“That little brat needs a good kick in the ass!”

Sophie sniffled. “She’s twelve!”

“So? Never too late for a spanking!”

“I’m sure she was only trying to protect Spencer,” Jessie rationalized. “He is her brother and she did witness everything Aimee did to him. Maybe she just doesn’t want to see him hurt again. She’s just a little girl.”

“No she ain’t!” Lauren exclaimed, face twisted in disgust. “She’s just a little psychopath!”

“She’s twelve!” Sophie said again. “Maybe Jess’s right.”

“Dude!” Lauren grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “She’s team Aimee. She’s the enemy!”

“She’s. Twelve!” Sophie stressed. “I don’t think she has a team.”

“I don’t care if she’s five. That kid needs an exorcist!”

Sophie sighed, folding and unfolding the crumpled and used wad of tissue in her hands. “Maybe she’s really right. Maybe I really am wasting my time. What if he really doesn’t ever get over Aimee? She really is gorgeous and Spencer really does still love her. You can really see it.”

“That’s a lot of reallys,” Lauren mumbled.

Jessie frowned at her before turning her blue eyes to Sophie. “I don’t believe that. You’re beautiful on the inside and out. You’re smart and funny and—”

“Have great friends like us!” Lauren piped in, grinning.

Sophie chuckled. “I’ll agree with that last one, but … ” She shook her head. “I think I’m either being really selfish or really stupid letting myself believe he’ll ever pick me. Maybe it would be best if I just ended things now instead of waiting for him to break my heart.” She looked at her friends. “What do you guys think?”

Jessie lovingly smoothed back Sophie’s hair, tucking it behind her ear. “I’m with you no matter what you decide.”

Lauren shrugged. “I vote we go over there and throw holy water in that twerp’s face.” She sighed, rolling her eyes when Sophie laughed and nudged her with an elbow. “Okay, fine. I’m with Jess. I got your back whatever you decide.”

As touched as she was, their answer did nothing to help her decide. She was still completely in the dark about her next course of action. A large part of her was already determined to keep away from Spencer, to avoid the inevitable by saving herself a broken heart in the future, while the other part of her, the part couldn’t seem to shake Spencer Rowth, begged her to just keep trying. It was the part that kept telling her she was as good
, if not better than Aimee and could win him if she put her mind to it. But what if it was wrong? What if all her efforts failed? Was she strong enough for that kind of rejection?

Monday was the first day of her new plan to break Spencer’s hold on her. She left her house a full half hour early for school, then spent every class she had with him, scribbling random nonsense in her notebook, pretending not to notice when he entered the room
. Or  she arrived seconds before the bell so there would be no chance for him to approach her. Then, she was packed and out the door as soon as the bell rang. By third period, she’d become so good at dipping and dodging through the crowds in the hallway, she half convinced herself she was part ninja. But she knew her luck wouldn’t hold up.

At lunch, she sat in the
computer lab with Joe and ate. It had been so long since it had been the two of them that it felt nice. Joe was a whole other person when it was just them. He was funny and talkative, which was exactly what she needed.

“So what’s going on with you and
Rowth?” he asked, taking a bite of the tuna sandwich she’d brought him.

Sophie sighed, shaking her head. “Don’t want to talk about it.”

“Is it over?”

The bite she’d taken of her sandwich went down in a solid lump. “
I don’t know.”

Joe didn’t
press her. He didn’t make soothing sounds or pet her hair. He took another large bite of his lunch, shrugged his shoulder and said, “I still say he’s a jerk and you deserve better.”

Sophie couldn’t think of anything to say.

After lunch, she hurried to her next class, relieved it was one of the few she didn’t share with Spencer. By the end of the day, she was exhausted and fully convinced she would not make it as a ninja. But even then, she loitered in the girls’ washroom until everyone in the school was gone before slouching home.

“One day down.” She tossed her backpack down on the floor next to her bed. “
Three hundred and sixty-four more to go.”

Her luck somehow held for most of the week. She avoided Spencer like the plague, which meant avoiding the cafeteria, most of the halls and the courtyard
, while spending a great deal of time in the computer lab. Joe didn’t seem to mind. Her teachers were getting fed up with her arriving just before the bell and her mother was becoming suspicious of Sophie’s mad dash out of the house in the mornings and late arrivals at night. In all, the effort it took to avoid a single person was a great deal more problematic than it was to just face them.

It was a good and bad thing when her luck ran out
on Sunday.

“Why do you need to go to church early again?” her father asked as he backed out of their driveway.

Because she’d over heard her mother tell Jackie they would drive her and Spencer to church that Sunday and she still hadn’t braced herself for that meet and greet. But she didn’t say as much. Instead, she replied, “I want to help out.” Sophie winced at how easily the lie came to her. The fact that it regarded church only made her all the more sheepish and guilty.

Her father patted her lightly on the knee as he pulled up in front of the church a full hour early. “
That’s nice of you,” he said proudly.

It took her nearly biting her tongue off to keep from blurting the truth. She gave him what she
hoped was a bright smile before lunging out of the car. Her father backed out and pulled away with a wave. Sophie waved until he was out of sight, then turned and slouched inside.

Father Jacobs was coming down the stairs when she stepped into the sweet scent of lavenders. He looked surprised, but smiled warmly. “Sophia! What brings you so early? Are your parents with you?”

Sophie shook her head. “Dad dropped me off. He went to get Mom.”

“Ah!” he said as if it made perfect sense. “And what brings you?”

To confess!
She wanted to cry.
To confess what a horrible, lying person I am!

“I came to see if you needed any help setting up.” She almost ducked, half expecting to be struck by a bolt of lightning.

Father Jacobs blinked. “Well, that’s very thoughtful of you! I would love the help.”

There wasn’t much to do, she realized once she’d been given her task
, but every task she was given, she threw herself at with a vengeance. She stocked bibles and hymn books into the pew slots, dusted the benches and even swept the floor, and still had forty five minutes to spare. She remained in the basement even as voices slipped through the hardwood. She stayed holed up in the storage room, surrounded by old hymn books, music sheets and other supplies. She stayed there until the first blare of reed pipes filled the building, before creeping upstairs and slipping into the bench next to Joe, keeping her face stubbornly forward, ignoring the eyes of Joe, her parents and Spencer on her.

After the service, Sophie slipped through the crowd and hurried into the basement once more, feeling very much like Quasimodo being banished
to the bell tower. She wondered how long she could keep up this nonsense. Already she was fed up with her lack of spine. It would have just been easier to face Spencer and tell him what was up instead of playing this stupid game. She couldn’t just keep running from a guy that she would see every day for who knew how long. Besides, how did this make her better than Aimee? She was lying to him, keeping things from him and she was just being a coward all around.

Disgusted with herself,
Sophie threw down a pamphlet and turned towards the door, determined to track down Spencer and tell him exactly … A shadow stepped into her path, blocking the door. A scream filled her lungs, only to rush out in a choked squeak.

“Spencer!” Her hand flew to her pounding chest. “You scared the hell
… heck out of me. I was just about to come looking for … ” He stepped into the tiny, cramped space and closed the door behind him. Her heart began hammering for another reason entirely. “What … what are you doing?”

His intense gray eyes surveyed her, rooting her in place. “Making sure you can’t take off on me until I’ve had my answers.” He leaned against her only escape route and folded his arms. “Why are you avoiding me?”

“I wasn’t … ” She winced, squeezing her eyes closed. How many lies could she tell in the House of God before she was zapped? Best not to take any more chances.  She opened her eyes. “Okay, I was. I’m sorry.”

“Why?” There was a dark calm about him that sent shivers down her spine.

She tried to moisten her lips, only to find that her tongue was as dry as sandpaper. She tried to swallow, with no luck. Every drop of spit in her mouth had traveled down to pool in her palms and under her arm pits. She tried to wipe her hands on her dress.

“Why?” he pressed when she took too long to formulate words.

“Because!” she blurted stupidly, realizing just how lame her logic sounded, even in her own head.

What exactly was she supposed to say?
Oh, because I don’t trust you not to break my heart?
Or maybe,
you’re not making your heart mend fast enough and I want you to fall for me half as hard as I’ve fallen for you?
Oh yes, that was bound to get her his affections, giving him an ultimatum in the church closet. What was worse, she’d acted like a complete child about the entire matter instead of facing it like a mature adult. Anything she said at this point would only come out petty.