Into the Deep (12 page)

     A large grin formed on his face and it made me smile. “Well then, looks like we’ve got some time to burn… how do you feel about Rummy?”
     “You wanna play cards?”
     “Yeah, why not? There’s nothing on TV and it’ll give you a reason not to go home just yet and will keep me from being home alone and bored out of my mind.”
     “Yeah sure,” I said.
     He got up and went to the dresser below the TV. In the first drawer he pulled out a deck of cards that were bound together by a thick rubber band. “You ever play before?”
     “When I was younger with my Grandma I did.”
     “Well good, I don’t have to go easy on you then.”
     We both smiled as he shuffled the cards.

A
n hour later, we were sitting on his bed. Each of us had cards in our hands. I was sitting cross-legged, focusing intently on what my next move would be. Brant was lying on his side seeming confident that he would win. After all, he had more points than I did, but it was close. The game was coming to an end as most of the cards were on the board, so to speak. I laid down a four, five, and six of spades. I still had one card left but no place to play it. Then it was Brant’s turn. He had two cards. My eyes went wide as he laid down the three and the seven of spades, successfully ridding himself of all his cards.
     “Oh no,” I squealed, “I was so close.”
     He laughed at me and then that mischievous smirk I’d come to associate with him returned to his face.
     “It was a good game though.”
     “Yeah, so was the last one and I lost that one too.”
     He laughed again.
     “It was fun though, got my mind off stuff.”
     “Well good, I thought so too. It was fun.” His eyes met mine.
     His gaze had an intensity to it that made me feel like I couldn’t move. The air grew thick and for a moment every breath I took felt like it was laced with lead. In that moment, there were no thoughts, not in my head or in his. All I could concentrate on was the sudden pounding in my chest as if there were a subwoofer there, pulsating to the rhythm of my heart and making my whole body vibrate. Then he leaned in toward me. It was a small movement and an intuitive one, just a slow sway and slight tilting of his head. It was then that my thoughts raced back to me. I took a sharp intake of breath and snapped out of my daze.
     “Well I should, um… I should get going.”
     He blinked. “Right, yeah… yeah of course. I’ll walk you out.”

15

The Number Purple

B
rant walked me to my car and we had an awkward moment just before I got in. Standing in his driveway, I felt like I didn’t know what to do with any of my limbs. I crossed and uncrossed my arms, placed my weight on one leg then the other. Part of me wanted to hug him, thank him. Another part of me, and it was a small part that I refused to acknowledge at that point in time, wanted to kiss him. Instead I offered a nervous smile and drove home, all the while he watched me pull away.
     My family was done eating dinner when I got home. Sadie was in the living room with Dad, watching TV. Dad refused to turn around. He refused to even look at me. I didn’t listen to his thoughts. I didn’t want to. So I waved to Sadie and walked into the kitchen. Mom was doing the dishes.
     “Hey,” I said.
     She glanced back at me. Then she sighed and continued scrubbing the casserole dish that was in her hand. “You missed dinner,” she said without looking at me.
     “I’m sorry.”
     She spun around, the casserole dish forgotten in the soapy water of the sink, and glared at me. “What’s going on with you, Ivy? You’re lying to me, skipping school…What happened?”
     I sighed, “I’m sorry, Mom, I’m just… I’m going through something, I just… I can’t explain. Just trust me, it isn’t bad. I’m not doing anything that would make you disappointed in me, except skipping school, but I promise I won’t do that again.”
     “Is it a boy?”
     Brant’s face flashed in my mind for a moment.
     “Because if it is you can talk to me about it,” she said.
     “It’s a lot of things, I think, but really I’m okay.”
     Mom walked over to me and pulled me into a tight hug. I welcomed her arms around me and hugged back. She kissed me on the forehead and looked down at me with enough worry in her eyes to circle the earth with.
    
Just, be careful.

T
he rest of the night Dad refused to speak to me. He and Mom seemed distant as well. They barely looked at one another when we were sitting in the living room watching a rerun of
Friends
. I decided not to listen in on any of their thoughts. It was easier not knowing things sometimes. Sadie came over to sit by me at one point and showed me the picture of our family she’d drawn for a class assignment. We all looked happy in her abstracted crayon representation. Later I wished Sadie goodnight as Mom took her off to bed and then decided to go up to my room myself. I said goodnight to my father. He didn’t respond. I felt guilty that my disrespect to my parents had made him so angry with me that he didn’t even want to acknowledge that I was there, but I also felt like he was being immature. I didn’t know how to handle the way he was acting, so I just went to bed.
     Mom peeked her head into my room shortly after I’d turned off my light. She told me she loved me and wished me goodnight. Before I fell asleep, I heard the murmured sound of voices coming from the living room. It sounded like my parents were fighting, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. I rolled over in bed and did my best to ignore it until I’d fallen asleep.

T
he next day at school, it felt like there was a buzz in the air, an energy floating about among all the students. I set foot on campus feeling good about myself for the first time in a long time. I felt like I was starting to get a handle on who I was. I walked onto the common smiling. It was then that I saw them across the way. Standing by the fountain that used to be my usual meeting spot with my friends I saw Christy. She was smiling as her hand was woven with Chase’s. I watched as he leaned in and kissed her. I stopped smiling. My eyes were glued on them and I felt my heart drop into my stomach. It sat there like a rock in my belly, the weight of which made me feel nauseous.
    
I hope he’s as into me as I think, I’m really starting to fall for this guy
, Christy thought. Their kiss broke apart and she smiled up at him with a bright cheesy grin.
     I felt heartbroken, and it was a strange feeling to wrap my head around. I had no reason to be upset that Christy and Chase were seeing one another. I had seen it coming and, furthermore, I hadn’t ever had any kind of relationship with Chase. I wasn’t even close with him. But I had built up this idea about him in my mind, built up an idea of who he was and that I had a chance to be with him. I had been perfectly fine living with the fantasy that something would come about between us so long as he was single. Now that I saw him there with Christy, my reality came collapsing down upon me.
    
What is she staring at?
     My head spun around, my hair whipping in the air, and I saw Brant walk up behind me.
     “Nothing,” I said a bit too quickly and turned away from him.
     He continued to look in toward where moments ago my eyes had been locked. I couldn’t look back at them.
     “You staring at Christy and Chase?”
     I didn’t answer.
     “Hey, look at me, I can tell something’s bugging you.”
     I turned around, but still I kept quiet.
     “They’re dating, you know.” It was as if he said it to judge my reaction. “Heard about it from Skyler, guess Chase made some big show of asking her out at that pizzeria over on Fifth.”
     My lips thinned and my muscles tensed. I felt uncomfortable and Brant could tell.
     “That is it, isn’t it?”
     “Brant, just leave it.” I started to walk away, but he stayed right by my side.
     “What’ve you got some crush on the football player?”
     My eyes glared at him. They were angry and yet begging him to stop at the same time.
     “That is it; you’ve got a thing for Chase Bryant.”
     “Brant, lay off.”
     He wouldn’t. “I just… what do you see in him anyway?”
     “Can we not?”
     He looked at me, his stare harsh and serious. I could tell he knew I was upset, and the fact that he could see through me so easily only made me more upset.
     “Sorry.”
     “It’s fine… just forget it.” The bell rang and I glanced over at the school as people started to shuffle off to class. “I can’t miss any more classes or my parents are going to kill me so…”
     “Right, yeah, I’ll see you at lunch then, alright?”
     “Yeah.”
     With that I left, throwing Brant one last glance over my shoulder. In the periphery of my vision, I saw Chase throw his arm around Christy and I winced. I rushed off to class, trying to ignore the irrational sense of heartbreak that had come over me.

B
rant was by my side immediately after Bio. Like a magnet attracted to my polarity, he found me through the crowd within minutes after I stepped out of the Science lab. He said hey and I returned the greeting with a smile. Then we made our way out to the common. This was the first time we were ever together during lunch and actually going to lunch. It was strange. Not the being around him part, I was used to that. But he was usually helping me interrogate someone or annoying the hell out of me, or comforting me as I cried my eyes out. I shook the last thought away. What we hadn’t really been yet was casual with one another. As I thought about that, I felt an awkward weight in the air between us as we stepped out onto the common.
     Skyler and Jason waved to Brant from across the way. They motioned in a way to suggest that they wanted him to follow after them. Brant waved them off and they disappeared, walking toward the parking lot. Then he followed me to a table. We sat in the shade of a palm tree near the building and a good distance from my friends, a good distance from Christy and Chase who, at the moment, seemed to be tasting more of each other than their food.
     I had made myself a lunch that day, feeling like I’d want more than a bagel to eat. Brant had nothing. He just sat down before me and folded his hands atop the table. I pulled the salami and cream cheese sandwich out of my brown paper lunch bag as well as an apple and a can of soda.
    
She’s so much better than that meathead jock
, Brant thought and I saw his eyes flicker over to Chase.
What does she see in him?
     If I didn’t know better, I would have thought he was jealous. “So, what’s our next move?” I asked and his face snapped to me.
    
Next move?
He looked confused.
     “With neither Eric nor Craig looking like our guy, we need a new suspect.”
     “Right, right… except…”
     “Except you don’t have anyone in mind?”
     His lips thinned.
     “Yep, and neither do I… so now what?”
     He thought for a moment. “We need to go about this differently. Need to think out of the box.”
     I bit into my sandwich and looked at him expectantly. I had no ideas, nothing. I’d been kind of banking on him coming up with something.
     “We’ve just got to narrow it down somehow.”
     “I was thinking that too… I just don’t know how. That was when I talked to Charlie and…”
     “Charlie?”
     “Charlotte, the girl in the library… I just asked her if she remembered who had all been in the library that day, the only person that stuck out to her was Craig though. We could talk to her again maybe.”
     Brant’s eyes lit up. “Actually yeah, we should, but I don’t want to ask her about her memory.”
     My brow creased and I looked at him confused. “What are you thinking?”
     “Like
you
have to ask.”
     “Actually yeah, I wasn’t listening in.”
     He flashed me a cocky grin. “Guess it’ll be a surprise then.” He stood up. “Come on, let’s go.”
     I took another big bite of my sandwich and grabbed my soda as I got up and followed after him.
So much for eating a decent meal
, I thought as we walked into the building.

T
he library was stuffy and as we entered I wished that I was still outside breathing in the fresh air. Charlotte, or Charlie as she had asked me to call her, was sitting behind the desk in the library eating what appeared to be a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I wondered if she ate in here during her shift every day, wondered if she always had lunch alone. It sounded lonely, but then again I’d been doing much the same lately.
     Brant and I approached the desk. Her large brown eyes looked at us with a hint of embarrassment as she swallowed a bite of her sandwich and wiped the corner of her mouth with the sleeve of her red zip-up.
     “Can I help you?” she asked.
     Brant leaned against the counter, smiling down at her. He looked at her with a flirty gaze. I had to restrain myself from rolling my eyes.
     “Just have a few questions… when I check out a book, that computer keeps a record of it yeah?”
     “Yep.” Charlie nodded.
     Instantly I understood where Brant was going with this. It was so stupidly obvious. I was surprised neither of us had thought of it sooner.
     “So if I wanted to, I could look back and see when I checked out a book, or maybe look and see who all checked out the same book as me. Maybe get a list of everyone who’s checked out books on, say, bomb building?”
     “Um… I can’t give out other people’s information.”
     “But you do have access to it yeah?”
     “Sure, but… why are you asking me this?”
Bomb building, what is this about?
     “Look, Charlie, I know this all sounds weird but it’s really important,” I said, my eyes pleading with her.
     “I don’t know what you want me to say, giving out that kind of info is against the rules.”
     “Look,” Brant started, “Charlotte, this is life or death here. Someone’s going to try and blow up the school.” He was being as serious as he could, but Charlie looked at him like he was about to tell her that she was on a hidden camera show.
    
Yeah right
, “So why don’t you talk to, I don’t know, the principal or the police about it?”
     “Well… we don’t know who it is. That’s why we need to look at your computer there, narrow things down.”
     “Right… and how do you know this?”
     “I know this sounds crazy,” I said then took a deep breath knowing that what I was about to say would have Charlie thinking I deserved to be in a mental institution, “but… I heard someone thinking about it… I can read minds.”
    
Crazy? Try crazier than a June bug in May.
Charlotte stared at me with a blank expression, and her eyes were screaming ‘do I look stupid?’
     “Crazier than a June bug in May,” I repeated what I’d heard her think and watched as her eyes bugged out turning into deep wide pools of chocolate brown. Her brow creased and her jaw dropped open. She didn’t believe me yet, but it was something.
     “How…” it was at that moment that the bell rang and our conversation came to an abrupt end.
     “Meet us after school,” Brant said, “out the west door.”