Once Again (16 page)

It was a text message from Lucas. This was
new. He usually just called. I flipped open my phone and pressed
the button to read.

It was part of one of the Robert Burns poems
from our literature assignment.

Long have we been parted, Lassie my
dearie;

Now we are met again, Lassie lie near
me.

All I have endured, Lassie my dearie,

In thy arms is cured, Lassie lie near
me.

I knew people must’ve been staring. I hadn’t
even moved from the doorway, and students coming in had to walk
around me. But as I read those words, and thought of all Lucas and
I had learned about our past and about each other, Burns’ poem took
on new meaning. We
had
been separated for a very long time -
though neither one of us had realized it - and there was a definite
sense of comfort in finally being together again.

And Lucas had read that poem and thought of
me. Had entered the words into a text message completely spelled
and punctuated. My heart expanded painfully in my chest.

Just then my phone buzzed again. Another
incoming text from him.

When I’m with u, u cure the bad stuff. Don’t
4get. Proper date 2morrow nite. Already ran it past ur parents.
Love, Lucas

Wow. Just wow.

I closed my phone, making sure to keep the
messages to re-read later, and pushed through the sea of people in
the lobby. I hoped to find Jessie already in the chemistry room. A
tap on my shoulder caught my attention before I got out of the
crowd.

“Hi Layla.” It was Todd Miller’s voice.

I didn’t cringe, but I did mentally roll my
eyes. I wondered why I was one of those people who always had to be
polite, no matter what.

“Hi Todd.”

“Um, listen, I wanted to talk to you.” He
walked toward my hallway, motioning for me to follow. The fact that
I had to go that way anyway made it impossible for me to come up
with an excuse.

“What about?” I asked when we stopped just
outside the lobby. He wore too much cologne, and it reminded me of
being at one of those department store cosmetic counters where
people got carried away and sprayed multiple samples.

“Well, I know you’ve been hanging out with
Lucas,” he began. “But I wasn’t sure just what the situation is
with you two. I mean, Kara’s been telling people she and Luke are
talking again, and they do have a couple of classes together, so I
guess it’s possible.”

My chest constricted at the mention of Kara’s
name. Kara, who’d made her jealousy and her intentions clear to me
two days ago. Kara, who was tall and slender and blond and
beautiful.

And, Kara, who I was quite certain had
not
just received a text message with a love poem from
Lucas.

I considered it a victory.

“I’m not sure where you’re going with this,”
I said, glancing around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.
“What difference does it make what the situation is between Lucas
and me? And why do you care?”

“I just still feel bad for how I acted the
first day of school,” Miller said. “And Kara, well, she can be
pretty mean sometimes. And, I guess I also thought, if you and Luke
were just friends, maybe you might, I don’t know, think about going
out with me sometime.”

Oh geez. During two years of high school in
Tennessee, I’d been asked out exactly twice. Now, in less than a
month, I’d been approached by four guys. Five if I counted Zack’s
thwarted attempt at the locker the week of the first football
game.

“Wow, Todd, I’m flattered, really.” I
stopped, took a second to think about what to say next so that I
didn’t stumble over my words. “But I think maybe we should just
stick to being friendly with each other and living down the
incident from the parking lot.”

“Yeah.” He stuck his hands in the pockets of
his jeans and looked down at the floor. I could see a small smile
on his face and he laughed. “I guess there would be talk if we
dated too soon after that.”

“I appreciate the apology,” I said. “And the
warning about Kara. Although it’s really unnecessary.”

“No problem.” He nodded. “See you
around.”

Then he walked back to the lobby and strode
down the other hall just as the warning bell rang. While I headed
down the hall toward chemistry, I pulled my phone out of my pocket
and read Luke’s texts again.

Jessie came in late to first period. Fifteen minutes into chemistry
she trudged in, wet and frustrated after a flat tire on the way to
school. Mr. Hartley hadn’t finished our tests, which was
disappointing, but on the flip side, it looked as if the chapter on
balancing equations might click a bit more for me than the last
chapter.

During second period, Lucas refused to tell
me anything about the plans he’d made for tomorrow night. And even
though my curiosity was huge, I liked the idea of a surprise. I
resisted, but not without effort, the temptation to pull my cell
phone out during literature and re-read Luke’s text messages. I
did, however, whisper a
thank you
to him, just as Mrs.
Chadwick began the class. Though it would’ve been far too
embarrassing to have a conversation about the texts and how they’d
touched me, it seemed far too rude to say nothing. So, I found a
way to acknowledge his thoughtfulness that didn’t require a lot of
talking.

His answer to my
thanks
was a grin and
a wink.

Mrs. Chadwick returned our Robert Burns tests
first, and I smiled when I saw the A’s on both my paper and Luke’s.
The bookworms compared test scores, all of them seeming pleased.
The cell-phone addicts each took a look at their grades then
quickly put them in their bags. I surmised they either were not
happy with their grades or just didn’t care.

We learned that our next reading assignment,
which was due to be completed by this time next week, was Leo
Tolstoy’s novella
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
. I struggled not
to have a bad attitude. I’d read lots of books, many of them
classics, but until now I’d managed to avoid Tolstoy. I’d stuck to
J.D. Salinger, Louisa May Alcott, Mark Twain, and the like. It was
probably fear that kept me from attempting
War and Peace
or
Anna Karenina
. Thankfully, our assigned story about a
forty-five year old man dealing with his impending death was only
one hundred thirty-four pages. Perhaps it was a good introduction
to the works of the great Russian novelist.

At any rate, I decided the reading would be a
nice distraction from whatever our past selves had in store for us
next. I was sure to need a few moments of something else during the
coming week.

“I’ll call you when I get home from the meet
tonight,” Lucas said as we walked toward my U.S. History class.

“And tell me how you came in first again?” I
teased.

“And tell you how the team did,” he corrected
with a chuckle.

We stopped beside the door. I leaned against
the wall, and Lucas did the same, as we got out of the way of the
hall traffic. For a moment he just looked at me, in the way he had
that made me curious and weak in the knees at the same time.

I was pretty sure anyone looking too closely
at us would see there was more to Luke and me than friendship. But
for whatever reason, at this moment, Luke didn’t seem to mind.

“Mr. Radnor sent me on an errand during first
period,” he began. “I took some papers to the front office for him.
I ran into Jessie as she was checking in.”

“Yeah, she had a flat on the way to
school.”

“She mentioned you and Kara had words the
other day. I think she thought I already knew.”

Holy crap. I’d meant to tell him. I really
had. But with everything else that had gone on – our search for
information at the courthouse, the discussion with Gwen that
followed, our communication with the people from our past – I’d
just forgotten about it until this morning.

“It’s not important, Luke,” I said, my voice
soft as I stepped closer to him. “I’d forgotten all about it until
today anyway.”

“I should’ve seen this coming.” He tilted his
head, bringing his face closer to mine. “Kara’s got a nasty
streak.”

“I kind of got that.”

“Do you want me to talk to her?” he asked.
“Tell her there’s no chance she and I are getting back
together?”

Just hearing the words come out of his mouth
sent chills over my entire body. Not that I’d thought he wanted to
be with her, but to hear him say
no chance
was a thrill
beyond description.

“Luke, that’s sweet.” I gave him my warmest
smile. “But I think it might make things worse.”

“I hate thinking about her bothering
you.”

“What happened to not wanting to set off
anyone who might possibly be channeling the bad guys?” It was only
a half-joke, but Lucas laughed anyway.

“If it happens again, will you tell me?”

“Of course,” I answered. “I meant to tell you
this time. I just forgot.”

“She’s not right, you know.” He leaned even
closer, keeping our words from anyone else’s ears. “Kara and I
rarely speak, unless you count polite hellos. And there is no
happily ever after in our future.”

I smiled, too moved by his words to talk out
loud. A part of me fought and clawed to keep my heart from tripping
even further down the slope of love. I knew it was futile, but I
fought nonetheless.

And continued to lose the battle.

“Talk to you tonight,” he said.

***

When I walked into the cafeteria for lunch,
not only was I met by the lovely smell of unseasoned steaming
broccoli, I found Jessie and Marsha, along with Robbie and Chris,
huddled over something at our table. The four of them saw me at the
same time, and Jessie scrambled to shove something underneath her
lunch tray. They looked as guilty as kids caught sneaking into the
cookie jar.

“Give it up,” I said, pulling out a chair and
dropping into my seat. “I know you’re all up to something.”

“It’s nothing,” Marsha responded, shaking her
head.

“Yeah, it’s just stupid,” Jessie offered. Her
eyelids lowered and she pulled her lunch tray closer to her.

Clearly, it was not just something stupid.
I’d gotten to know Jessie well enough that I could read her
face.

“I can tell that it’s not nothing.” I leaned
my elbows on the table and looked at each of them. Jessie still
looked down at her tray. Marsha bit her lip. Robbie drummed his
fingers on the table, and Chris feigned an interest in something on
the other side of the room. “You might as well spill it.”

“Somebody’s idea of a joke,” Jessie said, her
breath coming out in a disgusted huff.

“What’s under the tray, Jess?” I asked.

“Oh, just show her,” Marsha blurted. “It’s
not like it means anything.”

Jessie’s eyes cut toward Marsha. She nodded,
then pulled a piece of paper out from beneath her tray.

She slid it across the table toward me, while
the guys started a conversation about cars. Apparently, whatever
was going on, they wanted no part of it.

“This was on our table when we got here.”
Jessie’s voice dripped with apology. “Robbie said there’s more in
the lobby and on the bulletin board outside the front office.”

It took a moment for my brain to process the
picture in front of me. It was black and white, as if it had been
run off on a copy machine or printed from a laser printer. But even
without color, I could see Lucas was in a tuxedo, smiling
brilliantly. Other tuxedo-clad boys dotted the background of the
photo, along with girls in fancy dresses. Prom. It must be a
picture from the prom.

And then it registered. The girl who was
wrapped in Luke’s embrace was Kara. They were dancing, her head
tilted back as if in laughter. And they looked so happy
together.

Ugh.

I took a deep breath, reminding myself I had
to be careful how I reacted. First of all, I would
not
act
the role of jealous girlfriend. That would be playing right into
Kara’s hands. Second, people could speculate all they wanted, but
the official status of my relationship with Luke was not to be
common knowledge. For several reasons - not the least of which was
that the two boys at the table, pretending not to pay attention,
had asked me out and I’d said no on the basis of not being ready to
start dating.

Then there was the whole
possible-reincarnation-of-the-bad-guys issue to consider.

Keeping my cool was imperative.

“You’re right. Stupid.” I tossed the picture
back on the table, with as much nonchalance as I could muster. “I
don’t know what they were trying to accomplish, but whoever put
that there was obviously reading way to much into my friendship
with Lucas.”

Jessie picked up the paper, ripped it in
half. “They, and by
they
I mean Kara Jennings, were trying
to make you jealous. It had to be her who put it here. I mean,
remember how she acted in the hall the other day?”

“She’s obviously not over Lucas,” I said.
“And I can’t blame her. He’s a great guy. But if it’s meant to work
out between them, it will.”

Gag! Choking those words out without gagging
felt like the greatest accomplishment of my life.

“I thought you and Luke were pretty much an
item,” Chris said.

So much for pretending not to listen.

“We’re friends. We study together for
literature class sometimes.”

“Come on,” Jessie replied. “There’s more to
it than that. I can tell by looking at the two of you.”

“And I heard you went to see him run up at
Belfast last week.” This from Robbie.

Okay, so downplaying things didn’t seem to be
very effective. I needed another strategy, fast.

“Look guys,” I said, lowering my voice. “I
don’t want to get my hopes up, okay? I mean, Lucas is a great guy
and I like him. But I realize I’m new here and that he and Kara
have a history. I’m just enjoying getting to know him and trying
not to have expectations.”