Paradox (Travelers Series Book 2) (6 page)

It seems weird that they would just tell him about traveling. Wouldn’t they have guarded their secrets? I mean, if I belonged to a reality in which traveling was possible—which in the future, I guess
is
my reality—I wouldn’t go around telling strangers from an alternate universe. “So, they didn’t try to hide the fact that they could travel?”

He just stared at me blankly for a second. Like he knows the answer, but is hesitant—nervous almost. “You know, I never thought of that. It seemed to me they were very impressed with my research in the study of time travel that they didn’t question me when I inquired about their methods. I believe they respected my work in the field and were very open to communication with respect to the subject. Once I brought back the information, I made sure Oliver would never get a hold of it. He already knew about traveling to alternate universes, but the information he knew pertaining to time travel was limited. I did my best effort to keep that from him. I learned the more information he gathered, the more dangerous he’d become.”

“Too bad that plan didn’t work.” I know my dad still blames himself for everything that’s happened to me, but whatever, it’s the truth. “It’s not your fault, you know. He would have gotten the information no matter what.” I try to soften the edge in my bite.

“Yes, you are probably right,” he says with a weary tone. “While I always knew I was taking a chance working with Oliver, I never in a million years imagined he would betray me in this way.”

I think I’ve added enough stress to my dad for one evening, so I excuse myself and head up to my room to get some sleep. I hate the idea of having to go to school tomorrow, but I know I have to go, no matter what pressing issues I’m currently involved in.

It isn’t until I settle into bed that I wonder what Cooper was doing all day. He didn’t come over for one of his usual visits and I realize that I miss him. Maybe he freaked about our almost kiss last night and decided to stay away for awhile. Or maybe he had some things he had to take care of in the other reality. As I ponder all the reasons why he didn’t stop by, it doesn’t take long for sleep to take hold.

T
he alarm goes off and I end up pressing the snooze button about three times before finally getting out of bed. That’s how much I’m dreading having to go to school today. Over dinner last night, I tried to convince Aunt Maggie I was still traumatized over the experience with Oliver and should stay home and rest, but she insisted that keeping a regular routine was healthy after a trauma like that. And to make matters worse, I still haven’t heard from Jaime. I’m pretty certain she’s being held by her dad in another reality, but just the same, I must have called about a dozen times before I turned in last night, just to make sure.

My body goes through the motions of getting ready: brush teeth, shower, and change. I’d like to believe that if I perform every action in slow motion, someone, either Aunt Maggie or my dad, will stop me before I have to leave for school, coming up with some reason to keep me home. But no such luck. There’s no knock at the door, or yelling from downstairs, telling me I don’t have to go.

I scramble into my MINI—final destination, school. Before, in the orphan reality, I went to Alexandria High, the city’s public school. But now, in this new life, I have to go to Dominion Hall Academy. It’s actually not so bad, if you can get past all the pretentious kids, and that’s a big
if
. The teachers are pretty decent. Except for April, of course.

I pull into the student parking lot and take a deep breath. Perhaps no one will ask about Jaime. I mean, no one really talks to me anyway, so it doesn’t seem likely they’d go out of their way to approach me just to find out where my best friend is. Then, there’s the small matter of Alex. I hadn’t thought of him all weekend and that should serve as a big red flag concerning our relationship. With everything that’s happened the last couple of days, I guess I kinda forgot about him.

He’s been nothing but attentive and genuinely seems to care about me, but I don’t think he’s being entirely upfront with me. He was fun to be around at his mom’s fundraiser last week, but I can’t ignore the fact that he left me to deal with drunk Jaime at the Spring Fling—a night I don’t actually remember, but read about in my diary—while he spent the rest of the evening with Jenny. Perhaps resuming my place in this reality altered the event in some way, but then again maybe not. The instant I came back to this reality, everything continued on as if I’d been here all along. This includes having a boyfriend who believes we’ve been together all this time. But now that I know I’m destined to be with Cooper, well, frankly, any feelings I have or had for Alex has gone by the wayside.

I don’t even have time to grab my backpack from the passenger seat when I feel a hand on my shoulder. Being spooked first thing in the morning isn’t my idea of fun. I jump back about two steps, bumping right into Alex.

“Hey, why so jumpy? What happened to you this weekend? I tried calling you,” he says, looking a bit hurt. “You’ve been kind of distant every since my mom’s fundraiser.”

I pull my bag from the passenger seat as he talks and sling it over my shoulder. “Hey, yourself. Sorry about not calling you back. I spent the weekend over at Jaime’s. You know, girl time.” Not entirely the truth, but close enough. Not wanting to have this conversation in the parking lot where others can overhear, I begin walking towards the quad. I can tell Alex knows something’s up. How is it people can always sense when something’s wrong? Though, I’m sure me not bothering to call him all weekend is a dead giveaway.

“Are you sure? Things are okay between us, right?” He shifts his own backpack to his other shoulder, looking unsure of himself. Does he really care that I avoided him the last few days?

“Uh, sure,” I say. I feel guilty about ignoring him, so I try to switch the conversation back to him. “How was your weekend? Do anything fun?”

Alex smiles, dropping the subject on how I basically ignored him all weekend. How come I never noticed how self-centered he was? Oh wait, I know. I was momentarily flattered to have been sought by the most popular boy in school. Back at Alexandria High, he never gave me a moment’s notice, but in this reality I could have him all to myself if I wanted. A few days ago, I was happy to entertain the idea of dating Alex, but now I’m not so sure. Boy, how things change.

“Great. The guys and I went over to Leland’s for a party Friday night.” He manages to keep up with my brisk walk. If he realizes I’m trying to get into the building quick, so we can put an end to this conversation, he doesn’t say anything.

“He had a party?” I wonder why Jaime didn’t suggest we go there. She’s always up for a good party. Maybe if we’d gone, I wouldn’t have been abducted by her dad that night.

“Yeah, and it was killer. You should’ve been there.” It must have been some party if he’s still excited over it. “I tried calling you,” he says again, as an afterthought.

“Sorry I missed it. Who else was there?” Not that I really care, but I know it’s the socially appropriate question to ask.

“You know, Bridget, Carson, Jenny, the whole lacrosse team. Everyone was there,” he says. “Except you.”

All I can focus on is the part where he mentions Jenny. I totally can’t stand the girl, especially since she tried to sabotage me and Alex’s relationship, but if she wants him, she can have him. She may be the key to getting Alex off my back. I’m not trying to be a bitch about the situation, I just don’t want to complicate my life with a boyfriend who’s possibly seeing someone on the side, when I can direct my attention towards Cooper.

As I suspected earlier, no one rushes up to ask about Jaime. Right, like they would even realize she’s absent this early on a Monday morning. The first bell hasn’t even rung yet and here I am, expecting the campus to be buzzing with inquiry. I think I’m just freaked out by her still being gone. It’s either that, or guilt. Besides, the only topic of discussion around the quad is a recap of Leland’s party. From what I’m able to gather, it wasn’t just any party. The police ended up raiding Leland’s house and at least twenty students got busted. It’s probably an exaggerated version of events, but it still doesn’t sound like a good time was had by all.

Alex is still talking and for a brief second I feel bad for ignoring him. “Sorry, what did you say?”

“I asked if you were free later tonight. You know, maybe we could get together after school.”

“Um, about that, maybe we should slow things down a bit,” I say, words fumbling out so fast, I garble them all together. I didn’t think I’d have the guts to blow him off, but there it is.

Alex stops in mid-stride. “Seriously? That’s all we’ve been doing. Taking it slow. Sounds to me like what you really want is a break.”

Obviously, I didn’t think this through, not to mention bringing this up right before class. Now, I’m going to have to avoid him the rest of the day. Why couldn’t I have waited until after school to tell him this? “Not a break exactly, just slow.”

He backs away from me. “That sounds like a break to me. I can’t believe I wasted my time with you.”

I can understand his frustration, but what happened to all the sweet nothings from last week? Guess I should’ve paid more attention to the entries in my diary. The whole thing with him denying he’s seeing Jenny, when he actually is, is starting to sound more like the truth. Everything he told me these last few days has been nothing but a smokescreen for what’s really been going on.

His face is getting redder by the second. “You know, I thought, just for a moment I’d take a chance and date someone outside the social circle. I thought you were different and ignored everyone when they said trying to date you wasn’t in my best interest. I should’ve just listened to their advice and dated someone like Jenny. At least she isn’t a tease,” he spits out.

Okay, so he’s self-centered, but at least he tried to be a better person, right? I should care that he seems hurt, but I have a feeling he isn’t going to be heartbroken for very long.

“I’m sorry.” What else is there to say at this point?

“Whatever. Look, I was really into you,” he says, walking away from me. “You don’t know what you’re missing.”

And there you go.

•  •  •

I truly feel like a pariah at school. Only this time, I don’t have the company of Jaime and Alex to keep me company at the lunch table. To save what little pride I have left, I take my lunch and go outside and head straight to my favorite tree. At least here, I can pretend I’m alone by choice.

Of course, the day can’t truly be considered a success without hearing from Jenny. It’s as if she knows when I’m at my lowest point and enjoys bringing me down another notch. Halfway through my sandwich—Aunt Maggie’s famous chicken salad with pecans and apple chunks—my body tenses up as I hear her voice.

“All alone, Etta?”

I almost choke. “Can I help you?” My normal witty self abandons me for cowardice. Really? I can’t come up with something better than that?

“Poor, poor, Etta,” Jenny says in her annoying sing-song voice. “Heard you just lost your boyfriend. Did you lose your BFF too?”

“What do you want Jenny? Tell me, do you actually win a prize for being the Bitch of the Day? There’s my bite.
Glad to have you back
.

She stares back at me, momentarily stunned, then recovers quickly. “Whatev’s. You’d think you actually did lose your best friend,” she snickers, walking off with her entourage.

I try to hold myself to a higher standard, but the opportunity is just too tempting. As I watch Jenny and the Barbie Brigade get smaller as they walk away from me, I focus on her black leather mules. It only takes a moment before her shoe slides off her foot and she trips on it. Not to one-up me, karma decides to take a turn and intervenes. So, Jenny not only trips as a result of yours truly, but lands face first into a mud puddle. Yeah, karma can be a bitch too.

I scramble up from my spot under the large oak tree, grab my leftover lunch, and stroll over to the girls helping Jenny out of the mud. It’s kind of a sight, watching four girls doing their best not to muddy their pretty footwear.

“You know,” I say, as I walk past them. “A lot of women pay a fortune for mud facials. You should consider yourself lucky.”

Their only response is to gawk at my nerve to ridicule Jenny. That’s when I notice Jenny’s face—well, what I can see that isn’t caked with mud—and for the very first time, see real fear in her eyes.

I
head straight for the kitchen after I get home from school. If there’s one thing I can count on, considering there’s not even an ounce of consistency in my life, is a steaming pot of coffee waiting for me at the end of a long school day and Aunt Maggie cooking up something delicious for dinner.

“How was your day today?” Aunt Maggie doesn’t skip a beat. She doesn’t even turn her back, not wanting to ignore what’s on the stovetop, as she greets me.

“Well, it wasn’t terrible,” I say as I sit in my favorite spot in the kitchen, right at the old farm table. I position myself facing the front of the stove so I can watch my aunt perform her culinary magic, while also in view of the doorway that leads out into the hallway. I like to keep all vantage points open.

“Oh, before I forget,” she says, finally turning in my direction, wiping her hands on her apron. “I invited your friend Cooper over for dinner. I hope that’s alright. I’m very intrigued by his travels and would love to speak more about his adventures.”

As bad as my day went at school, it doesn’t take much to make me smile again. Leave it to my Aunt Maggie to find away to invite my future husband over—not that she knows this—while creating an opportunity to bombard him with questions about being a traveler. My aunt has been involved with a lot of my father’s experiments, so she’s pretty cool about the whole ‘traveling to other dimensions’ situation. Not only did she design the special program for my dad so he can travel, she even arranges all my father’s jumps. If you look up the definition of ‘modern woman’ in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of my Aunt Maggie—chef extraordinaire, graphic designer, and travel agent to realities and beyond.