Relax, I'm A Ninja (16 page)

“That obvious, huh?”

Sarah laughed. “Totally, but don’t worry. She’s crazy about you.”

“She is?” Duh, she’d spent half the day kissing me.

“Oh, so crazy. She gets all glossy-eyed any time we say your name. It’s hilarious.” She clapped her hands together when the song ended. “Next slow song we’re switching so you guys can dance!”

“You’re the best.” At least someone in my “normal” life was happy about Amy and me. I’d spent so many days stressed about how pissed off Eddie would be, so engrossed in keeping it secret. Never in a million years did I picture any of our friends being happy about it.

Just like she said, Sarah hopped over to Eddie when the next slow song started. “Can I steal your date, Amy?”

“Oh, sure. Do you mind, Ed?” Amy glanced at me with a hopeful smile.

“That’s fine.” Eddie frowned, possibly catching on. Still, I was dancing with my girlfriend.

Amy came toward me as Eddie and Sarah started dancing. She put her arms around my neck, and I put both my hands on her waist. I’d held her closer before—I shouldn’t have been nervous—but it was the first time in public, and we might glow.

Eddie watched us. I forced myself not to feel guilty. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. His sad puppy eyes were completely unmerited.

“You really do look beautiful,” I said.

“Thanks.” She bit her lip. “I’m glad I could get one dance with you. This is nice.”

“It is.” I stared into her dark brown eyes, nearly black in the low light. She inched closer. I almost pulled her in to get it over with.  

Amy looked at my lips several times. Then she closed the gap between us and rested her head on my shoulder. That must have been her compromise between staying away and kissing.

“This is too hard,” she said. “I can’t take it.”

“I know, but maybe it won’t last much longer, what with you and your friends being so sneaky.”

She sighed. “We’ve been pretending for weeks. This is stupid.”

I hated seeing her upset, and it
was
stupid. We were trying so hard to keep others happy when we couldn’t. Eddie would be angry no matter what. It was time to give up and let the chips fall in the mud. We had to tell, but first we had to plan the best way to do it.

“You’re right.” I hugged her tighter. Her eyes filled with surprise. “I like you too much to hide it.”

“Tosh.” I guess even geniuses like Amy have mental lapses, because she kissed me.

We lit up immediately, all green and glowing like usual. A few gasps and squeals filled the air, and I cursed. Our cover had been blown big time. How could she do that? We’d been so careful for so long and now everything was ruined. There was no way we could salvage our covers now. This would go viral.
Couple Glows at Greenburg Winter Ball.

I pulled away, and she covered her mouth. Then tears welled up in her eyes. They didn’t wash away my irritation. But we couldn’t talk now—we had to get out of there as fast as possible.

“I’m so stupid,” she said.

As the glowing disappeared, I looked around for the nearest exit through the mass of people surely staring at us. But no one was looking except for our friends. People danced like nothing had happened.

“Why isn’t anyone freaking out?” I asked.

Amy scanned the room. “They didn’t see it? They had to see it.”

“I guess not.” Maybe we were the only ones who could see the light. I let out a relieved sigh. My cover was safe, and that was the most important thing.

“Too bad it doesn’t fix everything.” Amy whirled around to face Eddie and the rest of the gang. They
were
staring like we were glowing. I squared my shoulders as we walked up to them. The girls smiled; the guys’ mouths hung open. Eddie stood frozen, just glaring at me.

“I’m sorry it had to come out like this,” I started. “We didn’t want to freak you out, I guess. We’ve been dating for like three weeks.”

“Three weeks?” Eddie’s voice burst out like an explosion. “You could have told us! You…this…this sucks!”

Seeing how quickly he broke down really did make me feel terrible. I should have told him that night when he’d asked—before he invited her to the dance and bought her a diamond necklace. It would have been bad, but not this bad. Why didn’t I say something? “Eddie, I’m sorry, man. My dad doesn’t exactly like dojo students dating each other, and—”

“Forget it, Tosh. I can’t believe I called you my best friend and you lied right to my face! That’s messed up.” I’d never seen Eddie so mad. The girls weren’t smiling so much anymore, and Stu and Todd looked like they didn’t know what to do.

“Don’t be mad at Tosh,” Amy said. “It’s not his fault I like him.”

Eddie glared at her. “No, it’s not, but it’s his fault he likes you. Freaking traitor.”

“Hey.” I took a step forward. “I’m no traitor. If you guys were actually dating I never would have touched her. We hid it because we didn’t want to hurt you.”

“Whatever, man.” Eddie shoved me, actually shoved me. I couldn’t find my friend in the hard lines of his face. “Go ahead, take her. And find your own ride home.”

“Fine.” I clenched my jaw, determined not to hit him back. He probably felt like shit inside, even if he tried to act all bad and strong like he was still playing a computer game.

I pulled Amy out of the ballroom and leaned into the lockers. They dented under my weight. “Ugh, that went just like I pictured.”

“I didn’t know he would take it that hard.” She leaned on my chest and kissed my cheek. “I’m so sorry I messed everything up.”

I tensed. Eddie hated me because of what she did. I’d lost my oldest friend for a girl. Was it worth it? “That was really reckless. You can’t…our cover could have been completely blown. And Eddie, we could have eased him into—”

She pulled back, folding her arms. “I said I was sorry, okay?”

“I know, but you did it with the Scrabble game, too. You have to be more careful. I’m just saying—”

“Well, don’t. I know I screwed up. You don’t have to lecture me.” She was acting so sensitive about the truth. I wasn’t allowed to point out her mistakes? As we glared at each other, our glow slowly dissipated to a faint shimmer.

“I’m…sorry?” I only said it because I had a feeling I was supposed to.

She rolled her eyes. “Sure you are.”

I was about to reply when I heard some girl crying. A flash of pink ran out the school’s front door. Apparently we weren’t the only ones making the dance awful for someone.

Then a
glowing
guy followed a moment behind. We both jumped.

“Did you see that?” Amy asked, all business now.

“Yeah.” How could I not see that? But it didn’t seem like anyone else noticed. Just like they didn’t notice how we still looked radioactive. Not even the glowing guy seemed to see our aura. My stomach dropped. I didn’t want to know who that was, but I had a feeling I did.

“An Akuma?” she whispered.

“Maybe. Let’s go.” Even if we weren’t quite happy with each other, I kissed her for good measure. We might need the extra strength.

20

The cold bit through my suit, but Amy still pulled off her shoes so the heels wouldn’t clack. Though her feet must have been numb, it didn’t seem to bother her as we followed the glowing guy and the running girl along the dimly-lit sidewalk. The street was abandoned, just the usual line of cars jammed against the curb.

I recognized them, but only vaguely. They were seniors. I wanted to say the guy was some kind of athlete at school, but I couldn’t find a name. That glow made me wonder if he might be something like us, but it didn’t seem right. She should have been glowing too.

“Emma! Wait up!” he called.

“Leave me alone, Simon!” Simon Terry—wrestler. That would be a good cover for someone that beefy. His glow flickered like it was about to go out.

“Jack didn’t mean it,” Simon said. She stopped running and turned. I pushed Amy behind a car, and we crouched down. So they weren’t together. He glowed by himself, which might have meant—

“Do you think he’ll hurt her?” Amy whispered.

“No clue. But if he tries, we need an excuse to talk to them without blowing our covers.”

“I can do a yearbook thing,” she offered. Our eyes met, and we both looked away. Now that we were facing a possible Akuma
,
our fight seemed stupid. But it wasn’t like I could apologize.

“Sounds good.” I peeked around the car. They were still about ten yards from us.

“And if it doesn’t work?”

“We’ll have to stop him.” I wasn’t afraid this time. The finger dents I left in the car bumper boosted my confidence.

The glow in his skin flickered rapidly and then went out. He reached into his trench coat for who knows what. I jumped up from our hiding place, and Amy was right behind.

“Hey, Simon!” I called. He turned around, glaring.

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you!” Amy smiled wide without a drop of fear. “The yearbook wanted a few quotes about your impressive wrestling season. Is this a bad time?”

He smiled too widely as he sized us up. My blood went cold. That was no friendly smile. It was…hungry. Simon could be an Akuma
,
and we’d offered ourselves up as prey. We looked nice and vulnerable, and no one would connect us to him. Even if Emma put him at the scene, his cover-self had no motive.

“Sure.” He touched Emma’s elbow. “Go back to the dance. Trust me, Jack will be happy to see you.” Emma rolled her eyes, but she did what he said.

“Ugh, these shoes were killing me.” Amy swung her heels when Simon looked at her bare feet. “Where do you want to do this?”

“How about the park? Unless you’re too cold.” He looked at her skin like he planned on digging into her. I wanted to hurt him, but the idea of having to kill him worried me. I was no killer.

“She’ll be fine.” I took off my suit coat and put it over her shoulders. She bit her lip, maybe feeling bad about our fight. It was enough to make me feel like I’d taken a punch to the gut.

“Let’s go, then. It won’t take long,” Amy said.

We crossed the street to the small park. There wouldn’t be a soul there at this hour—perfect for a murder. Simon followed slightly behind, and all my senses went crazy. I didn’t want him behind me. Amy seemed ready for whatever might happen. She gripped my hand hard, which probably would have broken fingers if I were anyone else. We walked to a bench. Two evergreens hid the area from lamplight.  

“How’s this?” I asked.

“Looks good to me.” Simon scanned the surroundings, probably double-checking that we were alone.

“So, how’d you get into wrestling?” Amy asked.

As Simon answered, I planned some type of defense. I didn’t dare run and put other people’s lives in jeopardy. He probably had a sword—laced with Dragon’s Bile—and we didn’t have weapons. We couldn’t get near that blade without risking death. Maybe I could disarm him, but that was a long shot. I spotted a playground nearby. The metal bars could provide some protection.

“And how do you stay so fit?” Amy asked.

Simon’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. He looked antsy, like an addict in need of a hit. “Funny you ask …”

He pulled the short sword from his trench coat and thrust it at Amy. She ducked down as I grabbed his arm and tried to pry the blade from his hand. Our power hadn’t worn off, but Simon’s grip was stronger. His thick brow furrowed, and he growled.

“You are no Saburau! How did you know?” His voice had changed—a deep, rocky sound that threatened to suck my courage right out. Had he grown wider in the last few seconds? He didn’t seem like the same person.

“None of your business!” Amy kicked him in the balls. I swore she liked to do that on some level.

Simon buckled over, and I wrestled with his sword arm. His fingers wouldn’t budge. Amy kneed him in the stomach. Instead of groaning, he growled like a rabid bear. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with!”

He grabbed my arm and chucked me into the air. I flew several yards away. My heart pounded as he went for Amy first. Of course he would. The second I landed on my feet, I headed back toward them. Amy fought well, but all she could do was dodge the poisoned sword.

Simon continued to transform into…something. I’d never seen anything like it. His clothes stretched over his back until the seams ripped. Strange tattoo-like images appeared all over his skin like extra veins. I wasn’t afraid for myself, but Amy facing this monster made my whole body tremble. Why hadn’t I just accepted her apology? Why didn’t I kiss her more? The thought of her getting hurt made me ache. If she died, I would die.

When I was close enough, I sank my fist into his right side. He took a swipe at me with his sword. I ducked and tried to trip him. He didn’t fall for it.

“I can taste your power! How?” he said.

“Yeah, right!” I pushed his sword arm out of the way and went to punch him in the face. He blocked, but then yelped. Amy had kicked him from behind.

He fought like an animal, growling and everything. He hunched over and used his thick arms like a gorilla. His eyes had gone completely black—even the white part—like charcoal. The longer we defended ourselves, the more feral he became. Nothing like the human he supposedly was. I half expected him to sprout hair and turn into a werewolf.

We’d made it to the old metal playground set, and I got him to swipe his sword across the bars.

“Amy! Catch!” I ripped off a bar and tossed it to her. Even though we’d hit him dead-on several times, he hadn’t let up. I wished I had my ninja gear—something to distract him with so we could get away. We should have run. I’d completely underestimated him.

She blocked a blow to her head, but he sliced right through the bar. Now she had just a metal stub, maybe enough to stave off one more attack.

He stayed on his warpath toward Amy, and nothing I did helped. I hit his back with my own bar, and he didn’t turn. I swung again and again, trying to get his focus on me. He grunted but wasn’t deterred. Amy took in labored breaths, getting too tired. That was when mistakes happened.

Simon lunged at her, knocking the bar from her hands. I couldn’t get to her because he kept putting himself between us. I knew what would happen at this rate, and my hits became more desperate.