Secrets of the Sleeper: True Nature Series: Book One (6 page)

Smooch

Before I knew it
, I was opening my eyes to Friday morning. For a moment, I felt something was amiss. Then I realized what it was—no nightmares! They had been plaguing me on and off this week. Fortunately they hadn’t been bad enough to wake Dad.

I sent a heartfelt thank-you out into the great unknown to whomever or whatever had helped me, because I was really grateful for the uninterrupted night of sleep. Sure enough, the mirror reflected that sleep can really do miracles.

Dad was already gone. He took off early so he wouldn’t be stuck in the traffic winding through the mountains toward Silicon Valley, where his office was located. It was a horrible commute. A Post-it note stuck to the front door:

Have a great day, Tru! Lunch in the fridge! Love, Dad

I smiled.

Ruthie chatted all the way to school about lame little brothers and how late she stayed up to finish homework. She was still stuck in her bubble.

School was uneventful, and I thought about Bobby all morning, wondering how he was feeling.

By the time lunch rolled around, I eagerly made my way to our table, noticing Bobby at a new table talking with a group of kids. He looked a lot better and it made me smile as I speculated about which Isaac/Phoebe groupies would be invading today. Ruthie, Phoebe, and Isaac were already there. Val walked up at the same time as I did, squeezing in between the two girls. Ruthie seemed happy about it, but Phoebe gave him a glare that was totally wasted because he was all about Ruthie. Isaac pulled me down next to him, making me feel wanted, which warmed my heart just a little.

“Hey there, Parker.”

“Hey back,” I replied, knocking my shoulder into his arm. He looked awesome in his ratty jeans and white T-shirt. His curly hair stuck up all over the place. I smiled nervously.

Phoebe glanced from Isaac and me to Ruthie and Val, distaste clear on her face.

“Where’s Zander lately?” she asked. Everyone shrugged.

“I don’t know,” I answered, although she hadn’t directed the question at anyone in particular.

“Oh, here he comes,” she asserted, the sparkle back in her eyes. I sighed. Perfect. I’m not sure at what point I considered myself actually in the running to gain Zander’s attention. And I wasn’t sure if I even wanted it with all the girls drooling after him. It would be a constant battle.

Isaac was in the middle of stuffing his face, but somehow he worked in a scowl at his sister. He sat up straighter and inched closer to me.

I peeked in the direction of Phoebe’s gaze and locked on to Zander’s midnight blue eyes. But he was looking at Phoebe, preened at his attention. Although there was plenty of room next to me, he squeezed into the spot on the other side of Phoebe, even though Val protested and he and Ruthie had to shift down to make room. Phoebe smiled beautifully, her pearly white teeth sparkling, and scooted closer to me to give him some more space. He still sat closer to her.

I felt like I had been slapped. I had no reason to expect him to cozy up to me, especially with Isaac next to me, but I still felt hurt. I ducked my head, but not before I saw Isaac throw Zander a look of dislike. What now? His sister couldn’t like someone?

Why did my eyes feel all watery? How stupid was I? Seriously! I had Isaac’s undivided attention and half the quad of girls staring at me with jealousy. Well, they could be staring at Phoebe—there were all kinds of reasons to be jealous there, but— Gahhh! I was being dumb and immature and really emotional, just like a girl.
Suck it up, Parker!
That made me think of Isaac and our drama class. I really needed some of those acting skills right now. I could do this.

I fixed a bored look on my face, straightened my spine, and thought:
I don’t give a shirtless shanghaied shaman about what Zander thinks of me or whomever the freak he likes!

Then I looked up and right into those stellar blues. My mask slipped just for a second because he actually had a contrite expression on his face. What up?

Phoebe struck up a conversation just for the two of them, obviously, because I could barely hear her. I turned to Isaac, who was swigging down his bottle of milk. He caught my look and lowered the bottle. I smiled because he was just so dopey-looking with that little milk mustache. Before he could read too much into my smile, I motioned to his upper lip and then his milk, but he just smiled wider. And then he leaned in and threatened to smooch me.

I automatically jumped out of my seat, laughing, because he looked like he just might do it, but he had hold of my arm. I squealed, managing to slip free. Something about a girl running from a boy—boys were such dogs. It just always seems to make them chase you more. But running was a reflex I couldn’t change. I really didn’t want milk all over me. And, honestly, I wasn’t that comfortable with him laying one on me in front of my lunch table or the whole school. Unfortunately, as I passed one of the tables near the edge of the quad, Hugh Lawson snagged me, pulled my arms behind my back, and held me by the waist. I didn’t think things could get worse, but they did.

“Hey, Isaac! Caught someone for you!” He laughed evilly. Isaac was on me in a second, grabbing me from Hugh’s arms. Ignoring my pleas, he laid one on me, milk and all. And it wasn’t bad, just weird because I knew everyone was staring. Hugh released me, cackling. The whole quad was laughing and pointing at me.

I froze. This was way too much like my outcast memories of last year.

Isaac caught on before anyone else noticed my freaked-out state. As quick as lightning, he threw me over his shoulder and hauled me around the nearest building. Plopping me down on the pavement against a wall of lockers, he crouched down to cradle my face. He wiped the milk from both of us.

“Tru, I’m really, really sorry if that hurt you in any way. I was just having fun.”

I knew that already, and I totally knew I was blowing things out of proportion. I smiled regretfully.

“It’s okay. I don’t know what happened to me. It just felt a little like last year with everyone staring. Sorry.”

“They weren’t really laughing at you, you know. It was just fun. I won’t be surprised if we’ve started something. At the very least, I bet more of them will be buying milk.”

A laugh forced its way out of me. “Yeah, we could have been a commercial for milk.”

He hooted, the sound booming down the corridor. “Hey. I’m going to go grab our stuff and be right back, okay? Unless you want to go back to the table?”

“No, thanks. I’m fine here.”

“K. Be right back.”

I heard the cheers as he ran across the quad.
Let the rumors begin
, I thought. I was grateful for my shady corner, because it kept everyone on the edge of the quad from seeing me.

So, my first kiss was in front of the whole school, and it was from the milky mouth of hottie Efoti. My conflicting thoughts turned to Zander. What had he thought of this? Was he thinking the same as half the guys out there and considering joining the milky mouth crowd, with Phoebe? Again, why did I care? He was into her and all her graceful beauty, and why shouldn’t he be?

Seconds later, Isaac skidded over to me and sat down to finish his lunch. He distracted me with the gossip he had heard that morning. The rest of lunch flew by.

Still feeling snubbed by Zander by the time English arrived, I prepared to write Zander off my list of acquaintances and determined to sit as far from him as possible.

I pulled into class with time to spare and spotted an empty chair on the far left of class, near the windows. Zander didn’t seem to be anywhere in sight, but as I settled in, I heard Zena’s loud whisper.

“He’s sooo hot!”

A bevy of whispers followed.

No need to look up. It had to be Zander.
Please, please don’t sit behind me,
I prayed. I buried my face in the textbook and sent up another desperate plea. Footsteps neared me, but I didn’t look up.

A backpack thudded against the floor.

“Hey, Tru.” Yes, Zander had picked the seat behind me. Why? There had to be at least eight other seats further away! I tried for a calming breath, but it came out ragged. I couldn’t ignore him. He would guess something was up, and then he would guess that I was into him. And that could NOT happen.
Calm. Calm. Act normal
, I counseled myself.

I turned around with a fake smile plastered on my face.

“Hi Zander!” I cringed at the higher pitch to my voice.

He stared at me, eyebrows drawn together.

“You okay?” he asked.

Great. He thought there was something wrong. And if he noticed that, then he’d wonder what it was, and then he’d rewind the day to lunch and realize the looks I gave him were pathetic and stalker-ish.

“Yeah, sure!” I assured him. “What’s up?”

“Hey, Zander!” breathed Zena.
Speaking of stalkers
, I thought. Looks like she’d packed up her backpack and moved closer to Zander. His jaw tightened.

“Zena,” he said. And that’s all he said. It looked like he was bent on ignoring her the rest of class. I turned toward the front just as Mr. Mac welcomed the class.

As soon as the bell rang, Zander was overwhelmed by Zena and her groupies. They actually shoved me out of the way as I stood up to collect my things. Wow. Being so irresistible was not what it was cracked up to be. I met Zander’s scowling eyes over the girls’ heads and shook my head at his frustration. Besides, why was he acting like he wanted to hang out all of a sudden? He was hot and cold and most certainly bad for me. I hurried out of class.

Today it was just Ruthie and me on the way home. We stopped for frozen yogurt and I couldn’t resist telling her about Zander’s fan club attack. She choked on her water.

I think I actually heard her self-absorbed bubble pop.

“No way!”

“Yep!”

“That’s awesome. About time someone didn’t fall for her.”

“Yeah,” I said, “he’s obviously into Phoebe, anyway. She could kick Zena’s butt, I think. Should get interesting.”

“Huh? He likes Phoebe? Where did you hear that?”

“Well, duh! Didn’t you see them at lunch?”

“Lunch… Yeah…I was there… How did I miss it? What did you see?”

“He sat by her, closely.” It sounded lame, but I knew I was right.

“Oh yeah! Close sitting!” she said sarcastically. “That sure gave it away!” She snickered. “Really. Anyway, it’s not like he was chasing her down and kissing her in front of the whole school!” she sputtered. “That was awesome, by the way!”

I blushed, fresh embarrassment washing over me.

“I thought it was weird.”

“Seriously? Believe me, your reputation score went up about fifty points with that stunt, especially when he went all caveman and dragged you off to a dark corner. Ahhh! Young love.” She sighed loudly.

“No, really it wasn’t like that. At least not for me.”

“Girlfriend, you are being handed a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card. After last year, you need this kind of cred. Isaac is way up there on the popular scale—big points for you—and he’s bringing you up there with him. This is what I was talking about before! No one is going to remember last year after a few more episodes in the Isaac and Tru series. And the more public, the faster this is going to happen. Seriously, you are so lucky! It’s like you have your own guardian angel/cupid working for you. It’s a beautiful thing. Man! I love this stuff!” She dipped her spoon into her marshmallow-covered chocolate yogurt and licked it clean, ecstasy causing her eyeballs to roll backward.

I giggled. She was so over the top, I couldn’t stay worried. I pushed that guilty feeling into a corner and ignored it. So, Zander was out and Isaac was in. Moving on. Why did my stomach start to ache?

New Friends

I woke Saturday morning
exhausted. Another night of dreaming. But I didn’t remember much. Just bits and pieces. Back to the cavemen people. Something about families attacking one another, a woman with seven wolves howling around her, and glowing red eyes. It was just creepy. No wonder I slept poorly.

I decided to make Dad breakfast for a change, so I hustled into the kitchen in my PJs and took out some bacon and hash browns. I got those started before mixing up the eggs. The tediousness of my actions was soothing and soon erased the eerie feeling from my dreams. It didn’t take long for Dad to smell the food. Waking up to bacon was the best.

Dad and I spent the day cleaning and sprucing up the place. It was long overdue and we rewarded ourselves with pizza and a movie that night. It felt nice, normal. No school drama, no boy problems, and no strange wolf appearances. For the first time since Mom died, it seemed that our life would, indeed, get better. This was
us
moving on. It was sad but hopeful. I decided it was a good thing. I thought about Bobby and hoped that he was doing okay. He sure seemed happier at school yesterday.

I spent the next day completing all my homework and talking to Ruthie on the phone. She filled me in on the latest horrors of having younger brothers and parents who make you do chores for gas money. All I could do was shake my head and listen. She promised chocolate cupcakes for being such a great friend. That was probably the 100th time she’d said that, and no cupcakes had appeared as of yet. Someday, I was going to receive a houseful of them all at the same time, or so I could dream.

The best part of the weekend was the call I got from Bobby. I don’t know how he got my number, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear his voice. He wanted to thank me for urging him to visit his brother. His brother had just started a different high school and he hated it. He had been super happy to hear from his big brother, and they hung out all weekend. I could have sworn Bobby got choked up talking about it, and it made me all warm inside when I realized I had really helped him.

It reminded me of my summer at the rec center. Teaching the kids there had really turned my year around. I wish I could have seen Uncle Ira more often. I hadn’t seen him since he got me the job. I was told he was working out of the country for a while.

Both Saturday and Sunday nights were blissfully nightmare-free. So Monday morning began with plenty of beauty sleep, and Ruthie surprised me with a plate full of chocolate cupcakes topped with fluffy chocolate icing. They didn’t even last to first bell. Isaac and Phoebe caught up with us in the parking lot swearing that they smelled chocolate, so we had to pull out the plate and share. Between the four of us, and Val (Ruthie had texted him to hurry over if he wanted one), they were gone in a jiffy. We walked into class on a chocolate high. It was a great way to start the day.

Our schedule had been adjusted to make time for an assembly right before lunch. There would be no seventh period. I wondered if I would see Zander at lunch today since we didn’t have English.

Ruthie and I agreed to meet at my locker and head to the gym together. We arrived just in time to grab a seat near the end of the bleachers. Isaac stood halfway across the floor, surrounded by a swarm of girls, but he was looking in our direction. He pulled away from them to head over, but someone beat him to us. Zander. I knew it was him even before I turned. The entire side of my body sizzled.

“Hey,” he said.

Ruthie reached across me to give him a high-five like they were buddies. I just mumbled “hey,” having no clue how to react to him. Suddenly Isaac loomed over us, thunder on his face. Zander didn’t seem to notice as he speculated what the assembly was about, and Isaac was forced to grab the space next to Ruthie. Suddenly, the football team ran into the gym dressed as cheerleaders. Everyone went wild, including Ruthie, who jumped up screaming. Isaac took the opportunity to squeeze Ruthie over and sit by me. She didn’t seem to mind, sneaking in a quick wink at me. Somehow, with all the mayhem going on, Phoebe wedged in next to Ruthie, and they huddled together giggling about the guys in vests and skirts that were too small for them.

While Phoebe and Ruthie were getting into the spirit of the assembly, I was left in Awkwardville between Isaac and Zander.

Predictably, the next crew to run in was the cheerleading team dressed in football jerseys and gear. The assembly was mostly an advertisement for Homecoming next month, laced with the annual speeches on school rules and school pride. Ruthie screamed for Val as he leaped and pounded his pom-poms together. He was ridiculous, but then, so was she.

It was too loud most of the time to talk to each other, but after the football players and cheerleaders left and the principal began droning on about parking lot behavior, Zander leaned in to ask me about an English assignment. It was a little surreal and extremely uncomfortable since I could feel Isaac tense up beside me. As soon as he could work in a comment, I was turned toward him. It was like a Ping Pong game, and I was the ball. To heighten my discomfort, the vibrations coming off Zander every time our skin touched made it difficult for me to focus on what Isaac said. I probably sounded super lame.

Thankfully, the assembly didn’t last too long and then it was lunchtime. I darted off to my locker to grab lunch, at the same time wondering if Zander would be sitting with us again. I didn’t think I could take any more weirdness between Isaac and him, so I considered my options.

A solution presented itself when Bobby caught up with me and invited me to sit with him and some old friends. I was so pleased to hear that he was hanging with other people again, and I wanted to support the new him, so I agreed. Plus, it solved my little lunch dilemma. I doubted Ruthie would care. She and Val would be all over each other anyway. I sent her a quick text so she wouldn’t wonder and give me crap about it later.

Bobby’s friends huddled around a table at the far edge of the quad, which was completely opposite my regular table. Shrina, Dara, James, and someone I didn’t recognize were already seated. I’d never really had much to do with them before, mostly because our interests hadn’t ever crossed. They were what I called band geeks. I’d forgotten that Bobby was into music.

Shrina was smiling brightly at Bobby, and I thought I caught a glimpse of something in her eyes. Dara and James looked like Siamese twins eating from the same lunch bag. The other kid, a guy with wavy black hair that covered most of his face, held a guitar.

“Hi guys,” announced Bobby. “You remember Tru?” The girls welcomed me with friendly hellos. The guys gave me nods.

“Tru, you know Shrina, right? And Dara and James?”

Bobby slid into the bench next to Shrina, who smiled and lowered her long black eyelashes. She was cute and perhaps a little into Bobby. I remembered she had an Indian accent.

“Yeah,” I said. “You and I got paired up for wheelbarrow racing at Hanh Nguyen’s birthday party in seventh grade, right?”

“Oh my gosh! I forgot about that. I was so horrible, but we still won!” She laughed.

“And, then there’s Dara and James—they were in Mrs. Skinner’s science class with us. When we dissected frogs?” Bobby continued the introductions.

“Sure.” I smiled. “Hated the frogs, though.”

“Ditto,” said Dara, her blue eyes crinkling at the corners. James just grunted and nodded his head.

“And here’s Dante.” Bobby nodded toward the guitarist. “He moved here from San Francisco this summer. He’s killer with the guitar.”

“Wow,” I said. Dante acknowledged our awe with a few light strokes on the guitar. I chuckled. Dante stared back at me with a speculative look in his eyes. My laughter died away as an uneasy feeling swept over me. But then he smiled, revealing two dimples, one in each cheek, a phenomenon Ruthie liked to label a “double D boy.” I smiled back at him.

I wondered when Bobby had made friends with this group. Shrina revealed that they had been trying to coax him into their music group for a while, and finally, Bobby had agreed. She was beaming as she explained. Definitely something going on between the two of them. They made a cute couple.

And that’s how I avoided the uncomfortable lunch table across the quad.

And although I couldn’t avoid Isaac or Zander in our classes, they were a lot easier to handle one-on-one.

Just before the bell rang, everyone at the table took off except Dante. I was reaching for my backpack when he stopped me.

“That was quite a trick, what you did for Bobby,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

“Yeah, Bobby was a week away from committing suicide, and
bam!
Suddenly he’s calling his brother and making friends. Damn miracle, wouldn’t you say?”

Suicide? What was he suggesting? “What are you talking about?”

His eyebrows raised, he pondered, “You don’t even know, do you?” He looked over my shoulder and quickly muttered, “Idimmu, you’re Idimmu.”

I could barely hear him. “What? I’m a dummy?”

He rolled his eyes. “We’ll have to talk later. But don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.” And he took off.

Just as I was wondering why he had left so quickly and what drugs he was taking, Isaac plopped down next to me.

“Hey. Is he bothering you?” He looked hopeful.

I just shook my head, “No. But he is strange.”

Isaac laughed. “Yeah, could have told you that myself. He’s in algebra with me. Let’s get to class.” He grabbed my backpack, and with his on one shoulder and mine on the other, we took off to drama.